Martin F. Herz argues that poor American diplomacy during the critical post-World War II period is to blame for the Cold War. Herz explains that the United States did not take advantage of the opportunity to meet the USSR halfway regarding the division of Europe and the future of the post-World War II world. Instead, he claims, the already struggling Roosevelt gave too much power to the USSR through the Potsdam and Yalta conferences, and after Roosevelt's death, Truman's diplomacy stood in stark contrast to what some might call appeasement under Roosevelt. Truman's aggressive anti-communist actions prompted the Soviet Union to take more offensive measures against the West in order to protect itself and its interests (Herz, 204). In an interview with Paul Jay, revisionist Gar Alperovitz supports the idea that the United States was responsible for the Cold War, but for a different reason. He argues that the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki days before the USSR began sending troops to Japan demonstrated American animosity toward the Soviets. Alperovitz goes on to argue that in reality the bomb was used as a tool to impose political pressure on the Soviets; in the hope that the USSR would “step back” when it came to spreading communism in Eastern Europe and Asia. He also explains that the bomb was also used so that Soviet aid would not be needed and for Japan to be rebuilt with a democratic capitalist system, thus serving as an additional ally against