Description:
Since 7 August 1945, the justification for the atomic bombings of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki has been that they "ended the war and saved lives."
Without the atomic shock, it has been said, the military "fanatics"
who ruled Japan in the Spring of 1945, would not have surrendered unconditionally
on 14 August 1945. This would have meant that the war would have gone on
longer causing more and more deaths with each passing day. By ending the
war in mid-August, many lives were thereby saved, we have been told. The
lecture will present a thorough an analysis of the chronology of the ending
of the war and of the political pressures under which both the Suzuki and
Truman governments operated in order to allow each student to more fully
evaluate this traditional justification for the bombings.
Objective:
1. To know the chronology of the ending of the war, 2. To distinguish between claims of cause and coincidence in public rhetoric, 3. To understand the political pressures under which the Suzuki government worked,
4. To understand the political pressures under which the Truman government worked, 5. To understand the core ethical issue raised by the atomic bombings.
Readings:
Hallett, Brien. 2010. Remembering the Atomic Bombings. In Carol Rinnert, Omar Farouk, and Inoue Yasuhiro, eds., Hiroshima and Peace. Hiroshima, Japan: Keisuisha.
Additional Readings:
These are the two most recent books on the topic.
Hasegawa Tsuyoshi. 2005. Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Malloy, Sean L. 2008. Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Bomb Against Japan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Name: Brien Hallett
Present Post and Title: Associate Professor, Matsunaga Institute for Peace, University of Hawai'i-Manoa,
USA
Final Education: Ph.D. University of Hawaii, Manoa
Specialized Field: Satyagraha as practiced by Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Vaclav Havel, the just-war criteria, terrorism, the declaring of war, speech act theory
Recent Publications:
*Hallett, Brien. Forthcoming (2012). Declaring War: Congress, the President, and What the Constitution Does Not Say. New York: Cambridge University Press.
*Hallett, Brien. 2010. Remembering the Atomic Bombings. In Carol Rinnert, Omar Farouk, and Inoue Yasuhiro, eds., Hiroshima and Peace. Hiroshima, Japan: Keisuisha.
*Hallett, Brien. 2010. Decision to War and International Law. In, Nigel Young, ed., The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace. New York: Oxford University Press.
*Hallett, Brien. 2008. Declarations of War. In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, 2nd ed. Kurtz, Lester R., ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
*Hallett, Brien. 2008. Just-War Criteria. In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, 2nd ed. Kurtz, Lester R., ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
*Hallett, Brien. 2007. Afterward: To Forgive and Forget? In Fear of Persecution. Eds. James D. White and Anthony J. Marsella. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
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