The Big one

The year was 1945. World War II was nearly over. Germany had been defeated and the allied forces were sure to win the war. The only unsure thing was how many lives would be lost in defeating Japan. The United States decided to drop the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. On that day the Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima. Three days later the United States dropped "Fat Boy" on Nagasaki. 240,000 civilians, mostly women and children, …

…during WW II, "... the Japanese were ready to surrender and it was not necessary to hit them with that awful thing." After reading all of these quotes from prominent figures I am puzzled as to why the United States made the decision to drop the atomic bomb. The use of the atomic bomb killed thousands of lives that did not need to be killed and was the biggest mistake the U.S. has ever made.