Atomic Bombing 2

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the upper hand in relations with Russia. I feel that the dropping of the bomb was born out of a complex myriad of military, domestic and diplomatic pressures and concerns.
Truman's monumental decision to drop these bombs was born out of the complex background of the Japanese army. This background was that the Japanese always fought to the death and that they had citizens prepared to fight. Pressure to drop the bomb stemmed from three major categories: military, domestic and diplomatic.
The military pressures stemmed from discussions and meetings Truman had with Secretary of War Stimson, Army Chief of Staff General Marshal, Chief of Staff Admiral William Leahy, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and others. On June 18 1945 General Marshall and Secretary of War Stimson convinced Truman to set and invasion of the island of Kyushu for November of 1945. Truman knew of the ferocious fighting currently taking place in the Pacific, and naturally had a desire to minimize ...

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member of the government, that atomic energy should not be used in the war,: and also added, "The entire purpose was the production of a military weapon ."(Stimson p98) Thus the traditional view was established--the bomb was a legitimate weapon of war and used only for military purposes.
This simplistic military view was furthered by press release in the weeks following the bombings. For example, The New York Times quoted Truman on August 7the with phrases as, Hiroshima was a major military target," and, "We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history and won." (Shalet) These phrases and others gave readers the single-sided view that the bomb was ...

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