18 Apr 09 06:14, Bob Ackley wrote to Roy Witt:

 BA> Replying to a message of Roy Witt to Bob Ackley:

 RW>> 14 Apr 09 03:48, Bob Ackley wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW>>>> offered to surrender. This was thru the Swiss government, who
 RW>>>> informed the US government. The Japanese also agreed to the
 RW>>>> surrender as posed in the Potsdam agreement in the same message.
 RW>>>> Apparently already aprised of the contents by the Swiss.

 RW>>>> You can read a copy of it here.

 RW>>>> http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1945/450810a.html

 BA>>> I don't do Internet and in any case I don't dispute that the
 BA>>> Japanese offered unconditional surrender after the Nagasaki blast.

 RW>> They ignored the Hiroshima blast?

 BA> No.

 BA>>> What I said was that the Japanese wanted to open surrender
 BA>>> negotiations a couple of months *before* the Hiroshima bomb was
 BA>>> dropped, and that Stalin chose not to pass the message along to his
 BA>>> allies.

 RW>> Actually, that happened on August 8th, and it wasn't Stalin who made
 RW>> that decision, it was Molotov and then given to the Japanese
 RW>> Ambassador to transmit to Japan...

 BA> No, Roy, it happened in July of 1945.

I don't think so.

 BA> "American cryptanalysts, who usually strove to win battles, worked to
 BA> make peace when they solved Japanese messages that indicated Japan's
 BA> desire to quit the war before the atomic bombs had devastated her and
 BA> opened the era of nuclear war.

Even though only a handful of Americans and Brits, and no one else, knew
about the bombs at that time. Not even Stalin knew about them until Aug
6th.

 BA> Through the formation of a new cabinet in April, 1945, implied a
 BA> mandate to seek peace, the United States obtained the first concrete
 BA> evidence of the desire on July 13.

And between those dates, Japanese Premier Susuki made a speech before the
Japanese Imperial Diet which refutes your claim that they sued for peace
... a copy for your perusal posted below.

 BA> On that date, President Truman and other high American officials read
 BA> an instruction of Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo to his ambassador
 BA> in Moscow, Nasatake Sato.  Togo urged Sato to see the Soviet Foreign
 BA> Minister before the Big Three conference at Potsdam and tell him of
 BA> the Emperor's strong desire to end the war. Explain, Togo said, that
 BA> the only real obstacle to peace was the Allies' demand for
 BA> unconditional surrender.  If this were insisted upon, he said, Japan
 BA> would have to continue the fight.  The implication was that another
 BA> surrender formula might bring peace. "In the next few days additional
 BA> messages were intercepted and read that threw further light on
 BA> Japanese intentions.  They verified the view of many experts on Japan
 BA> that a promise to preserve the Emperor would open the way to a
 BA> surrender which in most other respects would be unconditional."  The
 BA> 'Big Three' then modified their demand from unconditional surrender
 BA> to unconditional surrender of Japan's military.  Japan did not accept
 BA> because the Allies' terms did not promise the retention of the
 BA> Emperor.

 PREMIER SUZUKI'S SPEECH BEFORE THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL DIET

June 9, 1945

New York Times.

Having heard the gracious words of His Imperial Majesty, the Emperor,
following the opening of the Diet, I am filled with trepidation and
inspiration. It is my sincerest wish to be able to serve as an
administrator in complete response to His Majesty's wishes.

I was filled with trepidation when the Imperial Palace and the Omiya
detached palace were set afire by enemy bombings the other day.
Fortunately, their imperial majesties were not harmed and I am thankful
that His Majesty has been able to conduct all state affairs in his office
in the Imperial Palace.

Today our empire is facing the most critical situation in the history of
our nation. The war situation gradually is becoming more acute, despite
the efforts made by the whole nation, and we have witnessed the advance of
the enemy on Okinawa.

However, through the courageous and brilliant fighting of our land and sea
forces, together with the efforts of our Government and people, we have
inflicted enormous losses on the enemy on Okinawa. The unswerving loyalty
and heroism and the undying exploits of our men will long remain in the
pages of history. I want to pay deep respect to their noble deeds.

There are factors in the situation on Okinawa today that arouse anxiety
and we have reached a stage where wee can expect the advance of the enemy,
at some time, to other areas of our mainland. The time has arrived when
all our 100,000,000 people must look at the situation objectively and meet
it with manifest determination.

From the very beginning the Greater East Asia war has clearly been a holy
war. This has clearly been stated in the imperial rescript. The tyrannical
attitude adopted by the United States and Britain at that time, as well as
their evil designs, jeopardized the existence and safety of our empire.

Our empire had no choice but to take her stand and fight in order to
assure her own existence and defense and to maintain the fruits of her
many years of effort to stabilize conditions in East Asia.

I have served His Imperial Majesty over a period of many years and I am
deeply impressed with this honor. As bold as it may seem, I firmly believe
there is no one in the entire world, who is more deeply concerned with
world peace and the welfare of mankind than His Imperial Majesty, the
Emperor.

The brutal and inhuman acts of both America and England are aimed to make
it impossible for us to follow our national policy as proclaimed by the
Emperor Meiji, who said: "Our fundamental policy is based on justice and
righteousness in the past as well as at the present, and that is true and
infallible both at home and abroad."

This means that Japan is fighting a war to uphold the principle of human
justice and we must fight to the last.

In this present war, various participating nations have cleverly declared
their reasons for becoming involved in the conflict, but in the final
analysis the war was brought about by jealousy, which is the lowest of
human emotions.

I hear that the enemy is boasting of his demand for unconditional
surrender of Japan. Unconditional surrender means that our national
structure and our people will be destroyed. Against such boastful talk
there is only one measure we must take, to fight to the last.

I am thankful that Manchukuo, China and other nations of Greater East Asia
are standing firm by their treaties with our empire and that they are
contributing a great deal to the holy war.

In the final analysis, the current war is a war for the liberation of East
Asia and should it miscarry the freedom of the peoples of Greater East
Asia will be lost forever. Not only that, but world justice will be
trampled underfoot.

The fundamental policy of our empire for world order is the establishment
of laws guaranteeing security based on the principle of non-aggression and
non-menace in order to insure the co-existence and co-prosperity of every
nation and every people under a general principle of political equality,
economic reciprocity and respect for the traditional culture of each
nation.

From this standpoint, our empire awaits the unification of China, which
will be the salvation of that nation, and desires the furthering of
friendly relations with neutral countries.

Should our mainland become a battleground, we will have all the advantages
of geography and the solidarity of our people. In other words, we can
easily concentrate a large number of forces as well as keep them supplied,
which will be greatly different from the situation we faced at the outset
of the war. We certainly will be able to repulse the enemy and crush his
fighting spirit.

In this critical war situation, there will be a shortage of food and
difficulties in transportation. Furthermore, difficulties in the
manufacture of munitions will increase. But if the whole people will march
forward with death-defying determination, devoting their entire efforts to
their own duties and to refreshing their fighting spirit, I believe that
we will be able to overcome all difficulties and accomplish our war aims.

Judging from the trends within enemy countries and considering the
developments in the international situation, I cannot help feel strongly
that the only way for us is to fight to the last. With this conviction I
undertook the organization of the new Cabinet under the command of His
Imperial Majesty.

It is truly a critical time. I wish to be able to fulfill my desire to
serve His Majesty with the support of the whole people. These are the
reasons that this - extraordinary session of the Diet was called, where
new bills will be submitted for deliberation.

 BA> I was in error in thinking that there was a delay in the decryption
 BA> and translation of intercepted Japanese diplomatic traffic.

 BA> Above quotes excerpted from David Kahn, "The
Codebreakers," page 610.

                R\%/itt




--- Twit(t) Filter v2.1 (C) 2000