The First Atomic Bomb Of President Harry S. Truman

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.

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)

Japan during the 1940’s was a nation that prided itself on the concept of never surrendering. It was something that they took fierce and obsessive pride in. Their culture dictated that they are never to give up, even if they fought until every single man,woman, and child living in Japan was slaughtered, they would never surrender. This doctrine was one of the key deciding factors that influenced Truman in making the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Several weeks before the Atomic bomb was dropped, The Untied States of Military issued a warning to the Japanese government. “It warned the Japanese to surrender immediately or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.” (Yes! Harry Truman’s Simple Decision) Unfortunately, a mere two weeks before the first atomic bomb dropped, the Japanese prime minister publically dismissed the warning and refused to surrender. Even after the bombing of Hiroshima, the Japanese government refused to stand down. Even though they had suffered over 225,000 civilian casualties in the attack, the Japanese military refused to surrender. It took until the second bombing of Nagasaki to finally force the Japanese to surrender on American

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.

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.

Although Truman realized that “an atomic bomb explosion would inflict damage and casualties beyond imagination,” he believed it would be the most effective approach in destroying the heartless nation of Japan (doc 1). Harry Truman also concluded that an invasion of Japan could cost as many as 1,000,000 American casualties. Therefore, if the US used atomic bombs against Japan, Japan would hopefully surrender, thus decreasing the number of American casualties. In agreement with Truman, Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, explained that the destruction of HIroshima and Nagasaki “stopped the fire raids, and the strangling blockade; it ended the ghastly specter of a clash of great land armies” (doc 3). An end to the massive number of bombs dropped, the blockade (?), and the horrific menace between Allied and Axis powers, caused the death toll in the Pacific to adequately decrease. In addition to saving thousands of American lives, it was in the United State’s best interest to force the Japanese to surrender, and to put an end to the immense fighting that occurred in the Pacific.

As the position of retention became a clear, obvious goal of the Americans, the next step was to portray the leader as a victim of a wild military who ran away with power to both the Japanese and American public. One of the major ways of to do was to counsel the Emperor on how to separate himself from his past. The Americans quickly set to work by first getting the Emperor to sever ties with the militarists. However, this was difficult to accomplish because years earlier these were the Emperor’s closest advisors. Once this was completed, American written articles began to appear in Japanese articles portraying the Emperor as a peace loving leader and put the blame of the war squarely on the militarists. “Bradley Smith, chief of the GHQ’s Civil

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.

As the war continued and violence escalated, bombings caused enormous destruction and high death tolls, leading inevitably to the use of the atomic bombs. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki represented a culmination in the destructiveness of bombings, not a significant deviation from previous bombing practices. The alternatives to the use of the atomic bomb were likely to have caused equal suffering for the Japanese people. The use of the atomic bomb was no less moral than these horrific wartime practices. Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan was justified by Japan’s refusal to immediately surrender. Harry Truman gave the Japanese time to surrender in order to preserve the existence of their people. They did not comply and as a result endured the consequences. (Walker) Yet an alternate perspective states that it was quite unnecessary to drop the Atomic Bombs in that Japan was practically an already defeated opponent. If a conditional surrender were to be issued by the United States to Japan in

Truman would go ahead with the deal. Now as it may have seemed like a smart decision for Truman, as Japan eventually surrendered, many people could disagree. Tons of people could say he is not a hero, but is one who killed thousands of innocent people in Japan. Yes, they are right, Truman and the United States did take the lives of innocent people in Japan, but it was the right decision. During the war with Japan, there were nearly 500,000 soldiers out on the battlefield for the United States (Collins 75).

The Japanese reluctance to surrendering in 1945 set the stage for the United States to enter a seemingly winnable, yet fatal ground invasion of Japan. In the hopes to limit American casualties, President Harry Truman and his advisors authorize the dropping of two atomic bombs in the hope that the loss of civilian lives in Japan would force a Japanese surrender; six days following the bombing of Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito extended his formal surrender to the United States. Truman later explains his controversial and cold-blooded decision behind dropping the lethal bombs by saying, “We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans." ("Public Papers of the Presidents: Harry S Truman, 1945", pg. 212).Thus, Heller creates Daneeka’s fear of the Pacific to echo the sentiments of American leadership, who care not about military or civilian losses in other countries or armies, but only for the lives under their own

“A 21-year-old American second lieutenant recalled, ‘When the bombs dropped and news began to circulate that [the invasion of Japan] would not, in fact, take place… for all the fake manliness of our facades we cried with relief and joy. We were going to live’” (Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb). The members of the army were so relieved they were crying. They were terrified of going into war, and when they heard they didn’t have to go against the Japanese who never seemed to surrender, they were so glad they could live.

In mid 1945 new president Harry Truman had the fate of the United States of America and the world in his hands. Truman faced the biggest decision of his life that would greatly impact not only World War II but the entire concept of war. Truman had to decide whether to use technology that had never been used on man before to obliterate two Japanese cities. On August 6th the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan killing over 100,000 Japanese people. Three days later the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan killing up to eighty thousand. Only six days after the last atomic bomb was dropped the Japanese announced their unconditional surrender to the United States. Since then historians have asked the question of weather Truman

Although Truman’s decision could be seen as good or bad, many Americans choose to see the positives in it. First and foremost, Truman, along with many others believed that dropping the bombs were necessary in order to stop the war. Secondly, many thought the bombs were a justified reaction to Japan's barbarism. From Pearl Harbor to the capture of Nanjing, China, the Japanese military were on a rampage, that needed to be stopped. Lastly the U.S gave Japan fair warning. As the Potsdam

In “The Shock of the Atomic Bomb and Japan’s Decision to Surrender – A Reconsideration” Sadao Asada familiarizes his reader with the events of August 6th, 1945, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. He goes on the create an image of the destructive power of the bomb, and how American President Harry Truman promised that there would be more atomic bombs dropped on Japanese cities if Japan did not surrender immediately. Asada also explains how the Japanese system required a unanimous decision between the leaders, the six main leaders in Japan are introduced, as well as whether they supported the side of surrender or to continuing