To what extent was Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified? A. Plan of Investigation Research Question: To what extent was Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified? This investigation assesses President Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It will determine whether or not his decision was justified. This investigation will scrutinize the reasons that made Harry Truman feel inclined to drop atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Preventing further casualties along with the desire to end the war are two argumentative points that will be analyzed to determine if they were strong enough to justify the dropping …show more content…
Thus the value to this source is very high, as the illustration of Harry Truman’s mindset is not altered by an opinion, yet based on factual evidence. One limitation this source retains is that Walker really only mentions the reasons why the bombing should happen, not why the atomic bombing should have not actually taken place, eliminating a whole other side of the story. D. Analysis As the war continued and violence escalated, bombings caused enormous destruction and high death tolls, leading inevitably to the use of the atomic bombs. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki represented a culmination in the destructiveness of bombings, not a significant deviation from previous bombing practices. The alternatives to the use of the atomic bomb were likely to have caused equal suffering for the Japanese people. The use of the atomic bomb was no less moral than these horrific wartime practices. Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan was justified by Japan’s refusal to immediately surrender. Harry Truman gave the Japanese time to surrender in order to preserve the existence of their people. They did not comply and as a result endured the consequences. (Walker) Yet an alternate perspective states that it was quite unnecessary to drop the Atomic Bombs in that Japan was practically an already defeated opponent. If a conditional surrender were to be issued by the United States to Japan in
Overall, 44% of people were killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Document C). This shows that Truman made the wrong decision by nuking Japan. Because 44% of innocent Japanese children and adults died from the atomic bomb that killed almost half the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the economy was ruined so people couldn’t work and get the supplies they needed. Secondly, President Truman was wrong to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki because it was illegal to bomb a civilian area. So, “The intentional bombing of civilian populations is illegal” (Document B).
Claire Wyma President Truman was not justified in his decision to use Atomic weapons against Japan because the U.S. now has a threatening appeal, it goes against morals and humanity, and the bomb resulted in a tragic number of casualties. First, President Truman’s use of the Atomic bomb was unjustified because the U.S. now has a threatening appeal to other countries. In Admiral William E. Leahy’s memoirs, “I Was There,” he states, “In being the first to use it [the Atomic bomb], we. . . adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages” (Doc 3). The idea of whether or not the Atomic bomb should be dropped has been debated for years.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped the Atomic Bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima. On August 9, 1945, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. The first bomb was dropped to scare the Japanese into surrendering when it didn’t work the second bomb was dropped causing destruction and the surrender of Japan. In a time of need and anguish, Harry S Truman made the courageous decision to drop the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The big question is whether America was justified in dropping the bombs and it was because it would help stop the war, save American lives, and avenge those who were sadly murdered or hurt in the process.
On August 5th, 1945 the Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber flew over the Japanese city of Hiroshima and released the most destructive weapon known to mankind. Mere moments later the city was engulfed in a fireball that rose up into the sky. Thousands perished instantly and many more would die from severe exposure to radiation. Two days later a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki increasing the death toll to 120,000. The decision to drop nuclear weapons on Japan was made by the United States president Harry S. Truman. The decision to use these weapons has sparked controversy over whether or not a justification exists for extinguishing the lives of innocent civilians. For President Truman the decision
The discussion on what motives affected Harry S. Truman’s decision to launch atomic weapons against Imperial Japan remains undecided. The debate on whether domestic, diplomatic, military, or moral factors affected him most substantially seems to be clearly established in the writings of Robert James Maddox. Although many aspects go into making important decisions, the one that appeared to persuade Truman the most was strictly military influence.
Many debates have been provoked based on President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The debate is not solely based on the bomb being dropped, but more on the actual necessity and intention of the bomb being dropped.
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.
Were the Americans justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945?
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was an extremely controversial military strategy in the United States. Was the United States justified in the dropping of the atomic bomb? The U.S. feared the rise of communism and gave aid to any country against it. The U.S. also fought countries threatening the spread communism. One of these countries was Japan. We began a harsh and brutal war against Japan and against communism. This war was killing many soldiers and Japan was not backing down. President Truman decided to use the atomic bomb when things were getting worse. The decision to use the atomic bomb was a difficult one and many people wonder if it was the right
On 6 August 1945, a B-29 Superfortress flew over the islands of Japan and unleashed the devastating power of the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Was the United States justified in dropping the bomb? This depends largely on your point of view. I believe that the U.S. was justified in dropping the nuclear bombs for three main reasons. The first was the unprovoked viscous attack on Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor which had taken place three and a half years before Hiroshima was bombed had taken the lives of countless innocent soldiers with innocent civilians, including women, and children also perishing. The United States had not been involved in the war as
The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are generally seen as successes in Truman’s presidency, although there are a large number of people who see it as a failure as well as a horrendous crime against humanity. However, by making the decision to
Truman had a good reason to drop the bomb to completely end the war by just bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bad outweighs the good he just wanted it to end, he was pushed to the edge to where he did drop that horrible bomb. Now saying this doesn't make it right but putting myself in his shoes i wouldn't know what to do either. ”As historian David McCullough has been known to say, “people living ‘back then’ didn’t know they were living ‘back then’,” and to judge the decisions of people in 1945 by the standards of 2015 is not only ahistorical, it is pointless. Truman and his advisers made the only decision they could have made; indeed, considered in the context of World War II, it wasn’t really much of a decision at
American forces dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and the second on Nagasaki three days later. I believe Truman was justified in this decision, as it aided in the surrender of Japanese forces with the lowest cost to human lives thus ending World War II.
The necessity of the atomic bombs have long been debated in America. Although they did contribute to stopping the war, Americans still wonder if murdering Japanese civilians was a necessary means to an end, or if it could have been avoided. Some people believe that the war would have ended without using the bombs. Others believe they were the sole purpose that the war finally ended. Many people were involved with bringing the bombs to fruition, such as the scientists, the government and military leaders, and the very teams that flew them to their targets. Then the President addressed the situation and American citizens spoke their minds. All of these people had their own thoughts on whether the bombs were needed. In this essay, the opinions on the atomic bomb’s necessity will be reviewed by presenting both the pros and cons from a variety of sources.
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