In response to Aaron Tovish’s Aug. 10 letter, “Children’s deaths were senseless,” I respect the Peace Boat organization, but Tovish’s letter contains some indefensible and incredible historical revisionism about Japan’s surrender in World War II that reflects poorly on that organization’s political agenda.
The truth is that the Japanese government was not actively considering surrender before the atomic bombings and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Some minor factions of the government were beginning to discuss surrender, but the Allies’ insistence on “unconditional surrender” was preventing the key players in Japan’s government from accepting surrender as an alternative, because they feared humiliation and the dismissal of the Emperor would result.
The Soviet invasion threat did prompt the Japanese government to start considering surrender, but the United States had no idea that the Japanese were starting to consider that alternative. The Western nations at war with Japan were losing people every day to combat, so for them to resort to a weapon they thought would shorten the war was understandable.
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