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Filtering for posts tagged with ‘Harry S. Truman’
Showing 1-14 of 14 posts that match query
2022
May 2022
Redactions
What if Japan did offer nearly-full surrender terms to the US in early 1945? In the 1940s, just this was claimed — but it's not very likely.
2021
June 2021
Redactions
A bizarre leak from a powerful Senator made the Top Secret debate over building the hydrogen bomb part of national discourse — and doomed its direction.
2020
July 2020
Meditations
If the first nuclear weapons test had been a flop, would the world be better or worse off?
June 2020
Meditations
As we approach the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombings, we're going to see a lot of journalistic takes on them — many of them totally wrong.
2018
January 2018
Redactions
A remarkable set of speech drafts from August 6-9th, 1945, shows an evolution in Truman's thinking about the bomb — from an unambiguous good, to a horror that needed to justified.
2016
November 2016
Meditations
Why asking whether there are checks on the US President's ability to order a nuclear attack gets the issue exactly backwards.
September 2016
Redactions
If he had lived to make the decision, would Roosevelt have dropped the atomic bomb?
May 2016
Meditations
Some thoughts about the first sitting President to have visited Hiroshima.
2014
August 2014
Redactions
Did Truman fundamentally misunderstand the atomic bomb because of a debate over its use?
February 2014
Redactions
In a short story published in 1949, Leo Szilard contemplated how well he and President Truman would fare at a war crimes tribunal. His conclusion: not well.
2013
August 2013
Meditations
Why was a second bomb used against Japan, so soon after Hiroshima? A review of several theories.
March 2013
Meditations | Redactions
Where do historians stand, in the 2010s, about the decision to use the atomic bomb? A report from a recent workshop.
2012
June 2012
Meditations
What would have happened if the US hadn't decided to try and build an H-bomb in early 1950? Some alternative scenarios are considered.
Redactions
Hours after the first H-bomb was detonated, the press knew about it. But why did the government try to keep it secret for years after that?
Showing 1-14 of 14 posts that match query