Hoover vs. the Hoover Institution

[arisbe]

"I told MacArthur of my memorandum of mid-May 1945 to Truman, that peace could be had with Japan by which our major objectives would be accomplished. MacArthur said that was correct and that we would have avoided all of the losses, the Atomic bomb, and the entry of Russia into Manchuria."

Two days after the dropping of the bomb, Hoover wrote, "The use of the atomic bomb, with its indiscriminate killing of women and children, revolts my soul."

[Via young Marcus Epstein.]

Comments

[arisbe.livejournal.com]

Well considered? No, not if the military weren't consulted -- and the thing had a military aspect, you know -- and would have advised against it, Eisenhower as well as MacArthur.

[novak.livejournal.com]

Okay, maybe I am way off here for not having read about this in years: I thought the military were fully a part of the decision, that their estimates for the human cost of the invasion were a huge factor, and such. Are you saying that the understanding is that this was an entirely executive decision from the President with no, or over and against, military input?

[kosub.livejournal.com]

I have no problem if MacArthur was left out of the loop. The man was a psycho, as his later actions during the Korean conflict indicated.