Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Impact of the atomic bomb on society
Effects after the atomic bomb
Atomic bomb effects
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Impact of the atomic bomb on society
The Atomic Café Font the gecko of the invitation of the atomic bomb, there has been people deathly scared of its capabilities. The Atomic Café takes a look back at peoples fears, ideas, and perspectives of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb greatly influenced the citizens of the United States and changed society greatly. The atomic bombs use, however, is up for debate on whether it was used for the best, or for the worst. After the atomic bombs had been dropped on Japan, President Truman gives America – in an interview – a very hopeful message. He tells the United States that it should be thankful that they have the atomic bomb, and that they should continue to use it (Atomic Café). The message President Truman gives to the United States is …show more content…
Then the radio turns off, and the film explains to him that these effects are just temporary (Atomic Café). This shows the widespread fear that Americans had about the atomic bomb – so much that the United States’ government was forced to release films to help calm the fear of its citizens. Another way the invention of the atomic bomb influenced citizens was with the tool of “duck and cover”. The movie shows a cartoon turtle ducking and covering when an atomic bomb is going off (Atomic Café). This was clearly intended for children, and would seemingly give them a false sense of security. We know today that this method would offer little to no advantage in the event of an atomic explosion; however, the United States still attempted to convince its citizens that it would. The influence of the atomic bomb had on American society grew to even peoples own homes. People began to build homes, hospitals, and other buildings to have fallout shelters. These shelters promised to protect people in the event of an atomic explosion (Atomic Café). American fear of the world spiraling into devastation, and themselves being attacked by an atomic bomb, quickly ingrained United States citizens – so much they believed fallout shelters were
Brown took her time to interview people and look through archives to get the raw scenery of what happened behind closed doors. The third part was “The Plutonium Disasters.” She brought light to how dangerous it was to work and live there, and most of the people in the camp did not know how it can affect their body. Dr. Herbert Parker, the head of the Health Physics Division, “estimated there were eight hundred million flakes of [plutonium], which, if sucked into workers’ lungs or [ingested], could lodge in soft organs and remain in the body of years, a tiny time bomb that Parker feared would produce cancer” (Brown 166). This radioactive element that workers are producing is not just affecting the environment, but is also affecting the workers and their families. Brown has given an immense amount of evidence to explain to the readers how it affected so many of the workers’ health; she gives a vivid picture of how the radioactivity and particles of plutonium lingers in the air. The affects to the workers and their family ranges from cancerous cells to organ deterioration, when a pregnant woman is exposed to it, the health of her baby is also at risk. The fourth and last part of the book is “Dismantling the Plutonium Curtain,” this curtain is the curtain of secrecy. Brown interviewed people who lived in the camps as children and also people who worked there. Many of the people she
The war was coming to a victorious conclusion for the Allies. Germany had fallen, and it was only a matter of time until Japan would fall as well. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was at the forefront of the American war effort, and saw atomic weaponry as a way out of the most monumental war ever. As discussed in Cabell Phillips’ book, The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession, Stimson was once quoted as saying that the atomic bomb has “more effect on human affairs than the theory of Copernicus and the Law of Gravity” (55). Stimson, a defendant of dropping the bomb on Japan, felt that the world would never be the same. If the world would change after using atomic weapons, could it possibly have changed for the better? One would think not. However, that person might be weary of the biased opinion of White House personnel. He or she should care more for the in depth analytical studies done by experts who know best as to why America should or should not have dropped the atomic bomb. As more and more evidence has been presented to researchers, expert opinion on whether or not the United States should have dropped the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has also changed. More and more researchers seem to feel that the atomic bomb should never have been used (Alperovitz 16). Despite several officials’ claims to enormous death estimations, an invasion of Japan would have cost fewer total lives. In addition, post atomic bomb repercussions that occurred, such as the Arms Race, were far too great a price to pay for the two atomic drops. However, possibly the most compelling argument is that Japan would have surrendered with or without the United States using the atomic bomb. In defiance of top...
In Prompt and Utter Destruction, J. Samuel Walker provides the reader with an elaborate analysis of President Truman’s decision behind using the atomic bomb in Japan. He provokes the reader to answer the question for himself about whether the use of the bomb was necessary to end the war quickly and without the loss of many American lives. Walker offers historical and political evidence for and against the use of the weapon, making the reader think critically about the issue. He puts the average American into the shoes of the Commander and Chief of the United States of America and forces us to think about the difficulty of Truman’s decision.
The atomic bomb created under the Manhattan Project set a new level of psychological panic. It influence media, government, and daily lives of those all around the world. The media was covering stories about protection from a nuclear attack and the government was right next to the reporters helping to further the creation of fear with their messages about preparation.
Each of Truman’s advisors saw eye to eye in that the atomic bomb should be put to use in order to preserve the lives of the American and Japanese nations. (Walker)
This episode of The Twilight Zone “The Shelter”, focuses on a neighborhood set into mass hysteria because there has been an announcement over the radio that an unidentified flying object has been spotted flying towards America. This is assumed to be a plane carrying an atomic bomb because of the tensions that were happening at this time between Russia and America during the Cold War. The tensions at the time of production for this episode were very high as the Berlin Crisis of 1961 had just taken place the summer before. This Crisis is why the writer of the episode, Rod Serling wanted to create a fictional scenario where there was an immediate threat of a nuclear war. Rod Serling was a soldier during WW2 which influenced his future stories
Walker, J. Samuel. Prompt and Utter Destruction Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan, Revised Edition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2005. Print.
The United States entered WW II immediately following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The U.S. entry was a major turning point in the war because it brought the strongest industrial strength to the Allied side. The Americans helped the Allies to win the war in Europe with the surrender of Germany on May 7, 1945. However, the war in the Pacific continued. The war with Japan at this point consisted primarily of strategic bombings. America had recently completed an atomic bomb and was considering using this weapon of mass destruction for the first time. The goal was to force the “unconditional surrender” of the Japanese. Roosevelt had used the term “unconditional surrender” in a press conference in 1943 and it had since become a central war aim. Truman and his staff (still feeling bound by FDR’s words) demanded unconditional surrender from the Japanese. Consequently on July 26, 1945 Truman issued an ultimatum to Japan. This ultimatum stated that Japan must accept “unconditional surrender” or suffer “utter devastation of the Japanese Homeland”. This surrender included abdication of the throne by their emperor. Japan was not willing to surrender their dynasty and ignored the ultimatum. On August 6th and August 9th, atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively.
This sharp decrease in morale amongst the Japanese people after the dropping of the atomic bomb coincided with an increase in Japanese fear of American and Allied power in future battles. For example, according to survivors of the bombing, whenever a lone American plane was seen over a Japanese city, people would “rush into their shelters,” and “They went in and out so much that they did not have time to eat. They were so nervous they could not work.” Prior to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki most Japanese were only scared of American aircraft if there was a large group, but after the dropping of the atomic bomb any individual plane could wreak havoc on Japanese cities, as Elona Gay did to Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945. The use of the atomic bomb was able to spread fear amongst the Japanese people so much that after the droppings of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki many people fled the cities to the countryside fearing more attacks of the same magnitude from the Allied powers.
If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth.” (Truman).The justification of the bombs was the fact that the bomb was only in retaliation to a hostile nation and there refusal to cooperate with the American government. Japan was attacking with no fear they were unwavering because there military mind set was to never surrender because it was a sign of weakness it was against their nature. And so was the United States we were not going to give up though we were not gaining anything from this war only loosing we had the same sort of national mindset that we could to surrender for the fear of being preserved as week. So with the rejection of surrender the United States dropped the bomb in order to stop a more brutal war and to protect the United States from having to drop out of the
Kuznick, Peter J. & Co. "The Decision to Risk the Future: Harry Truman, the Atomic Bomb and the Apocalyptic Narrative.” JapanFocus. Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 9 Dec. 2013. Web.
Truman, Harry S. "Statement by the President of the United States." SIRS Decades. ProQuest, 25 Apr. 2005. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. . This source is a statement given by President Truman to the people of the United States. In the statement he discusses the use of atomic energy in order to ensure US safety in the war. This source is valid because it is a primary source from a trusted research database, SIRS Decades. The article's bias is evident because it is pro-US and does not show alternative viewpoints. I will use this document to show how the use of atomic energy brought the US into the forefront of global politics and made the US a superpower.
The attack at Pearl Harbor was the event that caused the U.S. to decide to be involved in the war. After this incident, the U.S. was trying to find a way to retaliate and counterattack against Japan. Some thought that the only way to do so was by using atomic bombs. People like, General Dwight Eisenhower, Harry S Truman, and a group of scientists believed that the use of the bomb would do good, and finally end everything. Eisenhower believed that because the use of the atomic bomb was successful in New Mexico, it would also be successful in Japan as well. Harry S Truman thought that even the atomic bomb was the most destructive weapon in the history of the world, it could be made the most useful. He stated that, “it was ...
The development of the atomic bomb and chemical warfare forever changed the way people saw the world. It was a landmark in time for which there was no turning back. The constant balancing of the nuclear super powers kept the whole of humankind on the brink of atomic Armageddon. Fear of nuclear winter and the uncertainty of radiation created its own form of a cultural epidemic in the United States. During these tense times in human history officials made controversial decisions such as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dangerous biological experiments and bombs tests were carried out in the name of the greater good and national defense. Some historians and scientists argue that the decisions and acts carried out by the U.S. during World War II and the Cold War were unethical because of the direct damage they did. The United States' decisions were moral because it can be proven their actions were aimed at achieving a greater good and those that were put in potential danger volunteered and were informed of the risk.
The Atomic Cafe paints a humorously dark tale of the atomic bomb era in American history. The producers created the film from 1940s and 50s government and media footages to warn against the use of atomic bombs, by showing the ridiculous and ignorant ways the U.S. portrayed the effects of the bomb to the public. The modern viewer’s hindsight allows us to reject the beliefs people held about nuclear weapons when the footage was produced, because we now know the effects nuclear war could have. The film emphasizes how the American government and citizens believed the bombs were righteous to use. President Truman even stated, “we pray that [God] may guide us to use [nuclear bombs] in His ways and for His purposes.”