Ike and Hiroshima: Did He Oppose it?

Journal of Strategic Studies

Volumn 10, Issue 3, 1987, Pages 377-389

  Bernstein, Barton J ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0041155529     PISSN: 01402390     EISSN: 1743937X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402398708437307     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. ‘Ike on Ike’, Newsweek, 62 (11 Nov. 1963), p.107.
2. See, for example, Gar Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy (New York: Penguin, rev. ed., 1985), pp.284–5.
3. New York Times, 14 Aug. 1945, p. 10; cf. Eisenhower in Edgar Snow, Journey to The Beginning (New York: Random House, 1958), pp.360–61.
4. Arthur H. Compton to A. J. McCartney, 18 March 1946, A. H. Compton Papers, Washington University (St. Louis); Oppenheimer, quoted in Lincoln Barnett, ‘J. Robert Oppenheimer’, Life 27 (10 Oct. 1949), p. 133. Also see (Oppenheimer) for the Scientific Advisory Panel to George Harrison, 28 Sept. 1945, in Atomic Energy Commission, ‘Thermonuclear Weapons Chronology’ (1955 ms.), p. 11, AEC Records, Department of Energy Historical Office (Germantown, MD.).
5. Crusade in Europe (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1948), p.443; same version in draft, Ch. 16, Crusade in Europe manuscript, box 4, Eisenhower Library.
6. See, for example, Paul Farrell in Commonweal 49 (3 Dec. 1948), p.201; Edward M. Earle, ‘The Man Who Might Have Been President’, Atlantic Monthly 182 (Dec. 1948), pp.85–90; Fletcher Pratt, ‘Eisenhower’s Memoir’, Nation 167 (27 Nov. 1948), p.607; William H. Hale, ‘Five Star Final: Eisenhower Reports’, New Republic 119 (20 Dec. 1948), pp.22–3; and Crane Brinton, ‘Accounting to The American People’, Saturday Review of Literature 31 (20 Nov. 1948), pp.9–10.
7. Henry L. Stimson to Harry S. Truman, 7 Jan. 1947, Stimson Papers, Yale.
8. William Hillman (ed.), Mr. President (New York: Farrar, Strauss, 1952), p.248; cf. Truman’s ‘Potsdam Diary’, which may be incomplete for this period, in Truman Papers, Truman Library (Independence, Missouri).
9. Mandate For Change (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1963), pp.312–13.
10. See, for example, William Leahy diary, Leahy Papers, Library of Congress (LC); Stimson diary and also ‘Notes For Diary’, Stimson Papers; Arnold, ‘Terminal Conference’, Arnold Papers, L. C; ‘W. B.’s Notes’, James F. Byrnes Papers, Clemson University; Lt. William Rigdon, ‘Log of the President’s Trip to the Berlin Conference’, Truman Library; Truman, Year of Decisions (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1955), pp.415–20; and drafts of memoirs, Post-Presidential Papers, Truman Library. Also see: Henry Arnold, Global Mission (New York: Harper, 1949), pp. 588–9; Leahy, I Was There (New York: Whittlesey, 1950), pp.399–429; Ernest J. King and Walter M. Whitehill, Fleet Admiral King (New York: Norton, 1952), pp.620–21; James F. Byrnes, Speaking Frankly (New York: Harper, 1947), pp.66–87; Byrnes, All In One Lifetime (New York: Harper, 1958), pp.285–304; Stimson and McGeorge Bundy, On Active Service in Peace and War (New York: Harper, 1948), pp.612–33; and Forrest Pogue interviews with General Marshall, in Marshall Library (Lexington, VA).
11. Groves (draft) to Howard Gottlieb, n.d. (about 7–16 Nov. 1963), Groves Papers, Military Branch, National Archives (NA).
12. Stimson diary, 20 and 27 July, and also see ‘Notes For Diary’, 20 July 1945, Stimson Papers. There is no Eisenhower calendar or appointment book for this period. (Galambos to author, 19 Dec. 1986.)
13. See, for example, Stimson diary, 29 May 1945, and John J. McCloy, ‘Memorandum of Conversation With General Marshall’, 29 May 1945. Records of the Secretary of War, Record Group (RG) 107, NA. Also see Stimson diary, 9 and 31 May and 1 June 1945, and Interim Committee Minutes, 9 and 31 May and 1 June 1945, Harrison-Bundy Files #100, Records of the Manhattan Engineer District, RG 77, NA. For agreement on the reliability of Stimson’s diary, Gottlieb to Groves, 30 Nov. 1963, Groves Papers, citing Elting Morison, Stimson’s biographer, and my December 1984 interview with Morison.
14. Groves (draft) to Gottlieb, n.d. (about 7–16 Nov. 1963).
15. William Kyle to Groves, 13 Dec. 1963; and Groves (draft) to Kyle, n.d. (about 19 Nov.), Groves Papers.
16. Groves (draft) to Gottlieb, n.d. (about 7–16 Nov. 1963).
17. Eisenhower to Swede Hazlett, 12 July 1945, Eisenhower Papers, Eisenhower Library.
18. Eisenhower to William D. Pawley, 9 April 1955, Name Series, box 25, Eisenhower Papers.
19. Andrew Goodpaster, ‘Memorandum of Conversation with the President, 6 April 1960’, 11 April 1960, Eisenhower Diary Series, box 33, Eisenhower Papers; and my interview with General Goodpaster, Sept. 1980.
20. ‘Ike on Ike’, Newsweek (11 Nov. 1963), pp. 107–8; and Eisenhower to John J. McCloy, 18 June 1965, 1961–1969 Principal File, Eisenhower Papers.
21. John Eisenhower, Strictly Personal (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), p.97.
22. John Eisenhower to author, 4 Nov. 1986. For David Eisenhower’s treatment of this subject, see his Eisenhower At War (New York: Random House, 1986), p.697, and his additional reasons (admittedly tentative) in David Eisenhower to author, 2 Oct. 1986.
23. Omar Bradley and Clay Blair, A General’s Life: An Autobiography By General of the Army Omar Bradley (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983), pp.445 and 707.
24. Alperovitz, ‘More on Atomic Diplomacy’, Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists 41 (Dec. 1985), p.36.
25. See Blair, ‘Collaborator’s Foreword’, in A General’s Life, pp.9–10; and Blair to author, 12 March 1986. For a sharp-tongued critique of this ‘biography that has been written to sound like an autobiography’, see Gordon Craig, ‘Bradley’s Class’, New York Review, 30 June 1983, pp. 17–18.
26. Bradley and Blair, General’s Life, pp.445 and 707. Possibly Blair was influenced by Charles Mee, Meeting at Potsdam (New York: Evans, 1975), pp.78–9, 236, 238, 241, a remarkably unreliable book that had Ike giving anti-bomb advice to Truman.
27. Bradley to Eisenhower, 17 Aug. 1945, Bradley Papers, box 10, US Army Military Institute, with copy also in ‘16–52’ file, Eisenhower Library. Neither library has a reply by Eisenhower and probably he did not reply.
28. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 1890–1952 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973), pp.426 and 596.
29. Ambrose, Eisenhower, pp.426 and 596. A similar conclusion, without any reference to appropriate sources, occurs in the heavily derivative book by Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987), p.688.
30. Ambrose, Eisenhower, pp.445–8. This interpretation of Ambrose’s process was written in the summer of 1986 as the ‘probable’ process by which he had reached conclusions, and later confirmed by him (Ambrose to author, 4 Dec. 1986).
31. Ambrose to author, 4 Dec. 1986; Eisenhower, At Ease (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1967), pp.264, 268; and Ambrose, Eisenhower, pp.402–4.
32. Eisenhower, Mandate for Change, pp. 459–83; memorandum of discussion of the 240th Meeting of the NSC, 10 March 1955, NSC Series, Box 6, Diaries (Ann Whitman); Dulles, memorandum of meeting with the President, 17 April 1955, Dulles Papers; both from Eisenhower Library and called to my attention by Gordon Chang, who has written a valuable interpretation of the 1954–55 events.
33. Barton J. Bernstein, ‘A Postwar Myth: 500,000 U.S. Lives Saved’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 42 (June–July 1986), pp.38–40.
34. For a different case of rewriting personal history on the A-bomb, see Edward Teller, with Allen Brown, The Legacy of Hiroshima (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962), pp. 18–20; Teller, ‘Bombing of Hiroshima Was a Mistake’, U.S. News and World Report 49 (15 Aug. 1960), pp.75–6; and cf. Teller to Leo Szilard, 2 July 1945, Oppenheimer Papers, LC, and Szilard Papers, University of California, San Diego. Without Teller’s 2 July letter, which surfaced years after his public claims, analysts would probably believe his often-repeated claims of pre-Hiroshima opposition.
35. For publicity on Ike’s 1963-expressed doubts see, for example, ‘Ike on Ike,’ Newsweek (11 Nov. 1963), pp. 107–8; and Richard Rovere, ‘The Way Was Clear’, New Yorker 39 (16 Nov. 1963), pp.236–7. Rovere wrote that Ike’s ‘air of certitude [about his objection to the atomic bombing] is to a large degree a product of White House years’. So pleased was Groves by this comment that he noted to himself, ‘While I have always thought that Rovere was too biased against everything that I believe in I think in this case he makes a very good point’ (Groves undated note, about late November 1963, Groves Papers).
36. Herbert Feis, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1966), pp. 194–5; cf. Feis, Japan Subdued (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961), pp. 181–2, and 1959 draft (with deleted paragraph from 1961 edition), in Feis Papers, LC.
37. On Marshall, see McCloy, ‘Memorandum of Conversation with General Marshall’, 29 May 1945; Interim Committe Minutes, 31 May and 1 June 1945; and Pogue interview with Marshall, 11 Feb. 1957. On Arnold, see ‘Trip to Pacific’, 16 June 1945, Arnold Papers; JCS 1421, 16 July 1945, CCS 381 Japan (6–14–45), Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, RG 218, NA: and Arnold, Global Mission, pp.598–99. On King, see King and Whitehill, Fleet Admiral King, pp.620–21; Leahy diary, 18 June 1945; and Minutes of White House Meeting, 18 June 1945, CCS Japan (6–14–45), Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Leahy, see his I Was There, pp.440–41; Leahy diary, 10 July and 5 Sept. 1944, and 1 Jan. and 18 June 1945; Minutes of White House Meeting, 18 June 1945; and Groves, ‘Comments on Was A-Bomb on Japan a Mistake’, n.d. (late 1960), Groves Papers. Also compare Curtis LeMay, with MacKinley Kantor, Mission With LeMay (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1965), pp.381 and 384; and interviews with LeMay, 12, 26 and 27 Jan. 1965, p.2. Alfred Simpson Historical Research Center (Maxwell, AL). For a more trusting use of memoirs, see Alperovitz, ‘More on Atomic Diplomacy’, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Dec. 1985), 36–9; Alperovitz, Atomic Diplomacy (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1965), especially pp.236–42; and ibid. (rev. ed., 1985), especially pp.282–90, which strangely ignored many of the archival materials (opened after 1965) that might have unsettled his conclusions and his use of some published sources.