(1) Kyoto - This target is an urban industrial area with a population of 1,000,000. It is the former capital of Japan and many people and industries are now being moved there as other areas are being destroyed. From the psychological point of view there is the advantage that Kyoto is an intellectual center for Japan and the people there are more apt to appreciate the significance of such a weapon as the gadget. (Classified as an AA Target)
(5) Niigata - This is a port of embarkation on the N.W. coast of Honshu. Its importance is increasing as other ports are damaged. Machine tool industries are located there and it is a potential center for industrial despersion. It has oil refineries and storage. (Classified as a B Target)
(6) The possibility of bombing the Emperor's palace was discussed. It was agreed that we should not recommend it but that any action for this bombing should come from authorities on military policy. It was agreed that we should obtain information from which we could determine the effectiveness of our weapon against this target.
1. The second meeting of the Target Committee convened at 9:00 AM 10 May in Dr. Oppenheimer's office at Site Y with the following present:
General Farrell Dr. C. Lauritsen Colonel Seeman Dr. Ramsey Captain Parsons Dr. Dennison Major Derry Dr. von Neumann Dr. Stearns Dr. Wilson Dr. Tolman Dr. Penney Dr. Oppenheimer
President Truman told his diary on July 25, 1945, that he had ordered the bomb used. Emphasis has been added to highlight Truman's apparent belief that he had ordered the bomb dropped on a "purely military" target, so that "military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children."
He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japs to surrender and save lives. I'm sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler's crowd or Stalin's did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful...
DECLASSIFIED E.O. 11652, Secs 3(E) and 5(D) or (E) NND 730039 By ERC NARS, Date 6-4-74
25 July 1945
TO: General Carl Spaatz Commanding General United States Army Strategic Air Forces
1. The 509 Composite Group, 20th Air Force will deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki. To carry military and civilian scientific personnel from the War Department to observe and record the effects of the explosion of the bomb, additional aircraft will accompany the airplane carrying the bomb. The observing planes will stay several miles distant from the point of impact of the bomb.
2. Additional bombs will be delivered on the above targets as soon as made ready by the project staff. Further instructions will be issued concerning targets other than those listed above.
4. The foregoing directive is issued to you by direc- tion and with the approval of the Secretary of War and of the Chief of Staff, USA. It is desired that you personally deliver one copy of this directive to General MacArthur and one copy to Admiral Nimitz for their information.
(Sgd) THOS. T. HANDY
THOS. T. HANDY General, G.S.C. Acting Chief of Staff
Table 1: Estimated nuclear casualties for each of 10 large Indian and Pakistani cities City Total Population within 5 km of Ground Zero Killed Severely Injured Slightly Injured
India Bangalore 3,077,937 314,000 175,000 411,000 Bombay 3,143,284 477,000 229,000 477,000 Calcutta 3,520,344 357,000 198,000 466,000 Madras 3,252,628 364,000 196,000 449,000 New Delhi 1,638,744 176,000 94,000 218,000
December, 2004. In addition, Prime Minister Koizumi has also made clear his intention to continue visiting the Yasukuni shrine, which China regards as a monument to Japanese militarism. Interestingly enough, public opinion polls in Japan show many more citizens supporting Mr Koizumi's visits, as well supporting further cuts in development aid to China. This creates a political context that may render it easier for the government to embrace the nuclear option.
Indicative of the wide range of his responsibilities was Groves's position as head of a bomb target selection group set up in late April, a responsibility he shared with General Thomas Farrell, appointed Groves’s military aide in February 1945. In late May the committee of scientists and Army Air Force officers listed Kokura Arsenal, Hiroshima, Niigata, and Kyoto as the four best targets, believing that attacks on these cities-none of which had yet been bombed by Curtis LeMay’s Twentieth Air Force (which planned to eliminate all major Japanese cities by January 1, 1946)-would make a profound psychological impression on Japanese and weaken military resistance. Stimson vetoed Kyoto, Japan’s most cherished cultural center, and Nagasaki replaced the ancient capital in the directive issued to the Army Air Force on July 25.
GROVES, STIMSON, AND THE SAVING OF KYOTO Kyoto, the top choice of Major General Groves' Target Committee, was never bombed. On May 30, 1945, Groves met Secretary of War Stimson, who asked for the target list. Stimson vetoed Kyoto because it "was he ancient capital of Japan, a historical city, and one that was of great religious significance to the Japanese." He had visited the city several times and was "very much impressed by its ancient culture." Stimson was concerned that the destroying Kyoto would permanently embitter the Japanese against the United States and increase Soviet influence in Japan. Groves argued that Kyoto had a population of over a million, did much war work and had a highly suitable geography for the bomb. He fought for two months to reinstate the city to the target list, but to no avail. In July the port city of Nagasaki was added instead.
During these years he met and fell in love with Mabel Wellington White. They were not married until five years later when he established himself in a profession. They were fated to have no children, but it was a very long and happy marriage. They honeymooned in the Japanese city of Kyoto, which such made an impression on him that in 1945 it led him to veto the dropping of an atomic bomb on the city, which was one of the four shortlisted targets.
During the Spring and summer of 1945, Truman had verbally confirmed proposals presented to him by Stimson and Byrnes to use the bomb. According to General Groves, Truman's decision "was one of noninterference--basically a decision not to upset existing plans."