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“Mr. Straight Arrow,” John Hersey, and the decision to drop the atomic bomb
Roy Scranton’s ”How John Hersey Bore Witness” (The New Republic, July-August 2019) is an insightful look at a new book on one of my favorite authors.
It touched all the right notes and has prompted me to add Mr. Straight Arrow to my “Christmas list.” Sadly, in the midst of this otherwise fine review, author Scranton repeats the discredited old chestnut that President…
- D. M. Giangreco
- History News Network
Truman’s real reason for using the weapons, according to Scranton, was to employ them as a diplomatic club against the Soviet Union.
This allegation was popular in some quarters during the 1960s and…
I read Hiroshima in school many long years ago. It seemed clear to me when I read it in the ‘60s that it was an indictment of the use of nuclear weapons. The fuller context –- and especially Truman and Hersey’s post-war relationship –- is a revelation. What’s clear now is that, in the context of the day, Truman and Hersey could both hate that The Bomb had to be used but recognize that it nevertheless had to be dropped to end the bloodshed that the Japanese were determined to inflict.
D. M. Giangreco didn’t mention this but reading the linked Scranton review in The New Republic makes it appear that author Jeremy Treglown’s book didn’t touch on Truman and Hersey’s relationship and the “very different times.” Or that if he did, Scranton either completely missed it or chose to not address these very fundamental matters.