Veterans History Event: The Ending of World War II in the Pacific

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

4-5 pm

Rogow Room

Program Description:

Scott will focus on the topic of his latest published work, Empire of Ashes: Truman, Hirohito, and the Descent Into Total War. Scott will describe the final brutal months of the war in the Pacific and the fallout of the Manhattan Project. His in-depth historical analysis will grapple with the difficult moral dilemma at the center of America’s decision to inflict total war on Japan.

Presenter Bio:

A Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestseller, James M. Scott is the author Black Snow, Rampage, Target Tokyo, The War Below, and The Attack on the Liberty, and co-author, with Jack Carr, of Targeted: Beirut. In addition, Scott, a former Nieman Fellow at Harvard, is a sought-after public speaker, who leads battlefield tours and lectures at institutions around the world. He lives with his wife and two children in Charleston, South Carolina, where he is the Scholar in Residence at The Citadel.