Ralph Austin Bard Ralph Austin Bard ( July 29 , 1884 – April 5 , 1975 ) was a Chicago financier who served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy , 1941 – 1944 , and as Under Secretary , 1944 – 1945 . He is noted for a memorandum he wrote to Secretary of War Henry L . Stimson in 1945 urging that Japan be given a warning before the use of the atomic bomb on a Japanese city . He was " the only person known to have formally dissented from the use of the atomic bomb without advance warning . " Early life and business career . Born in Cleveland , Ohio , Bard went to Princeton University , where he lettered in baseball , basketball and football . After graduating in 1906 , he embarked on a career as an investment banker in Chicago , eventually becoming head of his own firm . He married Mary Hancock Spear in 1909 . They had four children . Bard was active in civic organizations in the Chicago area , including Boy Scouts of America and the American Red Cross . He was also a trustee of Northwestern University . Service at the Navy Department . Although he was an active Republican , Bard was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Franklin D . Roosevelt , a Democrat who had once held the same post . As Assistant Secretary , Bard was responsible for all matters relating to civilian personnel and the general administration of the Navy Department . Divisions under his control included Shore Establishments , Transportation , Supervision and Management , the Administrative Office , and the Management Engineer ' s Office . He instituted a sweeping industrial relations program , covering such areas as training , classification , safety , labor relations , recruiting , and efficient use of manpower , and established a Personnel Relations Division in every major naval activity . As a result of his efforts , there was no strike or work stoppage at any Navy activity during World War II . Bard was also a member of the War Manpower Commission , established by President Roosevelt to balance the wartime labor needs of the civilian and military sectors of the U . S . economy . Upon becoming Under Secretary on June 24 , 1944 , Bard added responsibility for all Navy uniformed personnel to his other duties . Bard also served as acting Secretary of the Navy from April 28 , 1944 to May 19 , 1944 , following the death of Secretary Frank Knox . Bard and integration of the Navy . When Bard became Assistant Secretary , Navy policy was to prohibit African Americans from enlisting for " general duty " ( combat ) roles , restricting them to service as " messmen . " Although Bard ' s duties as Assistant Secretary did not extend to uniformed personnel , his office often dealt with racial discrimination and its consequences . As a member of a committee appointed to investigate the Navy ' s racial policies , Bard ' s special assistant Addison Walker argued for allowing enlistment of a small number of African Americans for general duty on an experimental basis ; and Bard himself promised Mark Abridge , who chaired President Roosevelt ' s Fair Employment Practices Committee , that enlistment of African Americans would be given consideration . Under pressure from President Roosevelt , the Navy announced in 1942 a new policy of accepting African American volunteers ( but not draftees ) for general duty positions in segregated units , a practice that continued until 1948 when President Truman issued Executive Order 9981 racially integrating the United States Armed Services . In 1944 , the Navy began the training of African Americans as commissioned officers . Bard ' s memorandum to Stimson . In 1945 , Bard became one of eight members of the Interim Committee appointed to advise President Harry S . Truman on the use of the atomic bomb . Although Bard joined in the committee ' s unanimous recommendation that the bomb should be used as soon as possible and without warning against a civilian target in Japan , he developed second thoughts . In a memorandum dated June 27 , 1945 , to Secretary of War Henry L . Stimson , Bard argued that Japan should receive two or three days ' " preliminary warning " before the bomb was used . " The position of the United States as a great humanitarian nation and the fair play attitude of our people generally is responsible in the main for this feeling , " Bard wrote , adding that he felt " that the Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity which they could use as a medium of surrender . " The memorandum also suggested that Japan be informed of " Russia ' s position , " i . e . , the likely entry of the Soviet Union into the war , and that " assurances " be given " with regard to the Emperor of Japan and the treatment of the Japanese nation following unconditional surrender . " On August 6 , 1945 , an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima without the warning that Bard recommended . On August 8 , the Soviet Union declared war on Japan . On August 9 , a second bomb was used on the city of Nagasaki . On August 14 , Japan surrendered . Bard submitted his resignation as Under Secretary at about the time the Interim Committee made its recommendation to Truman on the use of the bomb . He left his post a month later . There is no evidence that he resigned in disagreement with the recommendation or because his own recommendations to Stimson were not followed . Later life . In his later years , Bard made his residence in Lake Forest , Illinois . He was honorary chair of the committee that brought the captured German submarine U - 505 to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago . He received the Navy ' s Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 1954 , and he died in a nursing home in Deerfield , Illinois on April 5 , 1975 , at age 91 . Bard papers . Bard ' s papers ( 1941 – 1944 ) are housed at the Naval Historical Center in Washington , DC .