Historical Dictionary of United States-Japan ... - Bakumatsu Films

46 • ATOMIC BOMB ATTACKS
Over the previous 12 months, his administration had adopted everhardening
policies toward Japan’s hegemonic aspirations in the Far
East, yet it had always sought to leave that nation something other than
a stark choice between war and peace. Roosevelt saw no pressing need
to abandon that policy at Churchill’s behest. He proposed instead to revive
a proposal he had floated in an earlier conversation with the
Japanese ambassador, whereby if Japanese troops withdrew from
French Indochina, Washington would seek to settle remaining issues
with Japan. Only if and when the Japanese failed to respond to this proposal
and instead undertook further aggression, would Roosevelt respond
with measures that “might result in war between the United
States and Japan.” This might not have been as firm as Churchill had
hoped, but Roosevelt had committed the United States to an everstiffening
program of deterrence of Japanese expansion in the Far East.
After returning to Washington, Roosevelt further watered down his
statement. In a meeting with the Japanese ambassador Admiral
Kichisaburō Nomura on 17 August, Roosevelt stated that if Japan
undertook any further aggression Washington would take the steps
necessary to safeguard the rights and interests of the United States. He
also informed the ambassador that he was willing to see a resumption
of negotiations between the two countries (which had broken down after
Japanese troops had occupied southern Indochina in July).
ATOMIC BOMB ATTACKS (AUGUST 1945). After the research
and development of uranium and plutonium-based atomic weapons
in a top-secret program known as the Manhattan Project, United
States political and military decision-makers approved two atomic
bomb attacks. The first atomic bomb attack was on the city of Hiroshima
on 6 August 1945; the second, three days later on the city of
Nagasaki. The attack on Hiroshima killed approximately 200,000
people, while the attack on Nagasaki killed over 80,000 people. Both
cities are port cities, and had some military-related installations. But
over 90 percent of the dead and injured were civilians. Hours before
the attack on Nagasaki, the Soviet Army began its invasion of
Japanese-controlled Manchuria in northern China. On 15 August
1945, Emperor Hirohito made an announcement of surrender ending
the war. See Also ATOMIC BOMBING DEBATE; PACIFIC
WAR; WORLD WAR II.