ABSTRACT
The legacy of legitimacy which Hiroshima and Nagasaki bequeathed to the post-war world had various specific components. A misleading orthodoxy has sprung up which asserts the typicality of the Clausewitzian theme in US thinking about nuclear weapons. The idea that nuclear war could be used to sound political purpose is deemed an exceptional phenomenon. The employment of nuclear weapons is deemed to be rational because, not only can nuclear hostilities be terminated, but they can also be terminated on terms favourable to the United States. The notion that nuclear war could be initiated, conducted and terminated to good political purpose itself depends crucially upon the assumption that such a war could be controlled. The most direct legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for the ensuing age was that nuclear weapons could be used legitimately. The experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has had a powerful effect on subsequent attitudes towards nuclear weapons.
