Name: Thank God for the Atom Bomb
ISBN: 9780345361356

Thank God for the Atom Bomb

"This is not a book to promote tranquility, and readers in quest of peace of mind should look elsewhere," writes Paul Fussell in the foreword to this original, sharp, tart, and thoroughly engaging work. The celebrated author focuses his lethal wit on habitual euphemizers, artistically pretentious third-rate novelists, sexual puritans, and the "Disneyfiers of life". He moves from the inflammatory title piece on the morality of dropping the bomb on Hiroshima to a hilarious disquisition on the "naturist movement", to essays on the meaning of the Indy 500 race, on George Orwell, and on the shift in men's chivalric impulses toward their mothers. Fussell's "frighteningly acute eye for the manners, mores, and cultural tastes of Americans" (The New York Times Book Review) is abundantly evident in this entertaining dissection of the enemies of truth, beauty, and justice

What Hacker News says

davejagodaJun 2025

Thank you for your thoughtful reply.

I'm not trying to be rude, and I'm not choosing random quotes. I chose Eisenhower since I was surprised to learn his opinion on the subject, and actually read the quote out of a paper copy of his autobiography. So while I can't be 100% sure that he wrote that, it seems extremely likely that he did.

Until a few years ago, I believed what I had learned in school - that the bombs were necessary to end the war more quickly, and that they actually saved both American and Japanese lives by hastening the surrender. If invading the home islands was the only way, and if there was a fight to the last person, then that would be a reasonable conclusion.

A few counterarguments I heard over time were not easy to dismiss:

1. Why did the surrender come on August 15th? Since no more bombs arrived after August 9th, what changed? In particular, if the US had more nuclear weapons to use, where was the August 12th bomb, since there was apparently a 3 day cycle. From the perspective of the Japanese military leadership, one explanation would be there were no more ready, so the urgency to surrender before further bombs would be lessened.

2. Why did Operation Meetinghouse (March 10th, 1945) which caused a similar amount of destruction with only conventional weapons not precipitate a surrender?

3. How important were the other reasons to use the weapons, such as: a. Testing out their effectiveness against a real enemy target. Conducting such a test initially seemed hard to believe, but in context of the firebombing of cities in Japan (e.g. Tokyo) and Germany (e.g. Dresden) may have made this test plausible to Allied military leaders. The fact that two different types of bomb were used bolsters the argument that this was in part a test. b. Deterring the Soviet armies from continuing to take territory because they had the conventional means to doing so. In other words, this was not just to end WW2, but to set the stage for the post-war environment that was coming soon. c. Making sure that the huge expense of developing the weapons wasn't "wasted" by not using them against an enemy.

I've read Paul Fussell's "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" (which I just re-read now) since it's the most concise yet persuasive argument I've encountered in favor of using atomic weapons to save lives. If I knew of a similar writing making the opposite case, I would share it here. If you know of such a thing, please let me know.

My current understanding of the situation is that the accumulation of damage inflicted against Japan helped cause the leadership to surrender. The proximate tipping point was the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. That meant the end of their peace treaty with the Soviets, the foreclosing of the possibility of the Soviets facilitating peace negotiations with the Allies, and increased the likelihood of an invasion of the home islands by the Red Army before an American invasion could happen. This is the event that finally brought the Japanese government to their senses.

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lnwlebjelSep 2024

Thank God For the Atom Bomb:

https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/iakh/HIS1300MET/v12/unde...

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philipkglassJun 2024

To this I will add two more longish, striking, compulsively readable pieces about World War II:

Thank God For the Atom Bomb (also by Paul Fussell): https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/iakh/HIS1300MET/v12/unde...

Losing the War by Lee Sandlin: https://www.leesandlin.com/articles/LosingTheWar.htm

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TMWNNMay 2023

> I wonder what percentage of humanity given the details surrounding these bombings, the destruction and aftermath, would see it as justified or necessary. I personally don't accept that. Nuclear weapons should never be used by humans on humans.

The best response to all criticism of the bombings is "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" by Paul Fussell, The New Republic, August 1981.

<https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/iakh/HIS1300MET/v12/unde...>

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TMWNNMay 2023

Highly relevant: "Thank God for the Atom Bomb" by Paul Fussell, The New Republic, August 1981.

<https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/hf/iakh/HIS1300MET/v12/unde...>

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andrewlMay 2012

Try reading the title piece of his collection "Thank God for the Atom Bomb." I thought of it when I read your essay "What you Can't Say." Fussell liked breaking rules, and he did it with subtlety and a lot of thought. He was a complex thinker.

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