Military Targets Weren’t Enough
Nolan’s movie goes further into the committee’s conflict. The idea of a demonstration blast, one that would show Japan what the weapon could do was quickly shot down. Oppenheimer knew Japan would not surrender based on a demonstration, and a necessary US invasion of Japan would result in mass casualties. If the bomb failed during the demonstration, it would be humiliating.
The Interim Committee, tasked with studying nuclear weapon issues discussed warning target cities in time to evacuate civilians. The Interim Committee dismissed this idea. If Japanese forces knew of the bomb, either by demonstration or warning, they were capable of intercepting or sabotaging the bomb enroute. Ultimately, the decision to drop the bomb and on Japan was to force was to stop a war and halt the loss of more lives, at the cost of the lives of Japanese civilians, around 200,000 by the end of 1945.
