Truman Made the Right Choice

As World War II was coming to an end during 1945, the creation of one of the most destructive weapons known to humanity occurred within the United States. This weapon, known as “the atomic bomb,” was used on the two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in a death toll unprecedented by any military weapon used before and an immediate, unconditional surrender. Some historians believe President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb in order to intimidate the Soviet Union whereas others believe it was a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. In the Report of a Scientific Panel of nuclear physicists, some scientific colleagues believed the atomic bomb was a “purely technical

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.

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.

The necessity of the atomic bombs have long been debated in America. Although they did contribute to stopping the war, Americans still wonder if murdering Japanese civilians was a necessary means to an end, or if it could have been avoided. Some people believe that the war would have ended without using the bombs. Others believe they were the sole purpose that the war finally ended. Many people were involved with bringing the bombs to fruition, such as the scientists, the government and military leaders, and the very teams that flew them to their targets. Then the President addressed the situation and American citizens spoke their minds. All of these people had their own thoughts on whether the bombs were needed. In this essay, the opinions on the atomic bomb’s necessity will be reviewed by presenting both the pros and cons from a variety of sources.

1. Long after World War II and the use of the atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a great debate remains. It seems that there are two main potential arguments as to why the bombs were detonated and whether or not they were even necessary to begin with. The first theory surrounds the notion of the national security interests of the United States. In this theory essentially, Truman’s actions had been defended and justified as necessary in order to quickly end the war with U.S. causalities kept to a minimum.

The pressing question still lingers: Was the United States justified in using the Atomic Bomb against Japan during WWII? World War II stands as the bloodiest and deadliest war of all time. It involved more than thirty countries and resulted in over fifty million civilian and military deaths. It lasted six years, beginning with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939. As the Allied Powers (mainly the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union) and the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) were in direct conflict with each other, many wonder if the cost of victory was too extreme. In late 1941, the process of creating the world’s first, most deadly weapon began. The production of the first atomic bomb was code named “the Manhattan Project.” After months of production, August 6, 1945, America dropped the “Little Boy” bomb on Hiroshima, wiping out ninety percent of the city. August 9, 1945, just three days after the devastation of the first bomb, America dropped the “Fat Man” bomb on Nagasaki. Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan was not necessary, nor justified in ending World War II. Due to the fact that America targeted heavily civilian populated cities (with limited military value), that Japan was in a position of surrender before the bomb was dropped, and the fact that the U.S. did not give enough time for Japan to process the devastation of the first bomb before the second in Nagasaki shows that America’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was entirely unjustified.

On May 1945, a long-awaited V-E Day finally came and brought an end to the war in Europe. But, the war in the Pacific was still continuing against Japan since they are being reluctant to surrender despite the continuous indiscriminate bombardments The United States began to consider about using the atomic bombs as the only way to end the war immediately. On the other hand, many argued that Japan’s staggering losses were enough to force Japan’s surrender. In the end, President Harry S. Truman didn’t hesitate to use this nuclear weapon and bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki with only three days interval between the two bombing. As a result, Japan has surrendered, but if I were to make a decision, I haven’t used atomic bombs because it was unnecessary since Japan has virtually lost already.

Americans have been wondering whether President Truman should’ve ordered the usage of weapons which was against Japan back in August 1945. The World War II which involved almost every part of the world. This decision had the citizens thinking every year that passes by as if the President had made wrong decision. This horrible event had the citizens in doubt. The results were not good for the Japanese civilians. Because the of the atomic bomb they had lost not only their families, but also their houses and businesses. It impacted the tens of thousands of people in every way possible. To what Americans observes from this is not only the pros it had brought for the citizens, but it

Controversy: (n) Disagreement, typically when prolonged, public, and heated. The decision to drop the atomic bomb was one of President Truman’s and America’s hardest decisions. It would put an end to one of the deadliest wars but take the lives of many innocent people in the process. To this day, people wonder if it was worth it. Despite the controversies and barriers for the decision to drop the bomb in early August 1945, America committed to the total annihilation of Japan. One controversy over the dropping of the bomb is the fact that Japan was not given fully-disclosed about information of the Atomic bomb when given the chance to surrender unconditionally. Another pending problem was the thought that the enemy could develop and utilize atomic technology before we did. Finally, the question that made scientists and Truman think was, “Would the bomb end the war or prolong it, and was it worth it?” Therefore, it is clear that Robert Oppenheimer’s speech, “Speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientists,” 70 scientist “Petition to the President of the United States,” and www.ushistory.org “The Decision to Drop the Bomb” all definitively discuss the controversy involved the decision to drop the bomb, caused by people’s opinions on not giving Japan all the information, the possibility of Japan developing similar weapons, and the need to end the war.

Only a handful of people knew about the bomb or the research on the use of atomic energy for military purposes. Now Truman had been informed about the best kept secret of World War II.

decision to bomb Japan was mainly focused on Truman's confrontational approach to the Soviet Union.”Moreover, this subject is thought to be more appropriately thought as a side benefit of dropping the bomb and not so much its sole purpose.

This investigation assesses President Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It will determine whether or not his decision was justified. This investigation will scrutinize the reasons that made Harry Truman feel inclined to drop atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Preventing further casualties along with the desire to end the war are two argumentative points that will be analyzed to determine if they were strong enough to justify the dropping

The sources used are a variety of books and academic articles which explain differing reasons on Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb. The sources drawn on also include The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman and his letters to his wife. The publication dates range from 1965 to 2013. As this essay explains alternative factors which influenced Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb, it draws especially on the words of Truman and the words of his Secretary of State, James F. Byrnes. The historian Gar Alperovitz challenges the traditionalist perspective, that the bomb was dropped to end the war without the casualties of a ground invasion, claiming that Truman had political intentions when deciding on using the bomb against Japan. Historians,

When President Harry S. Truman ordered the nuclear attack on Hiroshima on the 6th of August, 1945, most people were supportive of it because it ended the war before an invasion became necessary. Seventy two years since the first and last nuclear attacks, many 'traditionalist' historians still believe that Truman made the best possible decision in the given circumstances. However, in the 1960's, Truman's critics, who reinterpreted history began to believe that the bomb played no significant role in ending the war and was thus unnecessarily used. These revisionist historians have gone so far as to characterize the use of nuclear weapons as “the single greatest acts of terrorism in human history” (Awan, 16). On the other hand, traditionalists argue that the bomb was an important

United States President Harry Truman once justified the use of the first atomic bomb by claiming that its use would shorten the way and bring home American troops. After a reasonable amount of time to analyze the effects of dropping the bomb, there are now endless theories as to why Japan was the target all along and some subconscious thoughts questioning the morality of the decision that has solidified itself in history books around the world. Many historians say that Japan’s fate was sealed long before the first bomb fell, and was a result of overwhelming maritime control and power. More recently, arguments have been made that the use of the bombs had little to do with revenge or even intimidation of Japanese power, but was simply a campaign to instill fear in the Soviets. Some take a more practical approach by offering the point of view that the bomb was used where, if it failed to go off as planned, it would land in surrounding water that was deep enough to prevent other countries from salvaging the bomb and making further advancements of their own weapons.