World History

Otherwise, if they had one, they would have dropped an atom bomb on a German city.

It was, in fact, the idea that motivated many of the scientists working on the project who were, in fact, German Jews, and had a full measure of the nature of the Nazis.

Some, but certainly not all of the scientists involved in the development of atomic weapons had strong reservations about dropping it on Japan. After the weapon was fully developed however, decisions were out of their hands.

On balance, as tragic as the bombings were, after a long lifetime of personal internal debate, I have grudgingly accepted dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, which was never a subject of debate in military or in the Truman Administration in any case, did save lives.

In the Second World War, far more deaths were related to fossil fuel powered weapons of mass destruction than atomic weapons. That has held true right up to the present day.