Why President Truman Decided to Drop Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The end of the war was drawing near, and the Pacific was now the United States’ main focus because a quick defeat of the Japanese was needed. Now, new president, Harry S. Truman, was faced with a huge decision. Should we drop the atomic bomb on Japan? Yes, there were other options, but none would end the war as quickly. So, on August 3, 1945 the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, and on August 9, 1945 another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. I think it was not only a military necessity, but entirely justifiable, because the Japanese were determined not to surrender, it saved lives, both American and Japanese, in led to a fast end of the war, and was the right thing to do.

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)

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.

Okinawa, Japan was the site of the largest amphibious battle of World War II. The Battle of Okinawa resulted in the death of over 12,000 American and 100,000 Japanese soldiers, which lasted from late March through June 1945. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the main reasons President Harry Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The main reason for the bombing was to put a stop to the American death toll. Approximately two months later on August 6, 1945, the massive nuclear weapon was dropped over Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb destroyed about four square miles of the city and also caused the death of 65,000 Japanese citizens. Because of this bombing, the Japanese government surrendered a week later.

“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

On August 6, 1945, “Little Boy” the first atomic bomb, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima and three days later, “Fat Man” a second bomb, was dropped on Nagasaki, resulting in the untimely death of over 20,000 people. This was done as an offensive and retaliation by the United States of America, whom had feeling of revenge and an unwavering desire to end an ongoing war as quickly and decisively as possible, against the Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. However, this took place right after a demand for an unconditional surrender of the Japanese by the Allied leaders by means of a Potsdam Declaration, in late July 1945, was flatly rejected by Japanese leaders. Thus resulting in the use of these atomic bombs being authorized by President Truman.

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

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.

Imagine, being the one to make the call that's going to end thousands of lives. On August 6, 1945 president Harry Truman made the call that would change the history books forever, and dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan killing 100,000 people, and injuring 40,000 more. "To Father Kleinsorge, an Occidental, the silence in the grove by the river, where hundreds of gruesomely wounded suffered together, was one of the most dreadful and awesome phenomena of his whole experience." Hersey, page 47. Many of the wounded people died due to injuries that had there been enough doctors and nurses they may have survived, but many of them died during the blast. "Of a hundred and fifty doctors in the city, sixty-five were already dead and most of the rest were wounded. Of 1,789 nurses, 1,654 were dead or too badly hurt to work. In the biggest hospital, that of the Red Cross, only six doctors out of thirty were able to function, and only ten nurses out of more than two hundred." Hersey, page 19, The United States dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan on August 9th, 1945 just 3 days after Hiroshima killing an additional 80,000 people. If I was in Harry Truman's shoes during that time period I would have made the choice to drop the atom bomb on Hiroshima. This was during a time where counties were fighting to show how

On August 6, 1945 and August 9, 1945, the two bombs code named “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were dropped on the Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Since then, there has been controversy over whether the bombs should of been dropped. People often question Truman’s decisions- I don’t. A common counter is, so many citizens died. Although that is valid, people of the opposition don’t realize that it is a war, innocent people are bound to be killed. Truman’s actions are completely justifiable and were definitely the right thing to do.

To begin with, President Truman had no choice and wanted to save American lives. According to History Extra, “All a commander or political leader can hope to assess is whether a particular course of action is likely to reduce the loss of life. Faced with the Japanese refusal to surrender, President Truman had little choice.” This develops why the bombs that were dropped in Japan were a good choice. President Truman wanted to make sure that Japan knew that the US was very strong and smart

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

In a brief summary, World War II (WWII) was viewed as one of the bloodiest wars to date. The Japanese belief of fighting to the last man and not surrendering played a large role in the decisions made in warfare (Dietrich). After Japan kamikaze-bombed Pearl Harbor, WWII was officially in place and the U.S. was prepared to retaliate to the fullest extent. The first bomb to be dropped on Japan, also the first atomic bomb ever to be used, was the “Little Boy” which landed on August 6th, 1945. It exploded near the Shima Hospital causing nearly eighty-thousand deaths as a direct impact, and nearly sixty-thousand due to the aftermath of the explosion (“World War 2”). The second bomb to drop was named “Fat Man” and it exploded near the Mitsubishi Arms Works plant directly causing seventy-thousand deaths and a total of 140,000 due to the aftermath (“World War 2”). The city of Hiroshima was an important Japanese city of this time. It held many military advantages for the Japanese. Due to the island being earthquake-prone, majority of the buildings within this bustling city were heavily reinforced and some were

At about eight A.M on August sixth, 1945 the Japanese city Hiroshima was destroyed by the deployment of the first nuclear weapon, nicknamed “Little Boy.” Soon after, at about eleven A.M the following day, a second bomb was dropped, called “Fat Man” on Nagasaki. Together, these bombings caused massive destruction. The death total was well near 220, 000. Only portions of these deaths were from the days of the bombings, with an equal number occurring later in the year from exposure to radiation. More have died since from leukemia.

more backing and hopefully lessen the blow to the Japanese. Truman did not want to wait nor did he want to risk anymore American lives against a country that had clearly dug their heels in to be defeated rather than surrender. Therefore, on August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, instantly killing over 70,000 Japanese citizens. Still the Japanese would not surrender and the U.S. dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki, ultimately killing an additional 80,000 citizens. It was not until five days later that the Japanese finally surrendered unconditionally. However, with only three days in between the first two bombs it was apparent that the Japanese were not going to surrender so quickly. The Soviets quickly invaded after the first bombing and this could have contributed to Japans surrender, not the two atomic bombings.