Do Americans have perception of collective guilt for Nagasaki and Hiroshima A-bombing?

Question

I had a chance to talk to Germans and they do think that Hitler and Germany were on the wrong track at that time .

Answer 1

i do, im only 13 though, but i especially think that the people responsible for it do, i know that i could never do anything like that and be able to sleep at night.

Answer 2

Coming to the United States comparitivly late in life, I don not think I can speak for all Americans. But I would have to say no.

I do find it interesting the people who often speak of the bombings as war crimes do not speak of the Japanese rape of Nanking. Nor the experiments conducted at Harbin. Or the Japanese use of biologial and chemical weapons. Or the fact that the Japanese were also working on atomic weapons. Or the fact that the cities contained large industrial complexes. Many also fail to look at the cost in men and equipment required to take much smaller islands such Iwo Jima. People also fail to mention the attempted coup by the Japanese military who did not want the Emporer to surrender. Also, no one seems to mention the fact that when it was clear that Allied soldiers were going to be successful in the taking of an island; there would be mass suicides among the Japanese civilian population wishing to avoid capture.

The fact of the matter is that the bombings ended the war quickly and completely, with a minimum number deaths possible.

Answer 3

Nope. not at all. Look as all the facts surrounding the war in the Pacific. We were fighting Japan. A country known for fighting to the death on many of the small islands the Marines and Army attacked. Their civilian population would have taken up arms against a US invasion on their home island. Millions of civilians would have died trying to fight battle hardened Marines and Soldiers. Plus the lose of US lives. So, this is going to seem weird, the best action for both countries in the long run was a way to end the war as quickly AND with fewer causalities than a amphibious landing and land battle on the Japanese main island. If there was ever a time to use a "super bomb" is was then and there.

Answer 4

A collective guilt about conducting legal military operations which brought an end to WWII, a war that killed millions of people? NO.

As for the collective guilt of the Germans regrading Hitler and by extension their military aggression which started WWII in Europe...good for them.

The difference is that the Nazi war machine was a major cause of starting WWII (along with the Japanese). The US war machine was a major cause of ending WWII.

Why should any country feel guilt; collective or otherwise, in ending a war?

Answer 5

No, for two reasons:

1) it actually saved lives. The casualty rate (on both sides) would have been way higher if we invaded Japan. Japan was training their civilians to fight.

2) I was not around at the time (born 19 years after the fact), and even if I was, I would have had no say in the decision to use atomic weapons. Why should I feel guilty about something I had no control over?

Answer 6

Saving millions of young americans doesn't elicit guilt from this american,but that's just me. A country that tries to moralize or 'civilize' a thing like war or using nukes wll most likely be defeated, that to me is the lesson of Dresden, Nagasaki and Hiroshima....

Answer 7

No

Before Political Correctness, no. Truman had to make a decision, the US and Allies were preparing to invade the Japanese mainland. Based on Okinawa, and Iwo Jima, the US was predicting 1 million US casualties.

If dropping this bomb could force surrender and save American lives, then that is what he had to do. I guess you could say Truman supported the troops by dropping the bombs on Japan.

The Japanese were brutal in their occupation of Asia. From the Bataan Death March to the atrocities in China, Burma, and other locations, I think that helped make the choice easier for Truman.

Answer 8

Lamplight, civilians in Iraq die because the insurgent cowards hide in crowds of them and shoot at us. They hide weapons in innocent civilians houses, threaten to kill them if they say anything, and then use them for cover when we pursue them. They count on us shooting civilians so they can say, "SEE!! SEE!! THEY KILL OUR INNOCENTS!!! ... DEATH TO AMERICA!! ALLAH AKBAR" And the stories get circulated throughout Iraq and Afghanistan without our side getting to say anything. Were not ******* Nazi's... if the insurgents would stop the resistance, then we would pull out. Or they could fight like real men out in the open desert or away from civilians and the war would be over in hours. It's as simple as that, and they know it. Stop the resistance and the fighting stops. All we want is peace and democracy. Obviously they don't, or else they would have stopped. Either way the smart thing for them to do is to stop. If we leave like this, there's too much of a chance of extreme civil war. So we will stay their until our job is finished despite what the media publicizes.

Answer 9

I think people kinda feel bad when they're reminded, but otherwise, they don't really care, not because it's not important, but that it doesn't really affect us personally. It's kinda like during the holidays, or right after watching some documentries on CNN, we might contribute money to the dying people in Africa, but after a while, it kinda gets pushed to the backs of our minds, and we don't think about it, because we have never really felt like they, and so we don't actually really deep down inside care.
I know, I sound so heartless, but that's just how I fell about the way the human mind works.

Answer 10

NO way ,at the time it was the fight thing to do.A estimated millon more troop deaths if land invaded.Now both Germany and Japan are economic leaders whose products far exceed anything made in North America.They treated our war prisoners like crap and they want an opoligy?Ask my family thats burried over there?

Answer 11

There is some debate about whether we should have dropped the A-bombs, but most Americans think that it was necessary to win the war.