Generations of American children have been taught how their government and military dropped two devastating bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. So profound was the devastation that Japan’s Emperor Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II, citing the power of a new and most cruel bomb. The atomic bomb was America's response to Japan's unprecedented attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, where 2,403 people died and nearly 2,000 more were wounded.
Wednesday on The Glenn Beck Program, Glenn displayed two flyers from that era, teaching a lesson that most Americans have likely never heard: The US military warned Japanese citizens in advance of dropping the bombs, allowing them time to escape and save their families.
"Here is a map of the American forces coming in and bombing these industrial areas. This one says, Men, women, and children, leave the industrial regions because they are going to be bombed. The allies are not interested in bombing you and the people," Glenn described.
Another flyer specifically warned about a single bomb more powerful than all of the bombs dropped during World War II.
"So we're telling them, not that we have the nuclear bomb, but we have a weapon beyond description and we're going to drop it on one of these 22 industrial cities," Glenn said.
The flyer, written in Japanese, goes on to advise people to bring with them food and water since they would be in scarce supply.
"Now, why aren't we ever taught that?" Glenn asked.
The truth about America's inherent goodness doesn't suit the political agenda of the progressive left, so generations of Americans have been denied it --- but the truth brings hope.
"Today, on December 7th, let’s commit ourselves to being people of good will," Glenn said.
Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it might contain errors:
GLENN: Today is the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. And before we leave, remind me, Stu -- or, Pat, we have to find the song -- it's not Remember Pearl Harbor. Maybe it is Remember Pearl Harbor. There's a couple of songs out there. One of them is so politically incorrect, it's outrageous.
JEFFY: I think it is that Remember...
GLENN: Yeah, that's not quite so politically outrageous.
But they both came out in the 1940s and right after Pearl Harbor. And one of them was like, "We're going to sock that Jap in the eye until we basically slaughter every one of them." And that's the America that we have been painted as. And it's really easy to paint an enemy and say, "We've got to kill all of them. But that's not who we really are.
Today, as we look at Pearl Harbor, this -- I think it's this flag -- this flag -- this is from the Vault. This flag was taken, I think so -- I think it's this one. It's either this one or that one. This flag was taken from the island when we took the -- I don't remember what island it was. But the island where we had to land the nuclear bombs. And they had an airstrip on that island. And we couldn't have bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki without stopping for fuel and loading the bomb there because it was so heavy.
We actually had to take the runway and dig a giant pit in the center and drop those bombs down into a pit because we couldn't get them underneath the plane. You'd have to jack the whole plane up, to wheel it in and then -- and then, you know, put it in.
It's quite a big deal. Before we went and bombed Pearl Harbor -- the reason why we bombed Pearl Harbor, Truman said he felt as though the sun, the moon, and the stars were cast on his shoulders.
Imagine the weight of taking the presidency in World War II and having to decide whether to drop the atomic bomb.
We are taught now in school that America is evil and we are not people of good will. Et cetera, et cetera. But I want to show the evidence that that is not who we are.
I cannot, unfortunately, read these. But this one -- yes. Here. This one has -- translation. Here you see a picture -- we put, I think, 7 million of these pamphlets -- I've never seen these before. I've never read about these before. 7 million of these pamphlets. And we have several of them, all different.
JEFFY: Remember when we first heard that we did that. No one knew that we did that. On this show.
GLENN: No one knows -- yeah.
JEFFY: I was like, "What!"
GLENN: Yeah, I know.
And we have the evidence now in The Vault. And next year, I'm going to start raising money to build Independence USA, the museum. But -- because these things have to be taught.
Here's a picture of a Japanese family. And you'll see they've got all their bags. And they're looking behind them, and they're leaving. And they're leaving an industrial area.
Here is a map of the American forces coming in and bombing these industrial areas. This one says, "Men, women, and children, leave the industrial regions because they are going to be bombed. The allies are not interested in bombing you and the people."
We have another one that specifically says we have a bomb that will be more than all of the bombs dropped in World War II, combined, in one bomb.
So we're telling them -- not that we have the nuclear bomb -- but we have a weapon beyond description, and we're going to drop it on one of these 22 industrial cities.
If you are in -- Nagasaki and Hiroshima are on that list. If you are in one of those cities, you must leave now because we have no intention of killing people and your families. Please get out now.
It goes on to say, "You should bring with you food and water because it will be hard to come by."
Now, why aren't we ever taught that?
JEFFY: I don't know.
GLENN: We're not taught that because of political agendas. It is clear -- the evidence is there. You just have to look for it. You have to know that it's there because now, it's so forgotten.
PAT: We did the same thing -- I mean, we've always done this kind of stuff. We did the same thing in Afghanistan. We throw bombs, and we drop food.
GLENN: May I suggest to you that when I told this story to some guys who were like just off their tour of duty -- we're still doing this.
PAT: Uh-huh.
GLENN: We're still dropping pamphlets and saying, "We're going to bomb here."
JEFFY: Yep.
PAT: Yeah.
GLENN: So if you want peace, real peace, how come this peace with the Japanese, who were taught to hate us, they were taught to hate us -- when the emperor actually said, "No, I'm -- or said, "Yes, I will sign your peace treaty," do you know why we -- we still bombed them, up to the signing of the peace treaty?"
We still launched planes to bomb, but we were -- and we were bombing people, up until that ink was dry. Then we called it off. Do you know why?
Because the emperor said to us, "We're not sure that the people will stop fighting." Why?
This is one of the imperial swords. And I don't know if I can get this one out. This is one of the imperial swords from Japan, used in World War II.
This sword is just like many that were used to hold contests of prisoners. They would take two people and line up 100 people on the chopping block. And two soldiers with a sword like this -- the one who could chop the most heads off in two minutes would win.
They had contests of throw the babies up, and the one who can catch the most babies on to their sword wins.
PAT: Ooh.
GLENN: They had a project that was worse -- think of this -- than what Mengele was doing, and we don't know about it.
And so when the emperor said, "We're not sure they'll quit," it's because the emperor had said, "If you think we're bad, the Americans will do worse to their captive populations."
We dropped these things -- they didn't believe us because of the propaganda that they had gotten. They couldn't believe that we were good people. We went there and we proved to them -- without any kind of desire for retribution or to win, we wanted to reconcile.
And because we proved that we are not those people, they reconciled with us. And Japan is still one of our greatest friends and allies.
December 7th, we had to stand on what was true in 1941. But I believe it was in August of '45 that we could show the Japanese people, "This is what's true." And there will be peace on earth for men of good will.
Today, on December 7th, let's commit ourselves to being people of good will.
Featured Image: The Glenn Beck Program, December 7, 2016