Truman and the Atomic Bomb...

President Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan (on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) is, in some quarters at least, a very controversial one.  Post-war “progressive” thinkers (especially) and also some just plain nut cases have called his decision everything from “morally bankrupt” to “a conspiracy against Stalin”.  In my own reading of history, it seems clear to me that Truman made the right call – even from the perspective of the Japanese people, more of whom would have died in an American invasion than did from the atomic bombs.

However, understanding all this with any kind of clarity presupposes a fairly deep reading of the period's history – something that's never going to happen for most people.  The alternative, for most people, is to assume that what they hear in their history courses (if they even have any such courses!) is correct – and a large majority of college-level history courses are teaching that Truman screwed up, making America the moral villains and earning the contempt of the world.

An easily-digestable and concise stating of the case for the wisdom of Truman's choice would be useful.  This video comes as close as anything I've ever seen: