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²³The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan [box 9 of 9], Truman Library, Harry S. Truman Student Research File (b file); See also
http://www.dannen.com/decision/targets.html

²⁴Correspondence (“Top Secret”) of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1942–46, NARA RG77, entry 1, roll 1, subfile 5c – Preparation and Movement of Personnel and Equipment to Tinian

²⁵Ibid.

²⁶Atomic Bomb – War Department, Memo on Hiroshima as “Army City”, President’s Secretary’s File, Historical File, Truman Library, box 193

²⁷The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Truman Library, Harry S. Truman Student Research File (b file)

²⁸Memorandum from J.R. Oppenheimer to Brigadier General Farrell, May 11, 1945, MED Records, Top Secret Documents, NARA RG77, file no. 5g (copy from microfilm) document 5

²⁹Quoted in Walker, p90

³⁰Ibid.

³¹Ibid., p94

³²Ibid., p93

³³Correspondence (“Top Secret”) of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1942–46, NARA RG77, entry 1, roll 1, file 5, subfile 5c – Events Preceding and Following the Dropping of the First Atomic Bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Preparation and Movement of Personnel and Equipment to Tinian

³⁴http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Ashworth

³⁵Kelly, pp323–322

³⁶Quoted in Malloy, S.L.
Atomic Tragedy: Henry L. Stimson and the Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb Against Japan
, Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2008; p61

³⁷Bundy, M.,
Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the First Fifty Years
, Vintage, New York 1990; p67

³⁸Quoted in Malloy, p61

³⁹Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

⁴⁰Correspondence (“Top Secret”) of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1942–46, NARA RG77, microfilm publication 1109, roll 3, entry 1, file 25D – “Top Secret” Correspondence, subseries 1

⁴¹Atomic Energy Commission, “Mr Stimson’s ‘Pet City’: The Sparing of Kyoto”, by Otis Cary, Papers of R. Gordon Arneson, Truman Library, box 1

⁴²Quoted in Sherwin, p230

⁴³See Groves,
Now It Can Be Told

⁴⁴Correspondence (“Top Secret”) of the Manhattan Engineer District, 1942–46, NARA RG77, entry 1, roll 1, file 5, subfile 5b – Directives, Memorandums etc., to and from the Chief of Staff, Secretary of War

Henry Stimson’s Committee

⁴⁵The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Notes of the Interim Committee Meeting, Thursday, May 31, 1945, MED Records, NARA RG77, H-files, box 1, folder 100

⁴⁶Quoted in Malloy, p4

⁴⁷Ibid., p6

⁴⁸Henry Stimson to Harry S. Truman, April 24, 1945, General Documents, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library

⁴⁹Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

⁵⁰Quoted in Hasegawa, T.,
Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan
, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2005; p67

⁵¹See Mannard, Joseph G. (1981).
American Anti-Catholicism and its Literature
. Archived from the original on October 25, 2009. Also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Catholicism_in_the_United_States

⁵²Memorandum from R. Gordon Arneson, Interim Committee Secretary, to Mr. Harrison, June 25, 1945, Med Records; see also Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

Henry Stimson’s Eclipse

⁵³Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

⁵⁴Rhodes, R.,
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
, Simon & Schuster, New York 1986; p643

⁵⁵Ibid.

⁵⁶The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Notes of the Interim Committee Meeting, Thursday, May 31, 1945, MED Records, NARA RG77, H-files, box 1, folder 100

⁵⁷Baker, P.R. (ed.),
The Atomic Bomb: The Great Decision
, Holt Rinehart and Winston, New York 1968; p19

⁵⁸The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Notes of the Interim Committee Meeting, Thursday, May 31, 1945, MED Records, NARA RG77, H-files, box 1, folder 100

⁵⁹Truman, H.S.,
Memoirs of Harry S. Truman, vol. 1, Year of Decisions
, Da Capo Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1986; p297

⁶⁰Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

⁶¹Bernstein, B.,
The Atomic Bomb: The Critical Issues
, Little, Brown & Co, Boston 1975; p146

⁶²Assistant Secretary of War John J. McCloy, Memorandum of Conversation with General Marshall, May 29, 1945, Office of the Secretary of War, Formerly Top Secret Correspondence of Secretary of War Stimson (‘Safe File’), July 1940-September 1945. NARA RG107, box 12, S-1

⁶³The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Notes of the Interim Committee Meeting, Thursday, May 31, 1945, MED Records, NARA RG77, H-files, box 1, folder 100

⁶⁴Ibid.

⁶⁵Ibid.

⁶⁶Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

The Scientists Do their Duty

⁶⁷The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Harry S. Truman Student Research File (b file), Truman Library, box 1: Introductory

⁶⁸Ibid.

⁶⁹The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Harry S. Truman Student Research File (b file), Truman Library, box 1: Introductory

⁷⁰Documents Pertaining to the Atomic Bomb, The Atomic Bomb Collection, Truman Library, box 2

⁷¹Truman, p296

The Joint Chiefs Meet

⁷²County Judge File: December 3, 1930 – March 7, 1951, President’s Secretary’s File, Longhand Notes File, 1930–55, Truman Library, box 281

⁷³Skates, J.R.,
The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb
, University of South Carolina, Columbia 1988; p18

⁷⁴Quoted in Skates, p25

⁷⁵Hastings, M.,
Nemesis
, HarperPerennial, London 2008; p481. Nimitz told King on May 25, 1945 that continued blockade and conventional bombardment were enough to defeat Japan.

⁷⁶Minutes of Meeting Held at the White House on Monday, June 18, 1945 at 1530, Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Central Decimal Files 1942–1945, NARA RG218, box 198; this source for all minutes of the meeting quoted

⁷⁷Quoted in Frank, p141

⁷⁸Minutes of Meeting Held at the White House on Monday, June 18, 1945 at 1530, Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Central Decimal Files 1942–1945, NARA RG218, box 198; this source for all minutes of the meeting quoted

⁷⁹Hastings, p498

⁸⁰Minutes of Meeting Held at the White House on Monday, June 18, 1945 at 1530, Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Central Decimal Files 1942–1945, NARA RG218, box 198; this source for all minutes of the meeting quoted

⁸¹Quoted in Alperovitz, G.,
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
, Vintage, New York 1996; p68

⁸²Quoted in ibid.

⁸³Quoted in ibid., p73

⁸⁴Minutes of Meeting Held at the White House on Monday, June 18, 1945 at 1530, Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Central Decimal Files 1942–1945, NARA RG218, box 198. The bomb is probably referred to as “certain other matters” in the minutes.

⁸⁵McCullough, D.,
Truman
, Touchstone, Simon & Schuster, New York 1992; p401

⁸⁶Quoted in Alperovitz, p73 (there are various versions of his actual words)

⁸⁷Quoted in ibid.

⁸⁸Quoted in ibid; see also Hasegawa, p105

⁸⁹Quoted in Alperovitz, p503

⁹⁰Feis, H.,
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War Two
, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1967; p9

⁹¹See Truman,
Memoirs
, and histories that defend the bomb on the grounds that it saved up to a million American lives

⁹²Colonel John Stone to General Arnold, The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan, Harry S. Truman Student Research File (b file), Truman Library

About the Author

Paul Ham is a historian specializing in 20th century conflict and politics. His first book to be published in the USA is
Hiroshima Nagasaki
, a new history of the atomic bombings (Thomas Dunne 2014; Random House UK 2011; HarperCollins Australia 2010). Paul has also written:
1914: The Year The World Ended
(Random House, UK and Australia, 2013–14),
Sandakan
(Random House, UK and Australia, 2011–12);
Vietnam: The Australian War
and
Kokoda
(both published by HarperCollins, 2007 and 2004). Paul has co-written two ABC television documentaries based on his work:
Kokoda
(2010), a two-part series on the defeat of the Japanese army in Papua in 1942 (short-listed for the New York Documentary prize); and
All the Way
(2012), about Australia’s difficult alliance with America during the Vietnam War, which he also narrated and presented. Paul is the founding director of Hampress, an independent ebook publisher, and a regular contributor to the Kindle Single range. A former Australia correspondent for
The Sunday Times
of London (1998–2012), Paul has a masters in economic history from London School of Economics. He lives in Sydney and Paris with his wife and son, and writes full-time.