Truman's Blunder: The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb

(Doc C). Next, Winston Churchill’s recollection of the Potsdam Conference also emphasized the need to end the war before Soviet intervention. It seemed to be a mutual agreement between the U.S. and Britain that the two powers should not need the Red Army to end the war with Japan (Doc E). Finally, nuclear physicist Leo Szilard’s recollection of a 1945 meeting between James Byrnes and a group of concerned atomic scientists supports the idea that America dropped the atomic bomb to intimidate the U.S.S.R. The scientists were very concerned about the rapid spreading of Russian influence in Europe, which probably contributed to the U.S. policy of containment. Due to this fear, James Byrnes and the atomic scientists believed that demonstrating the bomb would make the Soviet Union more manageable in Europe. One can also argue that this approach can be related the John Foster Dulles theory of massive retaliation, which is the belief that the threat of “massive of retaliation” with nuclear weapons would stop Soviet aggression. Therefore, one can argue that the dropping of the atomic bomb was a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union and one can argue that this idea was backed by the theories of containment and massive retaliation.

President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the direct cause for the end of World War II in the Pacific. The United States felt it was necessary to drop the atomic bombs on these two cities or it would suffer more casualties. Not only could the lives of many soldiers have been taken, but possibly the lives of many innocent Americans. The United States will always try to avoid the loss of American civilians at all costs, even if that means taking lives of another countries innocent civilians.

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 should not have dropped the atomic bomb because it was inhumane. By using that powerful bomb on japan lots of people died and lots of people lost their children, families, and it also ruined everything on their land so they can’t have access to anything. According to document ‘E,’ the evidence shows that it was hard for Japanese because they lost lots of people, 64,000 people total died from Nagasaki and 135,000 total died from Hiroshima which was terrifying. This evidence helps explain that the U.S. should not have dropped the atomic bomb because it took lives of civilians and innocent people.

Imagine yourself making the toughest decision in your life, whether sacrificing a million of our men and thousands of war ships and plans, verses several thousand of Japanese civilian populists. This decision was on the shoulder of Harry S. Truman, the United States President, who had to make this decision by deciding whether or not to drop a newly designed weapon. The atomic bomb was tested in the sands of New Mexico, where it proved to be very successful. Harry S. Truman made a very successful decision, because he wanted to end the war quickly, show others that the United States had power, and the retribution of Pearl Harbor.

Many debates have been provoked based on President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The debate is not solely based on the bomb being dropped, but more on the actual necessity and intention of the bomb being dropped.

America's decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan was only done to assert our position over the Soviet Union, and Japan's surrender was only an extra accomplishment of the attack. During the years 1939 to 1947, numerous conferences were held to discuss diplomatic matters, and the strive towards getting Japan to accept an unconditional surrender. The Japanese had already been weakened, and the military predicted that they would eventually be forced to surrender in a short amount of time. Even the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb agreed that it was unnecessary to drop the bomb on Japan, since their surrender would be evident in the near future. Therefore, the United States' decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan had nothing to do

On the 6th and 9th of August, 1945, the United States of America dropped the Atomic Bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The use of these bombs brought a quick end to World War 2, yet caused extensive damage to the two Japanese cities. There have often been disputes as to whether the USA was justified in the dropping of the atomic bombs because of the damage they caused, not only to the cities, but to the people of Japan as well. Many people believe that the USA should not have dropped the bombs because of the damage they caused, and they also claim that Japan was already defeated. However, Japan did not surrender, and prolonging the war was not an option for America, as it believed it would cause even more casualties, not only to American troops, but to Japan as well. Thus the USA was justified in dropping the bombs on Japan.

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

Was Truman actually justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? The atomic bomb on hiroshima was devastating. It killed thousands of people in the process of finishing the war. Truman and the rest of the country were rushed in finishing the war but didn’t want to lose any more men than they had to. In the writer’s opinion Truman was not justified in dropping the atomic bomb because of how many lives were lost and how inhumane it was to drop the bomb.

Firstly, the bombings were unjustified because of the locations where the bombs were dropped. Neither cities were military or naval bases. Hiroshima was

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pressures on Harry Truman that led him to authorize the use of atomic bombs on Japan. There are discrepancies in the public reasons that Truman professed for using atomic bombs. His personal diaries record a different reasoning than was presented to the people of the United States and the rest of the world. This paper will also examine the scientists’ opposition to using the atomic bomb. In the video "Day After Trinity", some scientists seemed to have a very abstract view of how devastating the bomb would be in realistic human terms. Once the news of the bomb reached the scientists, they seemed shocked and surprised at how savage the weapon was. I

With the outcome of the Manhattan Project it seemed like the best choice in that situation, but it was not the easiest and they continued to run numbers to see whether or not using the Atomic Bombs would be beneficial or cause more casualties. The plans for Operation Olympic and Coronet were already in preparation, they could not get over how many American lives it would cost. Giangreco stated that the Saipan Ratio was one of the reasoning’s behind the decision, “… it cost approximately one American killed and several wounded to exterminate seven Japanese soldiers. On this basis it might cost us half American lives…” They did not know at the time the ramifications of radiation and how it will affect the people that survived the bomb for years to come. General George Marshall was all for the bombs he saw how much death that had came from the war and wanted it to end quickly. While the Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Truman looked over the numbers very carefully before making the ultimate decision. During the Potsdam conference the decision was made and they gave the Japanese another opportunity to unconditionally surrender and when they refused they dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima. While there was no evidence on Truman’s feelings at this time another week later he dropped another one on

The decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the hardest decision for President Truman to make. He had the power right there in his hands to end the war but he would have to unleash the most powerful weapon known to man, at this time. Everyone was very tired of fighting but the Japanese would not give up so Truman decided to drop it. Even though we told Japan that if they did not surrender we would completely demolish some of their cities, they did not listen and they did not surrender. Maybe they did not think about what kind of weapons we would use because

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.