The final word belongs to one of Truman's aides, George Elsey. It's all well and good to come along later and say the bomb was a horrible thing, he commented subsequently. The whole goddamn war was a horrible thing.
In William E. Leuchtenburg's book "The American President: From Teddy Roosevelt to Bill Clinton," there is a reflection on the complexity of historical judgments regarding wartime decisions, particularly the use of the atomic bomb. George Elsey, an aide to President Truman, emphasized the prevailing mindset of the time, recognizing that while the bomb's consequences were dire, the context of the entire war was even more painful. This perspective highlights how decisions...
