A cargo ship disguised as a cruise ship sunk because the Germans torpedoed it. It carried weapons and the passengers had access to one or more warnings by the Germans concerning sea travel around Great Britain. The British wanted America to join the war to support the Allies. Though this event did not immediately trigger the reaction the British wanted, the Lusitania event, in combination with others, caused the Americans to join the war, allowing the Allies to win. They needed the Americans, and they used an ingenious tactic to cause the Americans to join the war: the death of its own civilians.
An immediate consequence would be anger from people who believe that the atomic bomb was the right thing to do. If the atomic bomb were not dropped, there is a possibility that an event to that nature could have happened on U.S. soil. Long-term consequences could have been a better relationship with the Japanese as well as a clear
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.
Moreover, other countries claimed the right of nuclear weapons to defend their citizens. Consequently, the tragic bombings became the example of an arm’s race instead of peace. Furthermore, since Japan was already on the brink of collapse the bombing was unnecessary, and peace talks would have taken place within a decent time frame (even after the cancelled Hawaii summit). The millions of deaths calculated by Operation Downfall [the codename for the Allied plan for the invasion of Japan near the end of the Second World War, which was abandoned when Japan surrendered following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] actually show that only desperation and honour stood between Japan and unconditional
Dropping a bomb is bad, but at the same time he was the president and he was going to do what he thought was right. The fact that he dropped a bomb on Nagasaki means that he is down to business and he means exactly what he says. After the President bombed Nagasaki, he says: [ii]“ Having found the bomb, we have used it . . .young Americans.” President Truman did these bombings because he was not thinking about himself, but he was thinking about others.
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,
Paul Fussell begins “Thank God for the Atom Bomb” with a quote from an advertisement: “In life, experience is the great teacher” (13). Throughout the paper, he argues that experience is necessary in order to make informed, pragmatic decisions. Accordingly, he uses ad hominem attacks on people who do not have experience with war yet still preferred invading Japan to dropping the atom bomb. He explains that using the atom bomb was necessary because Japan was not going to surrender – Japan’s war minister wanted to “fight to the bitter end, defending the main islands with the same techniques and tenacity employed at Iwo and Okinawa” (Fussell, 22), and after the Emperor did surrender following the atom bombs being dropped, many soldiers committed suicide because of the dishonor (Fussell, 23) – and an invasion could have had 1,000,000 American casualties (Fussell, 15). The ad hominem attacks are not necessary to support his argument that dropping the bomb was the right decision because he refutes opponents’ arguments before resorting to ad hominem, so the ad hominem must have a different purpose altogether.
The only real problem that prevented the Japanese from surrendering was the unconditional surrender the Americans demanded. The Japanese thought the emperor to be descended from the sun god and would protect the emperor at any cost. If President Truman had agreed to leave the emperor alone and taken more time to negotiate Japan’s surrender, they probably would have. Instead, after the testing of the first atomic bomb, it was decided after a few days that Japan would be bombed. Even if Truman had decided to use the bomb, there was no reason to bomb Hiroshima.
Although Kahn adamantly disputed the theories claiming that the U.S. knew of the impending attack because of intelligence, if the theories were true it would support the idea that the U.S. needed an excuse to enter the war without attacking first and so they let the Japanese attack happen without putting up a strong defense. On the other hand, Kahn made the point that “even if Roosevelt had wanted war, he would not have wanted to enter it with his fleet badly weakened” (169). If the U.S. really knew about the incoming attack and wanted to use it as an excuse to enter the war, there would have been some defensive preparations to stop the destruction of the majority of the Pacific Fleet. Adkison 6 In the end, although the attack on Pearl Harbor was devastating, it lit a fire under Americans to join together and fight for victory, not only in the Pacific War, but the war in Europe as well. In Akira Iriye’s Pearl Harbor and the Coming of the Pacific
This was done for protection for the country and not to create harm to the Japanese, unlike the Nazi’s goal to create a pure Arian race. After the ever decreasing association between Japan and the United States, their heartless attack on Pearl Harbor only depleted the relationship even more. The attack on Pearl Harbor was an undignified and startling attack on December 7, 1941. This was the beginning of the second world war, a war that would change the entire modern-world. The Japanese created a surprise attack on the United States using Japanese bombing planes.