re: #280 Dangerman

truman had to figure that he was faced with no good choice and this was probably the least horrible.

japan would have been defeated without the bomb. it would have cost a lot in $ and in the lives of japanese, americans, chinese, russians. the overwhelming nature of this sort of gave the japanese a way to capitulate quickly and not dishonorably.

he also partly had to be thinking that using the bomb would make a ‘statement’, to the nuclear world that was just waking up. looks like it did.

(one man’s admittedly amateurish opinion)

Some people are righteously sure that dropping the bombs was a war crime, and some are absolutely sure it was the only way to end the war without invading Japan, causing millions of casualties. I don’t know what would’ve happened, so I’m not going to second guess Truman’s decision, which he viewed as his only realistic option.