Tornado Alley (PROG)

[BOREALIS]

THE DAY HIROHITO OVERRULED JAPAN'S CABINET

Hirohito then told his official spokesman, Koichi Kido: ''Under these circumstances we must bow to the inevitable.
We must put an end to this war as speedily as possible so this tragedy will not be repeated.''

The following day, Hirohito told Foreign Minister Togo, ''We can no longer continue the struggle now that a weapon of this devastating power was used against us'' and instructed him to ''tell (Premier) Suzuki it is my wish that the war be ended as soon as possible on the basis of the Potsdam Proclamation.''

Had the atomic bombs not been dropped, a massive allied attack on the home islands - which Washington had approved in June - might have been necessary. And an invasion of Japan would have been catastrophic.