Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan

427 Pages·2005·1.826 MB·English

by  Tsuyoshi Hasegawa

R A C I N G
T H E
E N E M Y

R A C I N G
T H E
E N E M Y
stalin, truman, and the
surrender of japan
tsuyoshi hasegawa
the belknap press of
harvard university press
Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England
•
2005
Copyright©2005bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Hasegawa,Tsuyoshi,1941–
Racingtheenemy : Stalin,Truman,andthesurrender
ofJapan /TsuyoshiHasegawa.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-674-01693-9(alk.paper)
1.WorldWar,1939–1945—Armistices. 2.WorldWar,1939–1945—Japan.
3.WorldWar,1939–1945—SovietUnion. 4.WorldWar,1939–1945—
UnitedStates. 5.Worldpolitics—1933–1945. I.Title.
D813.J3H37 2005
940.53′2452—dc22 2004059786
Inmemoryof
Boris Nikolaevich Slavinsky,
myfriendandcolleague,
whodidnotseethefruitofourcollaboration

Contents
Maps viii
NoteonTransliterationandSpelling ix
Introduction:RacetotheFinish 1
1. TriangularRelationsandthePacificWar 7
2. Stalin,Truman,andHirohitoFaceNewChallenges 45
3. DecisionsforWarandPeace 89
4. Potsdam:TheTurningPoint 130
5. TheAtomicBombsandSovietEntryintotheWar 177
6. JapanAcceptsUnconditionalSurrender 215
7. AugustStorm:TheSoviet-JapaneseWar
andtheUnitedStates 252
Conclusion:AssessingtheRoadsNotTaken 290
Abbreviations 307
Notes 309
Acknowledgments 363
Index 367
Illustrationsfollowpages132and204
Maps
1 JapanatWar,1945 9
2 AugustStorm 196
3 CentralTokyo 246
4 Soviets’KurilOperation 257
5 BattleofShimushu 261
Note on Transliteration and Spelling
For Russian words, I have used the Library of Congress translitera-
tion system except for well-known terms such as Yalta and Mikoyan
when they appear in the text; in the citations, I retain Ialtinskaia
konferentsiiaandMikoian.Softsignsinpropernounsareomittedinthe
text but retained in the notes; hence “Komsomolsk” instead of
“Komsomol’sk.” I employ the strict Library of Congress transliteration
system for the ending “ii” rather than the more popular ending “y”;
hence “Maiskii” instead of “Maisky” and “Lozovskii” instead of
“Lozovsky.”
For Japanese words, I use the Hepburn transliteration system with
somemodifications;hence“Konoe”insteadofthemorecommonlyused
“Konoye.” But I use “nenpyo” instead of the strict Hepburn rendering
“nempyo.” In addition, I use an apostrophe in some cases for ease of
reading; for instance, “Shun’ichi” instead of “Shunichi,” to separate
“shun”and“ichi.”MacronsinJapanesenamesandtermsareomitted.
Japanese given names come before surnames in the text, but the or-
der of surnames and given names follows the Japanese custom in the
endnotes, except for Japanese authors of English- or Russian-language
books and articles. For instance, Sadao Asada’s Japanese article is cited
as“AsadaSadao,”buthisEnglisharticleiscitedas“SadaoAsada.”
ForChinesegeographicalnamesIusethePostalAtlassystem.ForChi-
nese personal names I follow contemporary style rather than the pinyin
system; hence “Chiang Kai-shek” rather than “Jiang Jieshi,” and “T.V.
Soong”ratherthan“SongZiwen.”
ForpropernamesindirectquotesfromoriginaldocumentsIretainthe
usage in the original, although these renderings may not conform to the
systemIuseinthetext.Thus,the“Kurils”mayappearasthe“Kuriles”
and“Konoe”as“Konoye”indirectquotes.
ix