April 12, 2006

Disputing Truman's Use of Nuclear Weapons- Again

By Robert James Maddox
The contentious debate over President Truman's use of nuclear weapons against Japan to end World War Two in 1945 is once again roiling academic waters. Nuclear doctrine is a question of concern far beyond the rarified circle of intellectual elites, so the dispute has profound real world implications. The Society For Historians of American Foreign Relations recently announced that the prestigious Robert Ferrell Book Prize had been awarded to Tsuyoshi Hasegawa for his book Racing the Enemy:  Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan (Harvard University Press, 2005).  This comes as no surprise.  Gushing reviews have appeared in newspapers, journals, and websites proclaiming his work  'a landmark book,' 'brilliant and definitive,' and  'the definitive analysis.'  Harvard historian Ernest R. May has predicted that '...with this book, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa will establish himself as the expert on the end of the war in the Pacific.'  Ironically, Robert Ferrell himself is less than ecstatic...(Read Full Article)