Reddit reviews The Nuclear Express

The US bombed most cities but left a select few alone to minimize the resistance there. Japan did notice this pattern of avoidance, but due to embargoes there was a massive shortage of materials, so they didn't commit many resources to defend these locations Additionally, weather also played a factor: the US wanted to see it happen.

When it was time to deploy the ordinance, the US had a list of cities they had left alone. They chose the cities where the weather was the clearest on that day.

Fun fact: the US had the capacity to build and drop one nuke a week month, and indeed that was the plan until Japan surrendered.

Fun fact 2: Removed after inaccuracy was pointed out regarding Einsteins role

Fun fact 3: Israel paid some Jews (I'm not racist, I'm pointing out the Jewish nationalism that came to play) who worked on the Manhattan project a very hefty sum to come to Israel a few years later, bringing their research. They then secretly whored this information out to anyone who would pay for it, including the Russians. Iran got the research, and North Korea bought it from them. China, India, Pakistan, Britain, France, Russia, Australia, Libya, Saudi Arabia and a bunch of others also bought this research from Israel.

Fun fact 4: Little known fact is that Libya had a nuclear weapons program as well as unrefined nuclear materials (yellowcake). I suspect the recent international invasion of Libya was more about this fact than it was for humanitarian reasons. The reason Libya didn't become a nuclear power is because their education system was so terrible they didn't have the expertise necessary to bring the research to fruition.

Fun fact 5: 2 days prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan's ambassador to the US gave President Roosevelt a bunch of "peace charms" despite knowing there was about to be an attack (via intercepted and decrypted diplomatic cables telling him the attack was a "go"). Prior to the bombing, as if to say "Fuck You," President Truman personally attached these "peace charms" to the first nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima.

Fun fact 6: Japanese diplomatic cables and naval codes had already been decrypted by the US by the time Pearl Harbor happened, and indeed, an attack was forecasted several hours before, but this report was dismissed by the US Army's high brass as the importance of electronic warfare had not yet been appreciated.

There were a hell of a lot more nuclear shenanigans that went on after world War 2 than people let on. If you're interested in learning more, try this book, it's an excellent read:

http://www.amazon.ca/Nuclear-Express-Political-History-Proliferation-ebook/dp/B004GJVXL6/ref=sr_1_1/184-5044977-7494648?ie=UTF8&qid=1416766051&sr=8-1&keywords=nuclear+proliferation

Edit: posts facts, gets downvoted. Damn.