Wednesday, August 6, 2008 at 10:10am
The War is Won, but the Peace Is Not
Column: Roll Down Like Water
The United States Air Force dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan sixty-three years ago today in an effort to bring World War II to a final end. The Allies had declared victory three months earlier in Europe, but fighting continued in the Pacific. The Western Powers issued an ultimatum to the Japanese Emperor Hirohito on July 26th, calling on the Japanese to surrender or face the utter destruction of their military and devastation of their homeland.
The Japanese refused and on August 6th, the United States began its strategy of compellance – it dropped the first atomic bomb in history and promised to continue the bombing until Hirohito surrendered. The Emperor withstood the first attack, and finally surrendered following the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th.
The United States developed the atomic bomb in what American scientists saw as a race against the Germans. Albert Einstein feared that if the Nazis acquired the technology first, there would be no way to defeat them, and an even greater evil would be released on the earth.
But as it became clear that the United States military was considering using the weapons itself, Einstein grew wary. Following the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he began to speak out against their dangers, noting in a speech in December 1945:
“We helped in creating this new weapon in order to prevent the enemies of mankind from achieving it ahead of us, which, given the mentality of the Nazis, would have meant inconceivable destruction and the enslavement of the rest of the world. We delivered this weapon into the hands of the American and the British people as trustees of the whole of mankind, as fighters for peace and liberty. But so far we fail to see any guarantee of peace, we do not see any guarantee of the freedoms that were promised to the nations in the Atlantic Charter. The war is won, but the peace is not ...
The development of the atomic bomb did not render war obsolete, though many credit it with the relative stability of the cold war between the United States and Soviet Union (stability for those in the United States and Soviet Union, not Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Angola, or any of the other countries where the two super powers battled it out in proxy wars).
That stability came at a cost. As Einstein noted:
“The world was promised freedom from fear, but in fact fear has increased tremendously since the termination of the war. The world was promised freedom from want, but large parts of the world are faced with starvation while others are living in abundance.”
In war, as in many things, we trusted a big, flashy change over the day-to-day slog of incremental transformation. Keeping weapons out of the hands of tyrants is not the same as establishing peace (and as we have seen for the past 60 years, it’s not easy to keep weapons out of the hands of tyrants). Neither is the use of overwhelming violence to defeat an enemy (as we have seen for the past five).
Diplomacy, compromise, economic stability, and restraint are what leash the hounds of war. As we commemorate one of the bleakest days in human history – the day when humans marshaled an unparalleled power to destroy what God has created – let us remember that our call to oppose evil is absolute. We must oppose evil means as surely as we oppose evil outcomes.
Sixty-three years later the peace is still not won as we face the implications of a nuclear North Korea and Iran. We would do well to remember that our power comes with a purpose to promote peace, not simply minimize violence. It is time to remember that our actions – while well intentioned – can have catastrophic implications. Though we feel threatened, now is not the time to win the war. It is the time to focus on winning the peace.
Dr. Rebecca Johnson, is a visiting assistant professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and is currently pursuing a masters of divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary. Visit her website thatstarfish.com.© copyright 2008 by Rebecca Johnson.
The Japanese refused and on August 6th, the United States began its strategy of compellance – it dropped the first atomic bomb in history and promised to continue the bombing until Hirohito surrendered. The Emperor withstood the first attack, and finally surrendered following the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9th.
The United States developed the atomic bomb in what American scientists saw as a race against the Germans. Albert Einstein feared that if the Nazis acquired the technology first, there would be no way to defeat them, and an even greater evil would be released on the earth.
But as it became clear that the United States military was considering using the weapons itself, Einstein grew wary. Following the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he began to speak out against their dangers, noting in a speech in December 1945:
“We helped in creating this new weapon in order to prevent the enemies of mankind from achieving it ahead of us, which, given the mentality of the Nazis, would have meant inconceivable destruction and the enslavement of the rest of the world. We delivered this weapon into the hands of the American and the British people as trustees of the whole of mankind, as fighters for peace and liberty. But so far we fail to see any guarantee of peace, we do not see any guarantee of the freedoms that were promised to the nations in the Atlantic Charter. The war is won, but the peace is not ...
The development of the atomic bomb did not render war obsolete, though many credit it with the relative stability of the cold war between the United States and Soviet Union (stability for those in the United States and Soviet Union, not Korea, Cuba, Vietnam, Angola, or any of the other countries where the two super powers battled it out in proxy wars).
That stability came at a cost. As Einstein noted:
“The world was promised freedom from fear, but in fact fear has increased tremendously since the termination of the war. The world was promised freedom from want, but large parts of the world are faced with starvation while others are living in abundance.”
In war, as in many things, we trusted a big, flashy change over the day-to-day slog of incremental transformation. Keeping weapons out of the hands of tyrants is not the same as establishing peace (and as we have seen for the past 60 years, it’s not easy to keep weapons out of the hands of tyrants). Neither is the use of overwhelming violence to defeat an enemy (as we have seen for the past five).
Diplomacy, compromise, economic stability, and restraint are what leash the hounds of war. As we commemorate one of the bleakest days in human history – the day when humans marshaled an unparalleled power to destroy what God has created – let us remember that our call to oppose evil is absolute. We must oppose evil means as surely as we oppose evil outcomes.
Sixty-three years later the peace is still not won as we face the implications of a nuclear North Korea and Iran. We would do well to remember that our power comes with a purpose to promote peace, not simply minimize violence. It is time to remember that our actions – while well intentioned – can have catastrophic implications. Though we feel threatened, now is not the time to win the war. It is the time to focus on winning the peace.
Dr. Rebecca Johnson, is a visiting assistant professor at the Georgetown Public Policy Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, DC and is currently pursuing a masters of divinity at Wesley Theological Seminary. Visit her website thatstarfish.com.© copyright 2008 by Rebecca Johnson.