Asked and Answered: A Letter Home on Hiroshima
Today, President Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to visit Hiroshima since the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on this Japanese city on August 6, 1945.
The world was forever changed here. But today, the children of this city will go through their day in peace. That is precious. That is worth protecting; and granting to every child. That’s the future we can choose — a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare, but as the start of our own moral awakening.
His visit brings an opportunity to reflect on the devastating human toll of war and reaffirm America’s longstanding commitment to pursue the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.
No one understood that more than the men and women who served on the frontlines of World War II.
When President Obama announced his visit, he received a letter from David Smollar, the son of one such man named Leo — an Army doctor who was eager to see the end of the war and hopeful that the atomic bomb would usher in a much-needed victory.
In his letters home to his wife, he shared those initial hopes, that he and his fellow soldiers could return home soon. But just days after learning of its use, he wrote home again to share his deep concerns about employing such weapons against his fellow man:
There’s something frightening about this new bomb, a weapon that bodes danger for the future … the bomb is not a pleasant weapon to contemplate and mankind’s past performances don’t make me optimistic.
In his letter to the President, David noted that while his father never regretted the use of the bomb, as it allowed so many Americans to come home safely, Leo never forgot the destruction and havoc a thermonuclear bomb could wreak and, for the rest of his life, ardently opposed the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
He would never apologize, but he would say we could never do it again.
The President read David’s letter, and responded today.
Thank you for your very thoughtful note, and for sharing a piece of your family history with me — it sounds like your father was a great man. As he so intimately understood, nuclear weapons pose some of the gravest threats to America and the world.
Read David’s letter and the President’s response below.
David’s note to the President:
My father, an army doctor ticketed for the invasion of Japan, was euphoric upon word of Hiroshima. Yet if alive today, he would applaud President Obama’s decision to visit in pursuit of curbing nuclear weapons. In his first letter home after news reached his Pacific camp, he wrote, “Today is the fantastic news that may signify the end of the war very shortly. It’s almost too good to be true! The description we’ve been given describes a veritable Buck Rogers mechanism of destruction that is capable of destroying any city or nation. Can it be true?” 2 days earlier, on the same day of the bomb, he had written somberly, “The cold facts are that a land invasion of Japan would cost more deaths and wounded than the European war. I’d rather see a continued sea blockade and continuous air bombardment, even for two or three years, rather than tremendous casualties, even though I long for home.” A year of treating Army and civilian wounded int he Pacific had educated him to the degradation of war, where a bullet or mortar had come to symbolize “inanimate metal in which all the sadism of the human animal is expressed.” So his initial joy was unabated: “I believe it to be true. For the first time I feel that the war may end shortly and I hope to God it’s so.” But my father sensed instinctively that bigger issues were afoot. In his next letter, his elation clashed with what he knew were military implications of the atomic age. “There’s something frightening about this new bomb, a weapon that bodes danger for the future, if human beings don’t quit acting like apes. The bomb is not a pleasant weapon to contemplate and mankind’s past performances don’t make me optimistic.” In that letter, he wrote about the “world-revolutionary” possibilities of peaceful atomic use. Indeed, after returning home, he became an early practitioner of nuclear medicine in the 1950s when radionuclides were first used to treat thyroid cancer. My father’s personal history in an atomic world mirrors the nuclear contradictions we face. He never forgot the corrosive aspects of war from combat and what a thermonuclear weapon could wreak. He applied nuclear research as a doctor, yet knew the horrific medical consequences of uncontrolled radiation and ardently opposed nuclear weapons testing and proliferation. But he never regretted the nation’s decision to level Hiroshima. He and thousands of others came home alive and uninjured. He would never apologize, but he would say we could never do it again.
Here are excerpts from Leo’s letters that David sent to President Obama.
Excerpt from first letter dated August 9, 1945:
Aug. 9th, ‘45
MindanaoMy Darling Sweetheart:
Today’s news is the bit war news, the fantastic news that may signify the end of the war very shortly. It’s almost too good to be true. I’m referring to the Atomic Bomb. The description we’ve been given describes a veritable Buck Rogers mechanism of destruction that is capable of destroying with ease any city or nation.
Excerpt from second letter dated August 9, 1945:
What a world-revolutionary development is the practical use of atomic physics! It’s damned fortunate that we were first in its military use and it may — and probably will — be the final all-important factor in ending this war. But it’s not a pleasant weapon to contemplate, almost impossible to grasp its possibilities, the possibilities of practical use of atomic physics. As far as I can see it’s sink or swim, suffering or happiness to mankind; and mankind’s past performances don’t make me too optimistic.
The President’s response to David:
Dear David:
Thank you for your very thoughtful note, and for sharing a piece of your family history with me — it sounds like your father was a great man. As he so intimately understood, nuclear weapons pose some of the gravest threats to America and the world.
My visit to Hiroshima is not to revisit the past, but to affirm that innocent people die in war, on all sides; that we should do everything we can to try to promote peace and dialogue around the world; that we should continue to strive for a world without nuclear weapons.
The United States and Japan remain a strong symbol of how former adversaries can come together out of the ashes of war to become some of the closest allies in the world. That can teach us all a lesson about our ability to overcome our differences and move forward to create a better future for our children and grandchildren. We do that not by ignoring our history, but by understanding it and recognizing it, then committing to do better in the future.
Your father’s words will remain on my mind, and I wish you and your family the very best.
