Though there was plenty of support to use the bombs, there were just as many concerns that were raised by both members of the Interim Committee and critics alike (Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki).

One of the main decisions that the Interim Committee made was whether to give Japan a warning prior to the bombings. They discussed warning Japan so they could evacuate from the target or even demonstrating the bomb to delegates in Japan. However they rejected that idea and cautioned that warning Japan might cause them to kill the bomber or bring prisoners of war into the target area and the demonstration of the bomb might have failed to explode. They didn’t believe in demonstrating the bomb that time since everyone underestimated the bomb since they were still unsure about the power of the bomb. It wasn’t clear to them yet that the bomb would impress the Japanese so they would surrender. For those reasons, they claimed they could not have warned Japan about the use of the atomic bombs (Schoenberger 118:120).

During the decision of using the bomb, a number of Manhattan Projects scientists petitioned the president against using the bomb. They felt that the purpose of the project was in response to the threat of the Nazi Germans developing a bomb. The scientist also felt their moral position would be weakened without providing a warning about the attack or giving Japan an opportunity to surrender. They also feared that not telling the Soviets first about the bombs would start an uncontrolled nuclear atomics race after the war. So the scientists sent petitions to President Truman, but Truman never got the petitions before deciding to use the bomb because the proposals were obstructed by Secretary James Byrnes, Oppenheimer, Groves, and others. Thus the atomic plans proceeded (A Study of the Atomic Bomb and World War II).

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SOURCES:

"Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 11 Jul. 2005. Wikipedia. 11 Jul. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki>.

“A Study of the Atomic Bomb and World War II.” 2001. Midcoast Marketing. 19 Jul. 2005 <http://www.theenolagay.com/study.html>

Schoenberger, Walter Smith. Decision of Destiny. Ohio University Press: Columbus, 1969