Truman and the Bomb: The Untold Story

President Harry S. Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons against Imperial Japan has been the subject of many myths. In his book, Truman and the Bomb, D. M. Giangreco busts these myths and reveals the truth about the end of the Pacific War. He uses previously unpublished material to debunk the falsehoods about the roles played by American, Soviet, and Japanese leaders and provides extensive primary source materials to support his arguments. The book is valuable for professors, students, military, diplomatic, and presidential historians, and history buffs.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 12 September 2023
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc

Many myths have grown up around President Harry S. Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons against Imperial Japan. In destroying these myths, Truman and the Bomb will discomfort both Trumans critics and his supporters, and force historians to reexamine what they think they know about the end of the Pacific War.

Myth: Truman didn't know of the atomic bombs development before he became president.

Fact: Truman's knowledge of the bomb is revealed in his own carefully worded letters to a Senate colleague and specifically discussed in the correspondence between the army officers assigned to his Senate investigating committee.

Myth: The huge casualty estimates cited by Truman and Secretary of War Henry Stimson were a postwar creation devised to hide their guilt for killing thousands of defenseless civilians.

Fact: The flagrantly misrepresented "low" numbers are based on narrow slices of highly qualified—and limited—U.S. Army projections printed in a variety of briefing documents and are not from the actual invasion planning against Japan.

Myth: Truman wanted to defeat Japan without any assistance from the Soviet Union and to freeze the USSR out of the postwar settlements.

Fact: President Franklin D. Roosevelt and President Truman desperately wanted Stalin's involvement in the bloody endgame of World War II and worked diligently—and successfully—toward that end.

Using previously unpublished material, D. M. Giangreco busts these myths and more. An award-winning historian and expert on Truman, Giangreco is perfectly situated to debunk the many deep-rooted falsehoods about the roles played by American, Soviet, and Japanese leaders during the end of the World War II in the Pacific.

Truman and the Bomb, a concise yet comprehensive study of Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan, is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding this critical period of history. Giangreco's meticulous research and analysis provide a fresh perspective on a topic that has been heavily debated and misunderstood for decades.

In conclusion, Truman and the Bomb is a groundbreaking work that challenges the many myths and misconceptions surrounding President Truman's decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. By providing a thorough and objective analysis of the evidence, Giangreco sheds light on the complex and often controversial decisions that led to the end of World War II in the Pacific. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the history of the 20th century and the role that nuclear weapons played in shaping it.

Weight: 608g
Dimension: 163 x 236 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781640120730