The Atomic Bombs; The Justification 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.
Truman's Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb 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.
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.
On May 1945, a long-awaited V-E Day finally came and brought an end to the war in Europe. But, the war in the Pacific was still continuing against Japan since they are being reluctant to surrender despite the continuous indiscriminate bombardments The United States began to consider about using the atomic bombs as the only way to end the war immediately. On the other hand, many argued that Japan’s staggering losses were enough to force Japan’s surrender. In the end, President Harry S. Truman didn’t hesitate to use this nuclear weapon and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with only three days interval between the two bombing. As a result, Japan has surrendered, but if I were to make a decision, I haven’t used atomic bombs because it was unnecessary since Japan has virtually lost already.
President Harry Truman’s use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan during the Second World War is the most controversial decision in history. While it was an undoubtedly difficult decision, it was indeed necessary in order to end this six-year war that had ravaged the world. While many critics argue that the bomb was used primarily as an act of vengeance toward Japan, simplifying such a crucial moment in human history downplays the very real risk invading Japan posed to the United States. While avoiding strained relations with the other Allied countries, Truman had to assess the possible danger of the Soviet Union in a post-war world. Furthermore, the possibility of an arms race, the moral implications of using this
RQ: Was the Use of the Atomic Bomb Necessary to End World War II? Alissa Spikes Mrs. Ferry AP World History 2 June 2015 Word Count: 2,181 Table of Contents A.Plan of investigation…………………..………………………………………………………...3 B. Evidence………………………………………………………………………………………..4 C. Evaluation of Sources…………………………………………………………………………..8 D. Analysis……………………………………………………………………………...…..……10 E. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………….13 F. Works Cited………………………………………………………………………...…………14 Plan of Investigation This investigation assesses to what extent the atomic bomb was necessary to end the Second World War. This investigation will be limited to the years 1939 to 1945, the duration of World War II, to assess the justifications for the bombing. However, this investigation will also examine sources as recent as the 2010s to evaluate the objective necessity of the bombing because it has remained a consistently controversial topic despite the time difference. Additionally, the necessity of the bomb is a matter that is independent from the initial bombing because its effect went beyond just ending the war, and, contextually, it is essential to examine its causes and effects with respect to events both before and after the war. Throughout this investigation, novels, memoirs, and web articles will be analyzed with evaluations of their origins, purpose, values, and limitations.
Introduction: The research question of this essay is “To what extent was the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War Justified? In 1945, the United States authorized the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first bomb, dropped on August 6th 1945, had a total casualty rate of 135,000, including non-combatant civilians, and as this, the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War has indeed been a hugely discussed topic within academic and social circles until today. There have been historians, academics, and other influential individuals throughout the world who have argued on both sides of the spectrum regarding the effects of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and whether they were necessary and justified towards the ending of the conflict. According to the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by 1944, it had become clear to both the United States and the Empire of Japan that Japan was indeed losing the war, and as this, there are many arguments and counterarguments regarding the effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Japan, as well as suggestions regarding alternatives due to the enormous human toll the bomb caused.
During World War II Americans dropped atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing nearly 200,000 people. This resulted in Japans surrender in World War II. J. Samuel Walker analyzes this historical event in his book Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs. Over the past 70 years’ extensive research has been conducted and there is an understanding that Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs is inconclusive. It is impossible to determine that the use of the bomb was the quickest way to end the war. An analysis of President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb reveals one challenge: was the decision to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki a show of good judgment.
There has been a significant deal of argument between historians regarding the decision to drop the bomb. The historiography on dropping the bomb can be roughly categorised into three perspectives; traditionalists, revisionists and counter revisionist. Whilst the traditionalists state the actions were necessary to force the unconditional surrender of Japan, the revisionists argue that there were alternatives in the use of the weapon. At the other end of the spectrum, counter revisionists tend to lean towards the necessity for the bomb and
As Yale Professor Gaddis Smith has added, “It has been demonstrated that the Dropping The Bomb: The Right Choice 4 decision to bomb Japan was mainly focused on Truman's confrontational approach to the Soviet Union.”Moreover, this subject is thought to be more appropriately thought as a side benefit of dropping the bomb and not so much its sole purpose.
During the long battle of WW2, we were all surprised by the death of our beloved president Roosevelt on April 12th. Quickly we had Truman come into office and within 12 days we asked him for this okay for dropping the bomb. Truman had known about the bomb before hand, but on April 25th Stimson and Truman had the official answer after thinking long and hard what the right decision would be. “Truman and Stimson immediately began to see the diplomatic implications of the bomb...” (2. Walter, “Interview Transcripts: The bomb”) They decided
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
World War II was one of the defining moments of the 20th century. Numerous events during that period are viewed and interpreted with differing opinions; but none have been as fiercely debated as the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of the more intriguing differing of opinions came from the people behind the bombs themselves: the key scientists who created the bombs and the politicians and military personnel who were active in dropping the bomb. The scientists involved through the various stages of the project (such as Albert Einstein and Leo Szilard) expressed remorse that they created such a weapon and did not believe the use of it was justified. However he people who dropped the bomb - President Harry Truman and
As a person, sometimes, is hard to make decision that can change history, it is even harder for the president of the United States. When you are the president and there’s a war occurring you must understand that every decision you make impacts the country in every way. When another country attempts an attack on your country, as a president you need to make the best decision to overcome the attack and to protect every citizen of the country. These are the decisions that President Franklin D Roosevelt had to make it, however, when he passed away, Harry Truman had control power of the country and knew that he had to avenge Pearl Harbor. Before Truman can avenge Pearl Harbor, Albert Einstein endorsed a letter to President Roosevelt alerting him that there was an “extremely powerful bombs of a new type” and that the U.S. should begin a similar research. Eventually, this became the Manhattan Project, discovering nuclear fission as a weapon. In this essay we are going to speak about the decision that Truman made to drop the bomb, some arguments, and the interpretation.
Was Hiroshima Necessary? When President Harry S. Truman ordered the nuclear attack on Hiroshima on the 6th of August, 1945, most people were supportive of it because it ended the war before an invasion became necessary. Seventy two years since the first and last nuclear attacks, many 'traditionalist' historians