This is CBS Eye in the World. I'm John Batsow with Professor Craig Simons.

Nimitz at war, command leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay, Ernest King

Comench, who was always present. Sixteen times they meet. King's messages to

Nimitz and Nimitz's messages to King the professor has quoted throughout the

book. Now they're debating in person and also by wire about what is to be done

about the Japanese homelands who will not surrender. The opinion I take at

Professor from Nimitz and King's point of view is blockade will force them to

the peace table. I think that's true. I think naval officers at almost every level

did not believe in invasion of the home islands was worth the risk here. We are

back to calculated risk. It would cost so much and we've all heard the line. Oh

it would cost 100,000 American killed. Very likely perhaps more. Fewer

considered the fact that it would have cost possibly millions of Japanese to

die because Japanese culture was such that surrender was so obnoxious that no

Japanese soldier, no Japanese participant in the war at any level could

honorably surrender himself. Therefore you must fight to the death. So if

everyone in Japan fights to the death, what are the consequences of that? There

was literally talk within the combined staff in Japan of the honorable death of

100 million. Now the prospect of that was so horrifying that both King and

especially Nimitz believed that avoiding an invasion by depending on a strict

naval blockade executed mostly by submarines by the way as well as bombing from

the air would create a circumstance where the Japanese would have to accept

the Potstam agreement and that is to say accept an end of the war on terms that

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