[Aurelius]

It is by no means clear that dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary to persuade the Japanese to surrender. Remember that there was in place a demand for "unconditional surrender", put there by Roosevelt, and the Japanese had been told the terms would include their giving up their Imperial system. The latter condition was understood to have provided them with their primary motive to hold out in spite of recognizing their loss as inevitable. Once they had been bombed, they were allowed to keep their Emporer.

[sendtoscott]

The "big three" had discussed demanding unconditional surrender and decided against it at a conference (which conference escapes me now, sorry, its the wine again). FDR used the phrase "unconditional surrender" after that conference anyway, and out of 'unity', Churchill and Stalin decided to go along with it. THAT is why we made that demand - it was not a thought out government decision.