The decision to use the atomic weapon and the justification to use that weapon is a subject that has been debated for the past70 years. President Harry S. Truman felt that the atomic bomb had to be used enemy targets. He said “Having found the bomb we have used it. We have used it against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and exacted American prisoners of war, against those who have abandoned all pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of you of Americans” The debate has grown over whether the atomic bombings were necessary to save lives and win the war, and he argued to drop it after the choice whether or not to use the atomic bomb.
Natalie Schwartz Intercultural Communication COM 213- Jean DeNiro Historical Perspective Paper Fall 2011 Pace University November 29th, 2011 On August 6th, 1945 the United States used nuclear weapons to bomb the Japanese city of Nagasaki. Just three days later, on August 9th, 1945 they bombed Hiroshima. This was the first and only time nuclear weapons have been utilized during war. Most Americans supported President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan because it was for the purpose of saving lives and ending the war in order to prevent a land invasion. Americans were also horrified at the event of Pearl Harbor, a naval base on the southern coast of Hawaii, was attacked by Japanese planes, causing the United States to
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.
Content from a variety of documents, stories from those who witnessed the event, and writings from Truman's speeches and diary will help reveal if his decision to drop the atomic bombs was justified or not. America was justified in its decision to drop the bomb as if they would of invaded they would of suffered major casualties. The USA military expected 50-80% of its soldiers were to be killed in operation dynamo (the invasion of the Japanese’s home lands) and for it to of lasted to 1948 at the most. This source is valuable because it gives a factual view of what factors of the factors united states had to consider in its decision to drop the atomic bomb but the limitations of this source could be that it does not provide attitudes and feeling of the military towards the atomic bomb. .One of the reason the casualties rate was expected to be so high was that Japan's geography, which made operation dynamo quite obvious to the Japanese also they were able to predict the Allied invasion plans accurately and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugo, accordingly.
In this essay the bombing of Japan by the US will be analysed and justified in my personal opinion. The bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 9th 1945 and August 8th 1945 was completely necessary. The result of the atomic bomb being dropped meant that it ended the devastating Second World War, Japan learnt the error of its ways: they were barbaric and cruel to the allied prisoners they had captured; they did not follow the Geneva Convention. Also it ended many other conflicts with Japan. On August 9, 1945, President Harry Truman decided to drop and atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
John Hersey’s article ‘Hiroshima’, first published in the New Yorker on the 31st of August 1946, was influential in shaping both American and Global sentiment in regards to the deployment of nuclear weapons , startling a previously apathetic populace into confronting the horrors encountered by individuals in Hiroshima. Hersey bases his article around the experiences of six individuals present during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, instead of recounting in totality the effects of the bomb, the focalisation on the individuals gives a distinctly human feel to the composition, a significant factor when referring to how the text directed sentiments, since the American population In particular only had limited exposure to the implications that the dropping of the bomb had, due to stringent censorship on Hiroshima related material and the exposure they did have, for example pictures taken of nuclear weapon testing on the bikini atoll failed to encapsulates the ‘human’ effect of the bomb. This victim’s point of
When they dropped the bomb It is a news article written by Dr. Paul Kengor who is a professor of political science at Grove City College. It was posted at Townhall.com which is a print magazine with a conservative viewpoint, which is primarily dedicated to conservative United States politics. The article is about when the United States attacked Hiroshima, Japan and Nagasaki with atomic bombs, which ended up killing 100.000 to 200.000 people. The article shows how grateful the American’s are that the war ended the way it did instead of setting thousands of soldiers to go to war in Japan and they would fight for so long without getting closer to peace. The bombing was necessary because the Japanese wouldn’t surrender, so the war would have
Japanese General Korechika Anami wouldn’t surrender after the first bombing in Hiroshima but instead called for one last great battle from Japan. Japan’s prime minister also stated that the Japanese needed to ‘kill with silence’ or mokusatsu. It took two bombs to have the Japanese to finally surrender on September 2, 1945, but this was a dramatic lose for the
Their suspicious ties to japan caused the justice department to put them in desolated areas throughout the Unites States. “These were grim forerunners of the assembly centers and concentration camps for the 120, 0000 japanese American evacuees that ere to come later.” (Hongo, 10) the four years that the Japanese americans endured such cruel discrimination, never was talkied about. “Japanese Americans were busy trying to forget it ever happened and were having a hard enough time building their new lives after “camp”.” (Hongo, 13) While Hongo attended junior high school, he noticed the difficulties amongst his classmates of talking about the relocation of the Japanese Americans. The children were commanded to stay silenced. “It was out of this sense of shame and fear of stigma was only beginning to understand that the nisei had silence themselves.” (Hongo, 16) Kubato didn’t insist on keeping it quiet tho.
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.