First of all, blame Einstein. His determination of the equivalence of mass and energy let the proverbial genie out of the bottle. From that point forward, developing a nuclear weapon was inevitable. It was an engineering problem. Aren’t you glad we solved it first rather than, say, Hitler or the Japanese?
Secondly, for all the hand-wringing about the evils of nukes, is it a coincidence that since 1945 the world has been relatively peaceful?
Compare that time span to the previous 60 years which included the Spanish-American War, the Russo-Japanese War, World War I and World War II. Maybe the United States has been a good shepherd in terms of managing the awesome responsibility of being a nuclear power.
I can’t claim to be unbiased in this matter, having served as an engineering officer on a ballistic missile submarine. That said, I think our “deterrent patrols” made the world a safer place.
Mr. Klimek, I don’t know whether your grandfather served in World War II. If he did, and if he might have been in a troop transport on his way to invade the main islands of Japan, I am sure he would have been very happy about President Truman’s decision to drop the bomb.
Finally, as to why we dropped the A-bomb on Japan — well, they started it. People like Mr. Klimek would like to see no more Hiroshimas.
I would prefer to see no more Pearl Harbors.
Jack Jakucyk
Whispering Pines
