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MRS. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT 202 FIFTY-SIXTH STREET WEST NEW YORK 19, N. Y. August 12, 1959 Dear Mr. President: Thank you very much for the explana- tion which I shall pass on to the people who asked me. As you know, I have always said that you had no choice but to use the atomic bomb to bring the war to an end. For a time I was disturbed at our having used it in Nagasaki but after being in Japan and seeing the defenses and talking with one of our representatives who had been a prisoner of the Japanese and who explained that un- less there had been a second demonstration the Japanese would have felt they could de- fend themselves which would have resulted in the destruction of the whole of Japan and the loss of millions of our own men, I realized that you had this knowledge and that you could make no other decision than the one you made. I have since written this publicly a number of times. I would give a great deal, however, not if we could come to an agreement for stopping the whole use of atomic energy for military purposes. I know