It has been said that the United States decided to use the atomic bomb to intimidate the Soviet Union rather than to strictly force Japan=s unconditional surrender. This statement is false in that the United States did drop the bomb to intimidate the Soviets and to bring about Japan=s unconditional surrender, as well as many other reasons. It seems that from the documents and from a general knowledge of American history, one can find that Harry Truman=s decision to drop the devastating atomic bomb on Japan was a function of weighing the pros versus the cons, and in this case the pros are far more numerous than the cons. Anything that is this complex and costly in nature must never be based on a single expected outcome. Just as to any complicated problem, the question of whether or not to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was based on a multitude of solid, concrete reasons.
             The Japanese government, by the end of 1944, knew that defeat was inevitable. The Allies had completely blockaded the Japanese island and had a strict and conventional aerial bombing schedule that had wiped out most of the Japanese industrial centers. This Astrangle hold@ that the Allies, (mainly the United States), held on Japan was severely weakening the nation, and Japan continued looking to the only Allied power with whom Japan had a neutrality pact; the Soviet Union. The Soviets were a light of hope to the Japanese that would allow them to escape unconditional surrender, which to the Japanese was a most terrible fate. The Japanese held their emperor to be a god, and as such, the termination of his stature would be a crushing blow to Japanese culture. It has been shown that without the retention of their emperor, the Japanese would have no choice but to fight to the death, since they would have nothing else to live for. The Japanese were absolutely determined to sur!
             render with the retention of their emperor.
             Another point which makes the applicat...