the British Government was willing to talk.(McManus 2) In the United States, Army chief of Staff George Marshall wanted to continue fighting and did not want to hear of any peace or surrender talks. He believed in a full-scale invasion of Japan. President Roosevelt was greatly influenced by George Marshall.(McManus 3) To talk about peace with Japan was a difficult matter. Because Japan was divided into two separate groups, it was important to come to a clear agreement to not give the "war party" any motives to overthrow the government and take the war farther than it should.(Howarth 216) In July 1945, after the Germans had been defeated, the Big Three, Winston Churchill, Josef Stalin and President Roosevelt got together in the Postdam Conference, they agreed with the decision of giving Japan "unconditional surrender." The United States felt confident because, at that moment, they already had the atomic bomb.(Leckie 936) When the Japanese gave a negative response, the United States took it as a sign that the Japanese were not interested in peace and "made plans its accordingly to cast one atomic bomb on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki."(Churchill 556) The main reason for this misunderstanding was because the Americans failed to see the importance of several cultural and political aspects of the Japanese. General Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces understood these aspects when he said:"Japan was at that moment seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of "face"...It wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing(atomic bomb)."(Bloomfield 1) General MacArthur had already informed President Roosevelt in January of 1945 under what terms the Japanese were willing to surrender, but Roosevelt dismissed them because he had made up his mind to continue fighting.(McManus 5) The ultimatum given to the Japanese in Postdam did not specify what the position of the Emperor would be in the case of a surrende...
