In August of 1945 nuclear weapons were released upon the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Soon after Japan surrended, consequently ending WWII. But was dropping the bomb justified, or an immoral act? After the attack of Pearl Harbour in December of 1941 American military started work on the Manhattan project in secret. During the time of the development of the bomb president Roosevelt died, President Truman succeeded him and continued work on the atomic bomb.
BoAtomic Bomb “The atomic bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” As President Truman said himself, the dropping of two atomic bombs in Japan wasn’t an amazing decision, but it was the only one to stop all fighting. Dropping these atomic bombs were the only choice Truman had to officially end the war, get the Japanese to surrender, and to save American lives. We did what we thought was the only right thing to do at the time. The ending of World War II was the prime goal to be achieved with dropping these bombs on Japan. The Japanese still help munitions factories and military command centers in Hiroshima when we were creating the new powerful atomic bomb.
Tyler Ayala-Turner US History AP March 11, 2015 Atomic Bomb Essay Question: “The United States made the best choice possible in using the atomic bomb against Japan. Agree or disagree and support your argument with evidence from the packet and relevant outside information.” While the U.S. evaluated alternatives to end the war with Japan, Truman ultimately made the best possible decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order to avoid more unnecessary casualties of American troops. One reason for dropping the bombs was the fact that Truman’s options were very limited at this point in the war. In the end, the decision to drop the bombs did, however, create the desired outcome of Japan’s immediate surrender. (pg.
A strategy was already devised to defeat Japan "without reliance upon the atomic bomb, which had not yet been tested in New Mexico." (Document A) From a report of a Scientific Panel, a moderate consensus was stated that "the opportunity of saving American lives by immediate military use, and believe that such use will improve the international prospects, in that they are more concerned with the prevention of war than with the elimination of this special weapon," helped bring support for the cause to use the bomb to end the war quickly. (Document G) But the United States seemed not to be concerned so much with the defeat of the Japanese which as General H. H. Arnold, Commander of the American Army Air Force stated: "atomic bomb or no atomic bomb, the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse," (Document B), but instead with Soviet involvement in the war. The United States and Britain felt threatened by Russia. They knew that Russia was bitter from their loss of territory and dignity after Japan defeated them in 1904.
The act of saving lives in the pretext of killing more does not fit into any logic Truman could have done without the atomic bombing , as Japan had already become weak and it was understood of the fact that America had gained control over the airspace and water space of Japan . The country was already on its knees and it was negotiating its surrender to keep its imperial rule . The defense chief and advisors were against the atomic bombing of Japan as they had an idea of Japan already being weak by then . Also after Pearl Harbor , America made no concession of bombing Japanese cities , which had caused lots of destruction . The point that arises is , when it was known that Japan had already succumbed and an official announcement was on the cards anyhow , then why destruction of such nature was unleashed .
This came to be known as the Potsdam Declaration in dismantling the Japanese Empire. The declaration explained its purpose in punishing war criminals, establishing a democratic order but failed to mention what would happen to the imperial institution and because of this the Japanese rejected the declaration on July 28, 1945. With the denial of the Potsdam Declaration by the Japanese President Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bombs to bring an abrupt end to war and to save the lives of both Allied and Japanese by avoiding a home island invasion. Without the dropping of the atomic bomb the only alternative would be an invasion and would cost over a million casualties of US troops alone. The first bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945 over the city of Hiroshima and roughly killing 80-90,000 Japanese civilians and afterwards there was no response from the Japanese Emperor.
On August 9, 1945, President Harry Truman decided to drop and atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. A few days later, this resulted in Japan surrendering and World War II ending. So, the United States dropping the atomic bomb resulted in efficiently ending the war and saving more lives. If we didn’t drop those bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a full-scale invasion would’ve been necessary and in result, more lives would’ve been lost as the Japanese never surrender. Another thing that I believe is if that if America didn't drop the bomb on Japan, they could have, The Americans would have lost many more troops; they could have been weakened in the sense of that their military could have been reduced drastically.
When a city gets vaporized and a decision to surrender can’t be made within three days, I would assume that surrender isn’t coming and drop another bomb. I know it sounds like I have little regard for life, but you have to think differently when you fight an enemy that isn’t afraid to die. If you take away the honor of dying in battle, then that may make death slightly less desirable. Finally, I think that the usage of the atomic bombs against Japan
It was completely obvious after the attack on Pearl Harbor that most of our country now strongly stood behind the war efforts of World War II. However, this was not that case in World War I where we had to be persuaded to participate. The United States entered a “warfare state”and the entire country revolved around war and wanted their revenge on the Axis Powers. Of course entering of the war had created a more internally involved America but the events that took place on August 6 and August 9, 1945 lead to the United States making history. The highly anticipated droppings of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced the entire nation of Japan to surrender, which historically had been unwilling to give up.
“Did the United States have to drop the Atomic Bomb? Some have argued that Japan was so close to surrender that the use of atomic bombs was not necessary. Others have stated that the Japanese were controlled by an irrational and misguided military and the use of these devastating weapons was justified.” According to the research I have conducted, in my personal opinion I think the atomic bomb had to be dropped. There are a number of reasons why I agree with this decision that was made by former President Truman. First and foremost, it was said, “A continuation of the war would bring death to tens, perhaps even hundreds, of thousands of persons.