any positive indication that the Japanese would have accepted a surrender under anything close to the final terms - which were in complete conformity with the Allies' Potsdam Declaration:
" GRÄSSLI
Charge d'Affaires ad interim
of Switzerland
The Honorable
JAMES F. BYRNES
Secretary of State.
BYRNES Reply of August 11, 1945. <4>
AUGUST 11, 1945
SIR:
I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your note of August 10, and in reply to inform you that the President of the United States has directed me to send to you for transmission by your Government to the Japanese Government the following message on behalf of the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China:
"With regard to the Japanese Government's message accepting the terms of the Potsdam proclamation, but containing the statement, 'with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a sovereign ruler,' our position is as follows:
"From the moment of surrender the authority of
<4> Ibid.
Page 77
the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate the surrender terms.
"The Emperor will be required to authorize and ensure the signature by the Government of Japan and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters of the surrender terms necessary to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration, and shall issue his commands to all the Japanese military, naval and air authorities and to all the forces under their control wherever located to cease active operations and to surrender their arms, and to issue such other orders as the Supreme Commander may require to give effect to the surrender terms.
"Immediately upon the surrender the Japanese Government shall transport prisoners of war and civilian internees to places of safety, as directed, where they can quickly be placed aboard Allied transports.
"The ultimate form of government of Japan shall, in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration, be established by the freely expressed will of the Japanese people.
"The armed forces of the Allied Powers will remain in Japan until the purposes set forth in the Potsdam Declaration are achieved."
Accept
JAMES F. BYRNES
Secretary of State
Mr. MAX GRÄSSLI
Charge d'Affaires ad interim of
Switzerland.
Page 78
GRÄSSLI Letter of August 14, 1945. <5>
AUGUST 14, 1945.
SIR:
I have the honor to refer to your note of August 11, in which you requested me to transmit to my Government the reply of the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and China to the message from the Japanese Government which was communicated in my note of August 10.
At 20.10 today (Swiss Time) the Japanese Minister to Switzerland conveyed the following written statement to the Swiss Government for transmission to the four Allied governments:
"Communication of the Japanese Government of August 14, 1945, addressed to the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China:
"With reference to the Japanese Government's note of August 10 regarding their acceptance of the provisions of the Potsdam declaration and the reply of the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China sent by American Secretary of State Byrnes under the date of August 11, the Japanese Government have the honor to communicate to the Governments of the four powers as follows:
"1. His Majesty the Emperor has issued an Imperial rescript regarding Japan's acceptance of the provisions of the Potsdam declaration.
"2. His Majesty the Emperor is prepared to authorize and ensure the signature by his Government
<5> Department of State Bulletin, August 19, 1945.
Page 79
and the Imperial General Headquarters of the necessary terms for carrying out the provisions of the Potsdam declaration. His Majesty is also prepared to issue his commands to all the military, naval, and air authorities of Japan and all the forces under their control wherever located to cease active operations, to surrender arms and to issue such other orders as may be required by the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces for the execution of the above-mentioned terms."
Accept
GRÄSSLI
Charge d'Affaires ad interim
of Switzerland
BYRNES Reply of August 14, 1945. <6>
AUGUST 14, 1945.
SIR:
With reference to your communication of today's date, transmitting the reply of the Japanese Government to the communication which I sent through you to the Japanese Government on August 11, on behalf of the Governments of the United States, China, the United Kingdom, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which I regard as full acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and of my statement of August 11, 1945, I have the honor to inform you that the President of the United States has directed that the following message be sent to you for transmission to the Japanese Government:
"You are to proceed as follows:
"(1) Direct prompt cessation of hostilities by
<6> Ibid.
Page 80
Japanese forces, informing the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers of the effective date and hour of such cessation.
"(2) Send emissaries at once to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers with information of the disposition of the Japanese forces and commanders, and fully empowered to make any arrangements directed by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers to enable him and his accompanying forces to arrive at the place designated by him to receive the formal surrender.
"(3) For the purpose of receiving such surrender and carrying it into effect, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur has been designated as the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, and he will notify the Japanese Government of the time, place and other details of the formal surrender."
Accept
JAMES F. BYRNES
Secretary of State
MAX GRÄSSLI, Esquire,
Charge d'Affaires ad interim of Switzerland
Page 81
"I deem this reply a full acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration which specifies the unconditional surrender of Japan."
Statement by PRESIDENT TRUMAN on the Japanese notes accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. <7>
Washington. August 14, 1945.
I have received this afternoon a message from the Japanese Government in reply to the message forwarded to that Government by the Secretary of State on August 11. I deem this reply a full acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration which specifies the unconditional surrender of Japan. In the reply there is no qualification."
Source: http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/war.term/093_03.html
The best estimates for the impending invasion were 1 million Allied casualties. The Japanese knew of the decimation of Hiroshima well in time to prevent Nagasaki; they did not initiate any contact. After Nagasaki, they responded with the surrender offer immediately.
The Zinn question is flawed, at best. No nation-state in human history would have sacrificed its own civilian population to spare the enemy in an active declared war, whether or not that action would shorten the duration of the war. Nor should they have done so. The first obligation of a legitimate government is to protect its citizens' lives and safety.
It may be a wonderful dream to think of a world without borders or nationalism, but that world did not exist in 1945, nor does it today.
It is humane and decent and just to minimize civilian casualties. But when the choice comes down to their civilians, or many times that of our soldiers, the choice is clear. War is a dirty business. Winning a war is not easy or pretty, but it beats the hell out of losing one.
The real moral dilemma was the choice of targets. All major military bases had been destroyed or severely damaged already, so the only remaining legitimate military targets were port facilities. Hitting these with The Bomb would have cost even more lives, though, and hindered rebuilding efforts besides. So the military misled Truman that Hiroshima and Nagasaki held disguised military factories. They did, but the factories were so small they had been ignored by the conventional bombing campaign.
There was even serious debate about a "demonstration" detonation, hitting the ocean near Japan or one of several sparsely-populated islands as a warning shot. That decision was avoided because a) we only had two bombs, and b) we weren't sure it would work being dropped from the air (which had not yet been done), so a failed demonstration would have emboldened resistance.
It is important to remember how the Japanese conquered and fought. The Nazis systematically killed Jews and others they considered opponents or inferior, but this was a project of the hierarchy; only the policymakers and the soldiers at the death camps really knew the details of what was going on. The average Japanese soldier was a brutal, killing, torturing, raping machine. Our POWs held by the Germans were treated almost in accord with the Geneva Convention, while those held by the Japanese were routinely tortured, starved, or used as slave labor. Civilian populations were ruthlessly attacked by the Japanese, while the Germans reserved their brutality for signs of actual resistance.