VJ-Day

The noted professor of semantics, S. I. Hayakawa, observed in the first chapter of his book, Language in thought and action, that there is no magic in words. I beg to differ. Words can hurt (if people allow them). But one speech stands out as magical. It was very brief and yet it saved more than one million American lives and countless millions of Japanese lives. Indeed, it may have saved the entire Japanese culture, and allowed America to count Japan among its most steadfast and important allies and trading partner today.