Why Hiroshima/Nagasaki were nuked...

There was never any question with Truman about using the bomb. After all, several BILLION $$ had been invested in developing it, andneither Congress nor the public woulda forgiven him if he'd forbidden its use while letting the war drag on. Truman was fully aware of how fanatically the Japanese had fought for every cruddy little island they'd occupied, and of their desperate, to-the-death defense of Okinawa. He knew they'd fight that-much-harder if the home islands were invaded. He reckoned that if they invaded, the Allies would hafta practically exterminate the Japanese people, & the Allied casualties would be in the millions. But the Allies had decided that unconditional surrender would be the only acceptable way to end the war.

"Unconditional surrender" means the victors will not allow the losers to set any terms for surrender, but it does NOT disallow the victors from announcing THEIR conditions nthey'll impose on the losers. Thus, Truman made a big mistake in sending the Potsdam Declaration to Japan without mentioning that Hirohito would be allowed to remain Emperor, while serving under a Shogun appointed by the Allies. Since the USA was the main nation fighting Japan, the USA was the leader in imposing surrender conditions, & Truman knew the MAIN condition that would induce Japan to surrender was to not depose the Emperor.

When the Japanese read the Declaration, PM Suzuki said he would "mokkasetsu" it, which means "Consider with silent contempt", but NOT an outright rejection. However, several Japanese news reporters called their offices & said the govt. had REJECTED the declaration, & that's how the story was printed in the news, & that's how the US viewed it, as an outright rejection. Thus, the stage was set for the nukes !

New-Age-Liberals try to place the blame on the US for using the nukes, but they're forgetting that JAPAN STARTED THE WAR with the US ! They sowed the wind & reaped the whirlwind !

There aren't that many people still living that were old enough to know what was going on when war broke out between Japan & the US, but what made Americans especially angry at the time was that it was a sneak attack, delivered BEFORE Japan had declared war, thanx to Japanese bungling between Japan's Foreign Ministry & its US Embassy. This was unforgivable to Americans at the time, including my own parents. Thus, with the supposed rejection of the Potsdam Declaration, use of the nukes was inevitable.

New-Age-Liberal Larry King walked up to an old man looking upon the "Enola Gay" B29 that was used to bomb Hiroshima. He asked the man if he was a WW2 vet & he answered, Yes. King asked him if he was sorry the nukes had been used, & the old man answered Yes again. When King asked him to elaborate he replied, "Yes, I'm sorry the $#@* things weren't invented & used a lot sooner ! It woulda saved a lotta American lives !" I believe that sums up American feelings "fror the duration"!