Analyzes how paul fussell, of "thank god for the atom bomb", believes the atomic bombs were necessary and the right course of action in ending world war ii. . What did he do in the war? due to the strong beach defenses, caves, tunnels, and numerous Jap suicide torpedo boats and manned mines, few Marines in the first five assault waves would get ashore alivemy company was scheduled to be in the first and second waves. During the war there were many times for the Japanese to surrender, but it was never done. Why does Fussell "thank God" for the atom bomb? The combat soldier, he says. You think of the lives whichwould have been lost in an invasion of Japans home islandsa staggering number of Americans but millions more of Japanese and you thank God for the atomic bomb. The main argument of the essay is based around social class and personal experience. If the bomb had only been ready in time, the young men of my infantry platoon would not have been so cruelly killed and wounded. [Every Japanese] soldier, civilian, woman, and child would fight to the death with whatever weapons they had, ride, grenade, or bamboo spear. To begin, the Japanese soldiers have it ingrained in their brains that it is dishonorable to surrender. Explains that paul fussell's thank god for the atom bomb is one of many essays written in favor of the bomb that aided the ending of world war 2. site map real business rescue. Being aware of the segregation against blacks, the Japanese created propaganda such as books that illustrated the racism in America along with how the African Americans were treated. It was not theoretical or merely rumored in order to scare the Japanese. The Japanese folk tale was found in magazines, cartoons, and films and had several versions of the story for all ages. He does agree that the dropping of the bomb was horrific and not morally right, but the bombs were necessary. Indeed when the bombs were dropped he was going on eight months old, in danger only of falling out of his pram. And the invasion was going to take place: theres no question about that. In speaking thus of Galbraith and Sherry, Im aware of the offensive implications ad hominem. Three days later, on August 9th, 1945, America dropped another bomb on Nagasaki with the code name Fat Man. )What was one of the major concerns of the American leaders and military during this time? Do not let the title or the first few selections lead . Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Anticipating objections from those without such experience, in his book WWII Jones carefully prepares for his chapter on the A-bombs by detailing the plans already in motion for the infantry assaults on the home islands of Kyushu (thirteen divisions scheduled to land in November 1945) andultimately Honshu (sixteen divisions scheduled for March 1946). The intelligence officer of theU.S. Fifth Air Force declared on July 21, 1945, that the entire population of Japan is a proper military target, and he added emphatically, There are no civilians in Japan. Why delay and allow one more American high school kid to see his own intestines blown out of his body and spread before him in the dirt while he screams and screams when with the new bomb we can end the whole thing just like that? This post is a stunning essay by Paul Fussell published in The New Republic in 1981. knew war, and he knew better than some of his critics then and now what he was doing and why he was doing it. Heres a link to a PDF of the original. In Geoffrey Shepherds Article he tires to support, connect and persuade his audience. Thank God for the Atom Bomb, and Other Essays - Paul Fussell 1988 Essays discuss nuclear war, George Orwell, tourism, chivalry, nudism, the Indy 500 race, Yugoslavia, modernism, and modern American manners After Patrick Henry - Neal Q. Herrick 2009 Neal Herrick demonstrates, in a lucid manner, that government corruption is the predominant problem President Roosevelt approved several orders and committees that specifically targeted Japanese Americans on the West Coast, while war propaganda was created to instill fear and hatred of the Japanese in the American people. TNR's The Book page reposted this "classic" piece by George Kennan on Americans and Russians rather than repost the very famous essay that became the basis for Fussell's Thank God for the . Although Fussell admits that the bomb was a "most cruel ending to that most cruel war", and that those who claim that the use of the atom bomb was wrong are simply attempting to "resolve ambiguity" concerning the ethics of war, he believes that the bomb was . The authors overall purpose in the article is to persuade the audience that the atomic bomb had a negative effect due to the effect it had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese were determined to win this fight; they would mobilize every Japanese person to suceed. what we had experienced [my emphasis] in fighting the Japs (pardon the expression) on Peleliu and Okinawa caused us toformulate some very definite opinions that the invasion . What role does his own experience of history play in shaping his views as a historian? Please help! His essay "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" tells us why the United States needed to drop the atomic bomb and provides quotes from people with experience from the war to back up his claim. The purpose of the bombs was not to punish people but to stop the war. Or simplified." Comment. David F. Labaree is Lee L. Jacks Professor at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education and a professor (by courtesy) in history. The ad consisted of two eleven-syllable lines of verse, thus: In life, experience is the great teacher. What had I done to deserve this? Fussell's essay is an attempt to debunk the arguments of these critics, who argue that Japan would have surrendered without the Americans' detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. Anyone who actually fought in the Pacific recalls the Japanese routinely firing on medics, killing the wounded (torturing them first, if possible), and cutting off the penises of the dead to stick in the corpses mouths. It would shock the American public and the world. The degree to which Americans register shock and extraordinary shame about the Hiroshima bomb correlates closely with lack of information about the Pacific war. . In Scotch, Teacher's is the great experience." Textual evidence suggests that Fussell expected most of his readers to think that the American decision to drop the two atom bombs on Japan, landing in the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II, was ethically wrong. Rooting them out became a bloody business which reached its ultimate horrors in the last months of the war. If only it could have been rushed into production faster and dropped at theright moment on the Reich Chancellery or Berchtesgaden or Hitlers military headquarters in East Prussia (where Colonel Stauffenbergs July 20 bomb didnt do the job because it wasnt big enough), much of the Nazi hierarchy could have been pulverized immediately, saving not just the embarrassment of the Nuremberg trials but the lives of around four million Jews, Poles, Slavs, and gypsies, not to mention the lives and limbs of millions of Allied and German soldiers. And of course the brutality was not just on one side. Times change. During the time between the dropping of the Nagasaki bomb on August 9 and the actual surrender on the fifteenth, the war pursued its accustomed course: on the twelfth of August eight captured American fliers were executed (heads chopped off); the fifty-first United States submarine, Bonefish, was sunk (all aboard drowned); the destroyer Callaghan went down, the seventieth to be sunk, and the Destroyer Escort Underhill was lost. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human. Have the . The entire Japanese problem has been magnified out of its true proportion largely due to the physical characteristics of the people (Martin 31). "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" is an essay written by Paul Fussell, a historian and World War II veteran. Why not? E. B. Sledge, author of the splendid memoir With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa, noticed at the time that the fighting grew more vicious the closer we got to Japan,with the carnage of Iwo Jima and Okinawa worse than what had gone before. The war was over, the story goes, and the US just wanted to demonstrate its nuclear capacity to the world. Fussell argues vigorously and, to my mind, convincingly that the bombing was crucial in cutting short the war and preventing the much greater loss of life that would have occurred as a result of a full-fledged invasion. In his paper "Thank God for Atom the Bomb", Paul has put forward several arguments against those who oppose his stance while providing justifications from the literature to support his argument. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. In general, the principle is, the farther from the scene of horror the easier the talk. The aim of war is to destroy an enemy who is trying to destroy you. The Japanese pre-invasion patriotic song, One Hundred Million Souls for the Emperor, says Sledge, meant just that. Universal national kamikaze was the point. So it's no wonder, with President Barack Obama's visit to Hiroshima this week (but no apology), that practically every journalist writing about the visit resorts to quoting from Paul Fussell's famous article in the New Republic in August, 1981: "Thank God for the Atomic Bomb.". that in order to finish with the Japanese quickly, it will be necessary to invade the industrial heart of Japan. The invasion was definitely on, as I know because I was to be in it. tempt us to infer retrospectively extraordinary corruption, imbecility, or motiveless malignity in those who decided, allthings considered, to drop the bomb. Why? Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" The New Republic - August 1981 by Paul Fussell Many years ago in New York I saw on the side of a bus a whiskey ad I've remembered all this time. Dower crafts his argument using a variety of scholarly sources. It's been for me a model of the short poem, and indeed I've come upon few short poems subsequently that exhibited more poetic talent. ". Endowment Chairman Sheldon Hackney talked recently with Paul Fussell about the impact of World War I on the twentieth century. Of the two the first was a tighter and better book. ", What is an example of an appeal to character in "Thank God for the Atom Bomb? 28-30.] Among Americans it was widely held that the Japanese were really subhuman, little yellow beasts, and popular imagery depicted them as lice, rats, bats, vipers, dogs, and monkeys. That is the reason Fussell said, "Thank God for the Atom Bomb." I am writing about these events neither to justify nor to condemn the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hes not the only one to have forgotten, if he ever knew, the unspeakable savagery of the Pacific war. As many as 200,000 deaths were caused by Little Boy alone and many people would die of radiation for years to come. We would have been murdered in the biggest massacre of the war. The experience is common to those in the marines and the infantry and even the line navy, to those, in short, who fought the Second World War mindful always that their mission was, as they were repeatedly assured, to close with the enemy and destroy him. Destroy, notice: not hurt, frighten, drive away, or capture. To conclude, Paul Fussells essay is very convincing. Why does Fussell "thank God" for the atom bomb? Although early in his essay Fussell admits that the bomb was a "most cruel ending to that most cruel war" (14), and that those who claim that the use of the atom bomb was wrong are simply attempting to "resolve ambiguity" (14) concerning the ethics When a neutron strikes the nucleus of an atom of the isotopes uranium-235 or plutonium-239, it causes that nucleus to split into two fragments, each of which is a nucleus with about . ISBN-10: 0671638661. This book is recommend to any fan of the essay. Others recounted how signs encouraging everyone to KILL JAPS! Herman Wouk suggests this obliviousness of both sides to the fact that the opponents were human beings may perhaps be cited as the key to the many massacres of the Pacific war. They saw all Japanese as monsters an this justifies the dropping of the. 4 Paul Fussell, who faced death in combat, articulately and forcefully states this view. Theres no denying that Grays outlook on everything was admirably noble, elevated, and responsible. What role does his own experience of history play in shaping his views as an historian? The warning from US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin . These soldiers experienced the brutality and mostrosities of the war. Scarred by his experiences in France in 1945, Paul Fussell has sought to demystify the romanticism of battle, beginning with his literary study of the Great War. What did you do in the Great War, Daddy? The recruiting poster deserves ridicule and contempt, of course, but here its question is embarrassingly relevant, and the problem is one that touches on the dirty little secret of social class in America. On August 2, we observed the 76th anniversary of the atom bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. One young combat naval officer close to the action wrote home m the fall of 1943, just before the marines underwent the agony of Tarawa: When I read that we will fight the Japs for years if necessary and will sacrifice hundreds of thousands if we must, I always like to check from where hes talking: its seldom out here. That was Lieutenant (j.g.) I yelled for medics, because subconsciously I wanted to live. As I said, I am a peace-loving guy, a pacifist at heart but a realist in real life. of drones and debtors forbes. During the war in Europe Gray was an interrogator in the Army Counterintelligence Corps, and in that capacity he experienced the war at Division level. #4. Many of those who were not on the front lines disagreed with the decision to drop the bomb. Inquirer Published Aug 6, 2010 By John Rossi I will let God be the Judge of that. It didnt know then what everyone knows now about leukemia and various kinds of carcinoma and birth defects. . Division headquarters is milesmilesbehind the line where soldiers experience terror and madness and relieve those pressures by crazy brutality and sadism. Fussell is even keener on exposing the euphemisms and illusions of others. Bottom Line Thank God for the Atom Bomb is my second collection of Paul Fussell essays. ) Why does Fussell "thank God" for the atom bomb? 588 Words. Having read the two I count myself a fan of Paul Fussell. Source: Paul Fussell, a World War II Soldier, Thank God for the Atom Bomb, 1990. . Source: Paul Fussell, a World War II Soldier, Thank God for the Atom Bomb,1990. Many of those that say the bomb should not have been used are implying that, according to Arthur T. Hadley, it would have been better to allow thousands on thousands of American and Japanese infantrymen to die in honest hand-to-hand combat on the beaches than to drop those two bombs. Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays. A public opinion survey of Americans conducted in October 1945 found 85 percent favoring the bombs and 23 percent willing to drop more; Truman was an opinion-shaping leader, but he also reflected the wartime attitude of most Americans. Its been for me a model of the short poem, and indeed Ive come upon few short poems subsequently that exhibited more poetic talent. 2) Considering Fussell's discussion of the treatment of Japanese skulls during World War II, as well as all the other atrocities of World War II (the Holocaust, the Japanese invasions in Asia, the Allied fire bombing of Dresden), what do you think about the . Momotaro was a well-known Japanese folk tale, which focused on the Japanese being superior to the white imperialists. The title piece, a defense of Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, generated lively controversy when it first appeared in the New Republic; a spirited . When the atom bombs were dropped and news began to circulate that Operation Olympic would not, after all, be necessary, when we learnedto our astonishment that we would not be obliged in a few months to rush up the beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while being machine-gunned, mortared, and shelled, for all the practiced phlegm of our tough facades we broke down and cried with relief and joy. I was a twenty-one-year-old second lieutenant of infantry leading a rifle platoon. We didnt talk about such things, says Sledge. Implacable, treacherous, barbaricthose were Admiral Halseys characterizations of the enemy, and at the time fewfacing the Japanese would deny that they fit to a T. One remembers the captured American airmenthe lucky ones who escaped decapitationlocked for years in packing crates. Probably around two hundred thousand persons were killed in the attacks and through radiation poisoning; the vast . Alsop concludes: Japanese surrender could never have been obtained, at any rate without the honor-satisfying bloodbath envisioned by Anami, if the hideous destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had not finally galvanized the peace advocates into tearing up the entire Japanese bookof rules. The Japanese plan to deploy the undefeated bulk of their ground forces, over two million men, plus 10,000 kamikaze planes, plus the elderly and all the women and children with sharpened spears they could muster in a suicidal defense makes it absurd, says Alsop, to hold the common view, by now hardly challenged by anyone, that the decision to drop the two bombs on Japan was wicked in itself, and that President Truman and all otherswho joined in making or who [like Robert Oppenheimer] assented to this decision shared in the wickedness. 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