has not once used it on American troops.The U.S. must concern itself with the views of other countries in thismatter. If we were to violate our moral obligation our country would beweakened in the eyes of others. It would then be more difficult for us to live up to our responsibility of bringing the unloosened forces of destructionunder control (Fasching 209.)Regardless of the warnings and advice President Truman still gavethe official bombing order, July 25, 1945. Truman told his diary that daythat he ordered the bomb used. Emphasis had been added to highlight Truman’s apparent belief that he had ordered the bomb dropped on a “purely military” target, so that “military objectives and soldiers and sailorsare the target and not women and children (Alperovitz 363.)The written order for the use of the atomic bomb against Japanesecities was drafted by General Groves. President Truman and Secretary ofWar Stimson approved the order at Potsdam.Regardless of what Truman wrote in his diary that day the order made no mention of targeting military objectives or sparing civilians. Thecities themselves were the targets. The order was also open-ended. Additional bombs could be dropped as soon as made ready by the project Staff (Schull 372.)Although he never publicly admitted it, President Truman had secondthoughts about using atomic bombs on cities. On August 10, 1945, havingreceived reports and photographs of the effects of the bombs, Truman 6ordered a halt to further atomic bombings (Fasching 202.)Is this not evidence that Truman made a mistake in his decision?I do not think this makes Truman a bad guy, though. I believe he truly believed dropping atomic bombs on Japan would save American lives by ending the war sooner. Truman was rushed into the president job, filling infor the late Roosevelt. I do not believe he was prepared for this kind of decision-making.These excuses for Truman do not, however, excuse what ...
