Replying to a message of Jeff Snyder to Bob Ackley:

 JS> I find it outrageous that dropping the first bomb on August 6, 1945
 JS> wasn't enough for Truman. One would think that that first bomb alone
 JS> would have been enough to bring the Japanese to their knees. Yet
 JS> Truman still chose to drop the second bomb on August 9, 1945.

AFAIK there had been no reaction from the Japanese government immediately
after the August 6th bombing.  Also AFAIK the only thing of significance that
happened during those three days was that Stalin declared war on Japan.

 JS> If we add to this the long-held rumor that Truman was more than aware
 JS> that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked, it all seems to point to
 JS> the long-held theory that he purposely allowed them to attack, so
 JS> that he, and America, could justify dropping the bombs. Those war
 JS> devils just had to test their devilish toys at all cost...and so they
 JS> did. I'd hate to be Truman on Judgment Day.

Since the US didn't *have* nuclear bombs at the beginning of WW II that seems
a bit far fetched.  US scientists didn't even know if such a thing could be made
to work or how to make one at the beginning of the war.  AFAIK the closest 
thing was the 'atomic pile' (an early form of nuclear reactor) that Enrico Fermi
built in Chicago around 1940.

Also note that even though he was vice president Truman didn't know anything
about the Manhattan Project until after he assumed the presidency in 1945.
All he knew about the nuclear bomb was that it was a very big bang compared 
with conventional munitions, and that's what he treated it as.  All of the
aftereffects of nuclear detonations came from post-war research on the subject,
in the summer of 1945 all that was unknown.

FYI at the post-war atomic tests at Bikini Atoll, military and civilian observers
sat in chairs or stood unprotected on the decks of ships outside the expected blast
effects area - but well within radiation range.  Note that the first test used the
USS Nevada as its aiming point and the bomb exploded 1,000 feet directly above
her afterdeck; the Nevada did *not* sink as a result although her superstructure
was bent up some.


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