Controversy: (n) Disagreement, typically when prolonged, public, and heated. The decision to drop the atomic bomb was one of President Truman’s and America’s hardest decisions. It would put an end to one of the deadliest wars but take the lives of many innocent people in the process. To this day, people wonder if it was worth it. Despite the controversies and barriers for the decision to drop the bomb in early August 1945, America committed to the total annihilation of Japan. One controversy over the dropping of the bomb is the fact that Japan was not given fully-disclosed about information of the Atomic bomb when given the chance to surrender unconditionally. Another pending problem was the thought that the enemy could develop and utilize atomic technology before we did. Finally, the question that made scientists and Truman think was, “Would the bomb end the war or prolong it, and was it worth it?” Therefore, it is clear that Robert Oppenheimer’s speech, “Speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists,” 70 scientist “Petition to the President of the United States,” and www.ushistory.org “The Decision to Drop the Bomb” all definitively discuss the controversy involved the decision to drop the bomb, caused by people’s opinions on not giving Japan all the information, the possibility of Japan developing similar weapons, and the need to end the war. The fact that not proper information was given to Japan to make the decision whether to surrender or not made people think
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.
One of the most controversial and heavily scrutinized issue of the twentieth century was President Harry S. Truman’s decision to unleash atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The motives behind Truman’s actions are shrouded in controversy as top military officials publicly denounced the use of such a disastrous weapon. There is overwhelming evidence supporting both sides of the decision, as historians are split in opinion. The United States had been using conventional bombing to try to push Japan over the edge to surrender, but with countless Japanese civilians loyal to their country, invading Japan proved to be more problematic than first thought. Harry S. Truman made the ultimate decision of dropping the atomic bomb in hopes that it would end the war, but the amount of casualties caused by it has historians questioning if it was morally right, “The bomb was unfortunate, but it was the only means to bring Japan to a surrender,” historian Sadao Asada states (Bomb 9). Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justifiable because they would ultimately lead to the end of the war and would demonstrate U.S. supremacy.
the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan during World War II, yet the controversy about the validity of this decision continues in scientific, political and general public circles. Most likely, due to the complexity of the issue and never knowing the outcome if the bombs were not dropped, it will remain unresolved. A lesson that is continually learned in the U.S.-once again in present times-is the importance of acting from facts and not from emotion. It is hoped that all pros and cons are very seriously weighed before any action is taken if and when such a serious decision must be made in the future.
Imagine yourself making the toughest decision in your life, whether sacrificing a million of our men and thousands of war ships and plans, verses several thousand of Japanese civilian populists. This decision was on the shoulder of Harry S. Truman, the United States President, who had to make this decision by deciding whether or not to drop a newly designed weapon. The atomic bomb was tested in the sands of New Mexico, where it proved to be very successful. Harry S. Truman made a very successful decision, because he wanted to end the war quickly, show others that the United States had power, and the retribution of Pearl Harbor.
In 1945, World War Two was coming to an end. Following Adolf Hitler’s suicide, and Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945, the war in Europe was finally over. The allies began began postwar planning for future, as well as establishment of post-war order and peace treaties issues. America’s war wasn’t done yet as they were still fighting Japan, eventually pushing them back to their main island. The Japanese’ plans of defending themselves was a group of final decisive battles on the Japanese mainland utilizing all people in Japan to fight to death against the Americans. Fearing costly land battles,
Webster’s dictionary defines hindsight as “the ability to understand, after something has happened, what should have been done or what caused the event”. It is a fair assumption that most people understand the old adage “hindsight is always 20/20”; alluding to the fact that, in our everyday lives, we as humans make decisions based on what we know, what seems right and occasionally what makes our lives easier. The average person does not have the mental capability to consider every possible outcome that a choice will have on his entire life, all within the thought process that leads him to reach a conclusion, however long and detailed that process may be. If we add massive amounts of pressure, contradictory advisement, the lives of
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.
In World War II, Japan has been one of the biggest threat to the Allies. As the war goes on, the atomic bomb has been discovered and the U.S decided to bomb it surprisingly in Hiroshima, Japan, that had been one of Japan’s largest cities during late 1600’s. It became a horrible situation to the people who got bomb on August 6, 1945. America stated that they have a lot of reasons on why did they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, like to save more of their people and lessen their casualties, to make Japan surrender as quickly as possible and according to President Truman, the main reason of it was to end World War II. Others were not convinced with their reasons and said that the bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima because America wanted to see how
When the Japanese choose not to surrender President Truman makes the decision to use the atomic bomb rather than risk the 1,000,000 projected lives lost in a man to man combat war. Hiroshima was a chosen as
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
Although the Japanese believed it was dishonarable to surrender and probably thought they made the best decision, I am sure they didnt think about the lives they were putting in danger. The civilians that died were not to blame, and shouldnt have had to endure the devastions of the war but sadly they did live on a military port.
The dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 by the Americans is a very controversial issue with no definite answer. Both sides of the issue have very justifiable arguments. Reasons for dropping the bomb include the fact that Truman’s options were limited at this point in the war, that the bomb did have the desired outcome of Japans surrender and that the majority of reasons America had for dropping the bomb are justifiable. On the other hand, the atomic bomb was complete new technology and there is no way that Japan could have possibly been ready for it and for that reason the dropping of the atomic bomb is very
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
On August 6, 1945 history was about to made that changed the decision of Japan not wanting to unconditionally surrender. The judgement by Harry S Truman wanting to use the atomic bombs will be remembered for decades. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 by the United States can be a very debatable issue with no clear answer. One answer that people could agree on that the dropping of the atomic bombs saved millions of lives. Without the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the war would have just kept going on with even more casualties. It was in Japans best interest to unconditionally surrender before the atomic bombs were dropped when the