Essay about The Debate Over Truman's Use of the Atomic Bombs

At this time period of time, President Harry Truman needs to take into account that the Japanese are unlikely to surrender without some heavy persuasion. The Japanese have already attacked at Pearl Harbor, and there is no sign that they will stop anytime soon. Japan is attempting to create more allies to form a strong and dangerous coalition that will threaten the United States and its allies. Fortunately, scientists in the United States have been working on an atomic bomb and now would be the perfect opportunity to utilize it to end the Japanese empire. Rather than authorizing a ground invasion of Japan or negotiating the Japanese terms of surrender, President Truman should use the atomic bomb against Japan to cause a swift surrender of the Japanese empire for the purposes of maintaining global power and preserving the lives of as many American soldiers as possible.

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

To ensure his plan, the Manhattan Project was created to develop an atomic bomb that would have a chained reaction in order to get a massive explosion. However, the goal was to create this nuclear technology before German scientists could figure it out. To test the atomic bomb and to see if it would be successful on Japan, they created the Trinity Test 210 miles south of Los Alamos (which was the headquarters of the Manhattan Project) which tested a plutonium implosion device. The results were successful and when they dropped the bomb from the tower, it created a crater and shattered windows 125 miles away! Furthermore, as President, it means Truman is appointed Commander in Chief, meaning he runs the armed forces. President Truman is justified to his decision of dropping the atomic bomb because it’s his duty as President to make those calls. Equally important, in Document A, President Truman states, “...[The atomic bomb] would be likely to bring the war to an end.” In the best interest of the Americans, Truman knew dropping a 5-ton bomb would quickly end the war against Japan, therefore making the Americans feel secure and

President Truman told his diary that he had ordered the bomb dropped on a "purely military" target, so that military objectives and soldiers the target and women and children are to be spared. The bombing order

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.

President Roosevelt knew that America was making these highly deadly bombs, but they were top secret, no one knew, so he made the choice to keep from telling anyone, including his Vice President Truman. When President Roosevelt died Truman was swore in right away and was immediately told about the atomic bombs. After the atomic bombs were finished, successful and ready, the United States Generals started saying that we needed to use them on Japan because they felt that was the plan whole time. They voiced their opinion but left the decision to President Truman. Truman had to decide if he was, or was not making a good decision before he made it. Therefore, he made a committee to help him decide, so the decision was not all on him. The committee came up with four different options for Truman to choose from. Option one was that they just “conventional Bomb the

The first option, invasion of Japan, was debated the heaviest. Truman, and several of his advisors, sighted the huge estimates of US casualties as the main reason for his hesitancy to proceed with bombing, blockades and ground attacks. In the excerpt of Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of the Atomic Bomb against Japan, J. Samuel Walker argues that “even without the use of the atomic bombs, the war would probably have ended before the American invasion of Kyushu became necessary” (p. 277). He predicted that the destruction,

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.

The committee helped guide Truman to make his decision, and took some of his power and responsibility as president off his hands. Consequently, Truman and the Interim Committee’s decision saved lives that would’ve been lost in an invasion of Japan if the bomb wasn’t dropped. A study done by the Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated 1,200,000 casualties, and 267,000 fatalities if Japan continued to fight and if Truman didn’t drop the bomb. Truman’s saved these lives thanks to the help of the many opinions in the Interim Committee, and the more diluted power President Truman

Truman also added to the end of his announcement, “I shall recommend that the Congress of the United States consider promptly the establishment of an appropriate commission to control the production and use of atomic power within the United States. I shall give further consideration and make further recommendations to the Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.” He recommended this in order to create new rules for future leaders, preventing a president from using the atomic bomb for inappropriate purposes. While Truman didn’t get approval for his actions in 1945, this is only because there were no rules in place at the time (for the atomic bomb was new technology). Truman’s decision to do this reflects on the qualities that Presidents possess, which is why much of the public trusts the President they elect to make decisions that reflect well on the United States, along with protecting the citizens (Document

He truly believed that it was not necessary to drop such a deadly bomb on a city that was not expecting it. However, Secretary of War Henry Stimson wanted to warn the Japanese about the bomb while at the same time telling them that they could keep the emperor, their most powerful leader, if they surrendered. Clearly everybody had there own ideas and opinions on how to go about dropping the bomb.

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

To my belief the two biggest issues that play a role in making and educated on wether to drop the bomb or not, would be time and money. The U.S. had already spent billions of dollars making these bombs, and couldnt afford to waste anymore money on the war. Sending troops to invade would have cost the U.S. alot of money that they didnt have, mind you they still were facing the great deppression. Not to mention the time that had gone into making these intricate atomic bombs, and the time that had already been wasted fighting the war. The war lasted about six years and could have been longer if Truman hadnt dropped the bomb because of the Japanese ethics and warfare perspective.

The military pressures stemmed from discussion and meetings Truman had with Secretary of War Stimson, army chief of Staff General Marshal Chief of Staff, Admiral William Leahy, Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and others. On June 18th, 1945, general Marshall and Secretary of War Stimson convinced Truman to set an invasion of the island of Kyushu for November 19457. Truman knew of the ferocious fighting currently taking place in the Pacific, and naturally had a desire to minimize what the ferocious fighting currently taking place in the Pacific, and naturally had a desire to minimize what he fled would inevitably be a long, bloody struggle8. In an article written to Harper's magazine two years after the dropping of the bombs. Stimson wrote that the, "Allies would be faced with the enormous task of destroying an armed force of five million and five thousand suicide aircraft, belonging to a race that had already amply demonstrated its ability to fight literally to the death." 9 Stimson, Truman and others believed the invasion of the Japanese mainland would be extremely costly, and therefore embraced the bomb as a military weapon whose use fully condoned the never questioned. Truman's feelings that the bomb was a necessary military weapon can be seen in

How can anyone be certain that Japan would have continued to fight? It is possible that they were preparing for surrender, no one can say for certain exactly what would have happened but by examining evidence of Japanese culture and warfare it is obvious that would not have been the case. At the time of WWII systematic and organized education made efficient "brainwashing" possible. In public schools, students were taught to die for the emperor. By late 1944, a slogan of Jusshi Reisho meaning, "Sacrifice life," was taught. In addition to civilian’s dedication to their country, there was a group of military pilots called the Kamikaze. Kamikaze were “suicide” pilots. They would load up an airplane and try to nose dive it into an enemy target. Think about what must be on that pilot’s mind. Imagine the undying love for his country. He would fight to the bitter end for his emperor. The most frightening part of this is that the entire Japanese military thought this way. The fact that the enemy is willing to die so long as you die with him is not something