In 1945 the US was at war with Japan and Germany at the same time. Harry Truman was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s vice president and when FDR died in April of 1945, Harry Truman became the President of the United States. In any normal time period, that alone for a vice President would be life altering. When you are at war on two separate fronts, the pressure is almost unimaginable.

The US had been developing the atomic bomb for some time and the first successful test was on July 16, 1945. Harry Truman (in office for three months) had the most difficult decision any president has ever had to make. Do we use it?

The US military had been fighting on two fronts for four years straight (after Pearl Harbor) and had already lost 400,000+ young men and women. The US had taken Midway and Iwo Jima, but Japan would not surrender because they still had two million soldiers on the mainland. Truman knew that to use a Normandy style attack on the mainland of Japan, the US would lose possibly 10’s of thousands of additional service men and service women.

People in the US were sick of war and death and Truman knew that the US had something no one else in the world had. It had the way to end the war. It took a decision no other president before or after has ever been faced with. Do we drop a bomb that will kill everything breathing for several miles surrounding the landing site?

Japan was rigid in their unwillingness to end the war and had already said they would fight to the death until every Japanese solder was dead.  They would not surrender even if it meant saving their own people.

Many historians look back and give their opinions about what a monster Truman was. What they don’t realize was that if the war continued, America could have lost another million service men and women and continued fighting Japan for another five years. The loss of life over those next five years would have changed the next three generation of America.

Truman made the decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima hoping it would end the war. The following are the facts and the results for those that find fault with the decision Truman made.

A Boeing B-29 Superfortress took off the morning of August 6th and dropped the “Little Boy” atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan and it killed 140,000 people and eviscerated an entire city and region. Japan still wouldn’t surrender. Three days later another B-29 Superfortress dropped the “Fat Man” atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The Imperial Japanese Army surrendered five days later, and the world took a needed deep breath. The truth is that the decision to use the bombs saved countless hundreds of thousands of American AND Japanese lives. It saved those lives because it ended the war.

So, when you hear pundits spout off about Truman and the use of overwhelming force to end the war, remember there is a strong probability that you would not be here today if Truman had not made that decision. Why? because very likely your fathers or grandfathers might have died if the war had lasted another five years. The decision Truman made stopped the war in eight days and saved countless lives. KT

We said goodbye today to my mentor. His name was Harmon Born. He was 93 years old and his funeral was earlier today. For decades, Harmon owned and operated the highest volume Ford automobile dealership in the US. He was also a dear friend to me and my family.

Additionally, he owned a Lincoln/ Mercury dealership and I remember 30 years ago asking him why he drove a Ford instead of a Lincoln. He told me that “he just never felt comfortable in a 25-thousand-dollar automobile.” Of course, 30 years ago you could buy a new Lincoln for 25 thousand dollars.

Several quotes and statements he told me (some serious, some funny) that have always stayed with me. The following are only a few:

If you ever need a heart transplant, try to get the one from your banker because it has hardly been used

I want to live to be 100 years old because hardly anyone dies over a 100

If something needs doing, don’t look around to see if someone else will do it. Step up

Don’t ever forget that God gave you everything you have

Listen twice as much as you talk

Always stay humble and you will enjoy God’s favor

Never get too big for your pants or think of yourself as special and deserving

Always do what is right,  try your best and love other people

In the old church we attended for many years, as with many churches, they would have donations drives for this or that. Some churches would name pews after people who gave money. I remember Harmon said one day, “never put someone’s name on a pew or a plaque for giving one time. If there is any recognition, it should go to the weekly giver who gives consistently.”

He was simply the finest man I have ever known and has been my personal example since I left home halfway through my senior year of high school. He took a 17-year-old kid who was on his own and taught him about life. The bible speaks about running the race completely and standing through the test of time. Harmon ran the good race all the way to the day he was called home. He never wavered in his belief of God and living life in the right way. All the way to the end. KT