Fangzhao Peng
The book review of
Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan
After reading this book, I have always been adhering to a belief that the history chose the
atomic bomb. If it is not the atomic bomb, another weapons will instead of the atomic bomb
to end the war. Because history has its own inevitability.
First, Walker believed that the main purposes of Truman to use the atomic bomb was to
decrease U.S. Army’s casualties and ended the war as soon as possible. Author’s opinion of
Truman is “His honesty was often tempered by political considerations. His bluntness could
be indiscreet or needlessly offensive. His decisiveness could lead to superficial or impulsive
judgments. And his confidence was often a show that disguised insecurity and self-doubt(7).”
After that, author mentioned the interview that Henry Wallace interviewed by Marquis Childs
:”Wallace replied that their relationship ‘that the President had cooperated with me in
everything I had wanted.’ And Truman did that way with everyone (9).” Truman relied on his
three aides: Stimson, Marshall and Byrnes. Truman and his aides’ points were surprisingly
similar on the way of ending this war. According to author, Stimson said:” ‘The bomb as a
merely probable weapon [was] a weak reed on which to rely.’ And Stimson went on to
recommend the bomb be used against Japan in order to end the war as soon as possible and
avoid the huge numbers of American casualties that an invasion would incur (2).”The
description of Marshall by the author is” ‘ We killed 100,000 Japanese… but it didn’t mean a
thing insofar as actually beating the Japanese.’ He also revealed that ‘Churchill estimated that
we would sustain 500,000 casualties’ in an invasion. Therefore, the use of atomic bombs
seemed to be the best way to avoid such shocking numbers of dead, wounded, and missing
Americans (3-4).’ “The Byrnes also suggested that “The bomb was needed to spare ‘the lives
of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers.’ And it would save ‘the lives of hundreds of
thousands of Japanese boys and millions more of [the] Japanese people (4).’ ” After that,
according to author’s description, Truman said ” ‘a quarter of a million of the flower of our
young manhood was worth a couple of Japanese cities (4-5).’ ” Obviously, Truman agreed to
use the atomic bomb for the purpose of reducing U.S. military casualties. And the myth is ”
