Motivation for the US to bomb Japan
President Truman's decision to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagashaki was heavily influenced by political calculations both in the US and in Japan.
Questions related to US President Harry Truman's decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan are still being raised many years after that fateful day. The famous journalist Edward R. Murrow in 1958 asked Truman in a television interview: "When the two bombs were dropped, World War II was almost over. Was it the result of a miscalculation? Japan's potential? Or has our intelligence gone wrong in this regard?"
Truman rejected both theories. He understood exactly what he was doing. In fact, for many months before that, Allied intelligence had accurately reported on Japan's desire to surrender as well as solutions to end the war without the use of atomic bombs.
Truman believed that Japan's unconditional surrender would keep the Soviet Union on the Allied side, while possibly reassuring American voters and soldiers that their sacrifice in the war would pay off. with total victory, according to Mark Gallicchio, author of Unconditional about Japan's defeat in World War II.
Truman believes that disarming the enemy's military is just the beginning, and that America's goal is to strengthen democracy outside the United States. Forcing an enemy to surrender unconditionally can create a "root to tip" change.