August 14, 1945: World War II Ends with V-J Day

 

August 14, 1945, 80 years ago: Japan surrenders, ending World War II. President Harry S Truman proclaims it is V-J Day, Victory over Japan Day.

Emperor Hirohito delivered Japan's surrender over radio. It was the 1st time the people of that country had ever heard their Emperor's voice. Since they revered him as something like a god, they accepted his surrender.

It had been 8 days since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. It had been 5 days since the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.

The Soviets were planning to invade Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan's "home islands" on August 15. The Americans and the British were planning to invade Kyushu, the southernmost island, on November 1.

The Emperor knew it was over. Some in his Cabinet, including the military leaders, wanted to fight to the last man. But the Emperor knew that surrendering now would mean he could work with the Americans, and keep the Soviets out. There would be an East and West Germany, a North and South Korea, and a North and South Vietnam. There would be no North and South Japan.

World War II cost 75 million lives, military and civilian combined. America rebuilt its defeated enemies, not just because it was a generous thing to do, but because it made West Germany and a still-united Japan allies against the Communist world.

Despite some close calls, there has never been a World War III.

July 16, 1945: The Trinity Test

July 16, 1945, 80 years ago: The Trinity test takes place. It is successful.

In June 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started the Manhattan Project. This walled-off, super-secure facility in Los Alamos, New Mexico was kept as secret as they could, in order to keep Nazi Germany from knowing what they were doing. As it turned out, the real worry was with the Soviet Union, and their spies.

Due to the Allied bombings of German facilities, the Nazis never came close to developing an atomic bomb. They surrendered on May 8, 1945. But the new President, Harry Truman, wanted to avoid a full-scale invasion of the remaining enemy, Japan, if at all possible. The atomic bomb was the solution.

The Project's director was J. Robert Oppenheimer. He had a concern that the bomb might ignite the atmosphere and eliminate all life on Earth. But he said the chance of that happening was "near zero."

The first bomb was completed, and its test, codenamed "Trinity," was set for July 16, 1945, at what is now White Sands Missile Range, in a sparsely populated area outside Bingham, New Mexico. The detonation was at 5:29 AM Mountain Time, 7:29 U.S. Eastern Time. The test was successful. But every witness knew that this was both good news in the short term and, potentially, very bad news in the long run. They knew that America wouldn't have a monopoly on the bomb forever. Oppenheimer later said:

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita. Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty, and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed form, and says, "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.

On August 6, Truman ordered the dropping of the 1st available atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9, he ordered another, dropped on Nagasaki. On August 14, Japan surrendered.

In 1949, the Soviets announced that they had successfully tested an atomic bomb.