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;
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 Japanese were unpredictable. If Harry Truman had not dropped the bombs over Japan it would have only brought on further casualties.
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.
This essay will explain through logic reasoning and give detailed reasons as to why the United States did not make the right choice. One of the most argued topics today, the end of World War II and the dropping of the atomic bombs, still rings in the American ear. Recent studies by historians have argued that the United States really did not make the right choice when they chose to drop the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Also with the release of classified documents, we can see that the United States could have made the choice to use other alternatives besides the use of the atomic weapon.... ... middle of paper ...
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?
But the Japanese military was cruel and had a mindset almost suicidal and the only viable way to win the war and prevent the least amount of American lives lost was to speed up the process with the use of atomic weaponry. Dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not an easy decision by the U.S. military and government and as the president stated it was not something that was taken lightly or was likely to be used again unless necessary. The Atomic bomb had quite an impact on American military strategy and it is important with the amount of impact two bombs can have on not only the United States but the world that we understand the reasons this kind of weaponry is used in the first place as a well calculated last
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
To choose whether or not it was morally sound to use the atomic bomb, we must first examine the background as to what circumstances it was dropped under. In 1945, American soldiers and civilians were weary from four years of war, yet the Japanese military was refusing to give up their fight. American forces occupied Okinawa and Iwo Jima and intensely fire bombed Japanese cities. But Japan had an army of 2 million strong stationed in the home islands guarding against Allied invasion. After the completion of the Manhattan Project, For Truman, the choice whether or not to use the atomic bomb was the most difficult decision of his life. First, an Allied demand for an immediate unconditional surrender was made to the leadership in Japan. Although the demand stated that refusal would result in total destruction, no mention of any new weapons of mass destruction was made. The Japanese military commander Hideki Tojo rejected the request for unconditional s...
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.
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.
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
...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.
The United States dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was a decision with immense thought behind it. To this day there are arguments that support both sides of the decision. In the end dropping the bomb was the best option for the United States. Unfortunately there wasn’t an abundance of options and dropping the bomb was the most appealing in all aspects. In the end dropping the bomb was the best option for the United States. Unfortunately there wasn’t an abundance of options and dropping the bomb was the most appealing in all aspects.
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