Hello All ;
To Mr. MikeGriffith1 :
It is immaterial whether there was a back channel, a front channel, a side channel, or a cable news channel. The fact is, the Allies had
defeated Japan, and had publicly set the terms for their surrender at the Potsdam Conference. The Japanese had two choices: Either accept the terms outlined at Potsdam, and do so publicly, or refuse them and continue to fight until their ultimate destruction. The Japanese initially chose the second path. They
REFUSED TO UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER !
The Japanese apparently could not get their heads around the fact that their navy had been sunk, their air forces were being shot out of the sky whenever they took to the air, and their armies were being isolated and destroyed, one by one. Their egotism and ethnocentricity did not permit them to accept the concept that the
gaijin could defeat them. After all, Japan had
NEVER been defeated, not by the Mongols, not by the Chinese, not by the Russians, and not by the Germans. The idea that they had been defeated, and that they had no option but to surrender under the terms dictated to them by the Allies was beyond their comprehension. They were like a computer that is set up for Basic, and is confronted by a program in FORTRAN. They just
DID NOT UNDERSTAND IT.
Besieging Japan would do nothing but instill in the Emperor, his Cabinet, and the Japanese Military the idea that the Allies were somehow
AFRAID to invade Japan, that the indomitable
Bushido Spirit as exemplified by the surviving Japanese military personnel and the civilians, who were being trained to fight as Militia, had somehow instilled such a sense of terror in the Allies that they would
NOT invade, and so would allow the Emperor and his government to continue to exist and to rule over Japan, as they had done for centuries.
THIS WAS NOT ACCEPTABLE TO THE ALLIES.
For this reason, the U.S. dropped a Uranium Bomb on Hiroshima. The following day, Prime Minister Suzuki held a press conference, at which he announced that Japan would NOT accept the Potsdam declaration. As a result, the U.S. dropped a Plutonium Bomb on Nagasaki.
The Emperor then broadcast his message to the people of Japan, which included the statement,
"...the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage...."
Mr. Griffith, anyone who has raised children has had the experience in which the child is misbehaving, and refuses to listen to the instructions or the commands of the adults responsible for his welfare. In those cases, it is sometimes necessary to get the attention of the child with the use of a leather strap, a small stick, or even the palm of one's hand.
The reason that the Allies, and principally the United States, did not besiege Japan, was that Japan could ignore the existence of such a siege in the same way they were ignoring the destruction of their armed forces and the gradual obliteration of their cities and their industries by the conventional bombing campaign then in effect. In effect, they were like a child who refuses to listen and obey. The United States had to find a way to get the attention of the Emperor and his Cabinet. We needed to make them see the light. So we used a
VERY bright light. Twice.
And they finally saw the light.
Respectfully :
Paul R. Ward
To rephrase Hilaire Belloc :
" Whatever happens, We have got
The Atomic Bomb, and they have not.... "