19 - Atone

Summary

When the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japan, Reverend John MacLean did not rejoice at the mass slaughter. Instead, he accepted the notion that the bombs brought an end to the war, but he felt that America had a duty to help rebuild. On January 6, 1946, MacLean announced to his church that God wanted him to raise money among American Christians for the restoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He chose not to declare the atomic bombings as right or wrong; he simply tip-toed to the edge of calling it immoral. He did not go as far as to claim that the United States needed to apologize for the nuclear attacks. He merely pointed out that “a Christian nation had not only killed many thousands of helpless civilians, but destroyed the homes of countless others, leaving them shocked, wounded, terrified and deprived of a means of livelihood.” What began as a fund-raising drive by American Christians to atone for the atomic bombs quickly morphed into a campaign to build a Christian university in Japan. This chapter follows the American efforts to create this university and the leading ex-officials who played the most vital roles, from Ambassador Joseph Grew to Will Clayton to Eleanor Roosevelt.