yes, Harry Truman had a tough call to make. hundred of thousands of US military had lost their lives in the Pacific theatre. the prospect was for hundreds of thousands of additional lives to be lost. I can't say I envy that president or that decision. do you read the history of WWII, especially the pacific theatre???? my dad was out there defending the free world, including your interests high tide. I might suggest the book 'Unbroken' for a vivid look at what was going on with this part of the world war. once you read that, come back and kick some more sand.
Actually America and Japan were negotiating terms of surrender before either bomb was dropped, the main hold-up being how to deal with the Japanese Emperor as he was considered a "god" by the Japanese.
There was never going to be a massive invasion of Japan by America with thousands/millions more casualties at all, but it made for a good reason and so was used as justification for nuking Japan.
The real reason lies simply in the fact that America was well aware of what Russia represented for the future post WWII era and in order to establish a geo-political point to Russia it was deemed ok to show some power and determination.
In addition, the American Congress was hot to know what all the money spent on this Manhatten Project was being spent on so there was a lot of pressure to demonstrate a result.
Note how quickly they used it after testing and also when Russia formally declared war on Japan.
Using those bombs established what we know as MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction, the situation that dominated the Cold War years.
Read a book called Rogue Nation by someone whose name I can't recall for sources and stuff.
Take care
back on topic, alternative energy sources are the only solution we have to reduce the overall carbon footprint we are stamping on the earth. the governors of WA and OR are up to their political eyeballs trying to stop the coal trains from entering these two states. it is in the news frequently and the political struggle often becomes front page headlines. the citizens of the US are not afraid of this debate and certainly recognize the ecological impact our country is making on the world wide stage.
1,000 stream and river crossings with a pipeline that is going to leak seems like a pretty big problem that needs the light of day. and yes, Canada wants to take advantage of a cheap route for another pipeline right through the heartland of the US for sheer profit to your government and the rapists in Alberta. sneer all you want but that is the bottom line here.
not facing up to your impact on the world stage seems the norm for you folks. probably a good reason the net pens have continued to advance and the boreal forests have been destroyed, never to return. deny your role on the world stage is not such a great response from you posters. instead blame the US for everything that is wrong in the world seems an easy way out of your responsibilities.
perhaps you will wake up some day to actually see what you have allowed to be destroyed on your watch.