Alex WellersteinVerified account

He told Truman they were going to get the reputation for outdoing Hitler in atrocities — a pretty big statement to make to your boss, the President! I emphasize this because the "flattening" of historical attitudes into "everyone thought it was morally unproblematic" is wrong.

And by that I mean, demonstrably historically incorrect, a curious anachronism of its own, again as a way to dodge the question in the present day. Stimson (who exerted a lot of influence on the bombing decisions) *clearly* felt the atomic bomb presented new moral questions.

Truman himself *clearly* indicated, especially in the early postwar, that the atomic bomb presented severe moral hazards. That doesn't mean that they decided not to use it, obviously. But it does mean that we can't just wave it away as "this is how people thought in WWII."

4. Lastly — the reason to focus on the high-level discussions (which did, at times, explicitly reference popular opinion) is because these people made the decisions. It is important to focus on which decisions were made, and which were not, which is part of my overall point.

Decisions not made by Truman: whether or not to use the bomb. That was already in motion, clearly, and there was no question by anyone that Truman would intervene. Unsurprisingly, he didn't. The focus on that "decision" is, historians have known for a long time now, misplaced.

Decisions actually made by Truman: 1. Whether to tell Stalin much about the bomb (no). 2. Whether to modify unconditional surrender (no). 3. Whether the city of Kyoto should be bombed (no). 4. Whether to continue bombing after Nagasaki (no).

To the "decisions not made" pile, I'd also add, "Whether to drop two bombs or just one on Japan," "Whether to demonstrate the bomb before using it," "Whether to wait a reasonable amount of time between the bombings," etc. Truman had no role in any of these decisions.

Why make these points? Not because I want people to think the bombings were unjustified. As I've emphasized, over and over again, I don't actually think that's an easy thing to answer one way or the other with authority. I admit this is a position that displeases *everyone*.