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Historical bombing of hiroshima essay
Historical bombing of hiroshima essay
Historical bombing of hiroshima essay
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Title
Do you question why America dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima? Have you wondered what happened when it hit? Have you known what it’s like to lose everything? Well in, 1945 the United State and Japan were at war with no one coming close to a surrender. Someone had to do something to make this come to a stop and that is when the United States came to the conclusion to drop the first atomic bomb. The Hiroshima bombing shows why president Truman made his decision, the effects from it, and the burden the surviving people had to face.
Even though president Truman ordered to drop a horrific bomb on Hiroshima, he did have some reasoning behind it. His understanding was that if we invaded Japan than it would've killed more innocent people. This bomb was supposed to stop the war by showing Japan the power America has, but it went out of hand. There is a large possibility that president Truman had no knowledge of the bomb having radiation until after the destination was hit. Supposing that Truman had information about the bomb before, he may not have launched the bomb. Not only that, but Japan had already promised the United States that they would go to war with the Soviet Union, which led to
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them arriving in Japan the day after we dropped the “Little boy”. Many people believe that this was a huge factor for why Japan surrendered. Given that this all happened so fast, everything and everyone had to adapt quickly to the circumstances.
As soon as “Little boy” made contact with the ground everything was destroyed and the impact made a burning bright white flash which incinerated people to either walls or the ground. This light, black rain, ionized radiation, and much more ended up making the air 300,000 degrees Celsius. “ Only the skeletons of a few buildings made from reinforced concrete survived” (George Feldman 409). After the big blast was over, it seemed like the worst had passed, but then it started to rain black radiated water. It contaminated food, water, and the air. People who consumed this got radiation poisoning and died with families left to dread their losses within the last
hour. After all that this city has been through, the remaining people feel cursed for the burden they have to hold over their heads. Pregnant women had sterile births, people’s bodies were deformed, and many became homeless. There were 4,000 to 5,000 orphaned children reported which led to a support group created by Professor Nakano and his wife called Moving On. Not only did people lose homes and loved ones but, the survivors were left with serious physical and mental health problems. While some committed suicide, others chose to deal with liver and cardiovascular disorders. Leaving everyone forever haunted by this day. In conclusion, it showed, President Truman’s decision had good reason, what really happened when the bomb landed, and everything you have to deal with afterwards. This essay was hoping to let people know how much could've been avoided if Japan surrendered sooner or President Truman had known that the bomb had radiation in it. “I was a bombardier in WW 2. When you are up 30,000 feet you do not hear the screams or smell the blood or see those without limbs or eyes. It was not till I read Hersey's Hiroshima that I realized what bomber pilots do”( Howard Zinn ). This quote shows that no one could've possibly imagined how horrible this was going to turn out, not even the people dropping the bomb. In the end, no one was right because we all chose to fight back with more force instead of helping to create peace.
Truman was justified in dropping the Atomic bombs because of the situation at hand, but it is arguable because he had several alternatives. Right after America declared war on Japan, Germany also declared war on the United States. Thereby, causing a dilemma for the United States nation as a whole. If the US didn't finish the war with Japan quickly, they would have trouble backing up the allied powers. However, Truman could have found another way to defeat Japan with a less violent tactic.
According to document A, President Truman believed that it was his duty to protect and save American lives And that's exactly what he did. If we did not go through with the atomic bomb, then we would have had to get Japan to surrender another way, yeah we could have put up an economic blockade and continuously bombed them like Admiral William Leahy wanted to do in in document A. Or we could have invaded and lost many more lives in the process, the war would have dragged on costing more American lives and more money for the United States.
Japan: The Only Victim of The Atomic Bomb Japan will never forget the day of August 6 and 9 in 1945; we became the only victim of the atomic bombs in the world. When the atomic bombs were dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there was World War II. The decision to drop the atomic bombs was affected by different backgrounds such as the Manhattan Project, and the Pacific War. At Hiroshima City, the population of Hiroshima was 350,000 when the atomic bomb dropped. Also, the population of Nagasaki was around 250,000 ("Overview.").
At that point in time, America was at a crossroads. They hit a dead end and the only logical way to get out was to use the bombs. If people tried to put themselves in Truman’s position, they would question and rethink their opinion almost instantly. In an article titled “Atomic Bomb: Why did President Harry S Truman Order the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?” it states, “as Chief Executive of the United States it was his duty to make every effort to end World War II” in order to justify Truman’s stance on the
Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, the atomic bomb was being developed. After Roosevelt died, his vice president Harry Truman was appointed President of the United States. Truman was never informed about the bombs development until an emergency cabinet meeting (Kuznick 9). Truman had to make the fatal decision on whether the bomb was to be dropped on Japan. With the idea of going to war, Truman had to think about the lives of the thousand American soldiers.
In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.
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.
The bomb that landed in Hiroshima was called the “Little Boy” (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 2). The bomb ended up killing about 170,000 people. 70,000 people died the first day and 100,000 people died in the next few months due to the radioactivity of the bomb and burns from the bombing (Ford 1).... ... middle of paper ...
The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan were ethical decisions made by President Harry Truman and the United States government. By the time of the atom bomb was ready, the U.S. had been engaged in military conflict for over four years and lost over 400,000 soldiers. Truman claimed, "We would have the opportunity to bring the world into a pattern in which the peace of the world and our civilization can be saved" (Winkler 18). The bomb was aimed at ending the war immediately and avoiding prolonged battle in the Pacific Theater and the inevitable invasion of Japan. President Truman hoped that by showing the Japanese the devastating weapon the U.S. possessed, that the war could be brought ...
In 1945, Germany had surrendered, but the war in the Pacific raged on. The allies were becoming desperate to end the war before it was necessary to carry out a full scale invasion. New developments in science had made it possible for the United States to weaponize the atom, and the consequent bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima and later Nagasaki at the approval of President Harry S. Truman and his advisors. In years to come, Truman would have to face questions over the merit of his actions. Although some may believe the atomic bomb was needed because it ended WWII, it was unnecessary to drop the nuclear bomb because of the alternatives that existed, the effect it had on the Japanese people, and because of the unethical reasons for dropping it.
There were a few reasons why the United States dropped the bombs. As Phillip Goodman points out, President Truman was under tremendous pressure from several sources. One source of pressure was his military advisors, who thought that an invasion of Japan would be too costly. A second source of pressure was domestic in nature. In particular, President Truman was under tremendous pressure to please the public because he was up for re-election. In addition to this pressure, there was a hatred for the Japanese, political problems that the U.S. had with Russia,(Doug Long),and the revenge that Americans wanted for the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
“My God, what have we done?” were the words that the co-pilot of Enola Gay wrote in his logbook after helping drop two bombs, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki, that killed an estimated two-hundred thousand individuals. The bombings were completely unnecessary. Japan was already defeated because they lacked the necessary materials to continue a world war. The Japanese were prepared to surrender. There was no military necessity to drop the atomic bombs nor is there any factual information stating that the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped to “save the lives of one million American soldiers.” The United States bombed Japan in August of 1945. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were uncalled for and could have been avoided.
The atomic bomb was one of the most powerful weapons to be built during this time. Truman may not have been aware of the aftermath causes and effects it would have but he knew just how powerful this weapon was. If I was in Trumans place I would not have dropped the bomb. Many military leaders urged the President against dropping the bomb as they believed it was not a military necessity. Several of the scientists who worked on the Manhattan project quit or resigned in protest over Truman’s decision to drop the bomb. Einstein, the mastermind behind the idea, was not fully supportive with Truman decision. If I was in Truman’s place, I think I would have listened to the scientists and military leaders who were more knowledgeable than me in this area. The majority of expertise are against my decision so that should tell that what I’m doing is wrong. After dropping the first bomb, Truman saw the automatic impact that it had on the people. He could have just dropped the first bomb and realized what he had was a mistake. The fatalities and causalities lost by one bomb should have been enough to convince Truman that the second bomb was not necessary. Justifying the second bomb is harder because you have the results and proof of what occurred from the first bombs. If Truman was unaware of the ramifications of the act from before then by the end of the first bomb he had a clear idea of what the atomic bomb was capable
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.
If one aim was met with the Hiroshima bombing, it was the physical effects, which were able to devastate an entire city. 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.