The atom bomb was no 'great decision.' It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The decision to use the atom bomb on Japanese cities, and the consequent buildup of enormous nuclear arsenals, was made by governments, on the basis of political and military perceptions.
Some think the worst horrors of war might be avoided by an international agreement not to use atomic bombs. This is a vain hope.
But I think the bomb instead constitutes merely a first step in a new control by man over the forces of nature too revolutionary and dangerous to fit into old concepts.
There was no military reason to drop atomic bombs on Japan. They were used as terrorist weapons - killing innocent people to influence other people.
The atomic weapons race and the secrecy surrounding it crushed American democracy. It induced us to conduct government according to lies. It distorted justice. It undermined American morality.
The real abhorrent consequence of the invention of atomic bombs is the fact that we still have them and they're spreading.
The only use for an atomic bomb is to keep somebody else from using one.
Dropping those atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a war crime.
I always go back to Harry Truman: Should we drop an atomic bomb to save 100,000 lives? That's a hell of a decision to make. Did he make that decision by himself? No, he had advisers.
The atomic bomb made the prospect of future war unendurable. It has led us up those last few steps to the mountain pass; and beyond there is a different country.