day of the bombing of Hiroshima. An Americansoldier stationed in North Africa had an opinion that supported Truman's beliefs aboutRussia. The soldier felt that it would be ridiculous to expect the Soviet Union to enter thewar against Japan for three main reasons: the Soviets had heavy losses fighting Germany;the soldiers were left exhausted and starving; and they would have to be transportedalmost halfway around the globe from western Russian to the eastern front. This soldier'scredibility is not known but his statement fits in with Truman's own beliefs. It is believedthat Truman, beneath the surface, felt an exaggerated sense of self-importance for the US,a mind-set that was first installed in the United States during Theodore Roosevelt'spresidency. He felt that if we did not use our great powers that some other nation surelywould. Some people feel that the bomb was used for the purpose of keeping theAmerican people behind the war effort. The war had been dragging on and the death tollfor America kept rising. Introducing this weapon of previously unheard-of destructiveforce would get the backing of the American people. The bomb surely would secure anAmerican victory without the aid of the Soviet Union. (Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and thePolitics of Memory) However, many people were against using the atomic bombs, before and after theywere actually used. A survey set up by the War Department called the US StrategicBombing Survey came to this conclusion after interviewing hundreds of Japanese in 1944. 'Japan would have surrendered by December 31, 1945, even if the bombs were notdropped, even if Russian had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had beenplanned or contemplated.' Ralph Bard, who was under the Secretary of the Navy and amember of the committee, wrote a memo to Secretary of War Henry Stimson on June 27,1945. It is also believed that he discussed this memo with Truman in early July. Thememorandum stated that Ja...
