You must do what you need to do. The United States was justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan. What would our country be if we would have held back and not used the technology we had developed? No one knows, because the United States dropped the atomic bombs, which accomplished the ultimate goal in war; victory. Work Cited: Hersey, John.
Isabella Esposito Doctor Young H6SX 4/16/12 The Atomic Bomb: A True Necessity In 1945, President Truman decided to use the atomic bomb against Japan in an attempt to end World War II. It brought an almost immediate end to the war and hypothetically saved thousands of lives. Without the atomic bombs, the Japanese leaders might have dragged the war out, refusing to surrender. Moreover, the bombings could be seen as falling in line with the concept of “total war.” The decision by the United States to drop atomic bombs on Japan was justifiable based on three factors: the desire to save American and Japanese lives, to end World War II quickly, and to demonstrate the power of the US military. Harry Truman,
Dropping the Atomic Bomb By Raymond Wisniewski The United States decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a decision to end the war the war faster. The bombs were against the Japan by the United States. The decision by President Harry Truman was the biggest decision the United States had ever made. Before Truman, Franklin Roosevelt has let a team of the Army Corps the task of creating the bomb. The project was headed by Major Leslie R. It became known as “The Manhattan Project”.
If Truman hadn’t used the bomb the general public would’ve questioned why he wasted so much money and so many American lives by not using the only weapon that could end the war quickly. This would also effect his impression of him to the Americans. Truman could have been convinced that the atomic bomb would not have much of an after effect according to a letter to the President from the US Government War Department: “The bomb has no after effects that we know about, although we are not sure with such a new type of weapon.” This shows that the president did not know there would be such a significant after effect. This reason might have also helped with the decision because Truman did not think that there was going to be an after effect that would affect the future generations of Japan. The bomb dropped on Hiroshima was clearly for trying to stop the war, but according to a booklet published by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in 1985 the bomb that was dropped on Nagasaki was just an experiment to try out the second type of atomic bomb the scientists had
The first Japanese port to be opened to foreign trade in the 16th century, Nagasaki was devastated by the second atomic bomb used in World War II (August 9, 1945). Population: 452,000. 2.Define: Island- Hopping: Island hopping is a term that refers to the means of crossing an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly across the ocean to the destination. Kamikaze: Japanese pilot who undertook a suicide mission. Manhattan project: A United States project lasting from August 1942 to August 1946, which developed the atomic energy program, with special reference to the atomic bomb.
After multiple ideas along with deep thought, Truman along with the chiefs decided the most efficient, least costly and less bloody approach would to be dropping the atomic bombs on the Japanese home land. The essay states “evidence points to the conclusion that he acted for the reason he said he did: to end a bloody war that would have become even bloodier had invasion proved necessary” pg 175 Readings in United States History. The writer’s purpose of this essay is to educate the readers about the difficulty of this decision. I believe the writer did a fine job explaining the whole process. The Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombing are two greatly important milestones in the United States history, and the essay “The Biggest Decision: Why We Had to Drop the Bomb,” by Robert James Maddox is a perfect essay to be read over and discussed in a class like this.
Japan had made clear overtures to peace, but cultural differences made this nearly impossible (the shame of unconditional surrender goes against their code of honour). The determination to use an expensive bomb instead of letting it rust away; the desire to find out how devastating it was and the opportunity to use the bomb as a strong showcase of US supremacy, made Japan the ideal target. Obviously, the USSR would eventually succeed in creating the a-bomb. Therefore, making Hiroshima & Nagasaki the example of the tremendous power of the bombs would make it clear to the USSR that they too needed such weapons to defend themselves. Moreover, other countries claimed the right of nuclear weapons to defend their citizens.
The bombing of Hiroshima, and later, Nagasaki were not justifiable military acts but war crimes. One of the major arguments about the bombing of Hiroshima had been whether the Japanese would have surrendered without the atomic bomb or not. President Truman said the atomic bomb was necessary to make Japan surrender quickly and prevent both more American and Japanese casualties. Others believed that there was no need for the use of the atomic bomb. The United States Strategic Bombing Survey issued in July 1946 declared “Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese leaders involved, it is the Survey's opinion that certainly prior to 31 December 1945 and in all probability prior
The ones who believe this, do not comprehend the many different factors in war and how the route that was chosen was best for both parties that were directly affiliated with the bombings. The cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have been fire bombed if the atomic bombs were not dropped, causing similar damage and death counts to the atomic bombs. According to Kyoko Iriye Selden, "The most influential text is Truman's 1955 Memoirs, which states that the atomic bomb probably saved half a million US lives— anticipated casualties in an Allied invasion of Japan planned for November. Stimson subsequently talked of saving one million US casualties, and Churchill of saving one million American and half that number of British lives"(1). With this amount of casualties projected, a land invasion would have trumped the death toll of D-Day.
Secondly the Bomb alone would cost 2 Billions USD to Construct, which was coming out of the peoples money and not the governments. Another reason is the Americans thought that the Japanese deserved the Bomb because the had been very cruel to prisoners of war, but the Japanese did not take as many lives as the two atomic bombs put together which I think was a disgrace. The reasons which I believe that were against the Americans was that if America had this huge bomb then other countries would obviously want it too, and maybe it may be used against America in the future, secondly the bombs the Americans dropped killed 220,000 people combined, and which half of them were innocent civilians. I believe that Americans were wrong to drop such a huge bomb on the Japanese even though there are many things I do agree with , the Americans believed the atom bomb was no ’great decision’ and it was just another powerful weapon and that it stopped the war and saved millions of lives which was