Did Communism Threaten America's Internal Security After World War II?

I agree with historians John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr that communism did threaten American security after World War II. As uncovered by the messages decoded by the Venona Project's "code-breakers," there were hundreds of Communists in America who served as spies to the Soviet Union in the 1940's and 50's. Spies ranged from scientists to high government officials, and most were members of the American Communist Party. They uncovered domestic, military, and atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. Due to the espionage of scientists Klaus Fuchs, Theodore Hall, and David Greenglass, the Soviets were able to develop the atomic bomb years earlier and at a much lower cost than they would have been able to without that classified information. While people like Senator McCarthy took their "red hunt" too far, Communism, especially involving espionage, was a serious threat to American security after World War II.

Was dropping the atomic bombs justified? Why or why not?

Dropping the atomic bombs was necessary because otherwise the war would have taken much longer to end and hundreds of thousands of American lives would have been lost in the process. Americans wanted to end World War II as soon as possible, so they used the atomic bomb as soon as it was ready. Japan would not surrender, so on August 6, 1945, they dropped it on Hiroshima, killing or wounding 180,000 people. The Japanese would still not surrender, so America dropped another bomb on Nagaski on August 9th. Finally on August 14, the Japanese surrendered. Although, it is tragic that so many civilians had to die, many more Americans, Japanese soldiers, and some civilians would have died if the war had dragged on for months or years more. The Prime Minister of Britain Winston Churchill wrote, "The decision whether or not to use the atomic bomb to compel the surrender of Japan was never even an issue. There was a unanimous, automatic, unquestionable agreement around our table..." The world wanted a fast end to the war, and it got it with the use of atomic bomb.