Originally posted by: rahvin
The use of nukes in Japan had NOTHING to do with the Soviets. Truman hadn't even formed his negative opinion of Stalin when he authorized their use. By Truman's own memoirs you can see that he authorized the use of the bomb to save american soldiers. As has already been mentioned in this thread the troops that had survived the European theater were being moved over to fight in the pacific. Truman didn't want to send millions of soldiers that had survived some of the worst fighting in the war to their deaths in Japan. He KNEW the bomb would make them surrendor only if they saw it's destructive power and our willingness to use it firsthand. He gave the millitary the right to use the weapon as they saw fit and revoked that right shortly after the second bomb was dropped. He took back the controls after seeing the pictures of Hiroshama that had been rushed to him. Truman didn't want to use the Nuke, he had to. It was the only way to end the war quick and spare the millions of casualties on both sides that would have occured with an invasion.
Do NOT second guess the motives, intentions or the knowledge of the american leadership at the time. Most of you that have posted have no idea what WWII was about or the killing that took place. In addition, those people that reveal and celebrate the death of 100's of thousands of civillians make me sick. The use of the nukes may have been needed but we should NOT EVER celebrate the death of innocent people. Hiroshama and Nagaski stand as memorials to the destruction that humanity can reap on each other. The immense destructive power we yeild. We should commemerate the bombing of Japan as the Japanesse do, as a somber reminder of what war can lead to, and if you believe in it, a prayer that no nation will ever use that destructive power again. Remember the 100's of thousands of people that died in a flash of light and suffered through radiation death as that reminder of the horribleness of war. Please Never forget and hope and pray the world will see peace someday.
maybe you should learn more about history before you comment on truman's anti communism attitude.
http://users.erols.com/goodmank/
pretty much sums it up
"his simplistic military view was furthered by press releases in the weeks following the bombings. For example, The New York Times quoted Truman on 7 August with phrases such as, "Hiroshima was a major military target," and, "We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history--and won."(13) These phrases and others gave readers the single-sided view that the bomb was dropped for military reasons, and through the entirety of the 1940s and 1950s no other major contradictory statement of any kind was ever made. The praising and glorifying of the scientists involved which filled the paper after the bombs were dropped, Truman implied the bomb was something for which the American people should be proud of.
The second major source of pressure on Truman and his advisors to drop the atomic bombs came from domestic tensions and issues of reelection, combined with a collective American feeling of hatred toward the Japanese race. As in most major military conflicts, there was an effort to establish the Americans as morally superior to the Japanese. Truman was no exception to this generalization, and on 25 July 1945 he wrote that the Japanese people were, "savages, ruthless, merciless, and fanatic..."(14) Furthermore, there was fear amongst Truman's advisors that if they were to, "interpret the supreme war goal more leniently for Japan than had been the case with Germany," they would, "leave an unwanted impression, at home and abroad, of 'appeasement.'"(15) Truman knew that if he backed down and did not remain firm on his stance with Japan the American public might be outraged. Furthermore, if the bomb was not dropped, Truman feared that it would prove extremely difficult in post war America to justify the two billion dollars(16) spent on the Manhattan Project.(17) Truman became president because Roosevelt died while in office, and although he never fully embraced the idea of being President, a desire to ensure the possibility of his reelection would certainly have been at least a subconscious consideration.
The third major source of pressures on Truman to drop the bomb was diplomatic tensions with Russia. Today, nothing about the dropping of the bombs is debated by historians more than whether diplomatic tensions played a role in Truman's decision. Truman's predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, followed a program of cooperation and good relations with Russia, highlighted by the Lend-Lease program and the symbolic gestures of good nature at the Yalta conference. Truman broke away from these good-natured relations and sought to follow a new "hard-line" policy. While preparing for his first meeting with a Russian official as President of the United States, Truman exclaimed that if the Russians did not wish to be cooperative, "they could go to hell."(18) During his meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, "Truman told Molotov that the American interpretation [about the conflict over Poland] was the only one possible." Furthermore, as the meeting came to a close a flabbergasted Molotov responded, "I have never been talked to like that in my life." (19) Collectively, these quotes leave little doubt that Truman embraced a new policy of strict bluntness and a willingness to "play hardball" with the Russians."