The Japanese were not completely out of fuel obviously.

It is not far-fetched to say that 200,000 or so more Japanese could have easily died had the war continued without the introduction of atomic weapons. Unlike in Juanhu's analogy, the fact that there already was a war is a given. The war in the Pacific was going to end one way or another and more lives would have been lost no matter what anybody does. Having said that, I would tend to agree that Truman could have tried attacking a military base or something of the sort before going after cities.

And the Japanese should be grateful. They should be grateful that the Americans showed them how to organize a mass of humanity, consisting of men with character flaws, into civilized society. It is American political thought based on the British tradition that civilized both Europe and Japan after World War II.