ABSTRACT
The decision to attempt to build a nuclear weapon was made by President Franklin D. Roosevelt early in World War II, when it was widely thought that Nazi Germany was also making such an effort. The United States did not know it had successfully created such a weapon until July 1945, when it was tested in New Mexico. This was several months after the defeat of Germany. So, with President Roosevelt dead, his successor, Harry S. Truman, had to make the decision of whether to use this weapon on Japan when it had been created to deter or use on Germany. This case deals with how the decision to use the fist nuclear bomb, the atomic bomb, was made.
