A Terrible Decision
On August 6 and 9, 1945 atomic bombs were detonated over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, effectively ending World War Two in the Pacific. As we know, the devastation from these strikes was total and horrific. I have been to the Hiroshima Museum and seen displayed the destruction and human suffering that resulted.
Although President Franklin Roosevelt initiated the Manhatten Project to develop the atomic bomb, Harry Truman was the man who had to make the final decision to use it against Japan. Over the decades since he has been second-guessed, criticized, and condemned for this act. In my most recent book, Prayers for Battle, I have tried to explain what led President Truman to this fateful point. The decision before him was terrible to make and would be one of the most momentous in history.
If you are interested, I invite you to read more about this event in the book mentioned above. For today, I thought it worthwhile to recount a prayer that Harry Truman prayed daily to guide his actions, including those leading to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“OH! ALMIGHTY AND EVERLASTING GOD, CREATOR OF HEAVEN, EARTH AND THE UNIVERSE: HELP ME TO BE, TO THINK, TO ACT WHAT IS RIGHT, BECAUSE IT IS RIGHT; MAKE ME TRUTHFUL, HONEST AND HONORABLE IN ALL THINGS; MAKE ME INTELLECTUALLY HONEST FOR THE SAKE OF RIGHT AND HONOR AND WITHOUT THOUGHT OF REWARD TO ME. GIVE ME THE ABILITY TO BE CHARITABLE, FORGIVING AND PATIENT WITH MY FELLOWMEN—HELP ME TO UNDERSTAND THEIR MOTIVES AND THEIR SHORTCOMINGS—EVEN AS THOU UNDERSTANDEST MINE!”
Truman elaborated his thoughts on this prayer in a handwritten note found in his diary:
“The prayer on this page has been said by me—by Harry S. Truman---from high school days, as window washer, bottle duster, floor scrubber in an Independence, Mo., drugstore, as a time keeper on a railroad contract gang, as an employee of a newspaper, as a bank clerk, as a farmer riding a gang plow behind four horses and mules, as a fraternity official learning to say nothing at all if good could not be said of a man, as a public official judging the weaknesses and shortcomings of constituents, and as President of the United States of America.”
I believe that we can be comforted by the fact that America had a man of faith at the helm at this critical time in our history.