The difference is/was that launching an invasion on the Japanese home islands would have cost an estimated 500,000 American and allied lives. Dropping the bombs cost us ZERO American and allied lives.
The Japanese were warned 3 days in advance so they could evacuate the cities being targeted. They were warned of the destruction to come and chose to ignore that warning. They started the war and we ended it. I have absolutely zero problem with us using the bomb.
“The Japanese were warned 3 days in advance so they could evacuate the cities being targeted.”
Moreover, by firebombing 67 cities earlier, we’d already killed twice as many Japanese as were killed in the A-bomb attacks, yet they STILL hadn’t surrendered. We were prepared, if need be, to keep delivering A-bombs, roughly 3 a month through October, if need be, until the Japanese came to their senses. Fortunately it only took 2 bombs, but it’s pretty clear that in choosing this option, the US minimized the destruction of life on BOTH sides, not just among Allied combatants.
The USSR entered the war on August 9. What we’ll never know is whether the Japanese might have acceded to the Potsdam conditions for surrender prior to August 6 had the Soviets instead declared war on August 1, for example.
Yeah, I get all that. I’m saying from a “moral” standpoint. It’s like the old Archie Bunker line when Gloria was complaining about “gun deaths.” He said “Would it make you feel any better, little girl, if they threw em out of windows?”