It baffles me? Can Americans answer this? Why Americans dropped the second Atomic Bomb?

President Truman wanted to use the atomic bombs on cities to measure their destructive power. This is why he chose Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the first place - they hadn't been affected by conventional bombing and so an accurate assessment of how the atomic bomb could destroy a whole city could be made. You have to understand that the life of an American soldier is worth more than the life of a Japanese civilian (man, women or child) - because this was what President Truman and most of the American public was thinking.

In a public poll conducted in 1944, 13% of the American public voted for "the complete extermination of the Japanese race". Such emotional anti-Japanese sentiment is the reason why many did not believe using atomic weapons on Japanese cities was fundamentally immoral. If the U.S. chose not to drop the atomic bomb, an invasion of Japan was not necessary.

A lot evidence hint that Japan would've surrendered anyway due to the Soviet intervention and U.S. naval blockade. This view was shared by most of the U.S. military commanders such as Eisenhower, MacArthur, Leahy and Nimitz. Even the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey predicted Japan would surrender "certainly" prior to 31 December 1945 and "in all probability" prior to 1 November 1945 - even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if the Soviets had not entered the war, and even if a U.S. invasion had not been planned or contemplated.

The atomic bombings actually contributed little to the Japanese surrender - even after Nagasaki their leaders ignored or downplayed the atomic bombs and were as resistant as ever to not accept the Allies' unconditional surrender. The Soviet intervention was a more significant factor - arguably even the determining factor - that persuaded Japan to end the war. The fact that many people will die from radiation is something the scientists of the Manhatten Project and Albert Einstein were possibly aware of, which is why they were strongly against its use.

I'm not criticizing the U.S. in general, what they were doing in liberating Europe was a good thing, but I just think the decision to drop atomic bombs was a crime against humanity. Its ironic how the U.S. signed the Geneva Convention and supported the humanitarian treatment of victims of war, but yet they would make a decision to nuke civilian cities. Actually, there is a lot of evidence that suggests Truman had other motives in using the atomic bombs - scientific research (especially the effects of nuclear weaponry on victims), a warning to the USSR and because of anti-Japanese sentiment.

An invasion was necessary, a blockade would have starved the people of Japan of their nourishment but not of their zeal. This would have indeed caused more casualties to the people of Japan but people forget simple psychology, a lot of people dying at once is a big deal, more people dying over a stretched out period of time gives them a sense of renewed patriotism to fight the besiegers. Also keep in mind that the Atomic Bomb was meant to show the Japanese people what the Americans were capable without even having to invade.

This made the Japanese people realize, that the bomb, in collaboration with the invasion and inevitable blockade would make the people of Japan an extinct race. So the Bomb on Civilians was meant to be a wake up call to the Japanese saying "Really, this is what will happen, are you sure you want to go through with it?" the emperor saw the devastation to his people and offered surrender. It was also meant to scare the Soviets for both sides were already upon the realization that they would be the opponents in the next great conflict.

Along those lines it is necessary to mention that if the United States had invaded the Soviets would not have helped with the Invasion but would have been taking the islands trying to forge a communist domain in the Pacific domain. The Americans realized that this was unacceptable and came to the realization, that however tragic, it was necessary to save millions of lives, then and in their future.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.