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    'He felt he had to do it': Truman's grandson on bombing Hiroshima

    Seventy-five years after the US president’s decision opened the nuclear age, Clifton Daniel is still grappling with his legacy
    by David Smith in Washington Aug 04, 2020 6 minutes
    Harry Truman. ‘He was remarkable in a lot of ways and, at the same time, unremarkable. He had faith in humanity and he retained that the rest of his life despite this decision and others.’ Photograph: Fotosearch/Getty Images

    To many Americans, he was the commander-in-chief who had the mettle to end the second world war quickly and save countless lives. To many in Japan and elsewhere, he was the perpetrator of a war crime that pushed the world into a perilous new age. And to Clifton Truman Daniel, Harry Truman was just grandpa.

    “He expected decent behavior out of his grandchildren but there are pictures of me climbing on him when I was small and he’s laughing,” says Daniel, grandson of the 33rd US president.

    “He was remarkable in a lot of ways and, at the same time, unremarkable. He was a small-town, midwestern, farm-raised, solidly middle-class American with boundless curiosity about the world. He had faith in humanity and he retained that the rest of his life despite this decision and others,” Daniel said.

    Clifton Truman Daniel claps during a meeting with students at Hiroshima Jyogakuin women’s junior and senior high school in Hiroshima in 2012. Daniel was invited by a Japanese peace group and attended a memorial event.
    Clifton Truman Daniel claps during a meeting with students at a school in Hiroshima in 2012. Daniel was invited by a Japanese peace group and attended a memorial event. Photograph: Itsuo Inouye/AP

    Forty-four men have held the American

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