Historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa disputes Truman's use of A-bombs
EVANSVILLE — Were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?
Writer and historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa knows his World War II endgame subject matter doesn't sit well with some Americans.
"They don't want to hear that maybe America made a mistake," said Hasegawa, a professor of history at the University of California and Santa Barbara and the author of "Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and Japan's Surrender in the Pacific War."
"I spoke at a place in Oregon that was full of war veterans. Some walked out," he said Friday evening before delivering the Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture at the University of Evansville.
"I believe the atomic bombs were not as important in bringing about Japan's surrender as the Soviet entry into the Pacific War. Japan was relying on Moscow to mediate the result."...
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Writer and historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa knows his World War II endgame subject matter doesn't sit well with some Americans.
"They don't want to hear that maybe America made a mistake," said Hasegawa, a professor of history at the University of California and Santa Barbara and the author of "Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman and Japan's Surrender in the Pacific War."
"I spoke at a place in Oregon that was full of war veterans. Some walked out," he said Friday evening before delivering the Thomas C. Fiddick Memorial Lecture at the University of Evansville.
"I believe the atomic bombs were not as important in bringing about Japan's surrender as the Soviet entry into the Pacific War. Japan was relying on Moscow to mediate the result."...