The American Myth

Towards the end of summer, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This event took place during the last few days of World War II following Japan's refusal to unconditionally surrender. The United States government and military leaders believed that eventually Japan would surrender, but nobody knew when that would happen and how many people would have to die in the meantime. In the summer of 1945 United States leaders debated the best way to end the war. The option of shocking Japan by using a new, highly effective technology, tested only once in…