VDH | Revisionists Get It Wrong: Why the Atomic Bombings Ended WWII

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News, Government, Politics, Daily News

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hanson breaks down the facts and challenges these misconceptions on today’s episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.” “ Did it save lives? It did. And it did in a variety of ways. Of all the belligerents in World War II, the Japanese army, military, government—whatever term we use—killed more civilians and soldiers versus the amount of soldiers and civilians that lost than any other belligerent. More than the Russians. More than the Germans. In other words, it was a deadly killing machine that averaged 10,000 deaths a day at its hands. How else could you stop it? “ Had they not dropped the bomb, the fire raids would’ve continued, but not three or four times a week, every single day, from Okinawa. And not with 1,000-2,000 heavy bombers, but with an envisioned 5,000-6,000. That led Curtis LeMay to say, "The bomb wasn’t necessary. We could have burned Japan to the ground and forced its surrender." Much more people would’ve died had that entailed. And so, what did the bomb do? It stopped this Japanese war machine from killing people.” 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1 👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273 👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com (0:00) Revisiting Hiroshima and Nagasaki (0:08) Addressing Historical Revisionism (1:58) The Critical Decision to Drop the Atomic Bombs (4:25) Impact and Justification Behind the Bombings (7:23) Reflecting on the Difficult Choices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 80th anniversary of the August 6th and August 9th,
0:04.0	1945 bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
0:08.0	This past week we've seen more of the usual revisionism
0:11.0	that either the dropping of the atomic bombs were barbaric,
0:14.0	had no effect, a bad mark on the history of the United States.
0:18.0	Churchill is a terrorist.
0:19.0	Hitler didn't really mean to start
0:21.8	World War II. He could have sued for peace had the British not been so stubborn. The war really
0:26.8	wasn't worth the cost of lives and destruction. Nevertheless, though, there's nothing more
0:32.3	wrong-headed than looking at Nagasaki and Hiroshima as preventable or unnecessary.
0:38.3	Let me just go through three points.
0:50.6	Hello, this is Victor Davis Hanson for the Daily Signal.
0:59.0	This is the 80th anniversary of the August 6th and August 9th, 1945 bombings with nuclear weapons, atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1:06.0	And this past week we've seen more of the usual revisionism
1:10.0	that either the dropping of the atomic bombs were barbaric, criminal, had no effect, were unnecessary, and a bad mark on the history of the United States activity in World War II. It's part of a larger revisionist attempt in this generation.
1:28.3	Churchill, under these revisionists, is a terrorist.
1:32.3	Hitler didn't really mean to start World War II.
1:35.3	He could have sued for peace, had the British not been so stubborn.
1:40.3	The war really wasn't worth the cost of lives and destruction entailed in defeating the Axis powers.
1:47.0	Nevertheless, though, there's nothing more wrong-headed than looking at Nagasaki and Hiroshima as preventable or unnecessary.
1:57.0	Let me just go through three points. Number one, why didn't they drop it as suggested in Tokyo
2:02.1	Bay drop it the bomb as a test? There were a variety of reasons. Robert Oppenheimer was ahead of
	...

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