During WWII, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved the development of the atomic bomb, a project that became known as the Manhattan Project, out of fear that the Nazis would try to build and use a nuclear weapon. After FDR’s death, President Truman inherited the most powerful weapon in the history of mankind and was left with the choice of using it or not. Undoubtedly, his decision changed the world in so many ways, and is largely thought and taught that dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary to end the Pacific War. Conversely, there were a number of alternatives the United States could have considered to avoid exposing our world to nuclear weapons while still triumphing in a Japanese agreement to an unconditional
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The Soviets agreed that within three months after the German surrender they would declare war on Japan. In a Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting, a report was discussed that contained information stating that the Japanese might surrender without their military being completely decimated if continued air strikes, a sea blockade, an invasion, and Soviet entry overwhelmed the Japanese army. Pairing the United States landing in Kyushu for the biggest bloodbath of the Pacific War and Russian entry into the war then the already beaten down Japanese could accept defeat and spare the lives of their soldiers. Soviet entry into the Pacific War has the potential to be the final K.O. punch to drive the Japanese to surrendering. Not only would Japan have to fight one winner of WWII, but two. However, since Stalin knew we had been developing an impressive weapon, not only because he had spies involved in the Manhattan Project but because Truman hinted at the Potsdam Conference that we had one, he expected the United States to use it against their fellow enemies. If the U.S. chooses to delay the use of the A-bomb and the Japanese did not surrender after the Soviets entered the war, then Stalin might grow impatient and pull out troops leaving a dysfunctional relationship between the two superpowers which could give the Japanese hope and prevent a surrender at all. President Truman should not have depended on Soviet entry into the war because a very deadly invasion with massive American casualties was required to have even just a chance at a positive
The Soviets agreed that within three months after the German surrender they would declare war on Japan. In a Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting, a report was discussed that contained information stating that the Japanese might surrender without their military being completely decimated if continued air strikes, a sea blockade, an invasion, and Soviet entry overwhelmed the Japanese army. Pairing the United States landing in Kyushu for the biggest bloodbath of the Pacific War and Russian entry into the war then the already beaten down Japanese could accept defeat and spare the lives of their soldiers. Soviet entry into the Pacific War has the potential to be the final K.O. punch to drive the Japanese to surrendering. Not only would Japan have to fight one winner of WWII, but two. However, since Stalin knew we had been developing an impressive weapon, not only because he had spies involved in the Manhattan Project but because Truman hinted at the Potsdam Conference that we had one, he expected the United States to use it against their fellow enemies. If the U.S. chooses to delay the use of the A-bomb and the Japanese did not surrender after the Soviets entered the war, then Stalin might grow impatient and pull out troops leaving a dysfunctional relationship between the two superpowers which could give the Japanese hope and prevent a surrender at all. President Truman should not have depended on Soviet entry into the war because a very deadly invasion with massive American casualties was required to have even just a chance at a positive