President Eisenhower, in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, on December 8, 1953, stated, "Even a vast superiority in numbers of weapons, and a consequent capability of devastating material retaliation, is no preventive, of itself, against the fearful material damage and toll of human lives that would be inflicted by surprise aggression."
Harry Truman in 1945 "regarded the [atomic] bomb as a military weapon and never had any doubt it should be used." In a 1958 handwritten document on the rise of the atomic age, he later stated, "Now we are faced with total destruction. The old heckler prophets presented the idea of the destruction of the world by fire after their presentation of a destruction by water. Well that destruction is at hand unless the great leaders of the world prevent it."
In Karl Compton's "If the Atomic Bomb Had Not Been Used," he states, "The atomic bomb introduced a dramatic new element into the situation, which strengthened the hands of those [Japanese government officials] who sought peace and provided face-saving argument for those who had hitherto advocated continued war."
Truman said, “The United States has built a new weapon of great destructive power which we intend to use against Japan.”
Stalin . . . raised the matter which turned out to be the main point of our meeting.
“Our allies have told us that the USA has a new weapon, the atom bomb. .