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AS THE U.S. MARCHED ACROSS THE SEA TOWARD JAPAN,
DAILY RAIDS BY AMERICAN B-29 BOMBERS
WERE DESTROYING JAPANESE CITIES
AND KILLING THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS.
IN A SINGLE FIRE-BOMB ATTACK ON TOKYO,
OVER 100,000 INNOCENT JAPANESE WERE INCINERATED.
FOR JAPAN, DEFEAT WAS INEVITABLE.
BUT THE ISLAND NATION REFUSED TO SURRENDER.
THE MOUNTING LOSS OF LIFE WORRIED PRESIDENT TRUMAN.
MILITARY ADVISORS CAUTIONED
THAT A QUARTER OF A MILLION AMERICAN LIVES
COULD BE LOST INVADING JAPAN.
SHORTLY AFTER BECOMING PRESIDENT,
HARRY TRUMAN LEARNED OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT,
A CODE NAME FOR THE BEST-KEPT SECRET
OF WORLD WAR II --
A NUCLEAR WEAPON POWERFUL ENOUGH
TO DESTROY AN ENTIRE CITY.
TESTING IN THE NEW MEXICO DESERT
PROVED THE ATOMIC BOMB NOT ONLY WORKED,
IT WAS EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN SCIENTISTS PREDICTED.
PRESIDENT TRUMAN WAS FACED WITH A SOBERING DECISION --
USE THE HORRIBLE WEAPON TO END THE WAR
OR RISK THE LIVES OF COUNTLESS ALLIED TROOPS
IN A LAND ASSAULT ON JAPAN.
WITH THE URGING OF TOP AIDES AND MILITARY ADVISORS,
TRUMAN DECIDED TO DROP THE BOMB ON JAPAN.
THE ALLIES ISSUED A FINAL APPEAL
TO JAPAN'S MILITARY LEADERS TO UNCONDITIONALLY SURRENDER.
THIS WAS KNOWN AS THE POTSDAM ULTIMATUM.
STILL, JAPAN'S MILITARY LEADERS REMAINED DEFIANT.
AT 2:45 A.M. ON AUGUST 6, 1945,
A B-29 BOMBER -- THE ENOLA GAY --
HEADED OUT OVER THE PACIFIC
TOWARD THE JAPANESE MILITARY CENTER OF HIROSHIMA.
AT 8:00, THE ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED CLEAR OF THE PLANE.
43 SECOND LATER, THE CITY OF HIROSHIMA WAS ANNIHILATED.
THAT AFTERNOON,
PRESIDENT TRUMAN AGAIN CALLED FOR JAPAN TO SURRENDER.
WHEN JAPAN FAILED TO RESPOND,
A SECOND ATOMIC BOMB WAS DROPPED ON NAGASAKI,
LEVELING HALF OF THE CITY AND KILLING MORE THAN 60,000.
BY THE END OF THE YEAR,
THE DEATH TOLL HAD REACHED MORE THAN 200,000
FROM INJURIES AND RADIATION POISONING
CAUSED BY THE TWO BOMBS.
FINALLY, AMID SCENES
OF UNIMAGINABLE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION,
JAPAN'S EMPEROR HIROHITO CAPITULATED.
I DEEM THIS REPLY A FULL ACCEPTANCE
OF THE POTSDAM DECLARATION,
WHICH SPECIFIES
THE UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER OF JAPAN.