Andy:
I appreciate the points, but I'm not really sure that it wasn't simply an "a" or "b" scenario to Truman. Sure, there were the post-war problems with the Soviets to consider, but by that time, most things I have read always made mention that the American people were wanting the conflict to be over with as quickly as possible. If we had waited weeks between the bombings, would the Japanese have thought we didn't have many bombs? Blockade could have taken months, if not longer. As for inviting Stalin in, how well did that work in post-war Germany? I think that the two bombs in three days shocked the Emperor into action. Most Japanese had never even heard his voice when he made the surrender announcement. If we had invaded, how long would the guerrilla war had gone on (three soldiers held out until the early 1970s)
This is the problem with trying to look at history through today's eyes. How can we, more than 60 years later, even think to know what Truman truely thought?
Good arguements in any case. Makes you think.