Although many physicists were opposed to the actual use of the atomic bomb created by the Manhattan Project, U.S. President Harry S. Truman believed that the bomb would persuade Japan to surrender without requiring an American invasion. Accordingly, on August 6, 1945, a U.S. airplane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing at least 70,000 people instantly (tens of thousands more died later of radiation poisoning). Three days later, another U.S. aircraft dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. Since then, a number of countries have concluded that possession of nuclear arms is the best way to guarantee their safety, despite fears that nuclear proliferation increases the chances of the use of such a weapon.
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