The Use Of The Atomic Bomb During WWII

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.

During World War II, President Harry S. Truman ordered for an atomic bomb to be dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6th ,1945. The second and last atomic bomb to ever be dropped was in the city of Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945. Many Americans believed dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to end the war in a more timely manner, however, many others believed dropping the atomic bomb was too extreme of a measure to take against Japan. With the creation of the atomic bomb, the United States had a weapon of mass destruction that no one else yet had. Therefore, with the power the atomic bomb possessed, some people believed its use should only be used as a last resort. If Japan would not surrender during this war, then the United States would have a valid and necessary reason in using the power of an atomic bomb. For the other Americans that believed in the immediate drop of the atomic bomb, dropping it would end the war sooner, which would then decrease the amount American soldiers who would be killed during the war. Whether dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was the most ethical decision that President Truman could have ordered is still debated.

With the start of World War II the race for the first atomic bomb started. With Germany under Hitler’s reign, the Nazis began separating uranium to form the first atomic bomb to control the world. The push for the United States build the first atomic bomb began with this knowledge. With the help of several scientists the United States succeeded in building the atomic bomb first. Two atomic bombs were used; a uranium bomb on Hiroshima and a plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. Along with the many deaths were six stages of A-bomb illness which includes acute stages, atomic bomb trauma, A-bomb radiation illness, radiation blood injury at lethal dosage, blood injuries, and secondary radiation illness. Seven unhealed scars were also an effect of the atomic bombs that includes keloids, A-bomb cataracts, leukemia, cancers, chromosome changes, exposure in utero and microcephaly, and genetic surveys. Regulations and guidance were set in place soon after the bombings to protect the people of the world based on the information that was gathered and it has changed over the years based on the new information that was learned. With the use of the atomic bombs in World War II, a lot of pain and suffering was caused, but a great deal of information was learned to help protect future generations from radiation.

Therefore, The United States dropped it in order to finish the war. They wanted to prevent more deaths and if the atomic bomb didn’t stop them, nothing would’ve stopped them. For example, after Truman dropped the bomb he released a letter and sources from CNN quoted “that the decision to use the two nuclear bombs saved the lives of 250,000 Allied troops and 250,000 Japanese by helping to prevent an invasion”. Although it was rough because they didn’t know the long term effects on that the atomic bomb would have on the cities. If the U.S. didn’t drop the bomb the war could’ve gotten worse and be more deadly in the long run.

    After the Japanese dropped the bomb on Pearl Harbor, the United States took serious offense to it. The Americans dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of them dropping the bomb on Pearl Harbor. America dropped the bomb because President Harry Truman commanded that if the Japanese made any attack on us, we would attack them. This bomb badly affected Japan. At least 140,000 Japanese people died, including 20,000 soldiers by December of 1945. At least 90% of the deceased were killed within two weeks of the bomb being dropped. 92% of 76,000 buildings were destroyed. (“Hiroshima Committee”)

The total amount of people that died from the dropping of the atomic bomb was immense. Here are the statistics. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, the acute effects of the atomic bombings killed 90,000–146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 in Nagasaki; roughly half of the deaths in each city occurred on the first day.

At the time of the United States decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, World War II had been waging for six years. Both Japan and the US had lost tons of supplies and resources, millions of dollars, and thousands of troops. The decision that finally ended the war was taken by the U.S on August 6, 1945, when the American bomber Enola Gay dropped the very first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. Three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and Japan finally surrendered. However, Japan's surrender was not the intent of the United States when dropping these bombs- this was a diplomatic measure taken by the government to warn the Soviet Union against their growing influence in Europe. Dropping the atomic bombs was an unnecessary decision which cost the lives of over 300,000 innocent people and has detrimentally affected the health of generations to come.

The absolute terror of nuclear weapons and the substantial amount of death of the Japanese has forced many questions to be asked whether the U.S. should have decided to use these destructors against Japan, ending World War II. After more than seventy years after the event, the decision to drop the first atomic bomb continues to be widely debated. The primary focus for the U.S. was to win the war at the lowest possible cost. Truman was looking for the most effective way to end the war quickly, not for a way to prevent the use of

Before they knew what happened, thousands of people were dead. Towards the end of World War II, Japan would not surrender so President Truman made a big decision and decided to drop the atomic bomb. This bomb was deadly and killed people instantly. President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was questioned by many. He made the wrong decision to drop the atomic bomb because other methods could have worked, it killed lots of innocent civilians, and the war could have ended soon without the atomic bomb being dropped.

The atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bomb was used to end the war 6 months earlier than the war would have ended naturally. If the bomb was never dropped then the United States would have invaded japan and lost up to 1,000,000 soldiers in the battle (source 8). The United States should not have dropped the bomb because it killed more innocent people than it did threats to the country. The bomb had a blast radius of over 2,000 yards. This bomb disintegrated anything that was 1 mile within ground zero which was the drop site of the bomb.

In August 1945 President Truman decided to drop two atomic bombs on japan. Just the bomb in Hiroshima killed 146,000 people. Killed all 226,000 people in all. Dropping the bomb was a huge deal. President Truman did not have to drop the bomb to end’ the war. An atomic bomb is a very powerful bomb. This bomb destroyed a whole city and killed lots of people.

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki put an end to the Japanese war. It stopped the fire raids, and the strangling blockade; it ended the ghastly specter of a clash of great land armies. In this last great action of the Second World War we were given final proof that war is death." Death is inevitable in war. The fights would have continued until either the U.S. or Japan surrendered which could have taken months to happen. Many people died during the war. The U.S. not dropping the Atomic Bomb would have led to having more battles in Japan, more deaths. In 1990, Paul Fussell, a World War II Soldier, wrote an article, Thank God for the Atomic Bomb. In it he writes, “On Okinawa, only a few weeks before Hiroshima, 123,000 Japanese and Americans killed each other. War is immoral. War is cruel.” Numerous Japanese live were lost in battles throughout the war. The Atomic Bomb killed 39,000–80,000 people in Nagasaki. This one battle alone killed 123,000 people. More battles like this would have been fought and more people would have died then the amount of people who died due to the

Just to provide historical background information on the issue I am about to address I will first set the scene. On the morning of December 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. The attacked lasted a little over two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes. More than 2,000 Americans soldiers and sailors died in the attack, and another 1,000 were wounded. The day after the assault, President

Truman’s choice to drop the bomb was to stop the bloody war. “For Truman, the choice whether or not to use the atomic bomb was the most difficult decision of his life.” His decision to drop the bomb was purely military. America lose many soldiers and civilians because of 4 years of non-stop war and was weary of it, but Japan was denying to give up their fight.

After the Japanese dropped the bomb on Pearl Harbor, the United States took serious offense to it. The Americans dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki because of them dropping the bomb on Pearl Harbor. America dropped the bomb because President Harry Truman commanded that if the Japanese made any attack on us, we would attack them. This bomb badly affected Japan. At least 140,000 Japanese people died, including 20,000 soldiers by December of 1945. At least 90% of the deceased were killed within two weeks of the bomb being dropped. 92% of 76,000 buildings were destroyed. (“Hiroshima Committee”)