Leahy).
Despite the oppositions, most Americans still saw the dropping of the bombs as a victorious act by Truman. The United States had started the developing the bombs in 1939, when Albert Einstein wrote a letter to F.D.Roosevelt, regarding the theory of special relativities, "It may become possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium . that extremely powerful bombs of a new type may thus be constructed" (Lawton). The original reason that led the U.S. to develop Einstein's theory, was the nuclear race between the US and Germany. The start of the second World War made the race to develop nuclear technology more urgent. Japan became a leading power in Asia, after it established an alliance with Germany and Italy. President Roosevelt helped Britain through the Lend-Lease program, but was still hesitant about getting America involved in the World War. On December 7, 1941, Japan made the decision for Roosevelt, when Japanese aircrafts launched a surprise attack on one of America's main naval bases at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. From then on, the Allies began its advances on Japan. .
During the Potsdam Conference, where the fate of the defeated Germany was decided, Truman issued a public warning to Japan, to cease all hostilities. Though he did not hint on the possible use of atomic bombs, he did mention they would risk complete destruction. When Japan did not cease their advances, on 25th July,1945, Truman authorized the use of the atomic bombs on Japan (Poolos, pg 92). He and his military leadership knew that this decision would end with thousands of Japanese civilians dead. However, they also concluded that this decision was justified, since the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor unprovoked in the first place. The Japanese had also murdered and raped, thousands of civilians and prisoners that they had captured. Another reason Truman decided to drop the highly destructive bombs, was that they were concerned that by invading Japan, the Soviet Union would join them in battles.
