What to propel the decision by american leaders to drop the atomic bombs on hiroshima and nagasaki?
a
they needed to use the bomb before political leaders caved to requests by stalin and churchill to use the bombs in the european theater against germany.
b
truman wanted the japanese to pay for the atrocities they had committed in occupied regions like nanking.
c
leaks from the manhattan project to newspapers jeopardized the secrecy of the project.
d
it was widely agreed that a traditional invasion of japan would drag the war on for years and lead to many, many more deaths than the atomic bomb.

The correct answer is - D. It was widely agreed that a traditional invasion of Japan would drag the war on for years and lead to may, may more deaths than the atomic bomb.

The US officials decided to use the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan because of two reasons. The first and more important one was to put an end to the war as quickly and efficiently as possible, minimizing the deaths of their troops as much as possible. The second one was to create an image of a country that reached a level of global military power, in order to boost its global reputation and cause fear at other nations.

Both of those things worked out very fine for the USA. They ended the war with Japan in no time, and they gained a status of a global military powerhouse.

the answer is option a.