Was Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb justified?
That was the hardest decision of my life, and I've thought about it a thousand times. We had a war that had gone on too long, with too many good men lost. Invasion of Japan would have cost hundreds of thousands more American lives, and likely millions of Japanese lives as well. The bomb offered a way to end the war quickly. It was a terrible weapon, no question. But in the context of that awful war, it was seen as the way to bring it to a swift conclusion and save lives on both sides in the long run. It was a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.
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