Not bombing them would have been tantamount to neglect of duty. This was a war for the world, us or them, go hard or become enslaved at home.
The Japanese weren't especially close to a working A bomb in reality, the Germans however were close to it and more at the time. We dedicated a great deal of resources to depriving them of the necessary heavy water and other materials they needed for the development, or else they very well could have beat us to the punch. Some people say that Nazi scientists even intentionally dragged ass to keep it away from them. In the end, their united power absolutely had to be cleaned off the table ASAP at all costs.
Anecdotally, there is a strong case that Pearl Harbor was intentionally left to a known impending Japanese attack. In fact most of our wars have had engineered tipping points to manufacture the consent of our population, whom at that time DGAF about things off continent and still to this day are apprehensive about war.
The Japanese weren't especially close to a working A bomb in reality, the Germans however were close to it and more at the time. We dedicated a great deal of resources to depriving them of the necessary heavy water and other materials they needed for the development, or else they very well could have beat us to the punch. Some people say that Nazi scientists even intentionally dragged ass to keep it away from them. In the end, their united power absolutely had to be cleaned off the table ASAP at all costs.
Anecdotally, there is a strong case that Pearl Harbor was intentionally left to a known impending Japanese attack. In fact most of our wars have had engineered tipping points to manufacture the consent of our population, whom at that time DGAF about things off continent and still to this day are apprehensive about war.