[Shikan]

I just visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum yesterday and learned quite a lot about the facts. I encourage anyone else interested in the morale ethics behind the topic of this thread to research the history before making any conclusions... or better yet, don't make any conclusions at all since history cannot be changed.

The question of dropping the bomb was not a two-sided coin. The U.S. may very well have received Japan's surrender and not had to force it had we issued a statement ensuring the continuation of the Imperial system (something that was known to be a top priority for Japan at the time). The U.S. seemingly dodged around including this particular detail in any official documents demanding surrender.

Japan was severely weakened by the war by the summer of 1945 and the added pressure from Russia when it would have entered war against Japan in mid-August of 1945 most likely would have brought about a less bloody end to the war, if not Japan's surrender to Russia under fairly more favorable circumstances.

The U.S. was concerned, however, that this would increase the influence of Russia in the post-war era. The cold war was looming as the top powers had been developing nuclear weapons and the U.S. hoped to enter as top dog.

Finally, there is the question of the $2 billion government program to create the atomic bomb. If the bomb wasn't used to end the war, what would have been the point to spending all of those taxpayer dollars?

The question of lives lost in an homeland invasion is pure speculation and the numbers were inflated to appease the media. Truman himself received an estimate from his military officials saying that a homeland invasion would cost significantly less casualties than what everyone has been saying since. Official documentation of these estimates are no longer top secret. You can see them for yourself if you look.

I hope this sparked your interest in looking more into the topic.