Chester W Nimitz

Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 18, 2021 at 10:18am

He has been dead for 55 years and it looks like this? It has "that look" - undedicated perfect cut with no apparent age. Hopefully I am wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Greg on June 18, 2021 at 10:26am

That’s exactly what I was thinking! That first overall impression that makes you uneasy, even if you’ve never seen a particular autograph before! “The Look” haha

i think you need to copyright that one Eric! ;)

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 18, 2021 at 10:44am

Thanks Greg :)

Nimitz on the Hiroshima necessity myth:

"...the opinion of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz was reported to have said in a press conference on September 22, 1945, that “The Admiral took the opportunity of adding his voice to those insisting that Japan had been defeated before the atomic bombing and Russia’s entry into the war.” In a subsequent speech at the Washington Monument on October 5, 1945, Admiral Nimitz stated “The Japanese had, in fact, already sued for peace before the atomic age was announced to the world with the destruction of Hiroshima and before the Russian entry into the war.”

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 18, 2021 at 11:05am

More info I have gathered as some will disagree:

It is interesting to read the list of Admirals and Generals who were absolutely against dropping that bomb, and what some of them said at the time about its purpose/use: Admiral William D. Leahy, the President's Chief of Staff: "...The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender." 1950 memoir Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet: "...The atomic bomb played no decisive part, from a purely military standpoint, in the defeat of Japan..." 10/45 Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr., Commander U.S. Third Fleet: "...The first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment...It was a mistake to ever drop it. . . . [the scientists] had this toy and they wanted to try it out, so they dropped it. . . . It killed a lot of Japanese, but the Japanese had put out a lot of peace feelers through Russia long before..." 1946 Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, Commanding general of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

"...The Japanese position was hopeless even before the first atomic bomb fell, because the Japanese had lost control of their own air..." 8/45 Major General Curtis E. LeMay: "...said flatly at one press conference that the atomic bomb "had nothing to do with the end of the war." He said the war would have been over in two weeks without the use of the atomic bomb or the Russian entry into the war..." "LeMay: The war would have been over in two weeks without the Russians entering and without the atomic bomb. The Press: You mean that, sir? Without the Russians and the atomic bomb? LeMay: The atomic bomb had nothing to do with the end of the war at all." 9/45 Brigadier Gen. Carter W. Clarke: "...we brought them [the Japanese] down to an abject surrender through the accelerated sinking of their merchant marine and hunger alone, and when we didn't need to do it, and we knew we didn't need to do it, and they knew that we knew we didn't need to do it, we used them as an experiment for two atomic bombs."

1959 Brigadier General Fellers: "...Obviously ...the atomic bomb neither induced the Emperor's decision to surrender nor had any effect on the ultimate outcome of the war." 1947

Despite Truman's claim of "unconditional surrender" after laughing into camera he did not realize was live, Japan retained it's Emperor. Truman had nothing to do with the decision to drop the bomb.

Further, the predicted number of potential deaths from an (unnecessary) invasion of the Japanese mainland rose from about 25,000 in 1945 to an unsubstantiated 1,000,000 by 1949. That was the year we said god gave us the bomb and we would use it in his way for his purposes.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 18, 2021 at 11:23am

Context: Hiroshima at ALM EKL

PS - No intent to commandeer your thread Greg! Just something I am very passionate about. Sorry.

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Permalink Reply by JK on June 18, 2021 at 11:37am

Interesting passages, but not definitive since those are not the prevailing opinion even after several decades. And in any case, I am not sure why they were posted here.

But since you did, two thoughts: Japanese soldiers continued to fight to the death right up until the end of the war, preferring suicide over capture. Also, if the Japanese were willing to surrender even before Hiroshima, then why didn't they surrender immediately after the first atomic bomb was dropped - why did it take a second one?

As for the signature, I would assess it on its merits and not its condition. Nimitz lived until 1966, and I have letters that old that are still fresh and bright.

Be skeptical - that is always appropriate. But be fair.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 18, 2021 at 1:03pm

These are definitive opinions of the day from men who were there - modern opinions concur.

Yes, those soldiers fought to the death. That is not in dispute. My Uncles fought them with flame throwers on Iwo Jima and they went insane.

My Grandfather, who worked at Tinian and had the B-29 Big Joe named after him, went through Hiroshima and told me of the absolute HORROR he saw there.

They did not surrender immediately because most did not understand what had happened, at all.

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Permalink Reply by Greg on June 18, 2021 at 12:50pm

Thanks both of you for your comments! The thing I love the most about autograph collecting is that it isn’t just a scrap of paper to me, but the story behind it!

To continue the historical thread, I had heard that the Russians were only a couple weeks away from invading Japan from the north, with the Americans coming from the south, so the US wanted to speed things up by dropping the bomb so that the Japanese would surrender to them, rather than have another splitting up of Berlin type of situation with the Russians?

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Permalink Reply by Eric Keith Longo on June 18, 2021 at 1:11pm

Yes, we wanted all. Some might not think so, but we tried to take over the world in '49. God gave the A bomb to the US it was said. And we claimed to know his uses and wants. Melting children doesn't seem right to me...