The Influence Of Harry S. Truman Decisions

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.

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

In 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and in the act of “revenge”, we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastating the Japanese people. Harry Truman was not justified in his decision to use the atomic bombs against the Japanese and caused them to be victims. For, the Japanese already accepted that they were defeated and ready to surrender, Truman's goal of ending the war did not happen and instead started another war while horror swept the entire world, and it was very inhumane, many innocent Japanese lives were taken.

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

The traditional view of the decision is that Truman authorized the Atomic bombings because he was tired of the Second World War. Most Americans shared his idea, and years of war had caused a want for normalcy in the United States, and also for the return of American soldiers who at this point had been overseas for the past four years. The alternate plan for the defeat of Japan was a proposed invasion of the Japanese homeland, Operation Downfall, determined to take place in the Spring of 1946. Soviet assistance would be needed to invade Japan from the Northern Japanese islands. This however, was ruled out by Truman with the decision to drop the

President Truman has to make one of the hardest decisions of all time. He had to decide whether it was better to use a weapon of mass destruction, or let the war end on its own. Ultimately, his decisions to use the atomic bomb and end the war was the correct and most ethical decision. This decision was an ethical one because America gave the Japanese ample warning, it saved countless America lives, and it was payback for Pearl Harbor.

Truman dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. This action was an attempt to make the Japanese army surrender, which was almost impossible considering they had a mindset of ‘Bushido’, or no surrender, so a large action was needed to be taken. To share the responsibility and power, Truman made the decision with a group of opinions and people. “The Interim Committee, created in May 1945, was primarily tasked with providing advice to the President on all matters pertaining to nuclear energy” (“The Decision”). Truman had realized that nuclear power was too much responsibility for one person to have.

President Truman was informed about the Manhattan Project after he became President. Once, the success of the project was secure, the United States has the capacity to end the war with Japan is in our hands. President Truman’s primary goal is “to win a complete victory and to keep the U.S. casualties to a minimum” (Walker 50). Japan on the other hand is not willing to surrender without a fight, even though American forces took over Okinawa and Iwo Jima and were continuously bombing Japanese cities. Japan has denied unconditional surrender, although the refusal is certain to result in total destruction. Thus, President Truman should be advised towards the use of the atomic bomb to quickly bring an end to the

I agree with you Brandon, President Truman made the best choose for the country. With the prospect of the Russian entering the war with Japan three months after Germany was defeated. With the government being over 300 billion in debt for the price of the war to me the decision he made was the correct one. Not counting the untold lives he saved on both sides. With the Japanese people having 13 million bombed-out refugees, 2.3 million soldiers, and 4 million paramilitary fighters’ commitment to die fighting Americans for their Emperor it would have been a long draw out

There were many factors that were considered on whether to or not to use the newly found weapon against Japan in the time period. With having the opinions of scientists as well as military advisors, President Truman had several people 's opinions in mind, with many opinions present it made the decision on whether to or not to drop the bomb difficult to decide for the president. Many can agree or disagree with what would have happened if Truman hadn’t had ordered the first atomic bomb dropped. If the bomb hadn’t been dropped, there is no telling on what would have happened in the war with Japan.

This thought brings me to my next motive of why Truman might have dropped the bomb. I do not think Truman was unaware of the lasting effects of the atom bomb, but by the time these facts were presented to him, piled upon facts about the actual bomb and the projects supporting them, it was to late to change his decision. He needed to save face for America (which brings me to the next motive of pressure) even if it public opinion was not his main concern. Truman did not want to look soft upon the Japanese, something further consideration and negation of the plan to bomb would have caused in some officials eye's. Also, Truman and much of the rest of the nation did not like seeing the U.S. as moral failures like many other nations. Who knows what the reaction to the President's decision would have been like if he had decided to let an invasion with hundreds and thousands of our men involved take place.

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.

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)

“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 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