Source: Paul Fussell, a World War II Soldier, Thank God for the Atom Bomb, 1990. It would shock the American public and the world. From his point of view, as someone who served in the infantry during WWII, the bomb saved thousands of lives that would have been lost if there had been a D-Day style invasion of the Japanese home islands. Everybody in Japan was willing to die to for the war effort. Harry Truman . Bottom Line Thank God for the Atom Bomb is my second collection of Paul Fussell essays. Fussell writes that the bombs were necessary to end the war and that they were not intended to punish the Japanese. 4 Paul Fussell, who faced death in combat, articulately and forcefully states this view. But no answer came. This post is a stunning essay by Paul Fussell published in The New Republic in 1981. Add to Wish List Link to this Book Add to Bookbag Sell this Book Buy it at Amazon Compare Prices. Except for a few widely scattered shouts of joy, the survivors of the abyss sat hollow-eyed and silent, trying to comprehend a world without war. They are, on the one hand, says Bruce Page, the imperialist class-forces acting through Harry Truman and, on the other, those representing the humane, democratic virtuesin short, fascists as opposed to populists. But ironically the bomb saved the lives not of any imperialists but only of the low and humble, the quintessentially democratic huddled massesthe conscripted enlisted men manning the fated invasion divisions and the sailors crouching at their gun-mounts in terror of the Kamikazes. 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. 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. Chapter 8, The Pure Self, Dower explains the Japanese traditions and culture, along with the humiliation and discrimination the Japanese received. 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 . With our Essay Lab, you can create a customized outline within seconds to get started on your essay right away. These childlike drawings and paintings are of skin hanging down, breasts torn off, people bleeding and burning, dying mothers nursing dead babies. He states in the book that He did not want to violate the widely held American moral view that war should be fought against soldiers, not civilians. Hiroshima: A Soldier's View," The New Republic (August 26 and 29, 1981), pp. In the Pacific the situation grew so public and scandalous that in September 1942, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet issued this order: No part of the enemys body may be used as a souvenir. . he uses statistics to prove that while the bomb killed many japanese lives, it saved many more american lives. Having found the bomb, he said, we have used it. Fussell's argument resembles the standard defense of the bombings: dropping atomic bombs on two cities forced Japan to surrender without a costly US invasion of Japan and thus supposedly saved more American and Japanese lives than were lost in the bombings. Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was not theoretical or merely rumored in order to scare the Japanese. . Therefore, Fussell's argument is twofold: 1) that more Americans would die without the bomb; and 2) that Japanese civilians would be killed in large numbers during the planned invasion, meaning the bomb was instrumental in limiting the loss of human life. would be a ghastly bloodletting. My father was born in Hong Kong during the World War II period. To intensify the shame Gray insists we feel, he seems willing to fiddle the facts. His premise is that absent those horrific shocks, Japan would have never surrendered without a bloody invasion. Bottom Line Thank God for the Atom Bomb is my second collection of Paul Fussell essays. During the early 1920s the anti-Japanese crusade grew nastier (Marrin 63). Fussell is angry. When the young soldier with the wild eyes comes at you, firing, do you shoot him in the foot, hoping hell be hurt badly enough to drop or mis-aim the gun with which hes going to kill you, or do you shoot him in the chest (or, if youre a prime shot, in the head) and make certain that you and not he will be the survivor of that mortal moment? In his article, Fussell makes this point in various manners. Three days later, on August 9th, 1945, America dropped another bomb on Nagasaki with the code name Fat Man. 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. The Hiroshima bomb, he says, was dropped without any warning. But actually, two days before, 720,000 leaflets were dropped on the city urging everyone to get out and indicating that the place was going to be (as the Potsdam Declaration had promised) obliterated. We thought the Japanese would never surrender. Why? David Joravsky, now a professor of history at Northwestern, argued on the other hand that those who decided to use the A-bombs on cities betray defects of reason and self-restraint. It all neednt have happened, he says, if the U.S. government had been willing to take a few more days and to be a bit more thoughtful in opening up the age of nuclear warfare. Ive already noted what a few more days would mean to the luckless troops and sailors on the spot, and as to being thoughtful when opening up the age of nuclear warfare, of course no one was focusing on anything as portentous as that, which reflects a historians tidy hindsight. ". . ) Why does Fussell "thank God" for the atom bomb? Change). So many dead. He makes this apparent with his title and with the experiences of other people. John F. Kennedy. View fussels.docx from HIST MISC at Longwood University. When the war ended, Bruce Page was nine years old. site map real business rescue. . The people became prejudice. Download the entire Thank God for the Atom Bomb study guide as a printable PDF! "This is not a book to promote tranquility, and readers in quest of peace of mind should look elsewhere," writes Paul Fussell in the foreword to this original, sharp, tart, and thoroughly engaging work. 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. I yelled for medics, because subconsciously I wanted to live. To experience both sides, one might study the book Unforgettable Fire: Pictures Drawnby Atomic Bomb Survivors, which presents a number of amateur drawings and watercolors of the Hiroshima scene made by middle-aged and elderly survivors for a peace exhibition in 1975. It would be not just stupid but would betray a lamentable want of human experience to expect soldiers to be very sensitive humanitarians. Why does Fussell "thank God" for the atom bomb? The main argument of the essay is based around social class and personal experience. (A good place to interrupt and remember Glenn Grays noble but hopelessly one-sided remarks about injustice, as well as suffering.). In Paul Fussell's essay "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" , he argues the importance of experience when thinking about the use of the atom bomb. The dramatic postwar Japanese success at hustling and merchandising and tourism has (happily, in many ways) effaced for most people the vicious assault context in which the Hiroshima horror should be viewed. Planners of the invasion assumed that it would require a full year, to November 1946, for the Japanese to be sufficiently worn down by land-combat attrition to surrender. Fussell, a retired University of Pennsylania professor, is editor of The Norton Book of Modern War and the author of many books, among them Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays and the award-winning The Great War and Modern Memory. And indeed the bombs were . In Its clear the US should not have bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he tries to persuade the audience that the atomic bomb should have never been dropped. The past, which as always did not know the future, acted in ways that ask to be imagined before they are condemned. I wonder what became of him. 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. Course Syllabus School, What Is It GoodFor? In the article by Paul Fussell "Thank God for the Atom Bomb," Fussell illustrates his views on the dropping of the atom bomb. 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. Thank God for the atom bomb, and other essays by Paul Fussell. In Scotch, Teachers is the great experience. General Hap Arnold explaines his point of view on why he thinks using atomic bombing in war should be used only in the proper way. (LogOut/ More delay would have made possible deeper moral considerations and perhaps laudable second thoughts and restraint. Paul Fussell, "Thank God for the Atom Bomb," in Fussell, Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays (Summit Books, 1988) [22] Who is more convincing - Walzer or Fussell? His books include: The Making of an American High School (Yale, 1988); How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning: The Credentials Race in American Education (Yale, 1997); The Trouble with Ed Schools (Yale University Press, 2004); Someone Has to Fail: The Zero-Sum Game of Public Schooling (Harvard, 2010); and A Perfect Mess: The Unlikely Ascendancy of American Higher Education (Chicago, 2017).View all posts by David Labaree. 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 . The japanese were nowhere near aware of what was going to happen that day, and they had no idea of how much pain and suffering it would inflict. All this is not to deny that like the Russian Revolution, the atom-bombing of Japan was a vast historical tragedy, and every passing year magnifies the dilemma into which it has lodged the contemporary world. And of course the brutality was not just on one side. Q. I dont demand that he experience having his ass shot off. These soldiers experienced the brutality and mostrosities of the war. (Dower 353). He begins his essay with a verse: "In life, experience is the great teacher. 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. Summary Of Thank God For The Atom Bomb By Paul Fussell 499 Words | 2 Pages. 209-230. Many refused to believe it. . google my business from dodging creditors to. 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. . Even today I vividly remember the sight. 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 . Hiroshima--. Russian troops had moved into Hungary and Romania, and Byrnes thought it would be very difficult to persuade Russia to withdraw her troops from Fussell is writing for an audience (readers of the New Republic magazine) that quite likely was born after World War II and has no direct experience with the war in the Pacific, or in later wars such as Korea or, more significantly, Vietnam. The Alsop-Joravsky debate, reduced to a collision between experience and theory, was conducted with a certain civilized respect for evidence. Kucinich supports the claim that the bomb was not needed to end the war, although some may disagree. What had I done to deserve this? Everyone blew everything out of proportion. 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. For this was hell, the soldier goes on. Are forced upon us by our impudent crimes. Part III, The War in Japanese Eyes, allows the reader to receive a Japanese perspective and also grasp how devastating the results of war were. . Paul Fussell's "Thank God For Atom The Bomb" was first published under the title"Hiroshima: A Soldier's View," in a magazine, the New Republic,in August 1981. In short, I strongly disagree with the author because the bomb needed to be dropping in order to end the war. The headline of this column is lifted from a 1981 essay by the late Paul Fussell, the cultural critic and war memoirist. Read honest and unbiased product reviews from our users. Despite pleas from US President, Harry Truman, for Japan to surrender, the Japanese were intent on continuing the fight. atomic bomb, also called atom bomb, weapon with great explosive power that results from the sudden release of energy upon the splitting, or fission, of the nuclei of a heavy element such as plutonium or uranium. 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. The killing was all going to be over, and peace was actually going to be the state of things. The combat soldier, he says. During the war there were many times for the Japanese to surrender, but it was never done. I tried to apply my right hand over my bleeding stump, but I didnt have the strength to hold it. Already a member? Many of those who were on the front lines were not elaborately educated people. They did not know the horrors the soldiers went through. Arthur T. Hadley said recently that those for whom the use of the A-bomb was wrong seem to be implying that 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. People holding such views, he notes, do not come from the ranks of society that produce infantrymen or pilots. And theres aneloquence problem: most of those with firsthand experience of the war at its worst were not elaborately educated people. 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. To this end he quotes Arthur T Hadley as saying, People holding such views [i.e., that dropping the bomb was wrong] do not come from the ranks of society that produce infantrymen or pilots. These are the people Fussell is addressing. I believe that the idea of the atomic bomb as something the people would be thankful for is very challenging and yet Fussell, in my opinion, was able to gather all the main ideas behind his argument along with statistics and gave the people a new perspective for the ending of World War II. Fussell argues that people who consider the decisions wrong lack personal experience of the horrors of war as seen from the infantry perspective, because their class privilege means that they have no relevant personal experience. People have argued over the years if the atomic bombing was justified or not, and multiple points can be made on both arguments, yet I take it that the bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not justified. . What did he do in the 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. If it is argued that the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima was necessary to shock the Japanese to surrender, how does one justify the hasty bombing of Nagasaki only They would have annihilated a lot of us Fussell. (Its worth noting in passing how few hopes blacks could entertain of desegregation and decent treatment when the U.S. Army itself slandered the enemy as the little brown Jap.) Marines and soldiers could augment their view of their own invincibility by possessing a well-washed Japanese skull, and very soon after Guadalcanal it was common to treat surrendering Japanese as handy rifle targets. I merely note that he didnt. Indeed, unless they actually encountered the enemy during the war, most soldiers have very little idea what combat was like. ", What is an example of an appeal to character in "Thank God for the Atom Bomb? His sources supplement his arguments, none more so than John Tolands The Rising Sun: the, Dennis Kucinich, a representative from Ohio, in the persuasive text titled We didnt need to drop the bomb, posted online in 2015, addresses the topic of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Educators go through a rigorous application process, and every answer they submit is reviewed by our in-house editorial team. The entire Japanese problem has been magnified out of its true proportion largely due to the physical characteristics of the people (Martin 31). He workedin the Office of Price Administration in Washington. So many maimed. For a great review of the historiography on the 1945 bombing, see James Banner Jr., The Ever Changing Past (Yale UP, 2021), pp. 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. "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" is an essay written by Paul Fussell, a historian and World War II veteran. His latest book is about American. . The warning from US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin . . Please help! 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