ABSTRACT
General Anderson and Admiral Ofstie both knew that the Survey's explanation of the role that the Army Air Forces and the Navy played in "winning" the war in the Pacific would have a substantial impact on future defense organization and strategy. The Summary Report's conclusion challenged President Harry S. Truman’s remarks that Japan would not have surrendered if the United States had not used the bomb. The published Summary Report deleted some favorable statements made in drafts about the importance of American carrier-based aircraft. The Pacific phase of the Strategic Bombing Survey was different, than its evaluation of strategic air power in Europe. The data collection portion of the Pacific Survey went much faster than in Europe. The intensive data collection began in October and ended when most of the Survey departed Japan on the USS Ancon in mid-December 1945. Many European Survey conclusions about the effects of strategic bombing were shaped while the war was being fought.
