Can you make a decision based on an uncertain outcome? The atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was a guess, where President Truman had to choose what he thought would be the lesser of two evils. The US was in a situation where they were not sure that the war would ever end, and whether or not Japan would ever surrender. The use of the bomb in Hiroshima cost Japan many innocent lives yet many have saved hundreds of thousands more in never-ending war and deciding worlds powers. Hiroshima the bomb changed the lives of many and changed the course of history. The war had already hurt many, and Japan was anything but innocent. Was the risk that Japan would not surrender worth the possible lives of hundreds of thousands of American lives. The war was …show more content…
The way the war was going showed no sign of peacefully surrendering unconditionally. The continue fighting would have made the situation worse and would create an enemy out of Japan. The American interest wanted to surrender and start new. The atomic bomb seemed to be the only method of acquiring a final surrender. “ On the other hand, I think that the attempt to exterminate her armies and her population by gunfire or other means will tend to produce a fusion at race solidarity and Auntie basis which has no analogy in the case of Germany. We have a national interest in creating if possible, or condition wherein the Japanese Nation may live as peaceful and useful member of the future Pacific community.” the atomic bomb was not dropped without thinking of the consequences the United States sincerely hopes to create a better nation of Japan bringing it into the economy. Henry Stimson what are the decision offers and the supporters of dropping the bomb had a carefully designed a plan for rebuilding Japan. He And many others believe that the Japanese were civil and liberal enough to change and surrender after such a bomb. “ I think the Japanese nation has the mental intelligence and versatile capacity in such a crisis to recognize the folly of a fight to the finish and to accept the proffer of what will amount to an unconditional surrender;
...ecessary to end the war, because the Japanese were not going to surrender. In August of 1944 the war in Europe was over and the face off between the United States and Japan had finally arrived. The United States had to choose between sending hundreds of thousands of US soldiers, to invade Japan killing and being killed by the hundreds of thousands, OR dropping a newly developed weapon called the atomic bomb on two cities in Japan which would result in tens of thousands of civilian lives with little cost to US servicemen. The only hope of ending the war quickly and honorably was to drop the bombs. Calls for surrender were ignored and the Japanese hierarchy, Okinawa and Iwo Jima had shown clearly what an invasion of Japan would be like. The decision was made, the bombs were dropped, the war was ended and both military and civilian lives were saved by both countries.
...that Japan was ready to surrender. Stimson, Churchill, Truman were all very aware of this. Declassified documents state that “the Japanese leaders had decided to surrender and were merely looking for sufficient pretext to convince the die-hard Army group that Japan had lost the war and must capitulates to the Allies.’’ (Alperoviz) According to this scenario there would have been some casualties but no more than 5000. As noted before this was Truman original plan but due to the number that he received he backed away from it. Rufus explains that there would have only been 31,000 American casualties, not deaths. The rhetoric is being missed under stood according to him. The number that Truman has been given are deaths and not casualties. Casualties include those who did and those who were wounded. The number of Japanese casualties would have consisted of about 66,000.
The imminent invasion of mainland Japan and the allied casualties that came with it were also a factor in the decision to drop the bomb. If the allied forces had invaded mainland Japan, many lives on both sides would have been lost, probably more than they lost in the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The tactics that the allies had used up to this point cost hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides. This was when the Japanese only had maybe two or three thousand men on an island; whereas on the mainland millions of people would fight until their death to protect their country. Can you imagine if the Americans invaded mainland Japan, where they had not only soldiers to fight against, but also the citizens of Japan?
nevertheless, it was still justifiable because the allies did not know for sure if the Japanese were to surrender and the longer they would wait the more lives that would be
Both sides of the war had suffered tremendous losses and the numbers would have continued to grow over the course of the war. By choosing to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, I believe the lives saved in the long run outweigh the initial number of lives lost. There is no way to put a price of one human life against another, but the total number of deaths prevented could have been multitudes compared to the hundred thousand killed in the atomic blasts. From the numbers alone, I support President Truman’s utilitarian
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.
There were many factors as to the argument relating to the atomic bombs leading to the United States final decision. Many people had arguments for the bombing and others had arguments against the bombings, but it is still not determined if the United States made the right decision. After Truman decided to bomb Japan, they had to plan it out. They first had to decide where to release the bomb. They ended up choosing Hiroshima, Japan and Nagasaki, Japan as their two locations.
...ople and would fight to protect every inch of their homeland until there were no Japanese left. The logic of Truman and many Americans was to swiftly end the war while the means to do it were available, and this was one of the main driving forces behind the decision to drop the bomb.
Dropping the atomic bomb was a decision that no man would want to take on. Truman went with all the facts and his gut feeling. There was Great loss for Japan but even some of the Japanese soldiers were happy that the United States dropped the bomb. For it most likely saved their lives the emperor was willing to sacrifice everyone so he wouldn’t have to surrender. Whether you decide to agree with the bomb dropping or not it wasn’t about the bomb it was about ending the war. The atomic bomb is what ended the war quicker than any other options the United States had making it the best choice.
... the Japanese were unpredictable. If Harry Truman had not dropped the bombs over Japan it would have only brought on further casualties.
The potential use of atomic weapons against the Japanese was appealing to the United States because it was seen as a dramatic and decisive way to end the war (Walker, ). Prior to the decision to use nuclear weapons, Japan and the United States were at odds over the terms by which the Japanese would surrender to the Americans, which did nothing but prolong the military conflict (Walker, ). Japanese leadership had expressed its desire to end the war to third parties, but could no...
The expensive nuclear attack was an unneeded method to win the war because, at the time, Japan was not strong enough to fight back the allies. More than sixty Japanese cities had been destroyed during the war by conventional bombing, the country lost potential help from Germany, the home islands were being blockaded by the American Navy, and the small islands in the Pacific Ocean once occupied by Japan were now under American control. In addition to its bad situation the Soviet Union declared war against the troubled nation by attacking Japanese troops in Manchuria. The vast majority of the people around the globe knew that Japan had no possible way to win this war.
Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated. (McInnis, 1945) Though the public did not know this, the allies, in fact, did. Through spies, they had learned that both Japan's foreign minister, Shigenori Togo and Emperor Hirohito both supported an end to the war (Grant, 1998). Even if they believed such reports to be false or inaccurate, the leaders of the United States also knew Japan's situation to be hopeless. Their casualties in defending the doomed island of Okinawa were a staggering 110,000 and the naval blockade which the allies had enforced whittled trade down to almost nothing. Japan was quickly on the path to destruction. (Grant, 1998). Of course, the Allies ignored this for the reason that dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would intimidate Russia. Had they truly been considering saving more lives and bringing a quick end to the war in Japan, they would have simply waited them out without the major loss of life seen at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The first reason why the US’s choice of using Atomic Bombs was justified is that it saved many soldiers’ life. If the war had continued, many more lives on both the United States and Japan’s side would have been lost. If the United States had invaded Japanese land, the number of casualties would soar. Also, the Japanese said that they would fight to their death in this war, also making the United States more nervous. The Japanese thought that suicide
Historian Robert James Maddox starts the debate by siding with Truman and states that he made the right decision in dropping the bomb. Maddox uses several influential meetings, speculations and the presidents’ personal opinions on the situation to defend his statement. Some examples he uses include, Japanese military power and mentality, saving American lives, and unconditional surrender. In short, because the use of the atomic bomb occurred, the Japanese military lost their lust to fight to the end, countless lives were saved, and Japan surrendered. Therefore, although many Japanese lives were lost in the conflict the right decision was made by Harry Truman to authorize the usage of the bombs.