The Evening Star (September 4, 1945)
Editorial: Keeping the Emperor
As the surrender of Japan moves quickly and efficiently into its final stages, there must be – or at least there ought to be – some red faces among that group of “liberal” thinkers who were so extreme in their criticism of former Under Secretary of State Grew and others who urged that the capitulating Japanese be permitted to keep their Emperor.
The earnestness of those who were insisting that the Emperor must go may be conceded. But they cannot be credited with great wisdom, for as we watch the smooth progress of American forces into Tokyo, and contrast this with the bloodshed that certainly would have attended a forcible entry, it seems almost incredible that this matter was the subject of heated debate only a few days ago.
All information from Japan leads to the conclusion that the will of the Emperor is the greatest and perhaps the only source of order in that beaten country. When he commanded surrender, his people, who had been told up to the last hour that Japan was winning the war, obeyed unquestioningly, and the efforts of fanatics to incite revolt were productive of but one trivial incident when an antiaircraft battery fired a few shots at an incoming American plane.
We cannot be certain, of course, that this will last, nor that the Emperor will prove to be a continuing asset in the occupation and reconstruction of Japan. But he has served well the purpose for which he was retained, and if in time he should contribute to a rebirth of militarism in Japan the fault will not be his so much as it will be ours, for we have the means to prevent that if we will only make up our minds to employ them.