Opinion of Harry Truman

[Scam of God]

Stupidly hawkish. If his concern was casualties during a possible invasion, why not blockade? The Japanese may have been a lot of things, but self-sufficient they most certainly were not.

[Scam of God]

3.  Blockade the islands and starve the Japanese into submission.  They would die by the millions and American citizens at home would demand an end to both the starvation and the deployment of forces.

Stupid. Japanese militarism in the era is vastly overstated; their chief concern would be energy supplies, not food. They'd have submitted within four months at most, as that's how long their domestic reserves of oil would have lasted.

[Scam of God]

And that is why Truman should have blockaded. The Japanese could not have held out for much longer anyway. You can't invade, but that doesn't mean use the bomb.

There's no guarantee a blockade would have worked.  The atomic bomb was the only surefire way to end the War.

Uh, if they'd run out of gasoline, what would the Japanese have done? Powered their planes with Kami spirits?