Memorable Quotations

Memorable Quotes from
WWII-Pacific/Hiroshima


• Winston Churchill in regards to the atomic bomb:
"We seemed suddenly to have become possessed of a merciful abridgement of the slaughter in the Far East… To bring the war to an end, to avoid indefinite butchery, to give peace to the world, to lay a healing hand upon its people by a manifestation of overwhelming power at the cost of a few explosions, seemed, after all our toils and perils, a miracle of deliverance."

• President Truman in regards to the dropping of "Little Boy" on Hiroshima:
"…We have used it to shorten the agony of war, in order to save thousands and thousands of Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's capacity to make war. Only a Japanese surrender will stop us."

•Unknown petty Italian officer visiting Japan after alliance is sealed:
"For Americans, it is the dollar that is the moving spirit. They cannot win."

• Emperor Hirohito's announcement to the Japanese people of acceptance of Potsdam Conference:
"Despite the best that has been done by everyone, the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage… In order to avoid further bloodshed, perhaps even the total extermination of human civilization, we shall have to endure the unendurable, to suffer the insufferable."


• Dwight Eisenhower, interview in Newsweek, 11/11/63
"...The Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

• Herbert Hoover, reportedly addressing President Truman:
"I am convinced that if you, as President, will make a short-wave broadcast to the people of Japan - tell them they can have their Emperor if they surrender, that it will not mean unconditional surrender except for the militarists - you'll get a peace in Japan - you'll have both wars over."