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Comment by qersist3nce | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, these are the parts conveniently ignored in almost all documentaries on this subject. There was also a legal dispute between Eckert-Mauchly and von Neumann about precedence of invention of early computer architectures.

Good thing there was a "steady hand" Eisenhower that green lit dropping of the bombs on general population, otherwise who could have known what kinds of justifications the japs academics would have come up with to wash out the atrocities of their imperial administration?

As always, history is written by the winners.

[Edit]: Confused Eisenhower with Truman

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> Good thing there was a "steady hand" Eisenhower that green lit dropping of the bombs on general population

"... in formulating policies regarding the atomic bomb and relations with the Soviets, Truman was guided by the U.S. State Department and ignored Eisenhower and the Pentagon. Indeed, Eisenhower had opposed the use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese, writing, 'First, the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon.'"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower

Sorry, I confused Truman with Eisenhower. Still, I have a feeling I can find similar views even from him:

> In 1953, he considered using nuclear weapons to end the Korean War, and may have threatened China with nuclear attack if an armistice was not reached quickly.

> He supported regime-changing military coups in Iran and Guatemala orchestrated by his own administration

> He approved the Bay of Pigs invasion, which was left to John F. Kennedy to carry out.

The biography was interesting. Other big misses were essentially keeping in place the health care system we have today, and not being much of a leader on civil rights issues.

I’ll settle for history being written by people who know what they’re talking about. Eisenhower opposed use of the bomb on Japan.

If that's the case, history gets ignored by those who have no idea what they are talking about.

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