At least the NASA hires were all “former” nazis, rather than actively practicing. (At least on paper, I’m not actively aware of anyone continuing to be terrible after jumping to the US.)
I don’t think it matters whether you’re labelled a Nazi or not, when the country that hires you you defect to puts the weapons of mass destruction you were helping to research to practical use.You’re assisting horrible people, one way or the other.
The Nazis were most definitely planning on doing the same thing had they gotten the chance, mind you, but I cannot fathom one using the weapons of mass destruction that the evil of the world planned to use, on not one, but two cities containing mostly civilians, and then call oneself a “hero” or the “good guy”.
In some cases these scientists are why the Nazis didn’t get nukes because they were quietly sabotaging the program by pursuing known dead ends. Scientists in the US were actually baffled by the lack of progress, since German scientists were publishing good theoretical work.
Japan would have surrendered without the atomic bombs dropping or a ground invasion. Saying it was necessary to prevent a ground invasion or to finish the war early is a common argument that makes sense at first glance, but if you look into it then it’s not actually accurate.
My favorite video on the subject is Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki by Shaun. It is 2h 20m long, following the story of the relationship between America, Russia, and Japan, and the circumstances that led to the bombs ultimately being dropped. Highly recommend.
If I remember my history right, Japan would’ve surrendered conditionally without the bombs and that was only after bleeding the allies and soviets a bit. The condition here was Japan gets to keep the pacific holdings that weren’t already liberated. It doesn’t take a genius to see why that was unacceptable.
There seems to be an inordinate amount of racism around the Huntsville Alabama area, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s partly due to the legacy of operation paperclip.
At least the NASA hires were all “former” nazis, rather than actively practicing. (At least on paper, I’m not actively aware of anyone continuing to be terrible after jumping to the US.)
I don’t think it matters whether you’re labelled a Nazi or not, when the country that
hires youyou defect to puts the weapons of mass destruction you were helping to research to practical use.You’re assisting horrible people, one way or the other.The Nazis were most definitely planning on doing the same thing had they gotten the chance, mind you, but I cannot fathom one using the weapons of mass destruction that the evil of the world planned to use, on not one, but two cities containing mostly civilians, and then call oneself a “hero” or the “good guy”.
In some cases these scientists are why the Nazis didn’t get nukes because they were quietly sabotaging the program by pursuing known dead ends. Scientists in the US were actually baffled by the lack of progress, since German scientists were publishing good theoretical work.
Classic trolley problem exposed here. Nuke 2 cities or invasion level casualties.
Choose.
Japan would have surrendered without the atomic bombs dropping or a ground invasion. Saying it was necessary to prevent a ground invasion or to finish the war early is a common argument that makes sense at first glance, but if you look into it then it’s not actually accurate.
My favorite video on the subject is Dropping the Bomb: Hiroshima & Nagasaki by Shaun. It is 2h 20m long, following the story of the relationship between America, Russia, and Japan, and the circumstances that led to the bombs ultimately being dropped. Highly recommend.
Please. Use your words and summarize the important points if you want to argue.
If I remember my history right, Japan would’ve surrendered conditionally without the bombs and that was only after bleeding the allies and soviets a bit. The condition here was Japan gets to keep the pacific holdings that weren’t already liberated. It doesn’t take a genius to see why that was unacceptable.
Don’t waste your time watching that two hour video. Everything you need to know about the situation can be summed up in this 25 hour podcast series:
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-62-supernova-in-the-east-i/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-63-supernova-in-the-east-ii/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-64-supernova-in-the-east-iii/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-65-supernova-in-the-east-iv/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-66-supernova-in-the-east-v/
https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-67-supernova-in-the-east-vi/
I choose a secret third option:
https://youtu.be/RCRTgtpC-Go
I choose an infamous fourth option:
https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
Sometimes (aka almost always) there is actually a third (or fourth) solution to a trolley problem.
There seems to be an inordinate amount of racism around the Huntsville Alabama area, and I can’t help but wonder if that’s partly due to the legacy of operation paperclip.
I guess if we can’t find any examples of racism in Alabama before 1946 your theory may have legs.