Dropping the Atomic Bomb: Was It Necessary?

Imagine that you are living during World War II. The Japanese are making this war longer and more deadly by the minute. If they don’t surrender, you have the risk of being taken from your wife and kids to a far away country to fight a war you just want to be over. Who knows if you’ll come back or ever see them again. This is the reality for many people during World War II. The war should have ended sooner, but the Japanese refused to surrender, it was considered dishonorable. At this point, there was only one way to end the war. Although it was horrible, it accomplished what was necessary to end things. The only way was to drop the atomic bomb. The United States should have dropped the bomb because it would have saved more people’s lives,

Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was wrong. The United States needed a way to end the war, but killing innocent civilians is not morally right. When we dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, ninety-five percent of the people who died were civilians (Kauffman, Jill). President Truman said the bomb targeted military cities, but that does not make up for the fact that he was wrong (Ragone). Admiral William Leahy, Truman’s Chief, said it perfectly when he said “…wars cannot be won by destroying women and children” (Kauffman, Jill). Bringing President Harrison Truman to power was one of the biggest issues. Truman was only Vice President for three months before being called to duty (Ragone). When asked about his job as Vice President he said “I don’t

As World War II was coming to an end during 1945, the creation of one of the most destructive weapons known to humanity occurred within the United States. This weapon, known as “the atomic bomb,” was used on the two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in a death toll unprecedented by any military weapon used before and an immediate, unconditional surrender. Some historians believe President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb in order to intimidate the Soviet Union whereas others believe it was a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. In the Report of a Scientific Panel of nuclear physicists, some scientific colleagues believed the atomic bomb was a “purely technical

President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the direct cause for the end of World War II in the Pacific. The United States felt it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on these two cities or it would suffer more casualties. Not only could the lives of many soldiers have been taken, but possibly the lives of many innocent Americans. The United States will always try to avoid the loss of American civilians at all costs, even if that means taking lives of another countries innocent civilians.

During 1941 through 1945 a war had occurred in the Pacific between the Americans and the Japanese this war was called The Pacific Theater. This war was also being fought during the duration of another World War against Germany and Japan but on May 8, 1945 Germany surrendered to the allied powers leaving Japan to still be dealt with. However Japan would not surrender even after the major battles between the Americans and Japanese in Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Americans then came to conclusion to try and get to a new military weapon which then started the ManHattan Project. The Manhattan Project established a new powerful military weapon known as the Atomic Bomb. This new entirely militarized weapon was designed to force Japan into surrendering because Japan was still willing to fight even though they were on a brink of defeat and they were

The pressing question still lingers: Was the United States justified in using the Atomic Bomb against Japan during WWII? World War II stands as the bloodiest and deadliest war of all time. It involved more than thirty countries and resulted in over fifty million civilian and military deaths. It lasted six years, beginning with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. As the Allied Powers (mainly the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) were in direct conflict with each other, many wonder if the cost of victory was too extreme. In late 1941, the process of creating the world’s first, most deadly weapon began. The production of the first atomic bomb was code named “the Manhattan Project.” After months of production, August 6, 1945, America dropped the “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima, wiping out ninety percent of the city. August 9, 1945, just three days after the devastation of the first bomb, America dropped the “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki. Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was not necessary, nor justified in ending World War II. Due to the fact that America targeted heavily civilian populated cities (with limited military value), that Japan was in a position of surrender before the bomb was dropped, and the fact that the U.S. did not give enough time for Japan to process the devastation of the first bomb before the second in Nagasaki shows that America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was entirely unjustified.

On May 1945, a long-awaited V-E Day finally came and brought an end to the war in Europe. But, the war in the Pacific was still continuing against Japan since they are being reluctant to surrender despite the continuous indiscriminate bombardments The United States began to consider about using the atomic bombs as the only way to end the war immediately. On the other hand, many argued that Japan’s staggering losses were enough to force Japan’s surrender. In the end, President Harry S. Truman didn’t hesitate to use this nuclear weapon and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with only three days interval between the two bombing. As a result, Japan has surrendered, but if I were to make a decision, I haven’t used atomic bombs because it was unnecessary since Japan has virtually lost already.

By dropping the atomic bomb, America demonstrated the power they had. America’s “Secret Weapon” displayed our technological and scientific superiority to the world. This helped deter the Soviet Union and others from further expansion. For example Dwight D. Eisenhower states, “We ought not to need to put ourselves in the position of requesting or begging for Soviet aid” (Document C). America proved once again to be a group of individuals who could rise above all adversities.

The Atomic Bomb or known Atom Bomb was created by a scientist, which assembled the first bomb. He and General Leslie Graves officially and successfully tested it in New Mexico, July 21, 1945. Despite this, two refugees from Italy and Germany in the early 1940’s, Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard were the first to ever produce a controlled chain reaction. The bomb was created to use during WW2 and end it. This was big for America as president Franklin was notified that Germany was working on a similar weapon to use on America and its Allies. This bomb was needed to win the war and it took approximately 160,000 lives as a result while also having many affects on the people then, the people today, and the environment (Henretta, Edwards, & Self, 2012). The US was the first and only country to this day to drop an atomic bomb on another country, not once, but twice. This did end the war; however, the results were quite devastating to Japan. The environment and lives lost were all greatly impacted however, the world as a whole would be impacted for years to come. It also had its political reasoning behind it to show the global power of America. The devastation caused by the bombs also created deterrence from using them in the future at the time. Furthermore, now as other countries have improved technological

Dropping the bomb could kill up to 1 million soldiers. Was it worth it? Dropping the bomb, only over 100,000 people were killed. That’s saving 900,000 lives. I do believe that dropping the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary. Here are the reasons why: Japan’s surrender could have ended the war faster, the attacks could have gotten worse as time in the war gained. Japan had already caused great damage to the United States.

Document 1 shows that President Truman knew the extensive damage the atomic bomb would cause and never once doubted the importance of using it. He stated the bomb was a “military weapon” that was essential to ending World War II. Supporters of the decision to drop the atomic bomb also argued that death is an “inevitable” outcome of war. In Document 3, for example, Henry Stimson called war “the face of death,” and states that although a hundred thousand lives were lost, it was the “least abhorrent alternative.” According to Stimson, if World War II didn’t end, the “fire raids” and the “strangling blockade” would have continued, resulting in more deaths than the atomic bomb caused.

The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb was used to end the war 6 months earlier than the war would have ended naturally. If the bomb was never dropped then the United States would have invaded japan and lost up to 1,000,000 soldiers in the battle (source 8). The United States should not have dropped the bomb because it killed more innocent people than it did threats to the country. The bomb had a blast radius of over 2,000 yards. This bomb disintegrated anything that was 1 mile within ground zero which was the drop site of the bomb.

After Roosevelts death, Harry Truman became the 33rd president of the United States, where his Presidency is famous for his war-ending actions against Japan. (Whitehouse, Harry). Truman was put in the position to choose if an atomic bomb should be dropped upon Japan to trigger quick surrender from the Japanese. To this day, people question if dropping the atomic bombs was necessary, and if so, to what extent? (nsarchive, The End of World War II)

The plan to drop an atomic bomb on Japan caused mass speculation over the Japanese shooting down the plane carry the bomb as well as placing American prisoners in the blast radius . It was therefore decided that the weapon must be used in secret without any prior warning to Japan for it to prove most effective and sway them to surrender. With the decision to utilize the Manhattan Project’s research on the Japanese to bring about an end to the Pacific War, the United States was tasked with developing a military strategy to capitalize on the weapon’s destructive capabilities.

The decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the hardest decision for President Truman to make. He had the power right there in his hands to end the war but he would have to unleash the most powerful weapon known to man, at this time. Everyone was very tired of fighting but the Japanese would not give up so Truman decided to drop it. Even though we told Japan that if they did not surrender we would completely demolish some of their cities, they did not listen and they did not surrender. Maybe they did not think about what kind of weapons we would use because