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Thesis and Intro 

        

            President Harry Truman was faced with one of the greatest proposals any president has been faced with in United States history: the dropping of the atomic bomb. The decision was important, forcing Truman to weigh the best possible options at the time. In order to end the war quickly and efficiently and save lives on both the American and Japanese sides, Truman’s decision of dropping the atomic bomb was justified.

Throughout the war, Japan made it clear that they had no intentions of surrendering. As a reaction to this reality, a plan was proposed to invade Japan, called the Operation Downfall. The United States side anticipated losing many soldiers in this invasion. Truman stated after the war that he had been advised that the is casualties could range from 250,000 to 1,000,000 men. Although thousands of lives were lost in these two bombs, the decision was made with the knowledge that thousands more would have died if WWII continued. Truman’s main reasons for dropping the bombs was that he wanted to preserve as many American lives as possible and gain an unconditional surrender from japan, initially ending WWII.