This clearly was wholly unacceptable. It also illuminates how mistaken were later claims that Japan was only asking for retention of a figurehead emperor. The US response to this ploy explicitly stated that the emperor would be subordinate to the occupation commander. No further promise was tendered on the ultimate status of Hirohito.
Two events early in the occupation demolish any claim the United States recognized any obligation to retain Hirohito as emperor. Manifestly, had Washington believed it was constrained by any pledge to retain Hirohito on the throne, there would have been no basis to send such a message.
Hirohito, incidentally, was not oblivious to the real possibility he might face war crimes, or at least be required to provide testimony. He carefully prepared a statement for these eventualities that would only be released after his death in The US stance would be that the militarists had betrayed the emperor and taken Japan into catastrophe.
Now the emperor would step forward nobly to lead the people out of the catastrophe into peace—including implementing occupation reforms. At the time MacArthur was preparing his formal reply on the disposition of the emperor, he also knew Japan was confronting a stupendous humanitarian crisis: the prospect of millions of famine deaths in This threatened to unleash perhaps uncontrollable civil disorder.
To the extent the emperor could sanction measures to stave off famine and quell civil disorder, his retention at that point was obviously prudent. Courtesy National Archives. This cleared the way for the elevation of the hawkish and dictatorial Hideki Tojo.
Bix and others also fault Hirohito for some of the more egregious crimes committed by the Japanese military. He also knew about mistreatment of prisoners of war, and about killings of civilians in Nanking, but did nothing to stop the practices or punish military leaders which he could have done. These cases fit a larger pattern of Hirohito being blamed for inaction. This inaction persisted even where action could have prevented war. The invasion of Manchuria started without orders from Tokyo, but Hirohito acquiesced after being assured that the military could succeed in expanding his empire.
Before the war with the US, he underestimated American objections to his foreign policy of formally allying himself with Germany and Italy. He also indicated initial reluctance to go to war, but later confirmed the plan to attack Pearl Harbor over the objections of some of his advisers.
He even increased his control over military affairs in the lead-up to Pearl Harbor, attending the Conference of Military Councillors which he usually did not and asking for additional details on the plans for attack. According to an aide, he showed visible joy at the news of the success of the surprise attacks.
His second connection came with the discussion of surrender in Hirohito had a chance to end the war earlier, as it became clearer that Japan could not win. Konoe gained his first audience with the emperor in years in February and implored Hirohito to start discussing terms of surrender.
He did not surrender then, and maintained a hope through August that the Soviet Union could serve as an intermediary for a negotiated peace. Hirohito learned of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima about 12 hours after the fact, at pm, Japan time, on August 6, Two days later, the emperor admitted that the war could not continue.
But neither the emperor nor the Japanese Cabinet accepted unconditional surrender at that time. On August 9, the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and the Soviet Union began its invasion of Japanese territory.
That night, at a meeting with other leaders, Hirohito declared his intention to accept the Potsdam Declaration. This was not yet the official end to the war. The United States declared war one day later. But the tide started turning at the June Battle of Midway and soon after at Guadalcanal.
A postwar constitution preserved the monarchy but defined the emperor as a mere symbol of the state. All political power went to elected representatives.
Unlike many among his top military brass, Hirohito was not indicted as a war criminal, in part because U. From to , Hirohito toured the country and oversaw reconstruction efforts. The American occupation ended in , after which Hirohito served largely in the background while Japan went through a period of rapid economic growth. He died on January 7, , having spent nearly 64 years on the throne—the longest imperial reign in Japanese history.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Shrewd at Marines stormed the beaches of the strategically significant Japanese island of Saipan, with a goal of gaining a crucial air base from which the U.
Army and U. Marine Corps troops descended on the Pacific island of Okinawa After the April 9, U. The explosion immediately killed an estimated 80, people; tens of thousands more would later die of radiation The Battle of Midway was an epic clash between the U.
The U. In June , Japan had seized the remote, sparsely inhabited islands of Attu
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