Atomic Bomb Dbq

OPENING STATEMENT:
As renowned historian David McCullough has been known to say, “people living ‘back then’ didn’t know they were living ‘back then’,” To judge the decisions of people in 1945 by the standards of today is not only nonsensical, it is simply pointless. Truman and his advisers made a reasonable if not intelligent choice to drop the atomic bomb in the context of World War II. In Truman’s position as president where he was faced with handling a brutal war involving an astronomical amount of American soldiers, the choice to drop the atomic bomb was seemingly the best of his limited options. It is because of this that my team and I stand on the firmest affirmation and feel compelled to say yes, the United States was justified in

its decision to drop the atomic bomb.

In affirming the presented statement “The United States was justified in its decision to drop the atomic bomb, I offer the following contentions:

Contention 1: It served its intended purpose which was to swiftly end the war and Contention 2: It served its purpose in preventing more American casualties.

My first contention is that the United States was justified in dropping the bomb because it served its intended purpose to bring the war to a swifter ending.

According to History.co.uk “Six months of intense strategic fire-bombing of 37 Japanese cities had done little to break the Hirohito regime’s resolve, and Japan continued to resolutely ignore the demand for unconditional surrender made at Potsdam.” In such a circumstance, the use of the atom bomb is clearly seen as the best way of forcing Japan to surrender, and ending the strenuous war. The alternative, of an Allied invasion of the Japanese home islands, was expected to cost hundreds of thousands of American casualties.
August 15, just six days after the detonation over Nagasaki, just as predicted the Japanese surrendered- ended World War II.

In “The Most Controversial Decision,” by the Rev. Wilson Miscamble, professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, blames the incredibly and unreasonably persistent attitude of Japan on “the twisted neo-samurai who led the Japanese military geared up with true banzai spirit to engage the whole population in a kind of kamikaze campaign. Their stupidity and perfidy in perpetuating and prolonging the struggle should not be

ignored.”

This clearly goes to illustrate that the war was indeed being dragged out and that the fighting spirit of the Japanese had not been dampened. The idea explained by professor Miscamble can also be extended towards my second contention.

My second contention is that the atomic bomb served its purpose in preventing the loss of more American lives.

According to Forbes.com “The losses between February and June 1945 just from the Allied invasions of the Japanese-held islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa were staggering: 18,000 dead and 78,000 wounded.”

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that an invasion of Japan’s home islands would result in approximately 1.2 million total American casualties, with 267,000 killed. A study performed by physicist William Shockley for the staff of Secretary of War Henry Stimson estimated that the invasion of Japan would result in 1.7-4 million American casualties, including 400,000-800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese deaths.

These estimates were in addition to the military members who had already died during the previous four years of war; which was 292,000 American deaths. In other words according to the estimates, the invasion of Japan could have resulted in the death of twice as many Americans as had already been killed in the European and Pacific theaters of WWII up to that time making it evident that the atomic bomb was indeed a sensible alternative

morally.

From this it is evidently imperative that we conclude that the United States was justified in dropping the atomic bomb.

It is undeniable that the existence of Nuclear weapons is something unfortunate that is still relevant to our modern times. To say, however, that President Truman should have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of American lives is not only illogical but is lack of contextualization enabled from the large amount of elapsed time since the war and the inability to empathize with America’s perspective and position during those years.