Harry Truman did not know about the top secret Atomic Bomb project when he took office as president on April 12, 1945, upon the death of F.D.R. Roosevelt had never taken his own vice-president into his confidence about the bomb. But he was informed about it the following day by Secretary of War (today the position is called Secretary of Defense) Henry Stimson. The bomb had not yet been tested, and before it was, Germany had surrendered--only Japan, of the original three Axis powers remained in the war. Truman was presented with four options for the bomb once it became operational: (1) keep it in reserve and hope that the Japanese government would soon surrender. There was a growing peace movement in the Japanese government, but they had not yet convinced the Emperor Hirohito, and particularly the die-hard part of the Japanese military that surrender was necessary. Many thought that if the Soviet Union came into the war, as they had promised to do, that this might speed up the decision of the Japanese government to surrender. (2) keep the bomb in reserve and prepare for the invasion of the Japanese home islands. Seeing how hard the Japanese had defended their outer islands (which were now all taken over by America) and that they were known to have nearly four million troops available for home defense, the military gave Truman an estimate of one million allied troops dead and wounded to invade and conquer the islands. Japanese military and civilian casualties would probably be many times higher than that. (3) Use one of the bombs (three bombs would be available by the summer of 1945) as a demonstration drop to show the Japanese its power. This drop could be on an island, an isolated part of Japan, or on old U.S. naval ships with Japanese military and government officials looking on. After consideration, Truman would reject this idea as too risky if the bomb was a --dud-- (malfunction) or if the Japanese officials were not sufficiently impressed with its power. (4) Drop one or two bombs on key Japanese cities which had not so far suffered bomb damage so the full extent of the power of the bomb could be revealed. Ask again for surrender if one bomb did not bring such a response, and then drop the second and then run a bluff. Tell the Japanese that such bombs would continue to be dropped on all remaining Japanese cities until they surrender. There actually would be no more bombs ready after the first three until late 1945. The first Atomic Bomb ever was tested successfully in the desert of New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Truman was at the Potsdam Conference with Stalin & Churchill when he heard the news. Japan was asked to surrender or face total destruction. They ignored the request, partly because they were fearful of losing the emperor’s position as one of the terms of peace. On the way back from the Potsdam Conference on a naval ship, Truman got the terrible news that the U.S. ship INDIANAPOLIS had been torpedoed and sunk by a Japanese submarine. Ironically, it was the INDIANAPOLIS that had carried the uranium core to Tinian island only a few days before which would be used in the Hiroshima bomb. Of the 1000 members of the ship’s crew, 800 were drowned or eaten by sharks as they awaited rescue in the waters. Truman, who was not yet 100% sure he would drop the bomb, was heartsick at this news, and he exclaimed that he did not want anymore American men to die for a war that was essentially won. Shortly afterwords, he gave the order to drop the first bomb on August 6, 1945. DON''T COPY FROM ANY INTERNET SITE.