Podcast appearances and mentions of James M Scott

James M. Scott, Part Two: The Potsdam Declaration offered Japan a choice between rebuilding or "utter destruction." President Harry Truman greenlit the atomic bomb on the back of a pink telegram sheet, leading to historic missions piloted by Paul Tibbets, who trained his crew using concrete-filled "pumpkin" bombs. Following the devastating atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—where little was initially understood about radiation's long-term effects—Japan's military leaders still resisted surrendering. Junior officers launched a failed palace coup to destroy Emperor Hirohito's recorded surrender broadcast, but the rapid succession of the two bombings ultimately proved that total annihilation was imminent. (3)

TABLE OF CONTENTS THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, 8-21-2026Jeff Bliss reports Las Vegas is planning major upgrades to Allegiant Stadium, with the Raiders seeking $75 million in taxpayer funding to resolve pedestrian choke points and add retail opportunities. In Los Angeles, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass faced criticism after a poor debate performance against challenger Nithya Raman, highlighting her perceived disconnect from critical city problems like expanding homeless encampments. Meanwhile, CaliforniaGovernor Gavin Newsom faces backlash over a state commission's decision to phase out standard car tires, raising costs by hundreds of dollars. Lastly, former Representative Swalwell was detained by the FBI, who seized his electronics over alleged sexual improprieties. (1)Richard Epstein examines the suit by Disney and ABC against the FCC, claiming that threats to review their local television station licenses constitute unconstitutional retaliation for their political late-night and morning show commentary. Epstein agrees ABC's case is strong, arguing that FCC Chair Brendan Carr is abusing regulatory power by treating public airwave licensing as a private property right to suppress critics. Additionally, Epstein asserts that Trump Media's paid service offering fast-access Truth Social posts is, by definition, insider trading, criticizing the president for using inside government knowledge for personal profit. (2)James M. Scott, Part Two: The Potsdam Declaration offered Japan a choice between rebuilding or "utter destruction." President Harry Truman greenlit the atomic bomb on the back of a pink telegram sheet, leading to historic missions piloted by Paul Tibbets, who trained his crew using concrete-filled "pumpkin" bombs. Following the devastating atomic strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—where little was initially understood about radiation's long-term effects—Japan's military leaders still resisted surrendering. Junior officers launched a failed palace coup to destroy Emperor Hirohito's recorded surrender broadcast, but the rapid succession of the two bombings ultimately proved that total annihilation was imminent. (3)Jim McTague reports Lancaster County's diverse economy—spanning tourism, agriculture, light manufacturing, and healthcare—is showing signs of notable resilience. While heavy July rains and high fuel costs temporarily slowed business, economic activity stabilized in August. Local tourist destinations like Kitchen Kettle Village report strong traffic, attracting over a million visitors annually with unique local goods and food. Lower gasoline prices have also arrived just in time to boost back-to-school shopping. Meanwhile, high inflation is driving steady consumer traffic to Costco for essentials, and local hotels remain heavily booked on weekends through October. (4)Lorenzo Fiori reports Europe's severe heatwave is finally breaking as heavy rain and storms across Switzerland and Northern Italy drop temperatures by up to 20 degrees. This rainfall offers critical, long-awaited relief for the dry Po River, which has reached record lows. To escape over-tourism, Fiori recommends Chieti, a historic hilltop town in the Abruzzo region boasting Roman ruins, scenic views of the Adriatic Sea, and nearby mountain peaks. Visitors can explore the medieval fortress of Rocca Calascio and enjoy local culinary traditions, including macaroni with fresh pesto, paired with local white Trebbiano or full-bodied red Montepulciano wine. (5)Bob Zimmerman reports SpaceX is rumored to be expanding to Louisiana with a massive 130,000-acre launch and data center site, while aerospace startup Castelion is successfully building low-cost hypersonic missiles for the Pentagon. Internationally, China achieved a vertical soft landing of its Zhuque-3 rocket first stage, and Ukraine damaged a key Russian rocket factory. In space science, NASA and Catalyst canceled their telescope rescue mission, while Marsexploration continues to reveal delicate rock formations and "taffy terrain." Finally, the James Webb Space Telescopehas discovered unexpected low-mass stars in the early universe, challenging previous cosmological models. (6)Henry Sokolski warns that while nuclear negotiations focus heavily on Iran's uranium, Iran has a neglected second path to weapons: hundreds of bombs' worth of plutonium stored at the Bushehr plant. Sokolski also criticizes the geopolitical reliance on Elon Musk's Starlink, arguing that a private company should not make critical military decisions, such as approving Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia. In Asia, Sokolski addresses North Korea's estimated arsenal of 57 nuclear weapons. Finally, he discusses gray-zone warfare with Russia and the debated trillion-dollar cost of the proposed "Golden Dome" U.S. missile defense system. (7)Jonathan Marcus reports American universities are suffering from declining public trust, soaring tuition costs, and a looming demographic drop in enrollment tracing back to the 2008 recession. Schools that became financially dependent on high-paying international students face severe budget cuts and program closures as foreign enrollment drops. This financial squeeze has forced a shift, prompting the rapid rise of three-year "applied bachelor's degrees" designed to save students time and money. Additionally, domestic universities face a STEM crisis fueled by weak K-12 math performance, leaving advanced research programs vulnerable as China's PhD output rapidly outpaces the United States. (8)Jonathan Marcus applied at (8) as directed. Other fixes: Nithya Raman (transcribed as "Nitia Ramen," segment 1 — the LA councilmember), Castelion (transcribed as "Castellion," segment 6 — the hypersonics startup, one l), and segment 3 marked Part Two of the James M. Scott Empire of Ashes series, continuing from yesterday's Part One. Flag any of these if the audio differs.

James M. Scott traces the dramatic, complex final months of World War II in the Pacific. Scott details how Secretary of War Henry Stimson briefed Truman in depth on the secret atomic bomb, and praises General Leslie Groves' masterful management of the Manhattan Project's secret cities. He describes Japan's political division: Emperor Hirohito secretly sought peace while militarists prepared a fanatical defense of Kyushu to force better terms. Scott explains the intense debate over demanding unconditional surrender versus preserving the Japanese monarchy, concluding with the Trinitytest, Potsdam Conference, and Truman's hope that the bomb's shock value would force surrender. (7)

TABLE OF CONTENTS THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW 8-21-2026Anatol Lieven discusses the war in Ukraine, highlighting Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure like Black Sea resorts and a commercial center. He carefully examines the psychological impact of these infrastructure strikes, noting that while they aim to weaken Russian morale, history shows such strategies rarely succeed. Lieven describes growing domestic resentment over rampant government corruption, which threatens Western aid and has already led to several high-profile dismissals. Finally, he analyzes global energy and food security threats caused by port and refinery strikes, alongside Prime Minister Andy Burnham's struggle to balance costly military commitments with domestic recovery. (1)Peter Berkowitz reflects on the 30th anniversary of Alan Sokal's famous academic hoax, which exposed the intellectual decline within higher education humanities. Berkowitz critiques contemporary humanities departments for their ideological hypocrisy: professors claim objective truth is subjective while simultaneously insisting that their own political claims are absolute truths. He references a report from Vanderbilt and Washington University confirming that significant contingents of humanities faculty in core disciplines subordinate scholarship to political activism. Finally, Berkowitz notes that this progressive ideological capture is concentrated among college-educated voters in elite university towns, warning that treating education as political indoctrination severely perverts liberal education. (2)Mary Anastasia O'Grady discusses the alarming rise of authoritarianism in Mexico under President Claudia Sheinbaum and her ruling party, Morena. O'Grady details how the ruling party has systematically consolidated power by taking control of independent electoral bodies, tribunals, regulatory commissions, and the judiciary through politicized popular elections. She warns that Morena's latest effort targets television and radio—the primary sources of information for most Mexican citizens—to effectively censor critical independent media. While O'Grady deeply laments the weak leadership of the official political opposition, she finds hope in the strong pushback and widespread mobilization of Mexican civil society against these state controls. (3)Jonathan Miltimore discusses the ongoing imprisonment of 79-year-old pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong, calling it the world's most overlooked story. Miltimore expresses his deep disappointment that Donald Trumpfailed to raise Lai's case publicly during his Beijing trip, instead repeating CCP rhetoric that Lai caused "bedlam." He describes Lai's deteriorating health inside his tiny, unventilated six-foot cell and urges President Trump to pressure Xi Jinping during his upcoming U.S. visit. Miltimore notes that even certain CCP factions want Lai released to avoid international outrage if he dies in prison, emphasizing that Lai is fully prepared for potential martyrdom. (4)Veronique de Rugy critiques California Representative Ro Khanna's proposal for a "one-time" 5% wealth tax on billionaires. De Rugy explains that several different European countries largely abandoned wealth taxes because they are administratively difficult, generate little revenue, and cause severe economic distortions. Highlighting a debate between Khanna and Mark Cuban, she details how taxing paper wealth completely ignores true liquidity, forcing entrepreneurs to sell shares of private companies or borrow against volatile collateral. De Rugy warns that wealth taxes inevitably expand to target middle-class citizens, ultimately costing states far more in lost income taxes than they retrieve from the wealthy. (5)Rohan Naidu discusses the groundbreaking discovery of "black hole stars" at cosmic dawn using the James Webb Space Telescope. Naidu explains that these infant objects appear as mysterious "little red dots" but possess hybrid properties of both highly luminous black holes and stars. He explains how a young black hole surrounded by dense hydrogen gas absorbs blue and green light, creating a signature "Balmer break" resembling the star Vega. Naidu outlines future research, including finding atmospheric chemical fingerprints like water, and using the newly proposed Celestemission alongside ground telescopes to directly image swirling gas feeding these infant black holes. (6)James M. Scott traces the dramatic, complex final months of World War II in the Pacific. Scott details how Secretary of War Henry Stimson briefed Truman in depth on the secret atomic bomb, and praises General Leslie Groves' masterful management of the Manhattan Project's secret cities. He describes Japan's political division: Emperor Hirohito secretly sought peace while militarists prepared a fanatical defense of Kyushu to force better terms. Scott explains the intense debate over demanding unconditional surrender versus preserving the Japanese monarchy, concluding with the Trinitytest, Potsdam Conference, and Truman's hope that the bomb's shock value would force surrender. (7)Evan Ellis analyzes key regional political and security developments in Latin America. Ellis discusses EcuadorianPresident Daniel Noboa's visit to China to secure security, trade, and economic assistance, and explains how historical visa-free policies turned Ecuador into a major transit corridor for Chinese migrants entering the US. He details Bolivia's ongoing political instability and the dangerous scandals involving Evo Morales. Ellis also covers Chile's border enforcement efforts, Colombia's return to aggressive military operations against cartels following a major earthquake, and the stalled democratic transitions in Venezuela and Nicaragua, where regimes rely on brutal repression and illicit economies to hold power. (8)This fuller eight-file version supersedes the earlier seven-file draft — de Rugy now sits at (5) and everything falls in place without gaps. The Celeste mission appears again in segment 6; the source calls it "newly proposed," which explains why I couldn't verify it earlier, so I've let it stand.

“There is a big chasm between defeat and surrender. Surrender is inherently a political decision.” — James M. Scott Exactly eighty-one years ago, on August 9, 1945, the United States dropped its second nuclear device on Nagasaki. Three days earlier, on August 6, the Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. Little Boy and Fat Man. Our nuclear Rubicon had been crossed. Three days in August that changed the world. These historic 72 hours are the subject of Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War, by James M. Scott, America's foremost chronicler of the Pacific War. This new book, Scott reveals, grew out of Black Snow, his history of the firebombing of Tokyo. But whereas Black Snow was a military study, he explains, Empire of Ashes focuses on Truman, Hirohito and the politics of nuclear warfare. By August 1945, Scott argues, Japan was already defeated. So surrender was a political decision — one that required a weak, figurehead emperor to summon the power to save his country from an even darker apocalypse. Should America regret these August days? Harry Truman certainly didn't, Scott notes. In fact, in 1958 Truman even held a press conference in Independence, Missouri, to fire back at Hiroshima's city council when it suggested that he should. Nor does Scott render much of a moral verdict of his own. “Nobody needs to hear James Scott in Charleston, South Carolina tell you what it is you should think,” he explains, suggesting that we can all make up our minds by reading Empire of Ashes. So two bombs, somewhere between 150,000 and 246,000 civilian deaths, and no crime? That, oddly enough, might be the biggest tragedy of those three days in August 1945 that changed the world forever. Five Takeaways •       Defeat Is Not Surrender. Scott's organizing insight: as destructive as it was, the atomic bomb was inherently a political weapon, aimed at the chasm between a nation defeated and a nation willing to say so. Surrender is a political act — and Japan's politics ran through Hirohito, ostensibly the center of political, cultural, and spiritual life, in practice a figurehead bypassed by militarists who had consolidated power through the 1920s and '30s under the standing threat of assassination. His first peace soundings had to be conducted incognito, for fear of his own army; not until June 1945 does he rise to the occasion. Truman, by contrast, emerges as strong and morally serious — a First World War artillery officer who inherited the Okinawa bloodbath, approved the invasion of Japan, chose what he saw as the lesser evil, and then stopped all further atomic use the moment surrender came.•       The Firebombing Precedent. Would FDR have made the same call? “Absolutely. No doubt about it.” The moral threshold had already been crossed on March 9, 1945, when Curtis LeMay abandoned precision bombing and burned Tokyo — 105,000 men, women, and children in a single night, the most destructive conventional raid in history. The Pentagon braced for public outrage, monitoring editorials, radio, and the floors of Congress. None came; Time wrote that “properly kindled, Japanese cities will burn like autumn leaves.” LeMay took the green light and burned 64 cities — 170 square miles — before the first atomic bomb ever fell. War Secretary Henry Stimson confessed his amazement to his diary; FDR, with every opportunity to rein it in, said nothing. When Elliott Roosevelt later claimed his father would never have dropped the bomb, Stimson publicly corrected him.•       The Second Bomb Mattered More. Scott's most counterintuitive argument: Nagasaki, not Hiroshima, ended the war. Atomic energy was the AI of its day — over a hundred academic papers in 1939 alone, new physics programs at Berkeley and Chicago, dreams of atom-powered ships — and Japan, which had its own failed program, knew exactly how ruinously expensive a bomb was to build. So after Hiroshima, the militarists reasoned the Americans could not possibly have another, and held to the plan of bleeding the invasion on the beaches for better terms. A second city destroyed seventy-five hours later shattered the illusion: if they can drop one every three days, they may have twenty — or two hundred. As for simply telling Tokyo? There were no channels beyond dropped leaflets and slow relays through neutral capitals. You could not, as Andrew noted, email in those days.•       In the Room Where It Happened. Scott's method — borrowed, he says, from Hamilton — is to put readers in the room: the White House, the Imperial Palace, and above all the streets. He has interviewed survivors in Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki across multiple books, and the physics of the firestorm connects all three: heat that melts concrete, fuses coins into lumps, welds roof tiles to kitchenware. Only five photographs were taken in Hiroshima on the day of the blast — stunned people, sitting. Organized rescue took thirty hours to arrive. In Nagasaki, the thirsty and burned waded into the river to die, so many that their bodies formed a dam. Radiation sickness began within thirty minutes. These are beautiful, functioning cities today, Scott notes — which is exactly why the accounts matter.•       No Regrets, No Verdict. Truman defended the decision to his grave — and then some: when Hiroshima's city council passed a resolution in 1958 urging him toward remorse, he wrote back that Japan had started the war, then held a press conference at his museum in Independence to distribute the reply. The Oppenheimer film's chilly Oval Office scene is overdramatized, Scott thinks, but true to the core: the buck — and the moral weight — stopped with the commander-in-chief, not the scientists. Scott himself, pointedly, renders no verdict: “Nobody needs to hear James Scott in Charleston, South Carolina tell you what it is you should think.” Both sides laid out, 95 percent of the documents public, the reader left to grapple — which is perhaps why Black Snow sold well in Japan, and why Empire of Ashes will be published there next August 6. About the Guest James M. Scott is a Pulitzer Prize finalist, New York Times bestselling author, and former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, widely regarded as America's leading historian of the Pacific War. His books include Target Tokyo (Pulitzer finalist), Black Snow, Rampage, The War Below, and, with Jack Carr, Targeted: Beirut. A scholar-in-residence at The Citadel who leads battlefield tours across the Pacific, he lives in Charleston, South Carolina. Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War (W. W. Norton) is out now. References: •       Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War by James M. Scott (W. W. Norton). The Charleston Post and Courier: “An amazing accomplishment.”•       Black Snow by James M. Scott — the firebombing of Tokyo, and the book whose cut Hiroshima chapters beca...

This week we'll be talking with Charleston author James M. Scott, author of Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War (2026, W.W. Norton & Company). With startling immediacy, Empire of Ashes illuminates the moral dilemma at the center of America's decision to inflict total war upon Japan.

In this episode, our guest dives deep into Empire of Ashes, a compelling account of how the Pacific War became a struggle of total war—and how key decisions by leaders shaped the tragedy that followed. Rather than focusing only on the best-known moments of 1945, the book spotlights what often gets left out: the underreported March 1945 fire raid on Tokyo, an event with staggering casualties and destruction that rivals—and too often gets overshadowed by—the events that came later. A major theme of Empire of Ashes is the human cost of escalation, traced through the shifting pressures facing decision-makers on both sides. The conversation explores how the war's logic tightened, forcing moral compromises and tightening the space for restraint. Through survivor interviews and historical accounts, the discussion brings wartime leadership out of abstraction and into the difficult terrain of real choices under extreme conditions. The episode also connects the book to the author's earlier work, Black Snow, showing how a more complete understanding of the Tokyo campaign helps illuminate the broader arc of the conflict. Just as important: the guest explains the challenges of writing and translating Pacific War history—why it can feel underrepresented compared to the European theater, and why getting the full story matters. If you're looking for a Pacific War narrative that's gripping, meticulously researched, and centered on the pivotal turning points of 1945, Empire of Ashes is the heart of this conversation.   Please check out James M Scott's Book here: https://www.amazon.ca/Empire-Ashes-Truman-Hirohito-Descent/dp/1324065486

The JACK CARR Book Club August 2026 selection is EMPIRE OF ASHES by James M. Scott.The final months of World War II. Truman and Hirohito. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the decision that changed the world.In this episode, we discuss the firebombing of Tokyo, the politics behind Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's surrender, and the lessons history still holds for us today. We also look ahead to our next co-written nonfiction book, TARGETED: PAN AM 103, and the families at the center of that story.Get EMPIRE OF ASHES: https://amzn.to/3SgfLaaOrder TARGETED: PAN AM 103: https://amzn.to/3SeFZtJFollow James M. Scott:https://www.instagram.com/jamesmscott1/https://x.com/jamesmscott3https://www.facebook.com/p/James-M-Scott-100032787951220/Read more Jack Carr Book Club picks: https://www.officialjackcarr.com/the-jack-carr-book-club/

Send us Fan MailHe's back! James M. Scott joins me to talk Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War.Buy Empire of AshesCheck out James' websiteSupport the show

The twin anniversaries of the use of atomic weapons by the United States against Japan are in early August. We visit the deployment of this unprecedented arsenal and the Japanese reaction on this week's “Leaders and Legends” podcast interview with James M. Scott author of “Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John discusses Trump delivering a paranoid and slurry primetime address on what he deems is an emergency of integrity in American elections. In the speech, Trump claimed he'd expose foreign plots to sway recent elections and blamed Democrats and Media Companies for allowing it to happen. He also talks about air quality being dangerously unhealthy across a swath of America from the Pacific to the Atlantic, including record-poor levels of pollution at the site of Sunday's World Cup final. Then, John welcomes back democratic strategist Ameshia Cross and they talk about Trump's mega lies and propaganda in last night's speech. The ever entertaining Bob Cesca jumps in and joins John to discuss Trump's longtime teleprompter operator, Gabriel Perez, who is under federal investigation for allegedly making $100,000 by betting on the content of the president's speeches. They also talk about Pete Kegsbreath's new directive for testosterone replacement therapy for male service members. Next, he interviews New York Times bestselling author James M. Scott about his new book "Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent into Total War". And then fianlly, Frank Conniff of MST3K returns to joke with John and listeners on the latest news and his new show. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Early in the morning of October 23, 1983 two truck bombs were detonated at buildings in Beirut Lebanon housing members of the US and French Multinational Force in Lebanon – a military peace mission in the eight-year-old Lebanese civil war. The attack by a terrorist group called Islamic Jihad, which had backing from the governments of Iran and Syria, killed 307 people: 241 U.S. and 58 French military personnel, six civilians and two of the attackers. Two hundred of the 241 US casualties were US Marines, making it the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Based on interviews with survivors, military records and personal records, Targeted Beirut by today's guest, Pulitzer Prize nominated historian and NYT bestselling author author James M. Scott, and past HBH guest Jack Carr is the authoritative account of the deadly attack. Heroes Behind HeadlinesExecutive Producer Ralph PezzulloProduced & Engineered by Mike DawsonMusic provided by ExtremeMusic.com

In these interview segments, James M. Scott discusses his book *Black Snow*, which chronicles the American air campaign against Japan during World War II. (9)In these interview segments, James M. Scott discusses his book *Black Snow*, which chronicles the American air campaign against Japan during World War II. (9)1923 TOKYO AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE

THE ARRIVAL OF THE B-29 AND THE PRESSURE ON HAYWOOD HANSEL Colleague James M. Scott. In November 1944, Brigadier General Haywood Hansel arrived in the Pacific with a mission to destroy Japan's ability to wage war using the B-29 bomber. Hansel, a pioneer of air strategy, was a staunch believer in high-altitude daylight precision bombing, a tactic designed to collapse an enemy economy by targeting specific industries like oil refineries. However, the B-29 was an expensive and technically "buggy" aircraft that faced immediate challenges. Hansel operated under immense pressure from Air Force commander Hap Arnold, who was suffering from heart attacks while fighting for the Air Force's independence against the Army and Navy. NUMBER 1 1945 OKINAWA

JET STREAMS, BAD WEATHER, AND THE FAILURE OF EARLY RAIDS Colleague James M. Scott. Hansel'sprecision strategy failed due to Japan's adverse weather and violent jet streams, which blew at 230 mph and ruined bomber accuracy. The B-29, which cost $3.7 billion to develop, suffered from mechanical glitches like engine fires during the 3,000-mile flights from the Mariana Islands. Early raids against the Nakajima aircraft factory were ineffective, destroying only 1% of the target. While British commanders pressured Americans to switch to firebombing cities, Hansel refused to abandon precision tactics. Meanwhile, FDR's approval of the atomic bomb suggested leadership was open to city-destroying weapons. NUMBER 2 1945 0KINAWA

CURTIS LEMAY TAKES COMMAND AND TESTS INCENDIARIES Colleague James M. Scott. After Hanselwas fired for a lack of results, Curtis LeMay, a pragmatic problem-solver from a hardscrabble background, took command in January 1945. LeMay realized the existing tactics were unsolvable equations and began tinkering with variables like altitude and radar. Concurrently, the US developed napalm and the M69 incendiary bomb, testing them on a mock Japanese village built in the Utah desert to ensure they could burn traditional wood-and-paper Japanesearchitecture. LeMay possessed detailed data on Tokyo's flammable density, preparing to exploit the city's architectural vulnerabilities. NUMBER 3 1945 OKINAWA

A RADICAL SHIFT TO LOW-ALTITUDE NIGHT BOMBING Colleague James M. Scott. LeMay concluded that high-altitude precision bombing would never work over Japan. He devised a secret, perilous plan to switch to low-altitude night bombing, dropping the B-29s from 30,000 feet to just 5,000 feet. To prepare his crews, he forced them to fly training missions at 50 feet, despite their fears. LeMay knew Tokyo was largely composed of dense wooden structures, describing the city as a "Hollywood backdrop" of westernization masking a fragile infrastructure. He also knew Japan'sfire response relied on antiquated equipment and bucket brigades, leaving the city defenseless against mass fire. NUMBER 4 1945 OKINAWA

STRIPPING THE GUNS FOR A SUICIDE MISSION Colleague James M. Scott. For the March 9th raid, LeMayordered bombers stripped of all guns and ammunition to carry more incendiaries and prevent friendly fire in the dark. Crews viewed this low-level entry into a heavily defended city as a suicide mission, with predictions of 70% casualties. LeMay bypassed his superiors, not informing Washington or Brigadier General Norstad until the planes were nearly launching. The target was Asakusa, a dense residential district home to 135,000 people per square mile. The objective was to create a self-sustaining firestorm that would act as its own weather system. NUMBER 5 1945 OKINAWA

THE HORROR ON THE GROUND IN TOKYO Colleague James M. Scott. The raid began just after midnight, catching families asleep. The napalm bombs were designed to puncture roofs and spray fire inside homes, turning the wooden city into kindling. The resulting firestorm created a tidal wave of flame that moved across the city, blocked escape routes, and melted the glass of concrete buildings, killing those sheltering inside. Survivors, including a young girl named Shizuko Nishio, fled through an apocalyptic landscape. Photographer Koyo Ishikawa documented the event, describing the fire as a "surf wave" approaching from the ocean. NUMBER 6 1945 OKINAWA

AN APOCALYPTIC WASTELAND AND THE PATH TO VICTORY Colleague James M. Scott. LeMay was relieved when reports indicated light opposition, validating his gamble. By dawn, 16 square miles of Tokyo were reduced to ash, and 105,000 people were dead—four times the toll of Dresden. The firebombing campaign continued against other major cities like Nagoya and Kobe, eventually running out of major targets and moving to smaller towns. By the time the atomic bomb was ready in July, LeMay had already destroyed much of Japan's industrial capacity. The atomic bomb was viewed by LeMay as merely a "big bang" that overshadowed his conventional success. NUMBER 7 1945 OKINAWA 

 COLD WAR RISE AND POLITICAL FALL Colleague James M. Scott. After the war, LeMay rose to lead the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and became Air Force Chief of Staff. However, his blunt, non-political nature caused friction with figures like Robert McNamara and JFK during the Cold War. He infamously suggested bombing Vietnam"back to the stone age," echoing his approach to Japan. In his 1965 autobiography, he expressed no regret for the firebombing, viewing it as necessary to end the war. His reputation suffered permanently after he ran as vice president on George Wallace's segregationist ticket in 1968. NUMBER 8 1945 OKINAWA 

LeMay Takes Command and the Napalm Tests — James M. Scott — Scott profiles Curtis LeMay as a "hardscrabble" problem solver and pragmatist who financed his university education through brutal labor in steel mills, contrasting sharply with the aristocratic intellectual background of Hansell. Scott characterizes LeMay as a pragmatist willing to circumvent bureaucratic procedures and institutional constraints to achieve military objectives, including the unorthodox practice of utilizing opium to compensate native tribes for rescuing downed American airmen behind Japanese lines. Scott details the American military's systematic preparation for urban firebombing operations through development of napalm incendiary weapons and intensive testing conducted on a meticulously constructed mock Japanese village in the Utah desert, complete with traditional tatami mats and wooden structures representative of Japanese residential architecture, to validate incendiary weapon effectiveness against wooden urban construction. Scottdocuments that LeMay systematically concludes that Hansell's high-altitude precision bombing doctrine represents an "unsolvable equation" doomed to perpetual failure, prompting LeMay to contemplate radical tactical reorientation. 1934 TOKYO

The Intellectual Commander and the B-29 — James M. Scott — Scott introduces Brigadier General Haywood Hansell, an air force pioneer and military intellectual who arrives in the Pacific theater in November 1944 as a committed advocate of "high altitude daylight strategic bombing," a military doctrine positing that modern industrial economies resemble "houses of cards" susceptible to catastrophic collapse through destruction of critical infrastructure including petroleum refineries and aircraft manufacturing facilities. Scott documents that Hansell confronts immense institutional pressure from General "Hap" Arnold, the commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces, who suffers recurring heart attacks generated by organizational stress and interservice competition with the Navy and Army for budgetary resources and institutional prestige. Scott emphasizes that Arnold views the Pacific theater as a "blank canvas" to demonstrate the independent military power and strategic utility of the Air Force using the expensive, technologically advanced B-29strategic bomber, recently developed at enormous financial cost. 1925 TOKYO

    The Failure of Precision Bombing — James M. Scott — Scott explains the systematic failure of Hansell's precision bombing doctrine: Japan's notoriously unpredictable weather patterns and the unexpected discovery of violent jet streams traversing the Pacific islands rendered high-altitude precision bombing operationally nearly impossible. Scottdocuments that the B-29, which cost approximately $3.7 billion in development expenditures—exceeding the financial investment in the atomic bomb—suffered chronic mechanical defects including catastrophic engine fires and structural failures compromising operational reliability. Scott details that early raids targeting Japanese aircraft manufacturing facilities failed to destroy critical industrial targets, resulting in the grim nickname "Flack Alley" for the densely defended airspace above Nagoya and Tokyo. Scott notes that General Arnold, demonstrating impatience with mounting losses and facing escalating political pressure to produce quantifiable military results, replaces the intellectual Hansell with the pragmatic Curtis LeMay after merely 44 days of failed operations. 1930 TOKYO

A Radical Change in Tactics — James M. Scott — LeMay devises a clandestine, revolutionary operational plan to fundamentally reverse bombing doctrine from high-altitude daylight precision raids to low-altitude nocturnal firebombing operations, ordering B-29 aircraft to execute bombing runs at merely 5,000 feet altitude to evade the destructive jet stream phenomenon while simultaneously transporting substantially increased incendiary weapon payloads. Scottdocuments that LeMay deliberately targets the densely populated working-class district of Asakusa in Tokyo, strategically recognizing that Japan's predominant wooden residential infrastructure constitutes a "wood pile" catastrophically vulnerable to uncontrolled conflagration. Scott emphasizes that LeMay makes this strategically transformative decision unilaterally, deliberately withholding operational details from Washington headquarters, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his superior command structure, thereby executing military operations without institutional authorization or oversight from civilian and military leadership. 1931 TOKYO

The Firestorm and Civilian Horror — James M. Scott — The March 9th raid generates a catastrophic "tidal wave of fire" that overwhelms Tokyo's primitive air defense infrastructure and emergency response systems. Scott recounts the horror through survivor testimony, including Shizuko Nishio, whose family flees to a school only to discover absence of protective shelter from the advancing firestorm. Scott documents the intense heat literally melting glass embedded in concrete building structures while the firestorm creates its own weather system through violent convection, generating hurricane-force winds that transport oxygen toward the fire center while simultaneously drawing human bodies and debris toward the conflagration. Scott incorporates eyewitness documentation from photographer Koyo Ishikawa, who visually documents the firestorm aftermath, describing a wall of fire advancing across the urban landscape like an ocean wave consuming everything in its destructive path. 1930 TOKYO

Aftermath and the Atomic Context — James M. Scott — LeMay expresses relief upon receiving operational reports confirming the firebombing raid's success with surprisingly low American aircrew casualties relative to predictions. Scottdocuments that the single raid systematically destroys nearly 16 square miles of Tokyo and kills over 100,000 civilians, a death toll exceeding the firebombing destruction of Dresden or Hamburg in European theaters. Scott explains that following this catastrophic success, LeMay systematically implements a comprehensive campaign systematically incinerating Japan's major cities, eventually exhausting prime targets and proceeding to secondary and tertiary urban centers before the atomic bomb is even tested and deployed. Scott notes that LeMay privately believes that the atomic bomb ultimately overshadows and obscures the conventional bombing campaign's pivotal military contribution to systematically destroying Japan's industrial capability and civilian capacity to sustain military resistance.

LeMay's Post-War Legacy — James M. Scott — Following World War II, LeMay ascends to command the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and eventually assumes the position of Air Force Chief of Staff, though he struggles to navigate the complex political environment and institutional constraints characterizing Washingtonbureaucracy and civilian oversight. Scott documents that LeMay never publicly expressed remorse or moral regret regarding the firebombing campaign, consistently maintaining that the campaign was militarily necessary to prevent a catastrophically expensive ground invasion of the Japanese mainland requiring massive American casualty expenditures. Scott notes that LeMay's historical reputation suffers significantly in subsequent decades due to his controversial "bomb them back to the Stone Age" rhetoric regarding Vietnam policy and his catastrophically ill-conceived decision to accept the Vice Presidential nomination on George Wallace's segregationist ticket in 1968, thereby associating him with explicit racial segregation advocacy and political extremism. 1930

The Suicide Mission Briefing — James M. Scott — Scott recounts the psychological tension characterizing LeMay'sbriefing of aircrew personnel for the March 9th firebombing raid, wherein LeMay orders crews to systematically strip defensive armaments from B-29 bombers to maximize incendiary weapon payload capacity, thereby eliminating defensive capabilities against anticipated Japanese fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft fire. Scott documents that aircrew members view this operational decision as tantamount to a "suicide mission," with legitimate anticipatory fear regarding being shot down without defensive weapons, accompanied by military predictions estimating potential casualty rates exceeding 70% of participating aircraft. Scott details that the operational plan involves 325 bombers executing precisely coordinated incendiary drops designed to create overlapping "density of fire" patterns that will eventually merge into a self-sustaining firestorm phenomenon. Scott specifies that LeMay targets a 12-square-mile geographic area of Tokyo containing population density exceeding 100,000 residents per square mile, thereby concentrating firebombing destruction against maximum civilian population concentration. 1930 TOKYO

How did submariners survive for weeks at a time at sea on patrol? Were there any perks to joining the submarine service? Why did so many submariners in WW2 have bad breath? Listen to this exclusive extract from James M Scott and Roger Moorhouse's talk from this year's We Have Ways Festival on life in the submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Nazi German Kriegsmarine. Start your free trial at ⁠patreon.com/wehaveways⁠ and to listen to the rest of this talk, and more get more subscriber perks. Enjoy livestreams, early access to podcast episodes, ad-free listening, bonus episodes, and a weekly newsletter packed with book deals and behind-the-scenes insights. Members also get priority access and discounts to live events. A Goalhanger Production Produced by James Regan Assistant Producer: Alfie Rowe Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Social: @WeHaveWaysPod Email: wehaveways@goalhanger.com Membership Club: patreon.com/wehaveways Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  5/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  6/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  4/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  3/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  2/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

LESSON OF WHAT WAR  RAGE CAN DO TO COMMON SENSE:  1/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  1/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 Tokyo https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  2/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 Tokyo https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  3/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  4/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 TOKYO https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  5/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1945 FUKUYAMA https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR? 6/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1944 https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

HOW  DOES THE FIRBOMBING OF TOKYO'S POOREST NEIGHBORSHOOD WIN A WAR?  8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  1944 WICHITA B-29 https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date.

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   7/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1945

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:   8/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1946

WHAT PEARL HARBOR WROUGHT 1192 DAYS LATER:  4/8: Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by  James M. Scott  https://www.amazon.com/Black-Snow-Curtis-Firebombing-Atomic/dp/1324002999/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X64JYW3Z1OT9&keywords=BLACK+SNOW+JAMES+SCOTT&qid=1674137497&s=books&sprefix=black+snow+james+scott%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-1 Seven minutes past midnight on March 10, 1945, nearly 300 American B-29s thundered into the skies over Tokyo. Their payloads of incendiaries ignited a firestorm that reached up to 2,800 degrees, liquefying asphalt and vaporizing thousands; sixteen square miles of the city were flattened and more than 100,000 men, women, and children were killed. Black Snow is the story of this devastating operation, orchestrated by Major General Curtis LeMay, who famously remarked: “If we lose the war, we'll be tried as war criminals.” James M. Scott reconstructs in granular detail that horrific night, and describes the development of the B-29, the capture of the Marianas for use as airfields, and the change in strategy from high-altitude daylight “precision” bombing to low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing. Most importantly, the raid represented a significant moral shift for America, marking the first time commanders deliberately targeted civilians which helped pave the way for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki five months later. Drawing on first-person interviews with American pilots and bombardiers and Japanese survivors, air force archives, and oral histories never before published in English, Scott delivers a harrowing and gripping account, and his most important and compelling work to date. 1945 B-29

Newt talks with James M. Scott about the tragic 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, which resulted in the deaths of 241 U.S. Marines, 58 French soldiers, and six civilians. This event marked the deadliest single-day loss for the U.S. Marine Corps since World War II and continues to impact United States foreign policy. James M. Scott is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and co-author with Jack Carr, of the new book "TARGETED: BERUIT – The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold True Origin Story of the War on Terror," which provides an in-depth account of the attack based on survivor interviews, military records, and personal documents. Their conversation covers the historical context of U.S. involvement in Lebanon, the complexities of the region's political landscape, and the strategic missteps that led to the bombing. Additionally, Scott shares insights into his career as a military historian and his experiences leading battlefield tours.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.