[OldFriend]

Would the Japanese care to explain why their emporer did NOT surrender after the first bomb fell. Why they allowed the second city to be bombed.

Why they didnt' surrender after the bombing of Tokyo.

They can only blame themselves for the senseless loss of life.

[The Grammarian]

Would the Japanese care to explain why their emporer did NOT surrender after the first bomb fell. Why they allowed the second city to be bombed.

If I remember right, it was politics. Note that there was a palace coup attempt by elements in the Japanese military after the second bomb dropped that, if it had been successful, would have prevented the Japanese from surrendering even after the second bomb.

[cfrels]

I'm currently reading the David McCullough biography of Harry Truman and by the time we decided to use the "terrible new weapon", the Japanese knew they were beaten.

They were going to try to fight as long as they could, inflicting as many casualties as possible, to weaken the will of the Allies and put themselves in a better position to negotiate.

Seems to me this idea worked for the North Vietnamese a generation later when we had the pointy headed liberal politicians micro-managed the war and tied the hands of the military....

I see a lot of similarities between Truman and GWBush.