ENOLA GAY/PHOTO12/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP VIA GETTY IMAGES / MUSHROOM CLOUD/ROGER VIOLLET/GETTY IMAGES
Looking Back
Devastation From Sky Crushes Brutal Enemy
80 years ago this month atomic bombs dropped by U.S. on Japan finally put a stop to World War II.
BY CRAIG SHIRLEY T
his month marks 80 years since the end of World War II — the greatest
conflagration in human history that killed an estimated 80 million people. By May 1945, the war in Europe had ended. Germany surrendered and its Nazi leader Adolf Hitler committed suicide as the Allies closed in on his infamous bunker in Berlin. Now the war effort could be
concentrated on the Pacific where, just six months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. had decisively defeated the Japanese navy at the Battle of Midway in 1942 and was still waging a brutal battle in the Pacific islands.
BY KATHRYN MCKENZIE The U.S. was planning a massive
invasion of the Japanese mainland to be led by five-star Gen. Douglas MacArthur on land and by Adm. Ernest King by sea. Even so, military planners feared
the war could last another two years and cost millions more American lives before it was over. On Aug. 2, 1945, U.S. intelligence
learned the Japanese had deployed 560,000 troops and thousands of kamikaze planes to repel the invasion and that Japan planned on executing thousands of Allied prisoners of war. President Harry Truman never had any doubts about dropping the newly
1945
developed atomic bomb on Japan. At this point, Japan knew it was going to lose, so their defenses were geared to inflict the most Allied casualties possible. At 8:14 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, a B-2
detonated the 2,000-pound atomic bomb over the city of Hiroshima. The effect was devastating. Eighty thousand people died instantly, incinerated in the blast. Others died from the effects of radiation poisoning. Even so, the Japanese refused to
surrender, thinking Truman would never do it again. Three days later, he did — this time on the city of Nagasaki. On Aug. 15, Emperor Hirohito
announced Japan’s surrender. Japan signed the oficial instruments of surrender aboard the USS Missouri on Sept. 2. An estimated 407,000 Americans
were killed fighting in World War II — 160,000 of them fighting the Japanese.
War Transformed U.S. Into Global Superpower V
-J Day represented the culmination of nearly four years of American involvement in World War II, a conflict that fundamentally transformed the United States from an isolationist nation into a global superpower. The war against the Japanese in the Pacific
Theater had been particularly brutal, characterized by island-hopping campaigns, kamikaze attacks, and the devastating atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The immediate celebration of peace across America
was extraordinary. From New York City to small towns, Americans poured into the streets in spontaneous jubilation. The famous photograph of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times
Square became an enduring symbol of national relief and joy. For families who had endured years of the constant fear of losing
52 NEWSMAX | AUGUST 2025
loved ones overseas, V-J Day represented a return to normalcy and hope for the future. V-J Day marked the beginning of America’s post-war economic boom, often called the “Golden Age” of American capitalism. The war had pulled the nation out of the Great
Depression, and the transition to a peacetime economy unleashed unprecedented prosperity. Veterans returning home under the GI Bill pursued higher education and homeownership in record numbers, creating the suburban middle class that would define American society for decades. The United States emerged from the war with its homeland untouched, its
industrial capacity expanded, and its military technology advanced. However, the end of the war also marked the beginning of the
Cold War with the Soviet Union, creating new tensions that would define American foreign policy for the next half-century.
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