Culture » July 30, 2010

Howard Zinn’s Final Act of Protest

In his last book, the late, great historian—and former bombardier—examines his troubling actions during W.W. II.

By Micah Uetricht

Author Howard Zinn speaks as Actress Marisa Tomei, (L), and SVP of Development and Programming of the History Channel David McKillop, far right, look on during the History Channel documentary 'The People Speak' panel during the Cable portion of the 2009 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

In pondering whether dropping the bomb was just or unjust, we rarely hear the testimony of a 16-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who saw “a woman with her jaw missing and her tongue hanging out of her mouth … crying for help.”

When he died in January at age 87, historian Howard Zinn was still haunted by the ghosts of World War II. He discussed his career as a bombardier often and cited his participation in war as the main catalyst for his opposition to it. He spent much of his post-combat life considering how he had dropped bombs on innocent civilians without asking why—and how to stop bombs from dropping in the future.

In The Bomb (City Lights), Zinn offers brief histories of the two events that shook him most during that war: the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and the little-known assault on the French port town of Royan, in which Zinn himself participated. At the time, he was emotionally distant from the devastation in both cases. The Bomb serves almost as his apology—as well as a call against arms.

The book’s first essay, “Hiroshima,” does not offer new critiques of the bombing, but rather provides a historical analysis of the horrors wrought by “Little Boy” that is still absent from most conversations about the war.

In pondering whether dropping the bomb was just or unjust, we rarely hear the testimony of a 16-year-old Japanese schoolgirl who saw “a woman with her jaw missing and her tongue hanging out of her mouth … crying for help.” Or a fifth-grader’s remembrance: “I do not know how many times I beg[ged] they would cut off my burned arms and legs.” Zinn’s inclusion of these testimonies, along with an examination of the Japanese surrender already within sight and the context of the soon-to-begin Cold War, provide correctives to an event considered beyond reproach by many Americans.

“The Bombing of Royan” chronicles the aftermath of Zinn’s last mission over the French town in 1945, where German garrisons were stationed. He returned to Royan in 1966 to research the effects of the napalm and bombs he dropped.

The bombing of Royan is a perfect example of war as a “deadly work of obvious uselessness,” and the reconstruction of its history could not be in more capable hands. Zinn points out that like Hiroshima, victory against the Germans was on the horizon, and the pummeling of Royan that killed hundreds of civilians was strategically unwarranted.

He quotes a local commander: “‘It would have been logical to wait for Germany’s surrender, and thus avoid new human and material losses,’ but one could not ‘ignore important factors of [the Allied troops’] morale.’” Pages before, Zinn quotes a French civilian who called the bombing “such hell as we never believed possible.” The juxtaposition illuminates the gulf between those who wage war and those who experience it.

Zinn’s last book is a modest appeal to humanity: War is miserable, and we have to stop it. The final sentences of The Bomb will serve well to represent his legacy: “Anyone can throw a wrench into the machinery,” he closes. We must “act on what we feel and think, here, now, for human flesh and sense, against the abstractions of duty and obedience.”

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• Reader Comments

  My father was a radio operator on the B-17 with the U.S. Army Air Corps, stationed in the Pacific during World War II. I remember him telling us that he never saw first hand the devastation of bombing the Japanese, but he did state; “I knew people were being killed.”

  Any real warrior will tell you that killing the enemy is never a glorious thing, it is never something one wishes to brag about and it is certainly not something one discusses over the dinner table with one’s family. My dad who is about to complete 87 years of age never did and for this I admire and respect him.

  As to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki my father feels both were not only wrong, they were completely unnecessary. “The Japanese were close to surrender.Dropping atomic bombs on both cities was barbaric and racist.” Profound analogy for a working class man who served in war.

  War is never a pleasant thing. Many argue that it is pointless. Personally I have never served in a war and hope I never will have to. I do believe that there are more than enough unjustified wars that our country has gotten involved in. I would NOT put World War II in that category as the world was threatened by fascism from Germany, Italy and Japan. The wars in Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq I, Bosnia,  Iraq II and Afghanistan are all wars that never should have occurred.

  When working people can exert control as to who we will go to war against or who we will sit down and negotiate settlements with, then and only then will we have reached the ultimate level of democracy. Until then, our sons and daughters will in all probability continue to be sent off to fight in the interestss of U.S. imperialism and the politcians will continue to label their actions as “heroic”!  How tragic!

  Posted by Chicano Wobbly on Aug 2, 2010 at 12:49 PM

  Perhaps just a little late for the presses, but it’s curious that such an article fails to mention that Zinn was not only a genuine communist, but he lied about it. 

  http://tinyurl.com/Zinn-communist

  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, right?  If not, why did he go to such great lengths to hide his true allegiances?

  Posted by Natalie on Aug 3, 2010 at 2:03 AM

  Natalie, obviously you are not familiar with the tremendous suffering and persecution that communists went through during the McCarthy era. Thousands of reds were fired from their jobs and the labor movement eager to impress the right wing expelled them from their ranks. Hollywood actors and other cultural workers were also black listed for their membership in the communist party or their refusal to snitch out their colleagues.

  If Zinn was a red, more power to him! If he chose to keep this to himself, I for one can understand why!

  Posted by Chicano Wobbly on Aug 3, 2010 at 11:42 AM

  The problem is not being a communist per se, the problem is that they’re so intent on changing the country into something probably at least 90% of us don’t want it to be.  That of course is the reason he kept it a secret.  He knew how utterly unpopular his ideology was, and is.  If he just wanted to live in some commune somewhere in the woods, fine.  But don’t try to interfere so profoundly with the rest of our freely chosen pursuits. 

  Communism just hasn’t worked out that well through history.  That’s because it’s fundamentally in opposition to any concept of genuine liberty—which of course is the reason people are forever trying to get into this country, and not trying to break out of it.

  Since he WAS indeed a communist, his writings need to be filtered through that mindset.  It seems to me that most communist leaders, movers and shakers, had to employ a lot of disinformation and distortion of both history and current events, not to mention murder—to survive.

  Posted by Natalie on Aug 5, 2010 at 2:49 AM

  I’ve lived in this country all of my life and I have failed to see the “liberty” that you refer to. As to communism not working that well, do you think that capitalism has been a complete success for working people? I would say that capitalism has not worked for us, never has and never will! Communism or socialism is NOT perfect, but it is more humane when applied correctly.

  Most people in the U.S. do not accept the concept of communism because they do not understand it and they have been filled with false information by our news media and government.. If things under communism in the former Societ Union were as terrible as our government would have us believe, then why did thousands of people NOT die when the Soviet government fell? As I remember the fall of the Soviet government was pretty much bloodless and NO reports of the citizens being slaughtered by the military. If we attempted such a thing here, without a doubt we would be crushed by the military under direct orders from our so-called freedom loving government!

  Posted by Chicano Wobbly on Aug 5, 2010 at 5:11 PM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 23 posts.

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