The third area of research Hasegawa has conducted is an international history involving the Soviet Union, the United States, and Japan in ending the Pacific War. As the United States dropped its atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, 1.6 million Soviet troops launched a surprise attack on the Japanese forces that occupied Eastern Asia. Hasegawa published a book, "Racing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan" (2005). Challenging the widely-accepted orthodox view that the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the most decisive factor in Japan's decision to surrender and end the Pacific, Hasegawa puts forward the view that the Soviet entry into the war, by breaking of the Neutrality Pact, played a more important role than the atomic bombs in Japan's decision to surrender. That view is in contrast to earlier critics of the bombing, such as Gar Alperovitz, who argued that US President Harry S. Truman's underlying objective was showcasing the might of the US military as a deterrent to the ambitions of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. According to the Australian historian Geoffrey Jukes, "[Hasegawa] demonstrates conclusively that it was the Soviet declaration of war, not the atomic bombs, that forced the Japanese to surrender unconditionally." His view has received criticism. The most balanced and spirited discussion of this book is given in an H-Diplo roundtable discussion with Gar Alperovitz, Michael Gordin, David Holloway, Richard Frank, and Baron Bernstein. James Maddox, Professor of History Emeritus at The Pennsylvania State University, and author of "Weapons for Victory: The Hiroshima Decision Fifty Years Later", was one of the most trenchant critics of the book.