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Absolute victory

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, delivered on December 8, 1941

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Atomic bomb on Japan

Leó Szilárd

Interviewer: Dr. Szilard, what was your attitude in 1945 toward the question of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan?
Leó Szilárd: I opposed it with all my power, but I'm afraid not as effectively as I should have wished.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Atomic energy

Leó Szilárd

[...] there was still a difference between using incendiary bombs and using the new force of nature for purposes of destruction. There was still a further step taken here — atomic energy was something new. I thought it would be very bad to set a precedent for using atomic energy for purposes of destruction. And I think that having done so we have greatly affected the postwar history.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Atomic-arms race

Leó Szilárd

In March, 1945, I prepared a memorandum which was meant to be presented to President Roosevelt. This memorandum warned that the use of the bomb against the cities of Japan would start an atomic-arms race with Russia, and it raised the question whether avoiding such an arms race might not be more important than the short-term goal of knocking Japan out of the war.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Be first in the battlefield

Sun Tzu

Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Calamity of war

Samuel Johnson

Among the calamities of war, may be justly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates, and credulity encourages.

The Idler, November 11, 1758

Was born on: 18.09.1709
About Author: British author, poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer

Day of infamy

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, delivered on December 8, 1941

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Deception

Sun Tzu

All warfare is based on deception.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Different world

Leó Szilárd

I think, if we had not dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and instead demonstrated the bomb after the war, then, if we had really wanted to rid the world of atomic bombs, I think we could probably have done it. Now, whether this would have led to a better world or not, I don't know. But it certainly would have been a world very different from the one we have now.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Do the right thing

Sun Tzu

There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Four things greater than all

Rudyard Kipling

Four things greater than all things are, — Women and Horses and Power and War

The Ballad of the King's Jest, The Collected Works of Rudyard Kipling: Department Ditties and Barrack-Room Ballads, 1941

Was born on: 30.12.1865
About Author: British author and poet

Honorable war

Balthasar Gracian

Few wage honorable war.

The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1892)

Was born on: 08.01.1601
About Author: Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer

Illusion

Leó Szilárd

Prior to the war [World War II] I had the illusion that up to a point the American Government was different. This illusion was gone after Hiroshima.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Japan and World War II

Leó Szilárd

My point is that violence would not have been necessary if we had been willing to negotiate. After all, Japan was suing for peace.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Japan attacking

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, delivered on December 8, 1941

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Learn war early from friends

Mary Renault

It is better to learn war early from friends, than late from enemies

The Bull from the Sea, 1962

Was born on: 04.09.1905
About Author: English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece

Look ahead

Sun Tzu

He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Love and respect

Sun Tzu

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Major mistake

Leó Szilárd

Interviewer: Have your views on this subject changed at all since 1945?
Leo Szilard: No, except that I can say much more clearly today what I was thinking at that time than I was able to say it at that time. Today I would put the whole emphasis on the mistake of insisting on unconditional surrender. Today I would say that the confusion arose from considering the fake alternatives of either having to invade Japan or of having to use the bomb against her cities.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Manage an army

Sun Tzu

The principle on which to manage an army is to set up one standard of courage which all must reach.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Moral law

Sun Tzu

The consummate leader cultivates the moral law, and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus it is in his power to control success.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Peace is better than war

Francis Bacon

Croesus said to Cambyses; That peace was better than war; because in peace the sons did bury their fathers, but in wars the fathers did bury their sons.

Apophtegms, New and Old, 1625

Was born on: 22.01.1561
About Author: English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist and author
Author Photo Source: National Portrait Gallery, London

President

Lyndon Baines Johnson

This is the richest and the most powerful country which ever occupied this globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion. I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of their world. I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be tax-payers instead of tax-eaters. I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election. I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men, and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties. I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth.

Address to a Joint Session of Congress on Voting Legislation
We Shall Overcome, delivered 15 March 1965, Washington, D.C.

Was born on: 27.08.1908
About Author: 36th President of the United States

President Truman did not understand

Leó Szilárd

Interviewer: Would a United States Government today, confronted with the same set of choices and approximately the same degree of military intelligence, reach a different decision as to using the first A-bomb?
Leó Szilárd: I think it depends on the person of the President. Truman did not understand what was involved. You can see that from the language he used. Truman announced the bombing of Hiroshima while he was at sea coming back from Potsdam, and his announcement contained the phrase — I quote from the New York Times of August 7, 1945: We have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history — and won. To put the atomic bomb in terms of having gambled 2 billion dollars and having won offended my sense of proportions, and I concluded at that time that Truman did not understand at all what was involved.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Returning home

Sun Tzu

Do not interfere with an army that is returning home.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Riots and wars

Richard Nixon

A riot is a spontaneous outburst. A war is subject to advance planning.

Address before the National Association of Manufacturers, New York City, December 8, 1967

Was born on: 09.01.1913
About Author: 37th President of the United States
Author Photo Source: United States Federal Government

Russia and atomic bomb

Leó Szilárd

Interviewer: Did you think then that the Russians probably were working on the [atomic] bomb?
Leó Szilárd: I had no idea of this. The question before us was: Should we think in terms of America's having a long-term monopoly of the bomb after the war, or will Russia have the bomb before long also? I had no doubt that we would start an atomic-arms race if we used the bomb.

Interview to Dr. Leó Szilárd: President Truman Did Not Understand, New York
U.S. News & World Report, August 15, 1960, pages 68-71.

Was born on: 11.02.1898
About Author: Hungarian physicist

Shadow of war

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.

The Lord of the Rings. Preface to the Second Edition.

Was born on: 03.01.1892
About Author: English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor

Soldiers as children

Sun Tzu

Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

State of war

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Pearl Harbor Address to the Nation, delivered on December 8, 1941

Was born on: 30.01.1882
About Author: 32nd President of the United States
Author Photo Source: wikimedia.org

Strike against war

Helen Keller

Strike against war, for without you no battles can be fought. Strike against manufacturing shrapnel and gas bombs and all other tools of murder. Strike against preparedness that means death and misery to millions of human beings. Be not dumb, obedient slaves in an army of destruction. Be heroes in an army of construction.

Speech in Carnegie Hall, January 5, 1916

Was born on: 27.06.1880
About Author: American author, political activist, and lecturer

Tactical maneuvering

Sun Tzu

The difficulty of tactical maneuvering consists in turning the devious into the direct, and misfortune into gain.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

Tactics and strategy

Sun Tzu

All men can see the tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

The atom bomb is a paper tiger

Zedong Mao

The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the U.S. reactionaries use to scare people. It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't. Of course, the atom bomb is a weapon of mass slaughter, but the outcome of a war is decided by the people, not by one or two new types of weapon.

Talk with the American Correspondent Anna Louise Strong (1946)

Was born on: 26.12.1893
About Author: Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader
Author Photo Source: Wissen Media Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh

The designs of our neighbors

Sun Tzu

We cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

The ease of a clever fighter

Sun Tzu

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

The Art of War (512 B.C.)

About Author: Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher

The good fighters

Sun Tzu