For MacArthur, that plan, while horrific, wasn’t as bad as you’re painting it, if only because the bombs would have been much lower yield than modern nukes.
It would kill millions, especially if he used ground burst instead of air burst, but the actual global effect would be negligible. Cancer rates would spike in Northern Japan, but the fallout would mostly be over water.
Air burst would have even less effect, because there would be no fallout. (fallout is stuff from the ground that gets mixed with the radioactive material and free neutrons in a ground burst nuclear explosion, it’s heavy so it falls out)
Still an insane plan and MacArthur was justly fired for it and a bunch of other similar insanity, I just wish the Dulles brothers had been similarly fired for the shit they pulled.
For MacArthur, that plan, while horrific, wasn’t as bad as you’re painting it, if only because the bombs would have been much lower yield than modern nukes.
It would kill millions, especially if he used ground burst instead of air burst, but the actual global effect would be negligible. Cancer rates would spike in Northern Japan, but the fallout would mostly be over water.
Air burst would have even less effect, because there would be no fallout. (fallout is stuff from the ground that gets mixed with the radioactive material and free neutrons in a ground burst nuclear explosion, it’s heavy so it falls out)
Still an insane plan and MacArthur was justly fired for it and a bunch of other similar insanity, I just wish the Dulles brothers had been similarly fired for the shit they pulled.