ABSTRACT

It took Harry Truman just 90 days after first learning of the development of the atomic bombs to decide to employ them against Japanese cities. The new President had been informed on April 25 for the first time by the secretary of war, Henry Stimson, of the destructive potential of the revolutionary weapons that were expected to be tested for the first time soon, probably in July. The successful test at Journada del Muerto (Dead Man’s Trail), 60 miles northwest of the “Manhattan” plant site in Alamogordo, New Mexico, before dawn on July 16 was reported in cryptic form to the President at Potsdam, Germany, the same evening. A detailed report on the effects of the test explosion was delivered to Truman by Stimson at noon the next day. Truman took only a week of discussions with Churchill and his own advisers to decide on the afternoon of July 24 to use the bombs as soon as they were ready. Some unsurprisingly feel that the decision was a snap judgment.1