Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the United States of America has maintained its status as the world’s only remaining superpower. In recent years, critics of President Obama’s administration have claimed that his Foreign Policy has weakened the United States’s position in the world. A key example being the Iran Nuclear Deal, who many criticize as a further example of the administration's weak foreign policy. I’m not here to discuss policy or criticize the President; as the Bismark reference suggests, I’m here to discuss the new Blood & Iron: Nuclear weapons and their role in what is called Atomic Diplomacy. Specifically, it’s history, and why it’s so relevant today with issues like the Iran Nuclear Deal.
In 1945, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union met in Potsdam, Germany to discuss the future of of Europe and specifically Germany in the post World War II era to come. There, Truman, hoping to further his ambitions in Europe, revealed to Stalin (as veiled threat) that the United States possessed the Atomic Bomb, Stalin simply replied that hoped he planned to use it.
Truman did, dropping two bombs, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki forcing the Empire of Japan's unconditional surrender. Many supporters of Truman’s use of the Atomic Bomb have stated that Truman's use of the weapon saved close to a million lives. In D.M. Giangreco’s article, “A Score of Bloody Okinawas and Iwo Jimas: President Truman and Casualty Estimates for the Invasion of Japan,” an analysis made by Truman’s cabinet and military advisors do back up the claim that Truman’s Decision saved between 500,000 to 1,000,000 lives.[1] However, while this might be a legitimate reason, there are a few things to consider about what was happening and the current time.
At the time, the Soviet Union (the United States's ally) had not entered the war in the Pacific Theatre alongside China, the United States and Great Britain. Talks between Stalin and the Empire of Japan had begun in the hopes the Soviet Union would pressure Truman into a softer end to the war. Finally, Truman's distrust of the Soviet Union was well known and his possessed a desire to keep them out of the Reconstruction of the Pacific Theater. Which is where we come to our theme, the use of the Atomic Bomb, demonstrating its power, and using it to gain political or diplomatic goals. By dropping the Atomic Bomb, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan after Hiroshima and entered the war.
[1] D.M. Giangreco. “A Score of Bloody Okinawas and Iwo Jimas: President Truman and Casualty Estimates for the Invasion of Japan,” University of California Press 72, No. 1 (2003): 110.
