General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: An overlooked A-bomb issue: the wait-a-couple-weeks argument [View all]He wanted Japan to surrender. He said so. Claiming otherwise involves mindreading a dead man.
Truman was very much aware of the effect a Soviet attack would have. His imperative, as the American leader, was to try and limit Soviet influence in the peace in the Pacific. When you read about why he was so eager to keep Stalin away from the table--and I'm talking about what the Russians were doing in Poland and all across eastern Europe--you'll see that it was very much in the interests in Japan as a state to surrender to the US alone.
Now it's true that he wanted Japan punished for Pearl Harbor and the Bataan Death March. But that's a different matter than saying he preferred a later bombing to a hypothetical (and thoroughly impossible) pre-bombing surrender.