I just finished reading American Caesar[0], a great biography of Douglas MacArthur. I highly recommend it as the story of a fascinating and brilliant man who is too little remembered today. I especially enjoyed and respected MacArthur's place in the rebuilding of Japan; his almost absolute power gave him space to override the more vengeful elements within the United States to implement an extremely conciliatory post-war settlement. I don't think it's unfair to call him the founder of the modern Japanese nation, both in terms of governance and political economy. Though not covered in the book, the distinctions between MacArthur's Japan and Weimar Germany are especially stark, and it is sobering to consider what may have happened had the Japanese fallen into the malaise which in Germany gave rise to the Stabbed In The Back myth.

[0] https://www.amazon.com/American-Caesar-Douglas-MacArthur-188...

No, it's actually not. You will know this if you read more history. Even Japan itself did not end up having to agree to unconditional surrender:

> The Potsdam declaration in July, demand[ed] that Japan surrender unconditionally or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.’ MacArthur was appalled. He knew that the Japanese would never renounce their emperor, and that without him an orderly transition to peace would be impossible anyhow, because his people would never submit to Allied occupation unless he ordered it. Ironically, when the surrender did come, it was conditional, and the condition was a continuation of the imperial reign. Had the General’s advice been followed, the resort to atomic weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki might have been unnecessary.

Source: https://www.amazon.com/American-Caesar-Douglas-MacArthur-188...

The "unconditional surrender" wording was an official statement, but not a 100% accurate depiction of reality.

>by the way, you are peddling historical revisionism

What I've stated has been based in fact, and I don't appreciate you conveniently ignore the facts I took the time to contribute and calmly having the indignity to type that. You don't actually want a discussion or to know why someone might disagree with you - You're just glued to your world view.

Just keep this in mind. This is a quote published in stripes.com, the US Dept. of Defenses' newspaper:

>"The bomb played a part in Japan’s surrender, but it may not have been necessary, he said."

Oh, and more on your supposed "unconditional surrender" and war crimes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731

If I can open a source, point you to the fact, and show you why that's wrong, but you still are latched onto your worldview without engaging in interest in understanding another's point of view, I have nothing left to say.

The Masks of God series by Joseph Campbell - http://www.amazon.com/The-Masks-God-Vol-Primitive/dp/0140194...

Various myths and themes persist across religions, history and geography.

American Caesar - http://www.amazon.com/American-Caesar-Douglas-MacArthur-1880...

Biography of MacArthur. Interesting for its disclosure of relationships between politics, the media and the military in the absence of real time communication. Also, watch the death of Victorian values during the 20th century.