Truman, the Bomband the Politics of Fear, Reaction Paper Example

After four years of war, no diplomatic initiative or political compromise could have brought Japan’s war leaders to a negotiated settlement in 1945.  President Truman had seen how British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s concessions to Nazi Germany laid the groundwork for war in Europe.

By 1945, Japan had long since committed to total war.  The Kamikaze onslaught proved that there could be no forced surrender, an abhorrent notion to Japan’s warrior culture.  The Americans had fought their way across the Pacific, island by island, until their bombers were close enough to launch daily raids over the Japanese mainland.  Japan was fighting for its survival.

Nor was any ally in a position to aid in the invasion of Japan.  The Russians had sustained more than 20 million casualties in their struggle to subdue Germany.  China lay prone, having suffered as many as 10 million casualties during the Japanese occupation.  American casualty estimates for the planned invasion ranged from 500,000 to one million – figures unacceptable to Truman and his advisers.

Given the exorbitant cost of the Manhattan Project, Truman would have come under intense scrutiny from Congress had the atomic bomb gone unused.  And considering the nation’s intense desire to bring the war to a speedy end, Truman’s refusal to drop the bombs in favor of a bloody, all-out assault would have precluded any possibility of reelection in 1948.

The Soviet Union emerged from the war in Europe a long-term, global threat to Democracy.  The Red Army survived the Nazi onslaught to become one of the most powerful armies in the world, one which had swallowed up Eastern Europe as it bore down on Germany.  In a confrontational post-war world that pitted American against this aggressive new power, the atomic bomb represented an effective bargaining chip.

The decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was correct and inescapable given the intense domestic pressures on President Truman, the horrendous loss of life in the Pacific theater of war and high casualty rates expected from an assault on the Japanese mainland.

Executive Order 9835

When President Truman signed Executive Order (E.O.) 9835 on March 21, 1947, he opened the door to one of the darkest chapters in American history.  An outgrowth of the Cold War, E.O 9835 was intended to eliminate Communist influence in the federal government by establishing a loyalty program, including the investigation of more than 3 million government employees.  It gave the FBI unprecedented powers – which were abused – and created an environment in which a political opportunist like Joseph McCarthy could flourish.

Truman faced an uncertain presidential election in 1948.  The Republicans had made inroads in 1946 by accusing the Democrats of being “soft on Communism.”  Truman sought to counter Republican criticism and election gains by creating the Temporary Commission on Employee Loyalty, a group heavily influenced by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

After the loyalty commission was established, the Attorney General’s List of Subversive Organizations and the House Un-American Activities Commission soon followed – the witch hunt was on.  Hundreds of federal employees were dismissed and thousands more voluntarily resigned as a result of the investigations. By 1950, McCarthy had made the first of his infamous allegations, playing on what was by then near hysteria.

Truman’s position had been weakened by the 1946 election losses, but in truth his efforts to placate the Republicans and play to growing anti-Communist sentiment further eroded his position and gave the FBI and other monitoring agencies too much power.  It wasn’t long before they began to exceed their mandates.

The entire country was preoccupied with the Cold War in the late 1940s and 1950s.  Fear of Communism was so widespread that some national upheaval was inevitable: when the issue was turned into a political football, the inevitable came to pass.  Truman was an astute politician schooled in compromise and deal-making.  Unfortunately, the ramifications of E.O. 9835 were too far-reaching to have been wielded in the name of political expediency.  Truman and his advisers seem to have overlooked the implicit dangers.

Nonetheless, Truman had to take some action given the mood of the country.  An ad hoc committee should have been formed solely for the purpose of investigating subversive activity within the government.  Along with its clearly defined role, a timetable for completion of its work should have been established.

Once the investigations were complete, their findings should have been made public.   Those individuals accused of actively promoting Communist interests should have been given every opportunity to defend themselves.  Those few law-abiding citizens who actually were Communists should have been given the option of either recanting or proclaiming their loyalty to the United States.  In this way, the country might have achieved closure and avoided 10 destructive years of paranoia and tragedy that rocked America’s Democratic foundations.

References

Patterson, J.T. (2000).  America in the 20^th Century, 5^th edition New York:  Prentice Hall

McCullough, D. (1992).  Truman New York:  Simon and Schuster

Holloway, D. (1994).  Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy 1939-1956 New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press

Truman, H. (1947).  Executive Orders, Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953 Independence, Missouri: Harry S. Truman Library

Burnes, B. (2003).  Harry S. Truman: His Life and Times Kansas City, Missouri: Kansas City Star Books

Hamby, A.L. (1974).  Harry S. Truman and the Fair Deal Lexington, Massachusetts:  D.C. Heath and Company