Reply #23: Two issues [View All]

1.- The demonstration was meant for both the Japanese Empire, in particular the Japanese Military, and of course the USSR.

2.- The code of bushido. I have done extensive research on this subject for the fiction I am writing and it struck me that the Military Cadre was not going to surrender unless the damage was so horrific that it would demoralize the civilian population... and as trigger happy as MacArthur was with Nukes later on in his life, he understood the Empire and its ways of thinking very well. Remember, the night before the surrender on the USS Missouri there was an attempted coup by a mid grade Japanese Military Officer in order to prevent the surrender.

For some more info on this here you go

http://www.mbe.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/surrender.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Mission-Secret-History-Battle/dp/0767907787