To: curtisgardner
I think Truman used the atomic bomb for two reasons: 1. defeat Japan, 2. intimidate the Soviet Union. Hiroshima's bomb was to get Japan's surrender, Nagasaki (only 2 days later) was to show the USSR that Hiroshima wasn't a fluke. We also needed to win the war with Japan quickly. The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in late July, if they had helped in defeating Japan then they would have expected a role in rebuilding it. The first A-bomb was dropped on August 7, before the USSR could plan a blockade or invasion of any type. We saw what damage the USSR did in post-nazi Germany, and how well the US rebuilt Japan without the USSR.
18 posted on
08/03/2005 10:39:26 AM PDT by
BostonianRightist
(I don't trust a government I can't shoot back at.)
To: BostonianRightist
To: BostonianRightist
Really don't care why he used it, just glad he did. Because I was parked on Okinawa just waiting to to visit Japan the hard way.
30 posted on
08/03/2005 11:39:52 AM PDT by
ANGGAPO
(LayteGulfBeachClub.)
To: BostonianRightist
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in late July...Better check that again.The USSR declared war against Japan on 9 Aug 1945,which was after Hiroshima was destroyed.
56 posted on
08/04/2005 7:15:22 PM PDT by
oldsalt
(There's no such thing as a free lunch.)
To: BostonianRightist
2. intimidate the Soviet Union. Not so sure about that one. The Soviets had the Manhattan Project so infiltrated that Stalin knew exactly what it could do.
60 posted on
08/04/2005 7:27:06 PM PDT by
nonliberal
(Graduate: Curtis E. LeMay School of International Relations)
To: BostonianRightist
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan in late July,Incorrect. 8 August 1945
The first A-bomb was dropped on August 7,
Incorrect. 6 August 1945
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