[calex59]

Nagasaki was targetted to send a message to the Soviets, of what the U.S. was capable of.

This is not true. Nagasaki was hit because the Japanese high command refused to surrender. They kept the emperor from surrendering until we hit Nagasaki. They wanted to keep fighting and make the Allies invade Japan. After Nagasaki they caved. Douglas MacArthur was who kept the Russians out of Japan. He refused to let them carve up Japan the way they did in Germany and other EU countries after the war.

FDR and Churchill caved and let the Russians not only have part of Germany but they got to keep Poland and other countries under the Soviet Union even though those countries were sovereign nations before the war. FDR, the biggest communist ever elected to President until Bozo came along.

[laplata]

Douglas MacArthur was who kept the Russians out of Japan. He refused to let them carve up Japan the way they did in Germany and other EU countries after the war.

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That’s what I said.

[laplata]

I know all of that. Thank you.

[roadcat]

This is not true. Nagasaki was hit because the Japanese high command refused to surrender.

You can say it is not true, but that doesn't make it so. The truth is unclear. Truman felt hitting one city (Hiroshima) was enough. One U.S. position was considering forcing the Japanese high command to surrender by warning them we would not stop the Soviets from invading, and allowing the Soviets to do so. The Japanese knew the Soviets would be brutal. Another U.S. position (our military command) was that we block the Soviets by a second nuclear strike to end the war. Truman didn't want the second nuke dropped. Unknown to him, the second bomb was pre-authorized for a drop as soon as it was ready, without having been tested. There were many (including Truman) who felt the Japanese would have surrendered just at the threat of unleashing the Soviets on them. Our military wanted the second bomb dropped to both force Japanese surrender and to keep the Soviets out of Japan.

So it's not just the Japanese Emperor not having control of the Japanese military, but our civilian leadership (White House) was straining to control our military leaders. Perhaps this helped lead to Truman firing MacArthur in 1951. (I feel MacArthur made the right choices, not Truman.)