Truman Dbq

From their inception the Japanese had a unique culture, and it extended to battle plans. The state of the Japanese combined with their culture was one reason dropping the bomb was necessary. To start, The Japanese strategy was to never surrender; they would fight not just till the last man, but till the last women and child(OI). This was as ingrained in their heads as freedom for all is ingrained in ours. Furthermore, they refused the Potsdam declaration, that would give them peace if they surrendered(OI). Next, the Japanese were torturing American soldiers. 5,200 prisoners were tortured in what was called the “March of Death”.(Ooc. B) In addition, the Japanese were desperate to get a foot up in the war. So, they blew up USS Essex in the Pacific theater (Doc. C). Also,

Atomic bombs are so powerful that it immediately causes a widespread killing of the people close to the explosion. The aftermath of the explosions are horrific to where there were bodies floating down the stream (Document F). “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in out war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender” (Document B). This means that the Japanese thought these weapons were exceedingly brutal and would wipe out everything, so they weren’t in favor of the bombs. They were already defeated from the power of these bombs and they couldn’t do anything after the explosions, and this was just not necessary. After the attacks, Hiroshima was no longer a city but a burned-over prairie. To the east and west everything was flattened (Document D). Entire cities were wiped out and this caused shock and sadness to approach into

The result of this was the death of tens of thousands of individuals, even civilians, in place of those who would’ve died in future battle, where it could even result in even more bloody casualties, as well as a substantial amount of American casualties. As stated by President Harry S. Truman, “It was their recommendation that the bomb be used against the enemy as soon as it could be done. They recommended further that it should be used without specific warning…” (Doc 1). In my opinion, this quote shows how we needed no demonstration and no warning to the Japanese and hit them hard, fast, and respond exactly how they did at Pearl Harbor. Another quote from Document 1 includes how this atomic bomb “would likely bring the war to an end,” (Doc

    There were many causes for the United States dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of these causes was because we wanted to increase the chances of Japan surrendering so that

America was finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel by April of 1945. With Stalin committed to entering war with Japan in alliance with the United States, and German troops dropping like flies, the last thing America needed was for Franklin D. Roosevelt to die. Entering his fourth term, Harry S. Truman accompanied him as the Vice President. Truman’s predecessor, as it turns out, was Henry A. Wallace, “an unapologetic (somewhat over enthusiastic) liberal, that had so infuriated the conservative wing of the Democratic party, the party bosses were desperate to be rid of him.”1 The drastic contrast in political views between Wallace and Truman made it clear that if put in any of the situations Truman eventually was, Wallace would

In the conclusion of World War II, Harry Truman was forced to make a tough decision about using atomic weapons. President Truman had four options: first, to continue predictable bombing of Japanese cities; second, invade Japan; third, reveal the bomb to an unpopulated island; or last, drop the bomb on a populated Japanese city. Truman chose to drop the atomic bomb on a populated area of Japan, Hiroshima. The first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6th of 1945.

Atomic bombs can hurt about 100,000 people. They can get burns, radiation sickness, or even die from just one drop of this bomb. America and Japan have fought for four years, and Japan wouldn’t surrender. To make them surrender, America’s scientists created an atomic bomb, and dropped it onto Japan, and they finally surrendered. This nuclear weapon was needed to end war. The bombs did stop war and ended the rivalry between the two countries. Although, the bombs would pass along to other nations, ruin America’s reputation, and it affected a lot of people.

was fully justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, because of the unprovoked and brutal attacks on civilians, grounded airplanes, and the docked U.S. Pacific fleet by the Japanese. By retaliating with the atomic bomb to end the war the United States showed the world the power and weapons of mass destruction that it possessed and that it was not afraid to use them. This also issued a warning to the Soviet Union, who at the time was our ally, but was slowly turning into an enemy. In addition to showing the world the United States power, the atomic bombs crushed Japan not just physically, but also morally giving them no other option, but to surrender. Japan was on the edge of surrender with a great amount of inner turmoil, but Japans military leaders had declared no surrender and ordered their people to fight to the death of the last man, woman, and child, so in using the atomic bomb we forced them to the breaking point and saved millions of lives. Without the dropping of the atomic bombs the U.S. would have invaded the Japanese homeland in Operation Downfall where a great slaughter would have ensued. Nearly 500,000 Purple Heart medals were pre-made in anticipation of the invasion, but the atomic bombs saved this massive loss of life. The results brought about by the atomic bombs were very devastating and gruesome; they caused thousands of deaths and injuries and should not be employed except in the most dire

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

The Japanese saw this as an incredible insult to their ruler, and therefore refused surrender (Lawton). The only reason why America could follow through with the term of “The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction” (“Potsdam Declaration”) was because it had made the terms of the Potsdam Declaration completely disgraceful and unacceptable for Japan. Clive A. Lawton argues “Many Japanese politicians would only agree to surrender if Emperor Hirohito remained on the throne”. Had the U.S. revised its treaty terms in order to keep Hirohito in power and leave at least some of the Japanese military intact, Japan would have likely surrendered quicker and the bombs would not be needed.

On August 6, 1945 uranium gun-type atomic bomb (Little Boy) was dropped on Hiroshima, within the first day of the bombings the effects killed 90,000–166,000 people in Hiroshima. The effects of the atomic bomb left many dead, homeless, and sacred. Even four months later people would die from radiation poisoning and discovering they had cancer now. Skin would be peeling off like bark on trees, this was a true horrifying sight. The United States were at war with japan but, does that justify what they did? Some would say what they did was inhuman and just plan wrong. They say there were other alternatives that the United Sates could have done. I believe there could have been a better way of ending the war with japan but I understand why the United States did what they did. The Japanese came out of nowhere and attacked the United States did they think that the US would just roll over and die? The should of known not to surprise attack one of the strongest nations. The needed to be put back in place and show the rest of the world that the US was one not to be reckon with.

There were many causes for the United States dropping the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. One of these causes was because we wanted to increase the chances of Japan surrendering so that our

By bombing Japan, many civilians were killed as a result of the U.S. 's desire to use a new weapon. Laurence describes the bomb as, "a thing of beauty to behold" and "Never before had so much brain power been focused on a single problem" (11). This demonstrated how the U.S. saw Japan as a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly and that the new and supposedly destructive weapon was the best choice. While the targets, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were both production areas ,they were inhabited by a number of civilians. By choosing to drop the bomb, thousands were annihilated and any survivors began to suffer from radiation sickness shortly after. Because of its destruction, the U.S. believed the atomic bomb was a quick solution to the war.

Some regard the atomic bomb as “the thank God for the atom bomb”. This places God on the U.S. side and regards the bombs as our saving grace. This bomb forced the Japanese to surrender which in turn proved the U.S. to be the heroes who saved the American’s lives.1 The Americans intended on ending the war but did not expect to end it with such a large number of casualties. The results of the atomic bomb and how it effected the Japanese people both emotionally and physically will be addressed. “The bombs marked both an end and a beginning—the end of an appalling global conflagration in which more than 50 million people were killed and the beginning of the nuclear arms race and a new world in which

According to the accounts of several Japanese doctors and survivors, this was not just an ordinary bomb but an atomic bomb. Apart from instantly killing thousands of people, the atomic bomb left the survivors with strange symptoms and injuries such as burns and illnesses. “About a week after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima; an unclear, incomprehensible gossip reached the city – that the city had been wrecked by the energy released when atoms were somehow split into two” (Hersey 62). The attack by the American troops totally shocked the city and its public with unbelievably overwhelming effects. For instance, from an estimated total of two hundred and fifty thousand people that were living in the city, over a hundred thousand people were killed by the attack, and a hundred thousand more were injured or affected by the poisoning from radiation.