ok. so drop it on japan but in a lightly populated area. the question is was it ready for that test???? and was the 509th bomb wing ready???? and im not sure they were. the first test here was around july 15-16. then they had to make into a bomb. transport it to Tinian. and im not sure if Truman gave permission to drop it yet. so lots of ifs, ands, buts and maybes. and you also run risk of the bomb blowing up the island on take off. oops !!!! so maybe this test was just a little risky
.....edit. then the test plane has to fly back to tinian and wait for another bomb. and another. add to it the empire was under rule of Army hot heads who were dertermined to fight to the death on the beachs. even after Hiroshima they were undeterred. they claimed we didn't have another bomb. BOOM !!! Nagasaki. still no response. no test bomb was going to deter them from a fight to the death.

I'm not talking about test bombs. I'm talking about the real deal. Fat man and little boy. They could have threatended the country with a larger target each time. That in my book would be a very effective scare tactic. Theaten to use it. No response. BOOM! Lands in a small small town. No response. BOOM! Lands in a slightly more populated area. No response. BOOM! Lands in a small city. By the time you reach the small city they would be very afraid of the how large the next target will be.

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"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy." -fortune cookie

we didn't have that many BOOMS availabe. the cilvians were expendable. your risking the lives of American flyers here. but thats ok by you right???? whats more dead american to you???? sorry AJG you just don't get it.

i thought the use of the pilots was saving the risk of millions for the land invasion? their lives would be risked regardless of tactic, right?

and who says the civilians are anymore expendable than anyone else? who says you get it?

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We certainly could have dropped more BOOMS. And how would we be risking the lives of American flyers?

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"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy." -fortune cookie

the invasion was scheduled for nov or dec. why waste skilled pilots on a test bomb???? and that's what it really is. how bout if we nuke tinian????

the Japanese Army. thats who.

prove it

they did it right. 2 bombs 2 cities war over.

so you are calling them an authority on how we should have behaved? clarify, please...

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R E A D.................the jap army had total authority over the entire country and the entire civilian population. if they said fight to the death it included the entire civilian population. and thats what they told them. no surrender. get it?????

2 bombers 2 bombs its over. they played they paid. if your dad or grand dad had died in the invasion would you be here talking about it????? im off for the night.............

I can't prove it, but what says they couldn't have made more? They certainly had the material. 2 bombs 2 cities war over. Correct, but was it necessary to kill so many innocent lives? Not necessarily. We might have been able to end it with tens of thousands less dead.

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"Hard work without talent is a shame, but talent without hard work is a tragedy." -fortune cookie

total authority is a myth, the human race is too chaotic. The jap army was hanging on by threads, had no resources for their war machine, the only power they had was fear. would it have worked to an extent? yes. but to claim total authority is to simply attribute a mythical quality to a poor enemy for the sake of your argument. not working for me.
no bombs and no invasion were neccessary. the japanese had no navy by that point, therefore no means to project their will on anyone but themselves. that would have been fine by me. But truman wanted to make a point and move on to the next war, which thankfully did not happen.

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This was the first time people had to come up with a strategy to use nuclear weapons.
And it was a very small group by necessity that had the discussion, no great public debate was possible, no consultation with the great minds of the day, with philosophers and theologians and the great moralists of the time, just a few people who could only discuss it in a very closed framework.


First, every Purple Heart awarded from 1945 to this very day comes from the batch ordered in preparation for the invasion of Japan. They expected the invasion to cost a tremendous amount of lives.

Second, there was a secret deal with Stalin, if the war with Japan went beyond a certain date, the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan, but if the war could be ended before that date, the Soviet Union would have no part in post war Japan.

Third, they only had two bombs, one design had been tested once, the other design had never been tested.


Truman needed to make a decision without precedent, the reasoning went that the use of the bomb had to be dramatic, and that the second had to be used a few days later to create the impression that this would become a regular event.
In fact it would have been months before another bomb was ready.

Truman did consider the civilian casualties, and believed that civilian casualties would be reduced by using the bomb to bring a quick end to the war. Civilian casualties in the case of an invasion would have run into the millions.

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“ The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state.”

Adam Smith , The Wealth of Nations 1776

"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics"
FDR's second Inaugural Address

first time people chose to formulate a nuke strategy, and first time folks chose to use them. had is not the right word.
This is probably the most relevant issue to the decision to use the bomb. Post-war posturing. Man. Vaporizing people as part of saber rattling with the soviets. not exactly a proud moment in american history.
according to....

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Im after your opinion. NOT your scorn. don't shoot the messenger. I did NOT give the order. ok?????

I want your opinion. NOT your scorn. in spite of what you think i did not give the order. ok?????