> >This assumes that it would have been implausible to end the war without
> >either dropping the nukes or doing a full scale invasion of Japan. Many
> >current historians don't feel that's a safe assumption.
> >
> >Barry
>
> I have never been able to see where they were coming from, besides
> wishful thinking.
Well, the fact that nearly every US military leader of the time has said that Japan was ready to surrender without the bomb; and that communications from Japan said they'd be willing to surrender if they could keep the emperor; are mainly where they are coming from.
In fact, Japan didn't surrender right after the bombs. They waited until after the US had implied, in a communication, that there would be a place for the Emperor in a US-ruled Japan.
I agree that the rulers of Japan was both weird and fanatical; but the thing they were the most weird and fanatical about was the cult of the Emperor. It is very possible that they would have surrendered if they saw it as being the only way of saving their holy Emperor; it certainly should have been tried before the a-bomb was dropped.
Barry