Anyone else think Truman one of the worst presidents ever?

[Myra Bronstein]

In case anyone reading this thread still believes the bombing of Hiroshima was necessary to save American lives, and that the Japanese were committed to fighting to the last man, they should heed the words of no less an authority than Allen Dulles. Dulles concludes his book, The Secret Surrender, about his efforts to negotiate a peace with German forces (who also were reported to be willing to fight to the last man), with the following passage...

"On July 20, 1945, I went to the Potsdam conference and reported there to Secretary Stimson on what I had learned from Tokyo--they desired to surrender if they could retain the emperor and the constitution as a basis for maintaining discipline and order in Japan after the devastating news of surrender became known to the Japanese people...If there had been a little more time to develop this channel of negotiation, the story of the Japanese surrender might have had a different ending."

The Japanese were boxed in. They weren't going anywhere. We could have bombed their factories faster than they could have built new ones. By writing "If there had been a little more time" Dulles is admitting that the decision to bomb was based upon activities unrelated to the will of the Japanese to surrender. He is as much as admitting that our fear of splitting the Japanese empire with Uncle Joe superseded any concerns we had with killing civilians. IMO.

Thanks for the Dulles quote Pat. And your analysis of it. Very helpful.