Some other possibilities, as the length of time between
the successful testing of the bomb and our actually dropping it was a mere three weeks,
and the decision-making process to do so is a little muddled
historically.
First, the Manhattan Project was designing a
bomb to be dropped on Germany as soon as we developed it. However, we were not able to
test one until July 16, 1945, and Germany surrendered on May 7th. The decision to focus
on Japan then was a quick one, and with a new President, Harry
Truman.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not terribly important
militarily, but they were two of the only cities not yet bombed, and still mostly
intact. We wanted to see the full effect of the atomic bomb on an undamaged city. This
lends strength to the argument the bomb was dropped to scare the Soviets as well as to
convince Japan to surrender.
Another reason, and I think
the most compelling, was out of hatred and revenge. Revenge for the Bataan Death March,
for Pearl Harbor, for how our prisoners were treated, for the Kamikaze attacks, etc.
There was simply no way our government or military were capable of deciding anything
other than using the weapon once we had it.
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