The historians who support Truman, sometimes called the traditionalists, agree that Japan had been defeated but argue that Japan was not ready to surrender and was, in fact, preparing for one last great battle that would have cost millions of lives. Popular opinion tends to side with the revisionists, but I will argue that Truman made the right decision, not only for the United States but also for Japan; in fact, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved Japan. Revisionists argue that the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima after Japan’s armed forces and over sixty of its major cities had been already been destroyed. Moreover, historians such as Howard Zinn argue that Truman knew that the Japanese were trying to surrender but that he ignored them because he wanted to use the Bomb (23). Gar Alperovitz, another revisionist, says that Truman’s main purpose in dropping the bombs was to demonstrate its power in order to intimidate the Russians (127).
World War II was a disastrous, worldwide conflict that affected all the corners of the earth. Even after VE day in Europe, the war continued for more than 3 months, until VJ day in mid-August of 1945. This war in Japan ended a short time after the atomic bombing of two cities in Japan. However, the decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post Second World War era, rather than a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. The US at the time of the bombing of Hiroshima was led by Harry S. Truman, who had been pushed into the position of leadership by the death of Roosevelt.
Even after the surrender of Nazi Germany on May 8th, the war against Japan continued. The United States threatened to destroy Japan in the Potsdam declaration, but this threat was ignored by the Japanese. This prompted the use of the atom bomb. The first atom bomb was dropped on Heroshima on August 6. Three days later, another atom bomb was dropped on Nagasaki.
The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed millions of people, left families with nothing, and leveled cities. The war would have gone on for a couple more years if we had not dropped the bombs and sent troops to Japan instead. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. This is one of the pros for the atomic bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of the pros for dropping the atom bombs is that the Japanese would have not surrendered.
In fact, the debates behind using the atomic bombs against Japan began even before the decision was made. Many of the scientists such as Leo Szilard and Dr. James Franck, who made great contributions towards the creation of the bomb, campaigned against its use. President Truman said “We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Amercicans”. It is completely understandable that President Truman’s aim was always to save the lives as many American people, but was it necessary to do it by dropping the atomic bombs on Japan? And was the reason behind the decision to drop the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki purely to ‘save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans’?
The decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had many influential factors effecting the decision. There certainly was the possibility of success for an invasion, but the decision not to invade far outweighed the decision to invade. Conventional bombing and Blockade were considered in the effort to force Japan into surrender. But, the fact that the Japanese military were controlling the Government and were in a state of mind of absolute refusal to surrender, meant that this was not a reasonable option. Political factors were greatly influential of Truman’s final decision to drop the bomb and the threat of Russian military who were soon to advance in the region had its impact.
“Ending the War Against Japan: Science, Morality and the Atomic Bomb” Summary The author of this essay gives three different options to end World War II. Option one states that the United States should make peace with japan. The United States knows that japan is very close to surrendering but has not surrendered because they are afraid that we will put their emperor on trail as a war criminal. The Japanese feel that the emperor is a descendent from the gods and they will do everything to protect him. If the United States is clear that they do not want to make him a criminal but instead a national symbol then maybe the Japanese might agree and surrender.
In World War II, the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, one in Hiroshima and the other in Nagasaki. The bombs caused insurmountable damage and together killed over 100,000 Japanese citizens. Although at times the decision has been questioned; it was necessary for President Harry Truman to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in order to end the war. On July 26, 1945, at the Postdam Conference in Germany, the three main allied powers (Britain, America and Russia) met and issued Japan an ultimatum. Japan was left with two choices; surrender unconditionally or “face prompt and utter destruction” (Wheeler 58).
Global Essay The main focus of the United States when it dropped the atomic bombs on Japan was to force Japans unconditional surrender in order to save American lives. Many documents in government history support that this was the main focus. In 1947 Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson had in his memoirs that he believed that the Japanese would fight to the death and very end. This meant putting more American lives at risk in the war. Although the U.S. would’ve defeated Japan in the war eventually, the bombs made it so that they would surrender quicker so lives would be saved.
The term "defeated more" refers to the factor which had the greatest impact on Japan, causing them to be drove to a state of devastation and have no other way than surrender unconditionally. The Japanese in WWII were defeated more because of the strengths of the allied powers rather than their weaknesses. One of the factors which lead to Japan's defeat was the strengths of the allied forces. The United States Army Air Forces made use of two atomic bombs on two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima at 0815 on 6 August 1945.