Changing American views on nuclear weaponsーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Next week, people here in Japan will be marking the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When the United States launched air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, President Trump said the atomic bombings in 1945 had ended the war. That remark drew condemnation from people in Japan, including a group of atomic bomb survivors. But does it represent mainstream American thinking? To explore that question, we are now joined by NHK World’s Suji Cohen. Yes. In very broad terms, how do Americans view the atomic bombings in 1945? The prevailing view is that the bomb ended the war. Mhm. Let’s look at an American opinion poll. These are the results from a survey not long after the atomic bombings in 1945. 4.3% of respondents said the bombs should not have been used at all. 13.8% said America should have shown the power of the bombs by dropping one on some unpopulated region and dropped the second one on a city only if Japan had not surrendered after the first one. 53.5% said both atomic bombs should have been used on cities as we did as Americans did. So most respondents supported the bombings. Then President Harry Truman gave a bombings the go ahead. He justified a decision in the message to a Christian organization. The following week he wrote the only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them. When you have to deal with a beast, you have to treat him as a beast. It is most regrettable but nevertheless true. So we can see American government’s hardline stance at the time but the public sentiment has since changed. The survey I mentioned earlier was conducted again in 2015 and 2024 with the same set of questions. There was an increase in the percentage of respondents who said atomic bombs should not have been dropped. Last year it was nearly 37%. The percentage who said both atomic bombs should have been dropped on cities as they were was down to 19.4%. Right? People who survived the atomic bombings have been warning the world about the threat posed by nuclear weapons uh ever since the end of the war. So Koh has their message had an impact in the United States. Yes, to some extent. Professor Scott Sean at Stanford University did a survey to get a detailed picture. He told us why he believes American public sentiment has changed. Part of this is is a change and a view that using nuclear weapons against civilians is wrong. But part of it may well be a lack of historical memory. The American public views Japan as an ally and the people as being peaceful and friendly. Mhm. Uh and that has been a sea change in terms of attitudes towards from my country to your country. But Sean also said the story is actually more complex. He focused on what’s known as the nuclear taboo. That is the idea that inhumane weapons like nuclear weapons should never be used against civilians. He says the nuclear taboo is not necessarily spreading. There is in my view very little evidence that there is a taboo in the sense of a complete moral revulsion against using nuclear weapons in the public. So Kohi, more and more Americans say the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were wrong. But at the same time, the nuclear taboo is not spreading, right? So what’s going on? We can see clues in the study professor Sean published in 2017. Respondents were asked whether the US should use nuclear weapons if it went to war with Iran. Nearly 60% said it would be unavoidable. The key is the setting of the question. The survey said nuclear weapons would kill 2 million Iranian civilians. It also said 20,000 American soldiers could be killed if the US launched a ground invasion instead. So most respondents thought the US shoot nuclear weapons to force Iran to surrender in order to save US soldiers even if that meant killings lots of Iranian civilians. Professor Sean says people’s thinking about the nuclear use of nuclear weapons changes a lot depending on situation they are asked to envision and the information they are given. Do not rely on um beliefs about a nuclear taboo or on the moral sentiment. It influences some people but not the majority. The majority are much more practical and they care mostly about their own countrymen. It appears many Americans are quite pragmatic. They don’t take unqualified view that using nuclear weapons would be inhumane. Rather, they would go along with it to save American soldiers from being killed in land battles. That was actually the thinking behind President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs in 1945. So, when it comes to nuclear weapons, it seems there’s a big gap in public perceptions between Japan and the United States. That said, there’s a growing momentum for nuclear disarmament around the world. In 2017, Nobel Peace Prize went to international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons. And last year, it went to Nihon Hidanko, the organization made up with the survivors and victims of nuclear weapons, Japanese organizations. Japan is the only country to have been attacked with nuclear weapons. So, it needs to keep playing a role in making sure that they are never used again.
Opinion polls suggest Americans have been changing their views on nuclear weapons since 1945. We draw on expert analysis to explore their thoughts and rationale. #japan #world #peace #iran #analysis #ww2 #hiroshima #nagasaki #usa
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