Question

Why did Truman and his advisers choose to use the atomic bomb?

Answer 1

In mid-July, President Harry S Truman was notified of the successful test of the atomic bomb, what he called “the most terrible bomb in the history of the world.” Thousands of hours of research and development as well as billions of dollars had contributed to its production. This was no theoretical research project. It was created to destroy and kill on a massive scale.

President Truman had four options:

1) Continue conventional bombing of Japanese cities.

2) Invade Japan.

3) Demonstrate the bomb on an unpopulated island.

4) Drop the bomb on an inhabited Japanese city.

Truman and his advisors concluded that only bombing a city would make an adequate impression. Any advance warning to evacuate a city would endanger the bomber crews; the Japanese would be forewarned and attempt to shoot them down. The target cities were carefully chosen. First, it had to be a city that had suffered little damage from conventional bombing so it couldn’t be argued that the damage came from anything other than the atomic bomb. Second, it must be a city primarily devoted to military production. This was complicated, however, because in Japan, workers homes were intermingled with factories so that it was impossible to find a target that was exclusively military. Finally, Truman stipulated it should not be a city of traditional cultural significance to Japan, such as Kyoto. Truman did not seek to destroy Japanese culture or people; the goal was to destroy Japan’s ability to make war.

So, on the morning of August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber,dropped the world’s first atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima.