Was Truman Justified Dbq Essay

The citizens of the United States of America need to support President Truman in this decision. It should be understand that these measures are necessary to protect the lives of American citizens and soldiers. America has only one shot at taking down Japan, so the job needs to be done in the most advantageous way possible. Time is running out and President Truman needs to authorize the use of the atomic bomb immediately. The United States of America’s citizens, soldiers, and reputation lies in his

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

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.

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)

President Truman’s actions during the war were most reasonable because he had been “duped” by MacArthur and his belief that China would not enter the war when their troops reached Yalu River. Truman’s response to this was firing MacArthur; the action he took was justified as MacArthur needed punishment for his blunder in the war. While MacArthur did deserve to be relieved of his position, maybe it was not the right time to do so. He was an exceptional general with experience, and surely he would not have made a mistake of the same magnitude again.

On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. To this day there is controversy on whether the U.S. should have risked the lives of hundreds of thousands of people to win the second world war. The U.S. Should have considered other options before dropping the bomb on Hiroshima. There were many alternative actions that could have taken place instead of dropping the bomb, but President Truman decided that using it was the best way to get the Japanese to surrender. If he would have chosen differently, the world would be a different place today.

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.

This thought brings me to my next motive of why Truman might have dropped the bomb. I do not think Truman was unaware of the lasting effects of the atom bomb, but by the time these facts were presented to him, piled upon facts about the actual bomb and the projects supporting them, it was to late to change his decision. He needed to save face for America (which brings me to the next motive of pressure) even if it public opinion was not his main concern. Truman did not want to look soft upon the Japanese, something further consideration and negation of the plan to bomb would have caused in some officials eye's. Also, Truman and much of the rest of the nation did not like seeing the U.S. as moral failures like many other nations. Who knows what the reaction to the President's decision would have been like if he had decided to let an invasion with hundreds and thousands of our men involved take place.

There were many factors that were considered on whether to or not to use the newly found weapon against Japan in the time period. With having the opinions of scientists as well as military advisors, President Truman had several people 's opinions in mind, with many opinions present it made the decision on whether to or not to drop the bomb difficult to decide for the president. Many can agree or disagree with what would have happened if Truman hadn’t had ordered the first atomic bomb dropped. If the bomb hadn’t been dropped, there is no telling on what would have happened in the war with Japan.

“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

To my belief the two biggest issues that play a role in making and educated on wether to drop the bomb or not, would be time and money. The U.S. had already spent billions of dollars making these bombs, and couldnt afford to waste anymore money on the war. Sending troops to invade would have cost the U.S. alot of money that they didnt have, mind you they still were facing the great deppression. Not to mention the time that had gone into making these intricate atomic bombs, and the time that had already been wasted fighting the war. The war lasted about six years and could have been longer if Truman hadnt dropped the bomb because of the Japanese ethics and warfare perspective.

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

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

The decision to drop an atomic bomb is one of the hardest a commander-in-chief could make during their life. Let alone a president that was just inaugurated two months prior in the middle of World War II. This was the case for former President Harry S. Truman and it changed the world forever. In his eyes at the time and from the information given to him by his advisors this was the best option to end the fastest with the least amount of casualties for both the Americans and the Japanese. Throughout World War II thousands of soldiers and civilians were wounded and murdered. The use of the atomic bomb by the United States against Japan in World War II was a necessary evil that forced Japan to surrender and ceased all conflicts for years

President Truman has to make one of the hardest decisions of all time. He had to decide whether it was better to use a weapon of mass destruction, or let the war end on its own. Ultimately, his decisions to use the atomic bomb and end the war was the correct and most ethical decision. This decision was an ethical one because America gave the Japanese ample warning, it saved countless America lives, and it was payback for Pearl Harbor.