The Day the World Went Nuclear
Page 11
CHAPTER 52
THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, D.C.
August 10, 1945 • 6:30 A.M.
PRESIDENT TRUMAN RECEIVES the Japanese surrender letter in his private quarters at the White House. In the absence of a Japanese embassy in Washington, which has not existed since the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hirohito has sent the communiqué to the embassy of neutral Switzerland, which then passed it on to the War Department.
“In obedience to the gracious command of His Majesty the Emperor,” the document begins, “the Japanese Government are ready to accept the terms enumerated in the joint declaration which was issued at Potsdam on July 26th, 1945, by the heads of the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, and China, and later subscribed to by the Soviet Government.”
Thus far, there is nothing in the language to deflate Truman’s hopes for an unconditional surrender. This unlikely man who was nominated for the vice presidency just one year ago and who assumed the mantle of president of the United States at a most pivotal moment in world history is just a few sentences away from ending the Second World War. The German surrender in May was inevitable; the Japanese situation has been much trickier and has required Truman to show diplomatic steel to match America’s military might. He has made many difficult decisions, with poise and focus. The slip of paper he holds in his hand is the culmination of four agonizing months in office. Yet he reads with trepidation, hoping the document is in accord with the surrender terms put forth by the United States.
It is not. The Japanese are attaching one vital condition to their surrender: “with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a Sovereign Ruler.”
Truman has been expecting this, and a small part of him may be willing to let Hirohito stay on the throne. Secretary of War Stimson has long argued that this is necessary to restore order in a postwar Japan. Certainly, General Douglas MacArthur has also made his conviction on this subject known.
But Truman is unsure: “Could we even consider a message with so large a ‘but’ as the kind of unconditional surrender we had fought for?” he will later write. It is a question that weighs heavily upon him.
The president is due to meet with his cabinet at 2:00 P.M. this Friday, but he hastily convenes a more discreet meeting to discuss the Japanese terms. In attendance are Stimson, Secretary of State James Byrnes, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal, and Admiral William Leahy, Truman’s chief of staff.
The room splits. Byrnes favors pushing for unconditional surrender; Stimson still maintains that the emperor is vital to Japan’s postwar rehabilitation. Truman, who has already decided that no further atomic bombs will be dropped without his specific orders, listens patiently to both sides. It is Forrestal who suggests there might be a loophole in the Potsdam terms that would allow the acceptance of Japan’s surrender offer.
President Truman (fourth from right) meets with his cabinet to discuss terms of the Japanese surrender, August 10, 1945. [Harry S. Truman Library]
So it is that Truman orders that Japan be sent a counteroffer: Hirohito can remain, but he will not have immunity from war crimes.
“Ate lunch at my desk and discussed the Jap offer to surrender,” Truman writes in his journal that night. “They wanted to make a condition precedent to the surrender. Our terms are ‘unconditional.’ They wanted to keep the Emperor. We told ’em we’d tell ’em how to keep him, but we’d make the terms.”
The message is cabled to Switzerland, then on to Tokyo.
It reads: “With regard to the Japanese Government’s message accepting the terms of the Potsdam proclamation but containing the statement, ‘with the understanding that the said declaration does not comprise any demand which prejudices the prerogatives of His Majesty as a sovereign ruler,’ our position is as follows:
“From the moment of surrender the authority of the Emperor and the Japanese Government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied powers who will take such steps as he deems proper to effectuate the surrender terms.”
One day passes without word from the Japanese. Then another.
And still another.
Truman seethes.
CHAPTER 53
THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, D.C.
August 13, 1945 • 9:00 A.M.
THE PRESIDENT IS AT WORK in the Oval Office. Sensing that the Japanese will not accept his counteroffer, he authorizes the resumption of B-29 bombing raids utilizing conventional and incendiary bombs. Truman spends the afternoon with Lieutenant General Richard Sutherland, chief of staff for General Douglas MacArthur. The topic of discussion is the upcoming invasion of Japan. But there is another item Truman wishes to discuss with the fifty-one-year-old Sutherland, having to do with a secret plan the president has concocted to have Douglas MacArthur oversee the postwar rebuilding of Japan.
Meanwhile, as they have for almost a week, exhausted reporters and photographers crowd into the White House press briefing room, awaiting surrender news.
Outside, on the streets of Washington, rumors of an impending surrender are the talk of the day. In Lafayette Square, just across the street from the White House, citizens hold a vigil, longing to be at the epicenter of events when news of the Japanese capitulation is finally announced.
And still, there is nothing but silence from Japan.
Tuesday, August 14, is more of the same.
August is normally a time when the government goes on holiday to avoid the heat of Washington, but Truman obviously cannot leave.
Truman’s outward behavior is calm. Reporters comment on his “cool stride” and “matter-of-factness.”
Outside the White House, the crowd in Lafayette Square has now swelled to ten thousand. The press is still on round-the-clock standby, afraid of leaving the White House for even an instant.
Cameramen and sound technicians wait at the White House for news that Japan has surrendered, August 14, 1945. [Harry S. Truman Library]
CHAPTER 54
TOKYO, JAPAN
August 14, 1945
IN TOKYO, HUNDREDS of thousands of leaflets fell into the streets two days ago, dropped by American B-29 bombers. They told the Japanese people that resistance was no longer realistic.
Now, prompted by the ongoing silence of the Japanese leadership, another massive flight of more than eight hundred B-29s thunders unopposed over Japan—only this time, their payload is not paper. In an act of redundancy, the Twentieth Air Force bombs what has already been bombed and obliterates what has already been obliterated in a massive show of force that is immediately nicknamed the Big Finale.
By 1:00 P.M. on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 14, as the people of Washington wait eagerly for the war’s end, Japan blazes once more.
* * *
Emperor Hirohito does not see the flames. He remains in his quarters while outside his palace, rebellious junior officers of the Imperial Japanese Army are revolting. Their aim is to prevent the surrender of Japan by overthrowing Hirohito. But it is already too late.
Hirohito’s agreement to the American terms of surrender has been transmitted to the neutral governments of Sweden and Switzerland. They were instructed to forward news of the acceptance to the leaders of the United States, Great Britain, China, and the Soviet Union. Then, in an act unparalleled in the history of Japan, the emperor met with technicians from NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, who recorded him reading the letter of surrender. Two phonographic records of this speech are now hidden within his wife’s personal safe in the Imperial Palace.
The treasonous junior officers are led by Major Kenji Hatanaka. He and Captain Shigetaro Uehara have shot dead Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori, the commander of the Imperial Guards, for his refusal to join the revolt.
Utilizing Mori’s personal stamp, rebellious officers create a false set of orders to fool seven Imperial Guard regiments, whose job it is to protect the emperor. The forged orders instruct a thousand troops to oc
cupy the palace, seize all gates, and cut telephone lines. Soon, all communications between the Imperial Palace and the outside world are severed. Now Hatanaka and his allies begin searching the palace for two precious targets: the emperor himself and the recordings of his surrender speech. The Imperial Palace and its gardens sprawl across a swath of central Tokyo a mile wide; there are countless places the emperor could be hiding. Hatanaka and the soldiers are relentless. Though they haven’t found what they’re looking for, they have succeeded in disarming the palace police and have detained and interrogated eighteen staff members who, incredibly, do not reveal anything.
Hirohito is completely severed from the world. The Imperial Palace’s great stone walls, a haven for so long, have now become a prison. For the first time in his entire life, there is no one to pamper him, pander to him, or protect him. Like the Japanese soldiers who died in island caves across the Pacific, Hirohito can only wait, unsure if he will live to see the morning.
At 3:00 A.M., forces loyal to the emperor storm the palace. Hatanaka and his allies flee into the night, having never found Hirohito or the recordings. Within hours they will take their own lives rather than face the consequences of their actions.
At 7:21 A.M., less than fifteen minutes after Harry Truman has received the message of Japanese surrender in Washington, D.C., the NHK broadcasts a special message: the emperor will speak directly to his people at noon.
CHAPTER 55
THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON, D.C.
August 14, 1945 • 7:00 P.M.
THE OVAL OFFICE is thirty-six feet long and twenty-nine feet wide, and every square inch is taken up by a scrum of journalists, klieg lights, and newsreel cameras.
Wearing a navy blue double-breasted suit and blue shirt, the president stands at his desk to alert the world: “I have received this afternoon a message from the Japanese government,” Truman begins, holding a copy of his speech in his right hand. “I deem this reply a full acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration which specifies the unconditional surrender of Japan.”
Outside the White House, almost half a million Americans begin a massive street party in Washington. “This capital city … relaxed its worn nerves and celebrated the winning of the war with a screaming, drinking, paper-tearing, free-kissing demonstration which combined all the features of New Year’s and Mardi Gras,” Yank magazine will report.
Crowds that have gathered outside the White House react to the news of the Japanese surrender. [Harry S. Truman Library]
Truman himself, accompanied by his wife, Bess, steps onto the White House lawn. “We want Truman,” the crowds lining the black wrought-iron fence chant. “We want Truman.”
The president responds by holding up the two-fingered V-for-Victory sign.
At long last, World War II is over.
President Harry S. Truman announces to reporters that Japan has surrendered. First lady Bess Truman is seated on the couch, second from left. [Harry S. Truman Library]
CHAPTER 56
TOKYO, JAPAN
August 15, 1945 • Noon
IN JAPAN, A TIME of national mourning has begun. At noon, as Washington celebrates, Emperor Hirohito’s radio address is broadcast to cities, hamlets, and villages throughout the country. Japanese soldiers abroad also hear the message via shortwave radio. The people have never before heard the emperor’s voice, so they react with a mixture of curiosity and shock. They are confused because the poor recording quality and the emperor’s use of an archaic form of Japanese make him hard to understand. But eventually the message becomes clear.
“To our good and loyal subjects,” the emperor starts in his high-pitched voice. “After pondering deeply the general trends of the world and the actual conditions obtaining in our empire today, we have decided to effect a settlement of the present situation by resorting to an extraordinary measure.…
Japanese POWs on Guam react to Emperor Hirohito’s announcement of Japan’s unconditional surrender, August 15, 1945. [National Archives]
“The war has lasted for nearly four years. Despite the best that has been done by everyone—the gallant fighting of our military and naval forces, the diligence and assiduity of our servants of the State, and the devoted service of our one hundred million people—the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage, while the general trends of the world have all turned against her interest.”
Hirohito does not use the word “surrender.” He merely states that he had resolved to “pave the way for a grand peace for all the generations to come by enduring the [unavoidable] and suffering what is unsufferable.” To many, that is actually an enormous relief; their fathers, husbands, and sons might finally return home from the fighting. But other Japanese citizens are shamed and angry. Hirohito ends this address the Japanese never thought they would hear:
“Unite your total strength to be devoted to the construction for the future. Cultivate the ways of rectitude, nobility of spirit, and work with resolution so that you may enhance the innate glory of the Imperial State and keep pace with the progress of the world.”
* * *
Across Japan, the truth sinks in: defeat. Many of the emperor’s subjects are so stunned at the sound of Hirohito’s voice admitting surrender that they collapse to the ground in shock. Several hundred military men kill themselves rather than accept Hirohito’s capitulation. A group of army and navy officers opt to make their suicides public, kneeling on the gravel in front of the Imperial Palace before placing pistols to their heads.
In some cases, the Japanese response takes the form of rage, as more than a dozen captured American fliers are taken from their POW cells on the island of Kyushu and executed with swords. It is due to war crimes like these that almost as soon as Hirohito’s speech is concluded, military bureaucrats across Japan begin burning files and documents that could be used against them by American investigators.
And so it is that Japan, the once-mighty occupying power, will itself now be occupied. Not even the god-man Hirohito can prevent that. Will the Americans seek vengeance? Will the conquerors destroy the Japanese way of life?
No one is sure, nor does anyone know how the Japanese will respond to their subjugation.
What is apparent is that a new emperor will soon arrive.
All hail General Douglas MacArthur.
CHAPTER 57
TOKYO BAY, JAPAN
August 29, 1945
PRESIDENT TRUMAN HAS DECIDED that the formal Japanese surrender will take place not on land but at sea. The Japanese leadership will sign the articles of surrender in Tokyo Bay, aboard the battleship USS Missouri. Dignitaries from all around the world will crowd the decks, MacArthur prominently among them.
Now, in a massive show of force, almost three hundred battleships, destroyers, cruisers, light aircraft carriers, frigates, sloops, submarines, tenders, hospital ships, and minesweepers wait their turn to sail through the minefields guarding the entrance to Tokyo Bay. In addition to the American fleet, there are ships from the navies of Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. If the people of Japan have any doubt that they are defeated, they need only stand on the shore and stare out to sea.
The USS Missouri in 1945. [Mary Evans Picture Library]
Among the many vessels, the most powerful is Admiral William Halsey’s flagship, the USS Missouri. Each of her sixteen-inch guns is sixty-seven feet in length, capable of launching a 2,700-pound armor-piercing shell twenty-three miles in less than fifty seconds. In addition, the Mighty Mo has twenty five-inch guns with an accurate range of ten miles. She is a monster of a ship, almost as long as a football field, with a crew of two thousand and a top speed of thirty-three knots. The Missouri’s big guns have fired on Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the Philippines, and Japan itself. Six months ago, the ship endured a direct hit by kamikaze attack. She absorbed the blow without loss of life.
There are also symbolic factors that add to the Missouri’s stature: The slate-gray vessel is named for the home state of President Harry Truman. His daugh
ter, Margaret, actually shattered the champagne bottle across her bow when she was nearly twenty and he was still a senator, officially launching the Missouri from Brooklyn’s naval shipyard in January 1944. An American flag that once flew over the United States Capitol in Washington is securely stored on board, waiting to be hoisted this coming Sunday. In addition, a second set of colors will be presented on board the Missouri: the thirty-one-star American flag belonging to Commodore Matthew Perry, whose historic 1853 voyage to Japan opened Japanese ports to American trade.
The Missouri is also the last battleship that the United States of America will ever build.
Early on the morning of August 29, 1945, a Japanese harbor pilot boards the Missouri to help Halsey’s crew navigate the minefields and channels of Tokyo Bay. The pilot helps Quartermaster Third Class Ed Kalanta steer the 44,560-ton Missouri from the conning tower on the main bridge. It was Kalanta who drove the Missouri through the Panama Canal a year ago, sliding her into the narrow locks with just a foot to spare on either side. Now, Admiral Halsey is one floor below the main bridge as the nineteen-year-old Kalanta and his Japanese adviser masterfully guide her into Tokyo Bay, en route to her appointment with destiny.
* * *
The Missouri drops anchor at midmorning. Rehearsals soon begin for the surrender ceremony, as the ship’s crew struggles to find space to fit the two hundred members of the press and dozens of dignitaries from around the world. History will take place on Sunday morning at 9:00 A.M. sharp.
Throughout the days of rehearsals, the Missouri’s mighty guns remain trained on Tokyo.
The war may be over, but the danger is not past.
CHAPTER 58
USS MISSOURI TOKYO BAY, JAPAN