Daily Herald opinion: The legacy of John Hersey: We in the suburbs should be proud that one of our schools carries ‘Hiroshima’ author’s name
Two consequential 80-year anniversaries passed last week. History's first dropping of an atomic bomb occurred over Hiroshima on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. The subsequent dropping of another took place three days later over Nagasaki on the evening of Aug. 9, 1945, the last time humanity endured the use of a nuclear weapon in war.
The magnitude of those two events is so great that mentioning the names of the cities is a sufficient identifier without adding the country of their locations.
Those two unprecedented attacks achieved their important short-term objectives to end World War II without costing more American lives. Eighty years ago today, (the day after Nagasaki), Japanese Emperor Hirohito ordered his war planners to accept the Allies' demands for unconditional surrender. After thwarting an ensuing coup attempt by hard-liners, he formally announced the surrender on Aug. 15. V-J Day celebrations poured onto the streets of America on Sept. 2.
Historians debate the decision by President Harry Truman to drop those bombs — how heavy the casualties would have been had America invaded instead, whether demonstration detonations over the Pacific could have prompted the Japanese surrender without such destruction and loss of life, the inevitability of the nuclear age even if the United States had not carried the world into it.
Most of us fail to fully appreciate the impact of one man at the dawn of that era, even here in the suburbs where his legacy is honored in the name of one of our high schools. We hope you had the opportunity to read Christopher Placek's account in Wednesday's editions of the connection between Hersey High School in Arlington Heights and the history of the Hiroshima bombing.
Humanity has for eight decades now been spared the horror of additional nuclear war, and many argue that author and journalist John Hersey is greatly responsible for that. In fact, each of us may owe our lives and our way of life to him. He, more than anyone else, brought the reality of Hiroshima home to the public and in doing so, helped affect government policy.
As we reflected on the 75th anniversary five years ago, “It's impossible for those of us in 2020 to capture the mood of the country in 1945. But the histories of that time record the joy that greeted Victory in Japan as well as government-shaped impressions that the bomb's destructive force was largely confined to buildings and geography.
“Hersey, as much as any single person, changed those perceptions.
“He traveled to Hiroshima, and in a gripping article in 1946 that occupied an entire New Yorker magazine (and later was turned into a book), told the intimate stories of the survivors. If you haven't read the book, 'Hiroshima,' do. It is necessary reading.
“In making those experiences real, Hersey contributed mightily to the restraint the world has sought on nuclear arms ever since.”
The power of nuclear arms today is far more monstrous than it was even then.
If you toy with the idea that a nuclear exchange can somehow be winnable, read “Hiroshima.”
If your frustrations with imperfection lead you to question sometimes how essential journalism is, consider Hersey.
If you own a Hersey High School jacket, wear it proudly.
And even if you do not, when you drive by that school, offer up some thanks to the name that is emblazoned on it.
Hersey, who died at age 78 in 1993, was not from the Chicago area. But we are so privileged that his name is remembered here.