On a more serious note: both my grandfathers served in the Pacific Theater (one Army, one Marines) and were slated to serve in the invasion of Japan if these bombs weren’t dropped... if either one had died in the invasion, then I wouldn’t be here.
So I am in no position to criticize Truman’s decision to use these weapons of mass destruction.
By the time the atom bombs were dropped, the war was clearly lost from Japan’s perspective. They had no real plan other than to sharpen up sticks and mobilize every man, woman, and child in defense of the homeland.
They should have surrendered earlier, but political paralysis and a culture of not wanting to lose face prevented Japanese leadership from recognizing reality.
Interestingly, there’s a plausible alternative theory that the USSR’s entry into the war against Japan shortly after the bombs were dropped, and not the bombs themselves, is what hastened Japan’s surrender. Japan knew enough to know occupation by America would be preferable to occupation by the Soviets.
Russia still controls some of the Kuril islands off the coast of northern Japan that the USSR captured during the last days of WWII. In 2019 there was a diplomatic summit between Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Vladimir Putin to resolve this, but it went nowhere.
https://news.yahoo.com/putin-abe-hold-summit-break-island-impasse-105056332.html
