The Consequences Of The Atomic Bomb

The citizens of the United States of America need to support President Truman in this decision. It should be understand that these measures are necessary to protect the lives of American citizens and soldiers. America has only one shot at taking down Japan, so the job needs to be done in the most advantageous way possible. Time is running out and President Truman needs to authorize the use of the atomic bomb immediately. The United States of America’s citizens, soldiers, and reputation lies in his

In addition to the desire to end the war and thus the casualties to the American troops, Truman had other reasons for considering the approval of the atomic attacks. Truman was enlightened by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in a meeting on April 25, 1945 on the capability of the bomb, and the enormous expense incurred in developing it. This was one reason that Truman’s conclusion was to use the bomb against Japan, as there had to be a justifiable explanation for the expense incurred. Also, if he had not employed the use of the atomic bomb, he would not be able to justify to the American people why he had chosen not to do so, as there were so many American lives lost. It was alleged after the

In the brutal and deadly Pacific Theater of World War ll, President Truman had to make a crucial decision on whether or not to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Some believe that Truman’s actions to drop the atomic bomb were unethical and inhumane; however, Truman was justified in his decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan due to the fact that they are our enemy, saving American lives is the first priority, and the atomic bomb will ultimately prevent Russia from gaining control of Asia.

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)

Had he chosen a different alternative , the world as we know it today might not have been the same and the balance of powers of the world would be extremely different. “The losses in Hiroshima and Nagasaki assuredly were horrific, but they pale when compared to the estimates of 17 to 24 million deaths attributed to the Japanese during their rampage from Manchuria to New Guinea. The historian Gavan Daws accurately described "Asia under the Japanese" as "a charnel house of atrocities." During the months of war following the attack on Pearl Harbor, reliable estimates establish that between 200,000 to 300,000 people died each month either directly or indirectly at Japanese hands. The historian Robert Newman tellingly reveals that "the last months were in many ways the worst; starvation and disease aggravated the usual beatings, beheadings and battle deaths. It is plausible to hold that upwards of 250,000 people, mostly Asian but some Westerners, would have died each month the Japanese Empire struggled in its death throes beyond July 1945." (Yes: Truman’s Simple Decision). It was clear that the Japanese war machine had to be stopped, the atomic bomb was the fastest way to draw the war to a close and prevent the deaths of thousands of Americans. While the instantaneous destruction of entire cities and their occupants is without a doubt horrendous, It was the by far the best of a multitude of other

President Truman must have kept in mind the personal political implications of his decision to drop the bomb. With polls showing that Americans overwhelmingly supported the "unconditional surrender" of Japan and with his knowing the strong anti-Japanese sentiments of the American people, I must have felt that I had little political risk in dropping an atomic bomb on Japan."(Harry Truman) President Truman must have also considered his difficulty in explaining to American voters why the government spent two billion dollars to develop a superior weapon if he personally decided not to deploy it, especially if the war had dragged on with additional American casualties. Here is an entry from Truman's diary, "I have to decide Japanese strategy - shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts."(Ferrell)

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.

If I had been in his shoes, I would hope I would have had the courage to make the same decision. No one wants to see innocent people die, especially civilians. Sometimes, you have to outweigh all of your options and even though these options were not good at all. Truman definitely chose the lesser of two evils which saved countless lives. You can never please everyone. Somebody will always have something to say whether it is positive or negative. I understand that this is what makes the world go around, people having their own opinions. I could not imagine the pressure Truman was facing, knowing all of the lives which are at stake. Many people say Truman was wrong for using the atomic bomb. My question to them would be, is it better to send our young men in on a ground invasion and lose maybe a million or more of our men, or drop a bomb and save our men? We did not start the war, but we sure finished it. We did not ask to fight in this war. We tried staying out of it, but we were dragged into it. September 11, 2001, we were attacked when terrorists flew planes into the twin towers in New York City. Instantly, America is at war. The difference this time, we are not fighting a country, but a group of terrorists who were extremely difficult to find. If it had been a country like Japan, then I would have hoped that we could the bombed them the same way we bombed Japan. But you can’t bomb a group of people who are all over the world. I support Truman’s decision in using the bomb. If we have to use this type of force again in order of saving many of our men and women, then that would be the lesser of two

“Truman stated that his decision to drop the bomb was purely military. Truman believed that the bombs saved Japanese lives as well. Prolonging the war was not an option for the President,” (ushistory.org 1). President Truman and the United States government made a fair decision by dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese citizens in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during 1945. The bomb allowed the United States to appear more powerful and led to them influencing the rest of the world. The dropping of the atomic bomb was also a just response to the previous atrocities committed by Japan to other countries including the United States. In the long run, the bomb saved more lives that would have been lost in the war, since the bombs caused the

The factors were that he could have lost a lot more soldiers to end the war with Japan or he could just drop a bomb and end all of Japanor at least most of them because he knew the japanese were ruthless and did not give up they would risk everything to win the war. Then because he knew that the soviets would join into the war and try to take over the land’s of Japan once they were done with them in the war if they managed to join. The pros of truman's decision were that he managed to end the war with the Japan with the least amount of casualties up until that point. The cons were that Japan was nothing after words then they also gave others the idea of nuclear weapons. Then they could have also put the U.S into number one on their list to attack so they could get there bombs or at least understand how they work to remake them in their own country or use them for their own reasons. Another pro can be that since they used the bombs on Japan others could have thought of not going into

I believe that the decision made by the United States to bomb Japan was not thought through well enough and could have been approached differently. There were many possible alternatives to setting off the bombs that could have saved many innocent lives or at least lowered the death toll of Japan. One alternative that could have been more successful was if the United states had chosen to continue conventional bombing. There was a survey taken in Japan, called the Strategic Bombing Survey, that proved Japan was more than likely to surrender soon due to the pressure of the United States dropping continuous, conventional bombs (Arguments Against the Bomb: Argument #4.4). If truman had decided to wait and continue to use conventional bombing, the

During WW2 Truman, the United States President at the time, was asked to make one the toughest decision in History. Choosing between dropping an atomic bomb or invading are both choices that will result in a lot of deaths. The huge diffrence between the two was who died wether it be the Japanese with the bomb, or the American soldiers with the invasion. Trumans decision was supposed to end the war sooner, hence reducing the amount of agony,deaths, stress or any other negative effects that could result in the continous war. Truman's decision on dropping the Atomic Bomb's was an efficient course of action for the Americans, but was deffinantly not the most educated decision. If I had been placed in Truman's shoes and had to make this

In my opinion President Harry Truman was right in the decision of utilizing atomic bombs in order for the World War II to end. I think that it was an extremely difficult decision for President Truman. The launch of the bombs ended the lives of so many innocent people and destroyed many families, but I think it was the best decision because if he would’ve had sent soldiers to fight and try to make japan surrender the war would’ve lasted many years. Another reason why I think that it was the correct decision was due to the fact that Truman’s way of thinking was to end the war the fastest way meaning that it was never his desire to end the lives of so many innocent civilians when he decided to bomb japan, the conflict was with the country and

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

Under the presidency of Harry Truman, he had a choice on whether or not he should have dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, however, he chose to use the first atomic bomb ever used in history to end the destructive war known was World War II. This has been a widely discussed topic on why Truman should have dropped the atomic bomb and if it was necessary. I believe that Truman should have dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because Japan was the first to attack the United States, more lives would have been lost for Americans, Japanese, and more nationalities, and Japan was issued a warning known as “prompt and and utter destruction.”