possible invasion of the Japanese mainland. He felt using the atomic bomb would introduce a new and more dangerous level of warfare and was a political rather than a military decision.

The United States had even already broken Japan's code of messaging and knew that their ambassador had been sent to Moscow to work out peace negotiations. Also they had begun talking of surrender a year prior and in June of 1945 the emperor of Japan had begun discussing alternatives to fighting to the end. Martin Sherwin says that American Intelligence relayed messages to the President about these events but they had no effect on his final decision to drop the bomb. Howard Zinn feels that the bombing of Nagasaki was surely unnecessary and that it seems the only reason for its use was that it was a plutonium bomb whereas the one dropped on Hiroshima was filled with uranium. He posed the question, 'Were the victims of Nagasaki part of a scientific experiment?' (www.he.net/~douglong/bard.htm)

The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them." A US intelligence study does say that Truman knew that the bomb was not really needed. What the study does not point out is that Stalin's declaration of war was not really sufficient enough for Truman's decision. He did not feel Stalin was that dependable. The Russian leader had promised for months to enter the war against Japan but never did make a declaration until August the sixth, the day of the bombing of Hiroshima. An American soldier stationed in North Africa had an opinion that supported Truman's beliefs about Russia. The soldier felt that it would be ridiculous to expect the Soviet Union to enter the war 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 transported almost halfway around the globe from western Russian to the eastern front. This soldier's credibility is not known but his statement fits in with Truman's own beliefs.

Some topics in this essay:
Little Boy, United States', Pearl Harbor, World War, Howard Zinn, Cold War, Japanese Army, Soviet Union, Despite Truman, Russians Americans, atomic bomb, war japan, little boy, dropping bomb, world war, bomb dropped, enter war japan, invasion japanese, war ii, diary entry, nuclear fission, world war ii, august 6th 1945, invasion japanese mainland, wrote book titled,