re: Tucker Carlson has divided conservative social media with his take on the atomic bomb

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Hard to believe that with all we now know, some still think the US had to drop the bomb(s) to get Japan to capitulate.

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What do we know? I'll tell you what I know. The Japanese saw the terms Germany got when they surrendered to the Allies in May 1945. Shortly before the Potsdam Conference in July, Japan opened a channel with the Soviet Union (who was still a neutral party to the conflict between Japan and the western Allies), asking them what terms they would get if they offered to surrender. The Soviets came back with an honest answer: unconditional surrender. And so the Potsdam Declaration came out on July 26 where the Allies (true to the Soviet Union's word to Japan) told the Japanese that they would only accept unconditional surrender. The Japanese never made a formal reply to the Potsdam Declaration, choosing instead to ignore it with contented silence. Eleven days later, on August 6, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Then came the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9. On August 12, the Japanese offered to surrender on the condition that they keep their emperor and also on the condition that no Allied occupation of Japan would occur. That wasn't good enough so we continued to bomb their cities with conventional weapons. Finally, with the Soviet Union now at war with Japan and encroaching on their territory, the Japanese agreed to surrender to the terms of the Potsdam Declaration on August 14.