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Gar Alperovitz's book, *Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam*, was published by Simon and Schuster in 1965. The book was based on Alperovitz's Cambridge doctoral thesis and drew on the diaries of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. Alperovitz's work investigates the role of the atomic bomb in shaping the formation of the US relationship with the Soviet Union and the makeup of the postwar international political order.
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What You'll Learn
Published in 1965 by Simon and Schuster
In 1965, Simon and Schuster published Gar Alperovitz's book, "Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam". The book was based on Alperovitz's Cambridge doctoral thesis and drew on the diaries of Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson.
Alperovitz's work investigates the role of the atomic bomb in shaping the formation of the US relationship with the Soviet Union and the makeup of the postwar international political order. He argues that the atomic bomb, once demonstrated, provided leverage for US policymakers in negotiating the postwar world order. The book also presents evidence that US policymakers knew that the atomic bomb was not necessary to end World War II, but still used it to demonstrate strength against the Soviet Union.
"Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam" caused a stir when it was published, as it challenged commonly held beliefs about the motives behind the use of the atomic bomb. Alperovitz's argument was that Truman dropped the atomic bombs on Japan to prevent Russian involvement in the Pacific and to intimidate the Soviets. This interpretation of events was not universally accepted by the academic community, and the book received mixed reviews.
The publication of "Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam" in 1965 by Simon and Schuster was significant as it contributed to a re-examination of assumptions about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it became a focal point in the debate over the direction of American foreign policy in the mid- to late 1960s, during a time of increasing public concern about the Vietnam War.
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Based on Alperovitz's Cambridge doctoral thesis
In 1965, Simon and Schuster published Alperovitz's *Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam*, based on his Cambridge doctoral thesis. Alperovitz's work investigates the role of the atomic bomb in shaping the formation of the US's relationship with the Soviet Union and the makeup of the postwar international political order.
Alperovitz's doctoral thesis draws on the diaries of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, arguing that after Germany's defeat, US policymakers based their strategy toward the Soviet Union on the judgment that the atomic bomb, once demonstrated, would provide leverage in negotiating the postwar world order. Alperovitz also reports that there was substantial but not definitive evidence suggesting that gaining diplomatic leverage against the Soviet Union was a major consideration in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Alperovitz's thesis provides evidence that once the atomic bomb had been successfully tested, the US policy towards the Soviet Union under the Truman Administration shifted from "conciliatory" to "tough". He argues that Truman used the US possession of the atomic bomb as a diplomatic tool to force Soviet acquiescence to American plans for postwar Europe as the two powers negotiated at the Potsdam Conference.
Alperovitz's thesis also presents substantive, although not definitive, evidence suggesting that top-level American civilian and military leaders knew that the atomic bomb was not necessary to end World War II, but still used it to demonstrate strength against the Soviet Union. Alperovitz's argument pushed other scholars to re-examine their assumptions about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to Yale historian Gaddis Smith.
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The book's central argument
In Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam, Gar Alperovitz investigates the role of the atomic bomb in shaping the formation of the U.S. relationship with the Soviet Union and the makeup of the postwar international political order. Alperovitz argues that Truman used the U.S. possession of the atomic bomb as a diplomatic tool to force "Soviet acquiescence to American plans" for postwar Europe as the two powers negotiated at the Potsdam Conference.
Alperovitz provides evidence that once the atomic bomb had been successfully tested, the U.S. policy towards the Soviet Union under the Truman Administration shifted from "conciliatory" to "tough". He also presents substantive, although not definitive, evidence suggesting that top-level American civilian and military leaders knew that the atomic bomb was not necessary to end World War II, but still used it to demonstrate strength vis-à-vis the Soviet Union.
Alperovitz's work draws on the diaries of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and argues that after Germany's defeat, U.S. policymakers based their strategy toward the Soviet Union on the judgment that the atomic bomb, once demonstrated, would provide leverage in negotiating the postwar world order. Alperovitz also reported that there was substantial but not definitive evidence suggesting that gaining diplomatic leverage against the Soviet Union was a major consideration in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The book demonstrates that many top World War II U.S. military leaders, including President (formerly General) Eisenhower, made public statements after the war suggesting that the use of the atomic bomb was unnecessary. Alperovitz also documents the sophisticated public relations effort the Truman administration mounted to sustain public belief that using the bomb was necessary.
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The book's reception
'Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam' by Gar Alperovitz was first published in 1965 by Simon and Schuster. The book was based on Alperovitz's Cambridge doctoral thesis. The book was released at a time when the Vietnam War was generating increasing public concern and became a focal point in the debate over the direction of American foreign policy in the mid- and late 1960s.
The book received mixed reviews. Historian Michael Beschloss observed in a 1985 New York Times retrospective that 'Atomic Diplomacy' had immense "shock value" during a time when the public was less skeptical "about the motives of our leaders and the origins of the cold war". Yale historian Gaddis Smith agreed with Beschloss in a 1985 review for the New York Times, writing that "the preponderance of new evidence that has appeared since 1965 tends to sustain the original argument." Marilyn Young, writing in the American Historical Review, praised Alperovitz for taking up "the central ethical and historical issues surrounding the first, and thus far only, use of nuclear bombs".
However, the book was also criticised. Former Truman Administration Cabinet member Senator Clinton Anderson reviewed the book for The New York Times. Other reviews on Goodreads describe the book as "dry" and "a little dated". One Goodreads review states that "there is a mountain of evidence contradicting his position". Another review on Amazon claims that "rhetorical tricks run rampant through the book" and that it is "rarely coherent or believable in the light of the complete facts".
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Alperovitz's background
Gar Alperovitz is an American historian, academic, and author of the revisionist school. He is also a political activist who has suggested and lobbied for economic and labour reforms. Alperovitz was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1936, the son of a Russian immigrant of Jewish heritage. He attended William Horlick High School and later graduated from the University of Madison-Wisconsin with a degree in American history in 1958. He followed this with a Master's degree in economics at Berkeley and a doctorate in political economy at Cambridge University.
Alperovitz has held a 15-year professorship at the University of Maryland and has also taught at Cambridge, Harvard, and the Brookings Institution. He also worked in the United States Congress as a legislative assistant and director during the 1960s. In 1965, he accepted a post as a special assistant for policy planning at the United Nations, and the following year, he joined the Brookings Institution as a non-resident guest scholar. Alperovitz was elected as a founding fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University in 1966. He is a former Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and a founding principal of The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland, where he also serves as a member of the board of directors for the New Economics Institute (NEI).
Alperovitz has authored several texts exploring the origins and political dynamics of the Cold War, including his first major work, the 1965 book "Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam," which was based on his Cambridge doctoral thesis. The book drew on the diaries of Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and argued that U.S. policymakers based their strategy toward the Soviet Union on the belief that the atomic bomb would provide leverage in negotiating the postwar world order. Alperovitz revisited the subject of the atomic bomb in subsequent publications, including "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth" (1995) and "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb" (1996).
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Frequently asked questions
The book "Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam" was published by Simon and Schuster.
The book was published in 1965.
The book investigates the role of the atomic bomb in shaping the formation of the U.S. relationship with the Soviet Union and the makeup of the postwar international political order.
