Some of the comments on this thread are pure lunacy.
Two countries were at war. One country developed a better weapon first (every major country in WWII had a nuclear weapon research program). The country that developed the bomb first sent an ultimatum of surrender. That country refused the ultimatum of surrender and was duly bombed. Another ultimatum was sent and ignored for several days. Another city was bombed. Had the Russians, Japanese, Germans developed the nuclear bomb first, they would have used it.
In fact, the US and allies probably exercised more restraint than any of its enemies would have. We are, after all, taking about Hitler, Stalin, and Japanese army responsible for the rape of Nanking.
Somebody please tell me what a realistic alternative was if they were President of the US?
btw--When preparing for an invasion of mainland Japan (if the nukes did not work), the allies estimated civilian and military losses at multiple times that what the nukes killed. These estimates were based experiences of US invasions of the outer Japanese islands (in which surrender was rare). It turns out the Japanese gov. estimated potential losses in an invasion as even higher.
Some of the comments on this thread are pure lunacy.
Two countries were at war. One country developed a better weapon first (every major country in WWII had a nuclear weapon research program). The country that developed the bomb first sent an ultimatum of surrender. That country refused the ultimatum of surrender and was duly bombed. Another ultimatum was sent and ignored for several days. Another city was bombed. Had the Russians, Japanese, Germans developed the nuclear bomb first, they would have used it.
In fact, the US and allies probably exercised more restraint than any of its enemies would have. We are, after all, taking about Hitler, Stalin, and Japanese army responsible for the rape of Nanking.
Somebody please tell me what a realistic alternative was if they were President of the US?
btw--When preparing for an invasion of mainland Japan (if the nukes did not work), the allies estimated civilian and military losses at multiple times that what the nukes killed. These estimates were based experiences of US invasions of the outer Japanese islands (in which surrender was rare). It turns out the Japanese gov. estimated potential losses in an invasion as even higher.