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ALTERNATIVES TO USING THE ATOMIC BOMB
Alternatives to using atomic weapons against Japan in August of 1945:
1) A massive invasion of Japan,
expected to cost millions of Allied casualties
2) A naval blockade to starve
Japan, along with continued conventional bombing
3) A demonstration of the new
weapon on a deserted island to pressure Japan to surrender
4) A softening of Allied demands for
an unconditional surrender
Interim
Committee:
scientists, military leaders, and government officials met in the
Spring of
1945 to discuss the before
mentioned ideas;
they could not recommend any of
the alternatives.
The only alternative really debated was
#3. Why were they unable to recommend this alternative?
1) They believed nothing less than
dropping a bomb on a city would convince the Japanese to surrender;
2) the test might be a dud;
3) the Japanese might shoot down the
delivery plane or move American prisoners of war into the test area;
4) fierce fighting and an
unwillingness to surrender at Iwo Jima and Okinawa made many members of the
Interim Committee doubt the effectiveness of a demonstration.
