In 1941, Franklin Roosevelt ended his state of the Union address with the famous words: "there can be no end save victory". In summer of 1945, after the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, President Harry S. Truman made sure that Japan and the world knew what 'Victory' meant. In a radio address to the world, he spoke these words.
"We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war"No end, save victory. Just a few days earlier, Stalin, Churchill and President Truman met at Potsdam, Germany to discuss how to handle Germany after it's surrender. Despite many disagreements, the World leaders did agree on one thing. They agreed that in Germany there would be a "complete disarmament and demilitarization of Germany".
No end, save victory. Harry S. Truman returned to this theme in his 1946 state of the union address:
"The year 1945 brought with it the final defeat of our enemies. There lies before us now the work of building a just and enduring peace."No end, save victory. Now with this victory at hand, President Truman looked to an enduring peace. Despite the use of massive armaments supplied by America and our atomic power, Truman gave credit to the United Nations. While the United Nations, had only officially come into existence in October of 1945, it was originally formed in January, 1942 when 26 nations at war with the Axis powers met in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United Nations. These 26 nations pledged to use their full resources against the Axis and agreed not to make a separate peace.
Our most immediate task toward that end is to deprive our enemies completely and forever of their power to start another war. Of even greater importance to the preservation of international peace is the need to preserve the wartime agreement of the United Nations and to direct it into the ways of peace."
"All those hopes, and more, were fulfilled in the year 1945. It was the greatest year of achievement in human history. It saw the end of the Nazi-Fascist terror in Europe, and also the end of the malignant power of Japan. And it saw the substantial beginning of world organization for peace. These momentous events became realities because of the steadfast purpose of the United Nations and of the forces that fought for freedom under their flags. The plain fact is that civilization was saved in 1945 by the United Nations."Sometimes, what is not said can be more impactful than what is said. Nowhere his 1946 state of the Union address, did Truman directly reference dropping the bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We don't know if Truman fully understood the power that he unleashed upon the world. We don't know if he fully understood the deadly destruction of the bomb on both current and future human life. Both Truman and Roosevelt, defined victory as the complete destruction of the Axis power to wage aggressive war. Dropping the bomb, was part of that plan for victory, But now perhaps, the president just wanted to put this ugly part behind him, and focus on building an enduring peace.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12467
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/potsdam-conf
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/truman-hiroshima/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/how_the_allies_won_01.shtml
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/imageo/files/2015/08/Atomic_cloud_over_Hiroshima_from_Matsuyama.jpg
http://ww2days.com/images/bios/truman.jpg
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