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Atomic Bomb Dbq

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The spring of 1945 marked the completion of the atomic bomb. Created by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, the Manhattan Project had used 2 billion dollars of taxpayer money to build the atomic bomb, equating to the most costly government project at the time. Political consequences of such wasted expenditures if the atomic bomb was never detonated justified dropping the bomb. When scientists finally witnessed its power in the demonstration at Alamogordo, New Mexico, newfound repercussions of this weapon of mass destruction propelled the subject to heated debate. Still, the majority opinion of government officials was to drop the bomb because it would reduce lives lost. Or at least that is what they told the American people. The alternative plan was invasions on Kyushu and Honshu, two strategic warfare locations of Japan which were to take place the coming fall and spring. There was no doubt that many lives would be lost through these invasions. Hisaichi Terauchi, Field Marshal of Japan, had already announced the execution of 100,000 Allied prisoners to deter any invasions from taking place. Extreme Japanese war customs also heightened Americans unwillingness to invade. Gyokusai, the Japanese term for suicide, was considered more honorable than surrendering. Committed to fighting to the death, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, in 1944, declared 100 million gyokusai if circumstances were deemed necessary. The entire nation of Japan was prepared to die. Wartime estimates were imperative to

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