9. Was Japan Atomically Bombed While Germany Was Not Because of Anti-Asian Racism?
Another common myth related to the nuclear bombing of Japan posits that the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of anti-Japanese racism. The theory goes that atomic bombs were not dropped on Germany, and would not have been dropped, because the Germans were Caucasian and neither the US government nor American public opinion would have stomached nuking them. The Japanese on the other hand were racially different, which made the decision to drop atomic bombs on them easier.
It is a historic fact that there was intense racism against Japan and the Japanese during WWII, that far exceeded any hatred directed at the Germans. However, while there was awful racism directed at the Japanese, the theory that said racism explains why Japan was atomically bombed while Germany was not is bunk. No atomic bombs fell on German cities because Germany surrendered before the atomic bomb was ready to drop on anybody. Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 8th, 1945. The first atomic bomb was not successfully tested until July 16th, 1945, more than two months after Germany’s surrender.
