No
Any conclusion that uses news or information gained / gathered after 8/8/45 is invalid.
The answer must be reached using information and data available at the time the decision was made.
As far as I’m concerned the atomic bomb, in August, 1945 was just another tool in the toolbox. It would’ve been wrong NOT to use it.
Period
That’s an excellent point. The problem there is that it exposes the whole “look how many lives — both American AND Japanese — it saved!” argument as a childish non-sequiter.
What would have happened if the Japanese hadn’t surrendered after the second bomb was dropped? If the U.S. felt compelled to drop a second bomb because the Japanese didn’t surrender after the first one, then on what basis would anyone presume today that the U.S. had any intention of invading Japan at all?