Martin F. Herz argues that poor American diplomacy during the critical post-World War II period is responsible for the Cold War. Herz explains that the United States had not taken the opportunity to meet with the USSR about the division of Europe and what the world would look like after World War II. Instead, he argues, an already ailing Roosevelt gave too much power to the USSR through the Potsdam and Yalta conferences, and after Roosevelt's death, Truman's diplomacy was in stark contrast to what some might call appeasement under FDR. Truman's aggressive anti-communist actions caused the Soviet Union to take more offensive actions 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 signaled 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 essentially “back off” when it came to spreading communism throughout Eastern Europe and Asia. He further explains that the bomb was also used to prevent Soviet aid from being needed and to rebuild Japan with a democratic and capitalist system, acting as an additional ally against