Content warning for mentions of mass murder and racism.
On Friday, March 29, Matthew Jones of the London School of Economics and Political Science gave a seminar on foreign policy in the Wood Hall basement.
According to his website, Jones’ historical inquiries include “British and American foreign and defense policy in the twentieth century, as well as the Cold War more generally.” He is the author of multiple monographs on history spanning from the 1940s such as his debut book “Britain, the United States and the Mediterranean War, 1942-44” to 1970 in the case of his latest book, “Volume II: The Labour Government and the Polaris Programme, 1964-70.” He is currently writing a third volume.
Associate professor and department head of history Mark Healey welcomed the audience and introduced Board of Trustees distinguished professor of history Frank Costigliola. Costigliola briefly explained how the Foreign Policy Seminar series began in 1985 and how these seminars and lectures are meant for personal enrichment and education. He introduced Jones by saying how he was chosen by the prime minister of the United Kingdom to be the Cabinet Office’s official historian of the UK strategic nuclear deterrent, meaning that he has the privilege of seeing confidential documents.
Jones’ lecture covered the intersection of race and nuclear weapons in Asia from 1945 to 1965. He began the lecture by setting the scene in World War II right after the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. He described this bombing as “The most graphic demonstration of American power.”
The talk delved into the stereotypes that Americans had of the Japanese in the media. He claimed that the Japanese were just as guilty as Americans in using stereotypes to dehumanize the people they oppressed, as Japan was an imperialist nation as well.
Jones said that to some the atomic bomb was not only seen as a way to prevent the deaths of American soldiers in an invasion, but also as a means of revenge for the Pearl Harbor bombing. Furthermore, the atomic bombs that the United States dropped were accused of being for Japan and not Germany due to racial prejudices because Japanese lives meant less to the American government. To some, the atomic bomb was a weapon of White supremacy.
Jones provided the perspective that the bombs were dropped “to terrorize the Japanese to surrender.” He later stressed that the Japanese government’s decision-making has to be understood when thinking about the purpose the United States had when dropping the bombs. Some thought that the Japanese surrender could be seen as a way to avoid human extinction via a nuclear war. Many Asian citizens and governments were generally disillusioned and alienated from the West after the bombs were dropped.
Jones then shifted the view to the Black American population’s reaction to the massacre, quoting Langston Hughes, who said “The Germans were spared from the bomb because they were White.”
The lingering after-effects of World War II seeped into other wars. There were anti-American sentiments in India during the Korean War according to the New York Times. Some had wondered if America was going to drop a nuclear bomb on Korea, especially because the American usage of the bomb had become so racialized.
There were many reasons why America didn’t use an atomic bomb in Korea, Jones explained, but it was not just because of the racist connotations it would have had. “Any nuclear usage would carry such political consequences,” Jones said. According to Jones, a “Powerful source of estrangement between America and Asia” should continue to be addressed.
The event closed with a Q&A session for audience participation. When asked if the atomic bombs saved more Japanese lives, Jones personally believed it wasn’t the case. Someone asked why Pacific people weren’t considered Asian by America, to which Jones couldn’t give a definitive answer but said that America couldn’t test nukes anymore because it would be unpopular with the United Nations.
The event ended with a final question from an audience member who mentioned the sentiment that if Japan had bombs, they would have dropped them on the U.S. They asked if this sentiment was prevalent in American society, to which Jones mentioned “Thank God for the Atomic Bomb,” an essay that defends the usage of the bombs because it saved American lives if they had an invasion of Japan.