Ultimatum Quotes
See {587287} for a later complementary statement.
Shortly thereafter the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. To this day there is historical debate over whether Japan received enough notice to afford them the opportunity to surrender or whether their cultural imperatives would allow surrender under almost any circumstances. This Japanese rejection of the surrender demand, seems so reckless in retrospect. Even after the second atomic bomb drop, most senior officers of Japan did not want to surrender. Even after the Emperor decided on surrender, there was an unsuccessful coup attempt of officers totally opposed to surrender.
At Potsdam the Allies had called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese and reiterated what had been allied policy that the surrender must be unconditional. Even after the Hiroshima bombing, the Japanese military cabinet voted not to surrender. After the second atomic bomb, the Emperor decided to surrender, but even then there was an attempted military coup to prevent that. Fortunately, the coup failed. We did not have any more atomic bombs immediately ready and it would have taken months to construct more.
When Confederate General Simon Bolivar Buckner suggested a negotiated surrender of Fort Donaldson, which protected Nashville, TN, his West Point classmate and friend wired back:
Norris was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives when the Taft-Hartley Act was debated. The pressure was intense. He told union leaders in his district:
The Mormons have been the victims of more religious persecution and violence than any other religion in America. They became aggressive in defending themselves as this quotation illustrates.
