Suppose that the U.S. had not succeeded in developing the nuclear bomb by 1945.
Suppose the U.S. had invaded Japan, landed on it’s shores, defeated the remnants of the Japanese army, and then proceeded to occupy Tokyo and Hiroshima and other Japanese cities. Suppose the Japanese still refused to surrender?
Suppose U.S. soldiers then proceeded to go house-to-house, force their occupants into the streets, and then slaughtered every man, woman, and child in the hearts of those cities. 10,000. 50,000. 100,000. 200,000. 200,000 bodies in the streets. Old men. Women. Children. Another 200,000 severely wounded.
Would we still have a monuments to their triumph? Would we say we were proud of their achievement? Would we ruefully note that if it hadn’t been for their actions, other loved Americans would have had to die in order to finish the war?
Would Richland, Washington, which is near Hanford, Washington where uranium for the bomb was developed, still have a mascot based on the event? Say, a bayonet? And a chant: “Gushing for the Grenade”? “All wet for the bayonet”? “Go for the Gun”?
If you think attitudes might have changed by now, think again. The town and the high school are still enthusiastically supportive of the mascot and theme, though some have tried to sanitize it by claiming that a mural of a bomber like the one that dropped the nuclear bomb actually refers to the bombing of German cities– as if the old men, women, and children in those cities were Nazi soldiers.
[whohit]Proud of the Cloud[/whohit]