Why the Japanese government surrendered As with some aspects of science, many facets of history are not definitive. Over time, new evidence is discovered, reviewed and verified, altering past understandings in ways that seldom go so far as to disprove a detail, but rather result in a more nuanced appreciation. The surrender of Japan underscores the …
Emperor Hirohito reigns over an inferno In Herbert Lord’s seminal study of the Titanic disaster, A Night to Remember, White Star Line’s president, J. Bruce Ismay, is revealed alternating between distinguished passenger and company operative, at times questioning Captain Smith about estimated arrival times in New York, and at others, slipping into one of the …
Three August events help teach cause and effect Perhaps one of the reasons I find Conan O’Brian so much more entertaining than Jay Leno is the latter’s man-on-the-street routine, Jay Walking, from Leno’s time as the Tonight Show host. Viewers had the chance to laugh at and feel superior to the not-so-random person who, predictably, …
“I have always considered Saipan the decisive battle of the Pacific offensive.” – General Holland M. Smith, USMC, Coral and Brass, 1949 D-Day Saipan – 70 year anniversary Like millions from many nations of the world, I followed the generally good coverage of the Normandy invasion’s 70th anniversary. Since that day in 1944, the landings in France …