Was it necessary for Truman to drop the Atomic Bombs on Japan in World War II? On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US aircraft on Hiroshima. This atomic bomb was dropped to force Japan into surrender, this bomb alone destroyed Hiroshima and over 90,000 people were instantly killed in the explosion and an additional 100,000 people perished from burns and radiation sickness. On August 9, 1945 only three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki resulting in an additional 80,000 casualties of the Japanese population. The people of Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 soon after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people opposed to the use of the atomic bombs because people argued that Truman 's decision to use atomic bombs was a barbaric act of cruelty. People also argued that the US government had other ulterior motives to drop the atomic bomb that were necessary for America 's ideals. Necessary motives like presenting The Soviet Union a strong message for the Soviets to watch their step around America. A conventional way of warfare for Japan 's surrender would have costed many more American lives. Truman and others believed that the atomic bomb was necessary to save American lives but also Japanese lives. These actions from President Truman marked the end of the most destructive war in history. The two sources that will used and evaluated in this paper are is The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb by Dennis D. Wainstock (1996)
During World War II, President Harry S. Truman ordered for an atomic bomb to be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th ,1945. The second and last atomic bomb to ever be dropped was in the city of Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945. Many Americans believed dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to end the war in a more timely manner, however, many others believed dropping the atomic bomb was too extreme of a measure to take against Japan. With the creation of the atomic bomb, the United States had a weapon of mass destruction that no one else yet had. Therefore, with the power the atomic bomb possessed, some people believed its use should only be used as a last resort. If Japan would not surrender during this war, then the United States would have a valid and necessary reason in using the power of an atomic bomb. For the other Americans that believed in the immediate drop of the atomic bomb, dropping it would end the war sooner, which would then decrease the amount American soldiers who would be killed during the war. Whether dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was the most ethical decision that President Truman could have ordered is still debated.
1. Long after World War II and the use of the atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a great debate remains. It seems that there are two main potential arguments as to why the bombs were detonated and whether or not they were even necessary to begin with. The first theory surrounds the notion of the national security interests of the United States. In this theory essentially, Truman’s actions had been defended and justified as necessary in order to quickly end the war with U.S. causalities kept to a minimum.
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.
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
In 1945, at the order of President Harry Truman, the United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which triggered controversy worldwide. The debate arose between two sides, with one favoring the decision and the other calling it inhumane. Those favoring the decision agreed with President Truman, that dropping the atomic bomb was justified because it ended World War II. Those in favor also believed the bombing was justified because the US had given Japan a chance to surrender before they made the decision to drop the bomb. Those against the decision claimed Japan was ready to surrender and the bombing was unnecessary.
Did we make the right decision in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan during WWII? Till this day ordinary citizens and commanders question if the bombing was ethical. The utilitarian approach supports the argument considering without the bombs millions of lives would’ve been at risk. However, dropping the atomic bombs kept the deaths significantly lower on both sides. I believe the right decision was to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. I’m briefly going to talk about why Truman decided to drop the bomb, why there wasn’t another alternative, and what some felt after the bombing.
On August 6, 1945, “Little Boy” the first atomic bomb, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima and three days later, “Fat Man” a second bomb, was dropped on Nagasaki, resulting in the untimely death of over 20,000 people. This was done as an offensive and retaliation by the United States of America, whom had feeling of revenge and an unwavering desire to end an ongoing war as quickly and decisively as possible, against the Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, this took place right after a demand for an unconditional surrender of the Japanese by the Allied leaders by means of a Potsdam Declaration, in late July 1945, was flatly rejected by Japanese leaders. Thus resulting in the use of these atomic bombs being authorized by President Truman.
WWII was one of the deadliest wars in history. The war was ended only when the United States introduced the atomic bomb to the world and destroyed the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. A lot of controversy surrounds the decision made by President Truman to drop the bombs on Japan. The casualties were high and many were civilians, and with this it breeds the following question: Was it the right decision? Could there have been something else the United States could have done before going to such extreme measures? The decision to bomb the Japanese wasn’t an easy one and although the right decision was made it had more to do with political, ethical, and military reasoning than morality.
Few events in world history have made a global impact on humanity as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The decision to drop the bombs made by Harry S. Truman, the newly sworn in commander-in-chief after the death of Franklin Roosevelt, has been one scrutinized not only for the destruction of the act, but also in itself for the actual motive of the decision. Was the decision to use the Atomic Bombs one to quickly end the war to save American lives, or did Truman do his best to prevent Soviet influence in East Asia, to try and scare the Soviet Union from making any kind of territorial claims in Japan? Because there is ample evidence for both points of view, it's impossible to declare one to be the case. While both sides have good evidence, it's likely Truman made his decisions not only to end the war quickly, but to also avoid massive casualties on both sides, and to intimidate the Soviets. This was the genius of Truman's actions, it was able to end the war that was destroying the globe's nations for nearly six years, while also preventing another war from occurring in the future, and to keep peace in the process. As far as today, there has been no atomic warfare
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
President Harry Truman determined to release nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the optimum decision of circumstances that supported the surrender of Japan in World War 2. Many arguments will doubt the atomic bombs had made results any better. While, the other handful of individuals, supporting Truman’s authorization, have considerable justification. Toss away the reasons for disagreement and contemplate the motives that lead descending atomic bombs as the right choice of a weapon.
The atomic bombing of Japan was an unjustified decision that many considered was inhumane. Through the use of atomic bombs, many innocents were harmed in one way or another. Berger described the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as "a terrorist act" and that it was "evil". While Berger 's argument was extreme, the U.S. still remains unjustified because they did not know exactly how much damage the bomb would actually cause. Bombing Japan, the U.S. harmed thousands of civilians and displayed the effectiveness of the atomic bomb despite having other options to end the war.
Would you kill a thousand to save millions? Well the drastic actions taken by the United States did save millions. There were two actions that had to occur to save the millions and end the war, the dropping of the two atomic bombs being the first of their kind were to be the most powerful bomb ever invented using atomic and nuclear forces so create it and packed over 20,000 tons of TNT and was about ten feet long. The bomber that transported and dropped them was called the 'Enola Gay’. The two Japanese cities’ that were struck by such creations were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this essay I will be discussing on how the actions taken by the United States of America were completely justified in dropping the two bombs as is established a future power image, saved millions, ended the war and ended the axis of evil.
August 6th, 1945, 70,0000 lives were ended in a matter of seconds. The United States had dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Today many argue whether or not the U.S. should have taken such a drastic measure. Was it entirely necessary that we drop such a devastating weapon? To answer that first we must look at was going on in the world at the time of the conflict. The U.S. had been fighting a massive war since 1941. Moral was most likely low, and resources were at the same level as moral. Still both sides continued to fight and both were determined to win. Obviously the best thing that could have possibly happened would have been to bring the war to a quick end with a minimum of allied casualties. Harry Truman’s decision to