September 11: ON THIS DAY in 1945, Tojo shoots himself
ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Eagle reported, “Tokyo, Sept. 11 (U.P.) – Gen. Hideki Tojo, the Japanese Premier who ordered the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, shot himself today and in what may be his last words assumed responsibility for the Pacific war. Tojo fired a revolver bullet into his stomach at 4:21 p.m. (3:21 a.m. Brooklyn time) as American military police were demanding entrance to his suburban home to arrest him as Japan’s No. 1 war criminal. Tojo still was alive, but unconscious and in serious condition. The Japanese Domei Agency said death was expected at ‘any time.’ An American doctor at 7:15 p.m. (6:15 a.m. Brooklyn time), however, said, the 61-year-old Tojo had a good chance of survival. He gasped out his admission of responsibility for the Pacific war during a momentary return to consciousness 23 minutes after the shooting. ‘I wanted to die by the sword, but the pistol had to do,’ he said. ‘I assume responsibility for the war. I now realize the war was bad for the people. I am now happy to die. Banzai.’”
It was also reported, “Television today has made its debut in the city’s education system with a special broadcast which spotlighted the Brooklyn Eagle’s pamphlet on the San Francisco Charter. In the broadcast over WCBW, the first of its kind directed to the parents of pupils, Dr. John E. Wade, Superintendent of Schools, last night discussed the educational program for the coming year. He stressed the charter, which he said will be studied intensively with the aid of the Brooklyn Eagle pamphlet, now being made available to students throughout the city. ‘Teaching is being changed for children who are going back to school this Fall in a world of peace,’ Dr. Wade said. ‘Enough emphasis will be placed on science to absorb the coming ‘atomic age,’ but understanding of the greatest basic document of our time, the San Francisco Charter, will be stressed.’”
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