Why Did Truman Use The Atomic Bomb Against Japan?

In addition to the desire to end the war and thus the casualties to the American troops, Truman had other reasons for considering the approval of the atomic attacks. Truman was enlightened by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in a meeting on April 25, 1945 on the capability of the bomb, and the enormous expense incurred in developing it. This was one reason that Truman’s conclusion was to use the bomb against Japan, as there had to be a justifiable explanation for the expense incurred. Also, if he had not employed the use of the atomic bomb, he would not be able to justify to the American people why he had chosen not to do so, as there were so many American lives lost. It was alleged after the

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.

Was it necessary for Truman to drop the Atomic Bombs on Japan in World War II? On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US aircraft on Hiroshima. This atomic bomb was dropped to force Japan into surrender, this bomb alone destroyed Hiroshima and over 90,000 people were instantly killed in the explosion and an additional 100,000 people perished from burns and radiation sickness. On August 9, 1945 only three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki resulting in an additional 80,000 casualties of the Japanese population. The people of Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 soon after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people opposed to the use of the atomic bombs because people argued that Truman 's decision to use atomic bombs was a barbaric act of cruelty. People also argued that the US government had other ulterior motives to drop the atomic bomb that were necessary for America 's ideals. Necessary motives like presenting The Soviet Union a strong message for the Soviets to watch their step around America. A conventional way of warfare for Japan 's surrender would have costed many more American lives. Truman and others believed that the atomic bomb was necessary to save American lives but also Japanese lives. These actions from President Truman marked the end of the most destructive war in history. The two sources that will used and evaluated in this paper are is The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb by Dennis D. Wainstock (1996)

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.

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States of America. He became president because Franklin D. Roosevelt died during his term; Truman was Roosevelt’s Vice President at the time. Truman found himself facing some of the greatest challenges met by any 20th-century president. He discovered in July 1945 that some scientists working for the United States government had successfully tested an atomic bomb in New Mexico. President Truman wanted to use the atomic bomb to end the war in the Pacific, but with fewest U.S. catastrophes. This decision was one of the most momentous decisions of the 20th century and extremely perplexing when analyzed.

Did we make the right decision in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan during WWII? Till this day ordinary citizens and commanders question if the bombing was ethical. The utilitarian approach supports the argument considering without the bombs millions of lives would’ve been at risk. However, dropping the atomic bombs kept the deaths significantly lower on both sides. I believe the right decision was to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. I’m briefly going to talk about why Truman decided to drop the bomb, why there wasn’t another alternative, and what some felt after the bombing.

Initially, the bombs were created as a defense mechanism but Truman was unprepared for a presidential role when he unexpectedly replaced Roosevelt. Before Truman made the initial choice to drop “Little Boy,” Japan was severely close to surrendering to the United States. “The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons…” (Doc 2) Admiral William D. Leahy was against the dropping of the atomic bomb because of the overall success of United States troops.

“Truman stated that his decision to drop the bomb was purely military. Truman believed that the bombs saved Japanese lives as well. Prolonging the war was not an option for the President,” (ushistory.org 1). President Truman and the United States government made a fair decision by dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese citizens in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during 1945. The bomb allowed the United States to appear more powerful and led to them influencing the rest of the world. The dropping of the atomic bomb was also a just response to the previous atrocities committed by Japan to other countries including the United States. In the long run, the bomb saved more lives that would have been lost in the war, since the bombs caused the

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

Before him no president had made the effort to enforce equality with the general interest of the people instead of another motive. Although his attempts were largely ineffective that is due to the unwillingness of people occupying other political positions. The same can be said about the Marshall Plan. The only reason some parts of it failed were due to the inability of other people to want to implement it. Additionally, some might say that Japan was on its knees and the bomb was unnecessary and a ridiculous waste of lives. The Japanese philosophy regarding war is simple- fight until you cannot anymore. Truman knew this, and realized that without a way to intimidate there war would continue and there would be no end in sight. The alternative to the bomb was an amphibious attack on the Japanese coast which would have cost a million lives on both sides. The bomb, although devastating cost only 230,000. The ethical debate over the atomic bomb will never be over, but it was effective in its purpose- ending the

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

Also not too long after becoming president, Truman learned that the United States was developing a nuclear bomb capable of mass destruction. After the bomb was successfully tested Truman was faced with the decision on the best way to end the war, and he was required to make a decision on whether or not use this weapon on japan to bring a quicker surrender and end to the war. His moral dilemma was should he risk possible a million soldiers invading Japan or use the atomic bomb with an enormous destructive power. The allies had demanded an unconditional surrender by the Japan. The demand did say refusal would result in mass destruction, but not mentioning by any new weapons.

Imagine that you are a person in Japan when all of a sudden you hear a plane flying over your town. Suddenly, you see a bomb dropped and blow up your entire city. Well, in 1945, the Japanese were dying. In a minute two whole cities were destroyed. It was Truman’s best option to launch the atomic bombs because he had to end the war; we had to save thousands of Americans; and the Japanese would not have surrendered.

As the war came to an end Truman had two main choices on how to finish the war, either drop the atomic bombs on military and civilian target, invade the Japanese mainland or drop the bomb on an uninhabited island as a warning. There were two different less consired options the first being the idea to demonstrate the power of the nuclear bomb by dropping it on an uninhabited island however this option was quickly shut down as advisors stated, “We can propose no technical demonstration likely to end the war; we see no acceptable alternative to direct military use.” The second less considered option was to warn Japan before dropping the bomb on a Japanese city however like like a demonstration this was shut down quickly, “There was no assurance that the bomb would work’... They too feared that a warning, followed by a “dud” might stiffen Japan’s moral. There was no reason policy makers concluded, to take this risk.”

He was the first president to drop an atomic bomb. His decision was very hard to make, because even before the bomb was finally released, members of the President’s inner circle grappled with the specifics of the decision to drop the new weapon. The final decision was supported by several reasons. First of all, President Truman wanted to end the war as soon as possible, and at the lowest possible cost, so that American society would not be hurt anymore. Ending the war meant justifying the cost of the Manhattan Project. Another reason that supported dropping the bomb was to show the Soviets that the United States possessed a formidable supply of the new weapons; it was very impressive to drop two highly destructive bombs in just few days. Also, Americans wanted revenge on Pearl Harbor and President Truman has declared that “When you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a