The Pros And Cons Of Two Atomic Bombs

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.

the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan during World War II, yet the controversy about the validity of this decision continues in scientific, political and general public circles. Most likely, due to the complexity of the issue and never knowing the outcome if the bombs were not dropped, it will remain unresolved. A lesson that is continually learned in the U.S.-once again in present times-is the importance of acting from facts and not from emotion. It is hoped that all pros and cons are very seriously weighed before any action is taken if and when such a serious decision must be made in the future.

The war in Europe was finished and America was still fighting Japan in the Pacific. The American people’s will to continue the war effort was falling and the government had to think of a way to end the war. They needed to take some of the Pacific to be able to get close enough to Japan to finish the war. They started by taking islands but ran into heavy Japanese resistance; soldier’s that were almost all willing to die for their emperor. That included fake surrendering, making and then hiding in elaborate cave systems, and killing other Japanese who were trying to surrender. This weighed heavily on the soldiers and made fighting incredibly hard. Even when they had an island there were Japanese who had hidden and still tried to kill the

If this had taken place the war could have ended with much less violence. “Another option discussed was a moderation of the demand for unconditional surrender. Specifically, the United States might release a statement expressing respect for the emperor’s position without having to recognize his semidivine status in Japanese culture. Tentative Japanese peace feelers had indicated that the emperor’s position was the major sticking point preventing Japan’s surrender" (Astore, May). This would have kept both the Emperor and the U.S. satisfied with the results.

As president Harry S. Truman states in his speech, “With this bomb we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces… We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city” (Document D). This newly attained bomb would not only add to America’s destructive firepower, it would also have the power to end the war. It would ultimately destroy Japan and its ability to continue fighting the war against the Allied

With the new working bomb, during World War II American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first atomic bomb called the little boy weighing 9,000 pounds on Hiroshima, Japan instantly killing eighty-thousand people then killing over tens of thousands of people after due to radiation exposure. Three days later another bomb

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

“Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were the first atomic bombs created, and delivered revolutionary damage. Little Boy was the first bomb to detonate over Japan. Approximately 90% of people within half a mile from the location of the explosion died almost instantly. Only about 10% of buildings in Hiroshima remained standing or undamaged. The massive explosion happened so fast that clothing patterns burned into the skin of victims far enough away to avoid instant death. Along with this, the blinding flash of light

The president had made the public statement that the bombs sole purpose was to “completely destroy Japan’s capacity to make war”. It was also said that dropping the bomb prevented thousands of less deaths that would have occurred from an allied invasion on Japan.

President Truman must have kept in mind the personal political implications of his decision to drop the bomb. With polls showing that Americans overwhelmingly supported the "unconditional surrender" of Japan and with his knowing the strong anti-Japanese sentiments of the American people, I must have felt that I had little political risk in dropping an atomic bomb on Japan."(Harry Truman) President Truman must have also considered his difficulty in explaining to American voters why the government spent two billion dollars to develop a superior weapon if he personally decided not to deploy it, especially if the war had dragged on with additional American casualties. Here is an entry from Truman's diary, "I have to decide Japanese strategy - shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts."(Ferrell)

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

President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was justified. He ended the war more than 2 years earlier. If he didn’t he would of had to keep fighting japan and many more casualties would have happened. The Japanese had many people in their army and If the United States had not dropped the bomb, it could have sustained many more casualties on both sides. It is easy now, after the event, to look back and say that Japan was already a beaten nation, and to ask what was the justification for the use of the atomic bomb to kill so many thousands of helpless Japanese in this inhumane way.

On august 6th, 1945, you made the life changing decision to drop the “ Little boy” on the unknowing and innocent citizens of Hiroshima, Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor, which was Japanese led. The “ Little Boy” was an untested atomic bomb that ended up killing over 100,00 civilians and transforming the once beautiful city into fallout and remains. Following the tragedy, scientists are often debating on whether or not the United States made the right decision when dropping the bomb. Some believe we could have resolved the problem without obliterating the town and citizens of Hiroshima, and some believe that the bomb helped America to regain its martial dominance and put other countries back in their place. Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima

we did not ever tell them that we had an atomic bomb. (“The Decision to Drop the Bomb”)

Through the efforts of the “Manhattan Project” and the scientists within it, several nuclear bombs were created. Two of which, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” ended up being dropped on Japan. “Little Boy,” the only uranium bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 (Batchelder 99-105). “Fat Man,” the second nuclear bomb ever used in warfare, detonated above Nagasaki on August 11, 1945 (Batchelder 95-105). The leaders of the United States, decided that dropping the newly developed atomic bombs on Japan was the smartest action they could take at the time, given the current situation that the United States and the world was in. Dropping the bombs on Japan was mainly motivated by the belief that human lives could be saved. A massive invasion of the Japanese mainland was the only other option if no bombs were going to be dropped. The fact that the Japanese main army of approximately two million had never before been defeated on top of the Japanese terrain which was much better suited for guerrilla warfare than the mechanical ways of the U.S. put estimated American deaths alone well over the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Batchelder 114-118).