June. 20, 1945

Dear President Truman:

There is no doubt that we must punish Japan. The Japanese were definitely among the world’s most sadistic and atrocious nations in human history. The crimes committed by the Japanese surpass even the war-crimes of the Nazis, which includes the Holocaust. The heinous acts they have committed throughout all of South Eastern Asia would make one’s stomach churn. In Nanjing, a Chinese city occupied by the Japanese military, the Japanese spent months butchering and torturing the Chinese for sport and performing medical and surgical experiments on living conscious people. In Nanjing alone, 300,000 Chinese were brutalized. Confronted with a barbarous nation like Japan, we ought to have our heads examined if we don't explore some other method by which we can terminate this war than just by another conventional attack. In my view, we should resort to the use of the atomic bomb. Here is a list of my reasons:

a) If we launch an invasion, the invasion may last long enough to allow the Soviet Union to join the war. As a result, by the time Japan surrenders, we will not be the only country it surrenders to; Japan will also surrender to the Soviet Union. Of course, this will greatly hinder our spread of democracy into Japan. However, if we resort to the use of the atomic bomb, there is little doubt that Japan will immediately relinquish resistance and surrender to us only. b) As far as I know, we have so far funneled some $1,889,604,000 to the Manhattan Project. To justify the cost of the project, we must drop at least one atomic bomb. In addition, showing that we are the only country in the world that possesses the atomic bomb will prove the superiority of our technology, our military firepower, and, by extension, our political-economic system. c) Of course, an atomic bomb will kill thousands of innocent Japanese citizens. Be that as it may, Japan will still benefit from it in a sense; it will save numerous people in Japan from going through an invasion, which can bring much more damage to the country. Most importantly, employing nuclear weapons against Japan will save the lives of hundreds of our soldiers. d) On December 7, 1941, after the Attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed,“a date which will live in infamy.” Without any doubt, we must avenge the American soldiers killed in the