America's Resilient Response to Pearl Harbor

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America responded to the attack at Pearl Harbor in a resounding manner. America won the race to nuclear weapons decisively. America made a profound statement to the world, placing all on notice who may think about attacking us ever again. “Early on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing more than 2,400 Americans. They destroyed or heavily damaged eight battleships, three cruisers, three destroyers, and almost two hundred airplanes (Henretta, p.732).” That day caught America off guard and by surprise. Nobody expected someone to attack us on our own soil. It is one thing to attack our Soldiers throughout the world, but to come to our country was a brazen act that almost certainly demanded …show more content…

This one was larger than the first and given the nickname of “Fat Man” as a reference to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Nagasaki initially was not a city targeted by America due to where it was located geographically. Nagasaki was located over a stretch of hills and valleys, and was determined to be problematic as the landscape would dampen the blow of the bomb not allowing the greatest affect to be reached. An article on the History Learning Site, “The Bombing of Nagasaki”, gave the following explanation why it was a secondary target as well as some of the presumed issues with it as a target for attack. “Nagasaki was a major shipbuilding city and a large military port. But it was not a favored target as it had been bombed five times in the previous twelve months and any damage caused by an atomic bomb would have been difficult to assess. Also, the way Nagasaki had grown as a port meant that the impact of a powerful bomb might be dissipated as the city had grown across hills and valleys (Trueman, 2000).” In the aftermath of this bombing it was determined that around 74,000 were killed and about the same amount of individuals were wounded. After Japan was struck these blows by America it surrendered to the Allies shortly after on the 14th of

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