We had already bombed almost every big or medium sized city in Japan to rubble. We did more damage with conventional bombing than nuclear bomb. Although, nuclear bombing is scarier.
Germany was also bombed all to pieces. So bad that my dad
thought it was still desolate even after years. He didn’t
want me to go to Germany because he had seen too much
outrage & desolation there during the war (& didn’t want me
to ever see it). He wasn’t much of a “world traveler” after
the war, because the first time he was sent out into the
world, the “world’s people” were SHOOTING AT HIM. That’ll
get your attention and tend to make you appreciate the HOME
you “travelled” & risked you life to defend.
Truman had sense enough to know that the Japs were
totally committed to KILLING & would NEVER stop. He had
learned a lot from Pearl Harbor. (As a hardened combat
veteran, my dad would have had to eventually go to Japan
& take the war to them charging Hell with a bucket of
water as he said basic had the Americans ready to do).
Even the Jap women & kids were trained to fight the
“invaders” with any available weapon. Nothing short of
DRAMATIC was ever going to make the Japs surrender & IT
TOOK MORE THAN ONE to do the job and make them quit what
THEY HAD STARTED AT PEARL.