Truman's Presidency and Iwo Jima

• On April 12, 1945, while in Warm Springs, Georgia, Vice President Harry S. Truman became president after President Roosevelt had a stroke and died.
• President Roosevelt did not live to see Germany's defeat.
• Truman had to make difficult decisions about the war during his first months as president.

Little Damage

• Initially, B-29s caused minimal damage due to missed targets, long distance from Japan, and lack of fuel to correct navigational errors or adjust for high winds.
• On November 24, 1944, Tokyo was bombed for the first time since the 1942 Doolittle raid.
• B-29 Superfortress bombers traveled over 1,500 miles (2,414 km) from new American bases in the Mariana Islands.
• The goal was to capture an island closer to Japan.

Iwo Jima

• Iwo Jima was strategically located roughly halfway between the Marianas and Japan, but its geography was formidable.
• Mount Suribachi, a dormant volcano, is at its southern tip.
• Planners invaded Iwo Jima so B-29s could refuel there.
• On February 19, 1945, 60,000 U.S. Marines landed on Iwo Jima and more than 6,800 marines died before the island was captured.

Napalm Bombs

• General Curtis LeMay, commander of the B-29s based in the Marianas, changed strategy, so B-29s could hit Japan in their targets.
• Bombs were ordered to be dropped and filled with napalm, which is a kind of jellied gasoline, and they helped start fires.
• Fires from missed targets spread to intended targets.

Firebombed

• The Tokyo firebombing killed over 80,000 people and destroyed more than 250,000 buildings.
• By the end of June 1945, Japan's six most important industrial cities had been firebombed.
• The use of firebombs was controversial due to civilian casualties, but LeMay aimed to quickly destroy Japan's war production.
• By the war's end, B-29s had firebombed 67 Japanese cities.

Japan Would Not Surrender

• American officials thought Japan would not surrender until an invasion occurred.
• The United States wanted a base near Japan to stockpile supplies and build up troops for the invasion.
• Despite firebombing damage, Japan showed few signs of surrendering in the spring of 1945.
• Military planners chose Okinawa for their base since Iwo Jima was small and too far, Okinawa was only 350 miles (563 km) from Japan.

Okinawa Captured

• On April 1, 1945, American troops landed on Okinawa.
• On June 22, 1945, after heavy fighting, which caused over 12,000 American deaths Okinawa was captured.
• The Japanese emperor urged his government to end the war after the United States captured Okinawa.

One Condition

• Many Japanese leaders wanted to surrender on the condition the emperor remained in power.
• American officials knew the emperor's fate was crucial for the Japanese.
• The biggest problem was the American demand for an unconditional surrender.
• Most Americans wanted the emperor removed from power.
• President Truman knew that US was ready to test the atomic bomb.

Enormous Energy

• In 1939, Leo Szilard learned that German scientists had split the uranium atom.
• Szilard suggested that splitting the atom might release tremendous energy.

Convincing Roosevelt

• Szilard convinced Albert Einstein, the world's best-known physicist, to sign a letter to President Roosevelt.
• Einstein wrote that uranium could be used to construct "extremely powerful bombs of a new type."
• Roosevelt created a scientific committee with American and British scientists to study the issue.
• The scientists convinced Roosevelt to build the atomic bomb.

Manhattan Project

• The American program to build an atomic bomb was code-named the Manhattan Project.
• General Leslie R. Groves headed the Manhattan Project.
• On July 16, 1945, the world's first atomic bomb was detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

President Truman's Decision

• American officials debated how to use the bomb even before it was tested.
• Some wanted Japan threatened, while others wanted a surprise attack.
• Truman believed it was his duty to use every weapon to save American lives.

Drop the Bomb

• On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay dropped the atomic bomb "Little Boy" on Hiroshima, a crucial industrial city.
• The Allies threatened Japan to surrender unconditionally.
• Truman then ordered the military to drop the bomb.
• The bomb destroyed 76,000 buildings, about 63% of the city, and killed between 80,000 to 120,000 people instantly and the rest of population died later.

Another One

• The United States dropped the atomic bomb "Fat Man" which killed between 35,000 and 74,000 people on Nagasaki.
• Three days later, on August 9, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.
• The Japanese government surrendered due to the destruction and the Soviets joining the war.

V-J Day

• On August 15, 1945, V-J Day-Japan surrendered which ended the war.
• The United States and its allies freed Europe from Nazi tyranny and ended Japanese aggression in Asia.