Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2005 17:09:48 -0400
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
Subject: [WSFA] It Goes On The Shelf
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Ghod, I love the 'net...

Recently picked up a book inscribed to the late Joseph Grew.  "Who?"
you're probably asking.

' Grew was a member of the "Committee of Three," along with Secretary
of State Henry Stimson and Secretary of War James Forrestal. This group
sought to find an alternative way to make Japan surrender without using
atomic bombs. Assistant Secretary of War John McCloy drafted a proposed
surrender demand for the Committee of Three, which was incorporated into
Article 12 of the Potsdam Proclamation. The original language of the
Proclamation would have increased the chances for Japanese surrender as
it allowed the Japanese government to maintain its emperor as a
"constitutional monarchy." Truman, who was influenced by his Secretary
of State James Byrnes during the trip by ship to Europe for the Potsdam
Conference, changed the language of the surrender demand. Grew knew how
important the emperor was to the Japanese people and believed that the
condition could have led to Japanese surrender without using the atomic
bombs. Grew stated, "If surrender could have been brought about in May
1945 or even in June or July before the entrance of Soviet Russia into
the war and the use of the atomic bomb, the world would have been the
gainer." ' <http://www.nuclearfiles.org/rebios/grewjoseph.htm>

The book, "The China of Chiang K'Ai-Shek: A Political Study" was
written by Paul Linebarger who was detailed to worked under Grew in
December 1942 <http://www.ulmus.net/ace/csmith/linebargerbiography.cfm>.
 Linebarger is better known to most of you as Cordwainer Smith.

The inscription reads:

For
Mr Joseph Clarke Grew
who has written, by his
deeds, a memorable chapter in the
very substance of history.
With the compliments of
the author, Paul M. A. Linebarger

Washington, DC
October 1942

mjw