The National Interest: Tom Nichols: 'No Other Choice: Why President Harry Truman Dropped The Atomic Bomb on Japan'

Source:The National Interest- the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan, in 1945.

"Truman and his advisers made the only decision they could have made; indeed, considered in the context of World War II, it wasn’t really much of a decision at all." 

From The National Interest 

"President Harry S. Truman reads prepared speech after dropping of atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan during World War 2. US President Harry S. Truman delivers a speech following the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan during World War 2. President of the United States Harry S. Truman seated at desk in cabin of a ship underway in the Atlantic Ocean. He reads prepared speech on the atomic bomb. He states that an American aircraft dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. The Japanese began the war from air at Pearl Harbor. He states about the Armed forces and the production of the atomic bombs in the United States. US is now prepared to completely destroy every productive enterprise of Japan. US is prepared to destroy Japanese docks,factories and communications to make war. He states that US have spent more than two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history and have won. This is due to the greatest achievement of organized science in history. Location: Atlantic Ocean. Date: August 6, 1945." 

Source:Critical Past- President Harry S. Truman (Democrat, Missouri) talking about dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, in 1945.

From Critical Past

I mostly agree with Tom Nichols about President Truman and the atomic bomb being dropped on Japan. The only thing I would differ on is that President Truman had no good choice: continue the war and risk losing another hundred-thousand American soldiers in the Pacific, or drop the bomb in Japan and kill at least a million innocent Japanese who were guilty of nothing other than living in Japan during World War II. 

But the old cliche war is hell has never been more true than during this war. When you're the head of state in your country during wartime, your loyalty is to your own country. And that even means leading a war and ordering missions that can kill a lot of innocent people on the other side. Without the dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan, how and when does that war end?

Japan, wasn't interested in preserving their own people. If anything America showed more mercy to the Japanese people than their own government. We didn't use the Japanese as targets and human shields. Japan, was only interested in saving their dictatorial regime. Not surrendering and risk being thrown out. 

It didn't matter to the Japanese Empire how many of their people had to die to preserve their regime. Not that different with Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the current Islamic State in Iran. So what President Truman and his National Security Council was left with was how to end a war against a country that refuses to surrender and stop fighting.

President Harry Truman, was President of the United States. And because of that was responsible for the lives and national security of the American people. Which included German-Americans as well as Japanese-Americans back then and today. 

America, fought both Germany and Japan back then. And had the Japanese Government been more interested in preserving the lives of their own people than their regime, the atomic bomb is never dropped. Because the war would've been over a long time before the bomb. Because Japan would've figured out the obvious: they were beat and losing thousands of their own people everyday and would've just lost more the longer the war went on. And that they couldn't beat the United States. 

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