An overlooked A-bomb issue: the wait-a-couple-weeks argument

[Jim Lane]

19. Yes, I was talking about only a few weeks.

You're right that conditions of surrender is another important discussion. As others have pointed out, we probably prolonged the war by demanding unconditional surrender. If, in June, we had proposed surrender on the terms ultimately agreed to, it might well have been accepted.

Obviously, I'm much less dismissive of the possibility of a non-A-bomb surrender than you are. There was the invasion of Manchuria plus the dashing of any hope of Soviet aid in brokering a surrender. Those would have been powerful psychological blows.

At a minimum, one can point out that Truman's choice left us where we are six decades later -- you're absolutely certain there would have been no surrender, I think there's a good chance there would have been, and neither of us can establish our point. If Truman had waited he would have been in a position to say that he had given Japan every chance.