Truman’s Horrible Mistake to Use the Atomic Bomb

2960 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The decision to drop the atomic bomb

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...

... middle of paper ...

... Conference.” Reader’s Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.historychannel.com/. 23 Sept 2001.

Franck, James, et al. The Franck Report. June 11, 1945. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.dannen.com/decision/franck.html. 1 Oct. 2001.

Miles, Rufus E. Jr. “Hiroshima: The Strange Myth of Half a Million American Lives Saved.” International Security (1985): 121-140.

Newman, Robert P. “Hiroshima and the Trashing of Henry Stimson.” New England Quarterly (1998): 5-32.

Phillips, Cabell. The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession. New York: MacMillan, 1966.

“Truman, Harry S.” The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia: Columbia, 1994. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.historychannel.com/. 24 Sept. 2001.

Show More
Related

  • Rankings of Presidents Based on Domestic Policy and Foreign Policy

    3331 Words  | 7 Pages

    Truman’s accomplishments in his domestic policy were impressive, considering the hardships the nation was experiencing as World War II came to an end, and the resistance of Congress (which was greatly made up of Republicans and conservatives) to liberalism. The president was able to pas...

    Read More

  • Prompt and Utter Destruction

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Ronald Takakis Hiroshima

    2111 Words  | 5 Pages

    Although WW II ended over 50 years ago there is still much discussion as to the events which ended the War in the Pacific. The primary event which historians attribute to this end are the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although the bombing of these cities did force the Japanese to surrender, many people today ask “Was the use of the atomic bomb necessary to end the war?” and more importantly “Why was the decision to use the bomb made?” Ronald Takaki examines these questions in his book Hiroshima.

    Read More

  • Conformity in the 1950s

    408 Words  | 1 Pages

    When WWII ended, Americans were left in the hands of Harry Truman. Known as an aggressive Cold War fighter, he led Americans against...

    Read More

  • Was Truman Responsible for the Cold War?

    1312 Words  | 3 Pages

    Offner, Arnold A. Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War, 1945-1953. 1st September 2002. New Article. 11th March 2014.

    Read More

  • The Benefits of Dropping an Atomic Bomb on Japan

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ar the use of weapons of this magnitude, the American idea of the Japanese people has changed, and we now have set up preventions in the hope of avoiding the use of nuclear weaponry. John Hersey provides a satisfactory description of the atomic bombing. Most writers take sides either for or against the atom bomb. Instead of taking a side, he challenges his readers to make their own opinions according to their personal meditations. On of the key questions we must ask ourselves is “Are actions intended to benefit the large majority, justified if it negatively impacts a minority?” The greatest atrocity our society could make is to make a mistake and not learn from it. It is important, as we progress as a society, to learn from our mistakes or suffer to watch as history repeats itself.

    Read More

  • Hiroshima by John Hersey

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    The non-fiction book Hiroshima by John Hersey is an engaging text with a powerful message in it. The book is a biographical text about lives of six people Miss Sasaki, Dr. Fujii, Mrs. Nakamura, Father Kleinsorge, Dr. Sasaki and Rev. Tanimoto in Hiroshima, Japan and how their lives completely changed at 8:15 on the 6th of August 1945 by the dropping of the first atomic bomb. The author, John Hersey, through his use of descriptive language the in book Hiroshima exposes the many horrors of a nuclear attack.

    Read More

  • The Decision of a Lifetime: Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan

    1989 Words  | 4 Pages

    Maddox, Robert. “The Biggest Decision: Why We Had to Drop the Atomic Bomb.” Taking Sides: Clashing View in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras & James SoRelle. 15th ed. New York, NY. 2012. 280-288.

    Read More

  • Was President Truman Responsible for the Cold War?

    1090 Words  | 3 Pages

    Offner, Arnold. “‘Another Such Victory’: President Truman, American Foreign Policy, and the Cold War.” Taking Sides: Clashing Views On Controversial Issues in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. 14th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 291-301.

    Read More

  • Truman's Decision to use the atomic mom

    1500 Words  | 3 Pages

    Truman’s decision to use atomic weapons has long been a controversial subject throughout the decades after he used it. Many scholars and people who surrounded the president at the time published memoirs and books about the decision to use the weapon. As years went, more works of writing and information were released which added more information to the vast knowledge we have of the decision to drop the bomb and of what the Japanese faced after the event took place. J. Samuel Walker wrote a book called Prompt & utter destruction which uses new knowledge gained about the bomb and new information the Japanese released, which Walker said, “has greatly enriched our understanding of the agonizing deliberations in Tokyo over ending the war” (ix).Walker did not take any sides in the book, however, he uses what material from the first book and new sources of information to evaluate why President Truman made his decision. The main focus of Walker’s book is to answer why President Truman used atomic bombs against Japan and open more discussion to the question “was the bomb militarily necessary or was it used primarily for political/diplomatic reasons that had more to do with impressing the Soviets than winning the war against Japan?” (xii), which Walker said the question “divided specialists” (xii).

    Read More

  • Combined Experience of Suffering, Death and Love all at Once

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    "John Keats." British Literature 1780-1830. Comp. Anne K. Mellor and Richard E. Matlak. Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 1996. 1254-56. Print.

    Read More

  • Imagery of Warmth and Cold That Symbolize Imagination and Reality in Keats’ “The Eve of St. Agnes”

    1328 Words  | 3 Pages

    One such instance is from the Romantic era and is the poem “The Eve of St. Agnes,” by John Keats. In “The Eve of St. Agnes,” the imagery, diction, and symbolism all combine to externally represent the climax of the poem—that is when Porphyro and Madeline come together and copulate. This also extends to the authors vision of reality and imagination, the climax is also a point of imagination versus reality in the context of Porphyro and Madeline. Building up to the climax of the poem are key words, phrases and of course images that symbolize what is to come, the uniting of the two adolescents—coldness and warmth which reflect the way youth and adulthood is viewed. The use of imagination versus reality is most acutely made aware in the stanzas before and after the climax of the poem in the way that it causes the reader to question whether or not the story is not the dream of Madeline or if it is indeed real.

    Read More

  • Education for the Travellers Roma in the UK

    2127 Words  | 5 Pages

    There has never been a clear definition and or well defined origin of the Roma/Travellers. There has however been attempts to the same leading being the classical historical synthesis suggested by Fraser (1992). His synthesis suggests that from the ninth century onward, a population of Indian origin started moving towards Europe bringing with them an Indian language. The 15th and 16th centuries saw a lot of persecution leading to these immigrants becoming disjointed. To this end the populations of different sizes are more or less assimilated in different European countries. Romanis have been known to have either been immersed by, or failed to displace, a local commercial nomadic or ‘Traveller’ minority where the population is very small. The English Romanichal Gypsies amongst others have continued to maintain both a Romani and a Traveller identity. The word ‘Gypsy’ (from ‘Egyptian’) has been theorized by many as a modest mistake with regards to their origins made by the Europeans. To this, even the Roma have tolerated or accepted. There has however been critics to the synthesis, this has mostly been advanced by Romani-speaking groups such as the German Sinte, who do not call themselves Roma, and secondly by radical social constructionist academics. The definition and or origins complexity, variety and difference of perspective have thus dominated the Roma/Gypsy/Traveller self-definition from the beginning, and any simplification of the above would only lead to more confusion and or disagreements.

    Read More

  • Mortality and Immortality in Ode to a Nightingale

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    When talking about poetry and Romanticism, one of the most common names that come to mind is John Keats. Keats’ lifestyle was somewhat different from his contemporaries and did not fit the Romantic era framework, this is most likely the reason he stood out from the rest. Keats wrote many poems that are still relevant, amongst them Ode to a Nightingale, which was published for the very first time in July, 1819. The realistic depth and lyrical beauty that resonates in Ode to a Nightingale is astounding. Though, his career was rather short, Keats expressed a deep yearning to rise above misery and celebrate life via his consciousness and imagination. Themes of life and death play out in a number of his poems. This essay seeks to discuss Keats’s representation of mortality and immortality, specifically in his poem Ode to a Nightingale.

    Read More

  • The Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombs

    1216 Words  | 3 Pages

    Stimson, Henry L. "The Decision to use the Atomic Bomb." The Atomic Bomb: The Critical

    Read More

More about Truman’s Horrible Mistake to Use the Atomic Bomb

Open Document