After President Roosevelt's death, it fell to Stimson to brief the new President about the atomic weapon. At a White House meeting on 25 April, he outlined the history and status of the program and predicted that "within four months we shall in all probability have completed the most terrible weapon ever known in human history." This meeting, like Stimson's last meeting with Roosevelt, dealt largely with the political and diplomatic consequences of the use of such a weapon rather than with the timing and manner of employment, the circumstances under which it would be used, or whether it would be used at all. The answers to these questions depended on factors not yet known. But Stimson recommended, and the President approved, the
appointment of a special committee to consider them.

What information is necessarily missing from this secondary source?

- What the president and Mr. Stimson discussed when they met to talk about the bomb.
- Mr. Stimon’s recommendations for reaching a decision about using the bomb.
- What Mr. Stimson said “on record” about the power of the atomic bomb that his team was building.
- What the president felt or said privately about the decision to drop an atomic bomb.