In the aftermath of World War II, there were few people who questioned President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After all, the Japanese had provoked the United States by bombing Pearl Harbor, not the other way around. However, in later years, people began to question the obvious reason that "Truman was saving lives," by putting forth revisionist theories of their own. When examining Truman's decision to bomb Japan through the perspective of 60+ years of history and the results of the atomic bombings versus the potential results of the alternatives available to Truman at the time, it becomes abundantly clear that he made a correct and justifiable decision and ended the war.
Truman resolutely defended the atomic bombings. On August 9, after Nagasaki was bombed, Truman made a public statement on why the atomic bombs were used: Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans.
Truman's main purpose in using the atomic bomb on Japan was for the purpose of saving lives and ending the war quickly in order to prevent a disastrous land invasion. There were threats found which could destroy America quickly. One such threat was found in February 1942 when-"Flares observed by persons on shore an hour after the attacks were presumed to have been dropped by searching aircraft. One observer south of Santa Barbara reported seeing a light blinking offshore from a low-flying craft.A witness described the submarine as 'about as big as a destroyer or a cruiser'" (Lawrence 2). If Japan wasn't stopped, America would have been in serious danger.
