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)
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.
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.
Intense moral justification was needed in order to make the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki however, President Truman was ultimately the man who made the final decision to launch ‘Little Boy’ and destroy Hiroshima, Nagasaki and their civilians, thus forcing an end to the war. Although there were many alternatives presented to President Truman, it is unknown as to whether they would have actually succeeded in ending the war or producing less casualties. Truman made the decision to drop these bombs in the heat of war but his justification of having a military target appeared extremely unrealistic, as both cities were full of innocent civilians. The morality of the bombs have been debated over the years, however the publication of the actual damage to civilian life caused a strong voice opposed to the usage in the 60 years following the action.
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
On August 6, 1945, following the attacks on Pearl Harbor the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan purposely in the means to end the war relatively quickly saving countless lives of American citizens. In the Truman Presidency, many began to question if the president made the right call on the use of the atomic bombs. In this case where a plethora of lives were lost in the Pearl Harbor attack America was indeed in need of a solution that would end the war. The decision President Truman made on the atomic bombs was right in the idea that many more lives could have been at risk in later events if the Japanese hadn’t surrendered when they did. In fact, if the Truman Administration would have waited on ta decision to respond
On August 6th, 1945, after 44 weeks of vicious fighting, a bomber plane containing a newly developed atomic weapon appeared over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Moments later, this atomic bomb dropped, instantaneously killing 70,000 citizens and damaging the city. In the short span of three days, the United States dropped a second destructive bomb over the town of Nagasaki with similarly disastrous results. While these destructive bombings brought harm, they also contributed to the Japanese surrender, which concluded the war. Leaving the question, was Truman justified in using the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? While I respect the opposing side, I maintain the viewpoint that Truman was not justified in the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for many reasons.
Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was necessary in the sense that he was making the decision that best benefited the US and its goals. Losing millions of American lives in conventional warfare in Japan would surely be devastating, even though the moral issues are a problem when it comes to this decision, the decision for the use of the first atomic bomb was necessary to save lives. The first atomic bomb was also necessary for diplomatic goals and safety for the US, it was used to intimidate and restrain the USSR from attacking Japan and plotting against the US. Truman's decision to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima was necessary, it was needed to prevent the potential loss of American lives by the thousands and protect
On August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan by the United States. This resulted in a death toll of around 135,000 people, this is including civilians. The second atomic bomb hit Nagasaki, Japan on August, 9 1945 and killed at least 50,000 people. Did America do the right thing by dropping the atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II? The bombs were necessary for Japan's surrender and to end the war.
There is no way to justify killing people, simply, because it is wrong and immoral, but what if it’s done to protect your own people? Would it be justified then? President Truman thought so. In 1945, during the heightened onslaught of World War II with Japan, Harry S. Truman was faced with a difficult decision that would determine the future of the War and the future of our nation. Before Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away, he had been working on a secret, powerful, nuclear weapon that not even his Vice President knew about. This weapon was geared up and ready to end the War, but it came at a price. The radioactive material inside the bomb was only about the size of an orange, but it could wipe out an entire population. On August 6th, 1945 Truman makes the difficult decision to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb killed 140,000 people and destroyed 80% of the buildings in the city. This was the beginning of a new age. Three days later Truman dropped the second bomb on Japan killing 70,000 people. Emperor Hirohito of Japan was forced to surrender on August 14th, 1945, in order to salvage the rest of his country. Although there was massive devastation in Japan, I believe President Harry Trumans’ actions were justified because the dropping of the atomic bomb gave Japans leadership the final jolt it needed to surrender and it saved lives on, not only the American side, but also the Japanese side of the war.
The famous author Ray Bradbury states, “After Hiroshima was bombed, I saw a photograph of the side of a house with the shadows of the people who had lived there burned into the wall from the intensity of the bomb. The people were gone, but their shadows remained.” The impact of the bomb wiped out an entirety of people, but it also created new visions on arms and the future for all people. The decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945 was both beneficial and harmful to the United States and Japan which also left positive and negative impressions on other parts of the world.
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. Japan refused to accept surrender after the first nuclear attack and on August 9, 1945, 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 and believed the bombings were simply unnecessary. People also argued that the US government had other ulterior motives to drop the atomic bomb, other motives like presenting The Soviet Union a strong message for the Soviets to watch their step around America. But Truman stated after the incident that his decisions to drop the atomic bombs were purely military. He said that a Normandy-type battle for Japan 's surrender would have costed many more American lives. Truman and others believed that the bombs saved American lives but also Japanese lives. These
The panel presentation that I will be reflecting and be debating on is the development of nuclear weapons and the bombing of Hiroshima. The origin of the nuclear age started with the scientific discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938, and theorists Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch made the development of an atomic bomb a theoretical possibility. Nuclear Fission was the theory that if a neutron was fired at an atom of radioactive isotopes, such as uranium or plutonium, it would split the atom causing a chain reaction which releases massive amounts of energy and heat. A few years before the discovery of nuclear fission, A Hungarian physicists Leó Szilárd patented the idea of the world 's first
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.