Our own Cardinal Archbishop, Blase Cupich, spoke at a special ceremony in Nagasaki, Japan, marking the eightieth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on that city, a weapon that killed 60,000 to 80,000 people (including those who died immediately and those who died later from radiation poisoning).. He reflects on America’s decision to drop the bomb and the implications of that decision today. I am including part of his talk here, because it touches upon one of the most fundamental of issues, the future of life on earth.

“I believe that, due to the abandonment of a fundamental claim of both international law and my Church’s moral tradition, the decision to use atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was deeply flawed. The Geneva Convention and the Just War Theory both maintain that there is a line to be drawn between innocent people and those individuals who are liable to deliberate attack due to their role in the war effort. During the course of World War II, large numbers of civilians in cities had already become targets prior to the atomic bomb . . . . The firebombing of the city of Dresden, Germany helped set a precedent for the U.S. Air Force and normalized the intentional killing of great numbers of Japanese civilians . . . .

“By 1945 the goal was to shorten a war that was already years long and civilian deaths were taken for granted as part of the cost of war. So, in the Pacific theatre, the U.S. operated under a strategy that had become for all intents and purposes, virtually total war . . . .Historians tell us that when President Harry Truman decided the atomic bombs should be used, he did not find it a difficult decision. That judgment of historians is supported by Truman’s own words found in his written memoirs: ‘I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubt that it should be used.’ . . . .

“In the eighty years since the fateful atomic bombings, the public mood in my nation has undergone change. A minority of Americans still approve to Truman’s decisions, but two-thirds do not.  . . . And yet I note with regret, the same essay that reported the decline in Americans’ support of the first use of atomic weapons in war, also revelated there remains a willingness among a majority of Americans citizens to use nuclear weapons against a contemporary threat to the U.S. military. ‘The U.S. publics’ willingness to use nuclear weapons and deliberately kill foreign civilians has not changed as much since 1945 as many scholars have assumed.’ . . . .

“Nations, such as my own country, have sought to find security through nuclear stockpiles. What that has led us to is the uneasy reality of armed standoffs between nations, which we have mistaken for genuine peace . . . . As the only nation that has used nuclear weapons in war and as the nation with a nuclear arsenal that dwarfs those of all others beside Russia, I believe the United States has a special obligation to lead the human family in a different direction. The United States must seek to build an international order that rests upon a non-nuclear foundation. This cannot be done if America adopts a foreign policy of neo-isolationism, which some in the U.S. seem to want. Instead, diplomatic engagement with Russia should place nuclear arms reduction at the top of the agenda. When serious reductions are attained by the two superpowers, the time will arrive to expand the conversation to include the other nuclear armed nations.”

Let me add a few personal notes. Sometime in the 1980’s, a columnist for the Diocese of Memphis newspaper wrote about his experience in World War II. He included the statement, “We were relieved when they dropped the bomb.” Because of this statement, he was let go by the paper. I thought his dismissal was a bit unfair since he was simply stating how soldiers felt at the time. I remember talking to my dad about this, since he was also a World War II veteran. He said, “Nobody knew what the bomb was going to do, but we all wanted the war to end as quickly as possible. When they surrendered, we were relieved that we were not going to die.”

Although I was never in the Service, I did serve one year of Marine ROTC in high school. ROTC was required at our Catholic high school, partly because it fulfilled the state requirement for physical education at no cost to the school.  Our drill instructor did share with us how soldiers are prepared for war. This was during the Vietnam War, and he told us, “Men there’s something you need to know. Life is cheap for them people over there. They are not like us.”

                                                                               Fr. Joe