The Most Controversial Decision

Truman, the Atomic Bombs, and the Defeat of Japan

Bibliographic Data

ID23786001
AuthorsWilson D Miscamble (University of Notre Dame, corresponding author)
Year2011
Publication date2011-04-11
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
VenueMost Controversial Decision (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9780511977336
OpenAlexW4251953871
ISBN9780511977336
Open LibraryOL34477221M
LanguageEN
Citations received6

This book explores the American use of atomic bombs and the role these weapons played in the defeat of the Japanese Empire in World War II. It focuses on President Harry S. Truman's decision-making regarding this most controversial of all his decisions. The book relies on notable archival research and the best and most recent scholarship on the subject to fashion an incisive overview that is fair and forceful in its judgments. This study addresses a subject that has been much debated among historians and it confronts head-on the highly disputed claim that the Truman administration practised 'atomic diplomacy'. The book goes beyond its central historical analysis to ask whether it was morally right for the United States to use these terrible weapons against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It also provides a balanced evaluation of the relationship between atomic weapons and the origins of the Cold War.

Cold war · Diplomacy · Empire · Library science · Nuclear weapon · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Subject (documents) · History · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense · Space exploration and regulation · Twentieth Century Scientific Developments

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