Help with my naïveté!

[Agschmid]

Another poster on DU posted this...

And Truman was royally PO'ed the second bomb was dropped, without his go ahead. Truman want to give the Japanese time to consider unconditional surrender, after Hiroshima. But the military acted thinking bomb 1 gave them authority to use bomb 2, which Truman not only got mad about, but also created the button, that only a civilian president had the authority to use. The military has ever since been relieved of control on the use of Nukes, which also proved a great idea and may have saved millions more lives, in Korea.

It was in one of the many threads about Hiroshima and Nagasaki which are in GD today.

Problem is I don't believe it... I have googled it one million different ways and can't come up with anything (even CT stuff) that the second bomb was not approved.

Does anyone have hard information on this other than the book the poster referenced on Amazon? If this did happen I want to know about it but... I can't swallow it on face value.

Here is the link to the whole subthread for transparency sake: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3417063

Thanks in advance.

[Agschmid]

1. Kick...

Anyone have a source?

[struggle4progress]

2. My Dear Professor Cate:

... When the message came to Potsdam that a successful atomic explosion had taken place in New Mexico ... I told the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Generalissimo Stalin that the explosion had been a success ... I asked General Marshall what it would cost in lives to land .. in Japan. It was his opinion that such an invasion would cost at a minimum one quarter of a million casualties ... I asked Secretary Stimson which sites in Japan were devoted to war production. He promptly named Hiroshima and Nagasaki ... We sent an ultimatum to Japan. It was rejected. I ordered atomic bombs dropped on the two cities named on the way back from Potsdam, when we were in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean ... It was, of course, necessary to set the military wheels in motion .. but the final decision was in my hands ...

Sincerely,

(The letter was signed by Harry Truman.)

http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Hiroshima/Truman.shtml

[Agschmid]

5. Thank you appreciate the clarity!

[LiberalAndProud]

3. You want facts?

There are several historical errors throughout those threads that were stated as fact. To correct one said error, Truman had no agreement with Russia to enter the war against Japan at the time of the bombings. That's the historical record, regardless of what some random DUer or other might assert.

As for Truman's anger over the second bombing, let me just say I sincerely doubt it.

[Agschmid]

4. Me too.

Thanks. The link above seems to seal the deal...

I appreciate your help. Sometimes the Internet is somewhat less than factual.