why is he between the 5th and 9th best all-time president in most rankings?

I go back and forth on this guy

His middle name is actually just the letter 'S'. It isn't short for anything so that period in the thread title is unnecessary.
I'm surprised at his high ranking. He always struck me as a bit of a boring character. Plus, he dropped the bomb so forget him.

Because of my ability to judge the past based on evidence that was unavailable at the time, I have determined him to be a War Criminal.

agreed.

though i'm not an american, so i guess my vote doesn't count.

Are you talking about Dresden or Hiroshima?
Are you aware of Japanese war crimes in Asia leading up to, and continuing in WWII? They slaughtered every bit as many people as the Nazis.
One can understand (perhaps not excuse) Truman's decision.

Pretty sure he was being facetious in reply to people who lazily call him a war criminal.

Yes well you're probably right.
I guess my argument is aimed at the same people, then.

hence, the reason i rarely post on these matters. i was not aware of these japanese war crimes of which you speak.

out of sincere curiosity, how do the japanese war crimes (which were terrible, yes) themselves help us understand the u.s. decision to drop the two atomic bombs?

dresden's another matter.

You've never heard of the rape of Nanking?

sorry, i don't listen to rap.

I'm interested in this too. How does one possible war crime justify another possible war crime?

well, do note MIB didn't say justify (or excuse). he said "understand."

Well, you see, the line of reasoning was this: The Japanese military was a brutal merciless asymmetric killing machine with no regard for human life, they would only understand such a brutal merciless demonstration.

Internal US Army estimates for an invasion of Japan was 250,000 to 1 million American casualties. Japanese casualty estimates ranged up to 10 million.
Perhaps in this case the end justified the means.

There was also, I'm sure, the line of thinking that they deserve it.

It was another time friend, in an age of brutal mass killing and unimagineable terror, decisions made were not for the faint of heart.

1. People forget that we feared the Japanese as much as we hated them. There was no garauntee at the time that if we allowed them to surrender on their own terms (which basically amounted to letting them have the territory they had conquered during the war and allowing the government to stay in place) they wouldn't come back in 20 years even more dangerous (just as Germany had). And we knew (partially, anyway) what they had done to the civilian populations who came under their control. There was no way any responsible President could have risked that.
2. The Japanese government itself had driven home the point day after day that there were no civilians in Japan; everyone would fight the gaijin invaders. We saw reel after reel of propaganda in which women, the elderly, and even children were training the kill as many of us as they could. Of course we know now that this was bullshit, but unfortunately neither Truman nor anyone else had access to a crystal ball. This, combined with their treatment of conquered peoples and the actual events of the invasion of Okinawa, meant that the line between civilian and soldier had been nearly erased.
3. I don't feel like making this post any longer. Someone post the link to the old thread in which me and ceeb argued about this.

i thought truman’s decision went against the advice of MacArthur and Eisenhower, not to mention his own secretaries of state, chief of staff, and the navy? was japan not prepared to make peace on reasonable terms?

Geez how do you know that but nothing about Nanking?

Thankfully Truman didn't listen to McArthur.
McArthur favored an invasion and refused to believe intelligence which had Japanese troop strength on Kyushu greatly increased.
The US, despite a massive invasion force, was facing a one to one attack ratio.
Can you imagine the slaughter?

If Japan was ready to surrender you might ask why they were sending troops in massive numbers to the probable US invasion point.
There were overtures from some inside the civilian government in Japan, however they had little control over the military.