On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan and many innocent civilians died from the bomb. When the bomb was dropped, basically the whole city died, and many died after the explosion from radiation poisoning. I personally think that President Truman's decision wasn’t was justified, because it seems unethical to drop an atomic bomb in a heavily populated city where many innocent civilians died. The Japanese were already defeated and they were ready to surrender. World War 2 was mostly fought in Europe during 1939 to 1945. Some of World War 2 was fought in the pacific. In 1931, Japanese expansion in East Asia, with the invasion of Manchuria and went through 1937 with an attack on China. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, making them into the Axis powers. “As the sun rose on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941”(Holt 403), Japan attacked the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and 3,500 Americans were killed or wounded in the attack. Japan attacked Hawaii ,because in September of 1940, the U.S. placed an embargo on Japan by prohibiting exports of steel, scrap iron, and aviation fuel to Japan, due to Japan's takeover of northern French Indochina. Since this happened the United States declared war with Japan. The United States Air Force dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Tens of thousands of people died in the explosion, and later, many more people died from radiation exposure. First of all,I personally believe that the United States made the wrong decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, because the Japanese were ready to surrender. “The Japanese were already defeated and were ready to surrender beca... ... middle of paper ... ...apanese, because they killed about 2,400 people. Secondly, the Americans viewed the Japanese as being “determined not to give in that they were literally prepared to commit suicide”(Source Card 2). Japanese pilots were volunteering themselves to be Kamikazes, or suicide pilots. Lastly,the aftermath dropping the bomb left the cities with radiation poisoning, and therefore people couldn't live in those areas for a long time. Overall, I believe that Truman's decision for dropping the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan was unjustified and uncalled for. The bomb killed about 80,000 innocent Japanese civilians. The Japanese were defeated and they were ready to surrender. Dwight D. Eisenhower even felt regretful from dropping the bomb, because he didn’t want the United States to be the first country to use weapons of mass destruction on a heavily populated city.
There are many opinions surrounding the question: Was the decision by Truman to drop the atomic bomb ultimately the right or wrong decision? Not only can this question be answered in many different ways, it can be interpreted in many different ways as well. Overall, Truman ultimately made the right decision to drop the atomic bomb. This can be supported by the fact that the atomic bomb helped prevent the deaths of American troops, saved the lives of foreign citizens, and in comparison the atomic bomb was not as destructive as the firebombing in Tokyo.
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.
To what extent was Harry Truman’s decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?
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.
In my opinion, the decision to use the atomic bomb was harsh and rash, but necessary to end the war and protect American lives and interests. Sometimes harsh decisions need to be made in order to serve the greater good. It was somewhat unjust to the Japanese civilians but in the end saved many military lives that would have been wasted if the war dragged on for who knows how many more years. This is why, in the end, I feel it was the best way to put the storm of World War 2 to rest.
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 arguments and factors as to if Truman decided correctly and if the United States should have dropped the bombs. There were many disputes supporting the bombing. Some being the Japanese were warned early enough, it shortened the war, and it saved many Americans lives. There are also voluminous quarrels against the United States bombing the Japanese. Some of these are the bombing killed innocent Japanese civilians who did not deserve it, the Japanese was about to surrender before we bombed them, and the United States only blasted the Japanese because of racism toward them. Though there are many valid reasons for and against the bombing, there is still much controversy today whether president Truman made the right decision.
The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the bombing of Hiroshima are linked together, as they both mark significant moments in World War II. For most, the attack on Pearl Harbor is the day that changed the direction of the war, as it forced the America to join. Additionally, the bombing of Hiroshima symbolises the ending of the war and the saving of many lives.
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 ...
On December 7, 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack on a U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii with the possibility of forcing the U.S. to join World War II. About 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had been sunk, and 188 aircrafts were destroyed. On August 6 and 9 of 1945, the U.S. retaliated and dropped two atomic bombs called Fat Man and Little Boy on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The U.S. was not justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan because of the locations that were bombed, the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and the lack of previous bomb testing.
On August 6, 1945 the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. This was an extremely controversial military strategy in the United States. Was the United States justified in the dropping of the atomic bomb? The U.S. feared the rise of communism and gave aid to any country against it. The U.S. also fought countries threatening the spread communism. One of these countries was Japan. We began a harsh and brutal war against Japan and against communism. This war was killing many soldiers and Japan was not backing down. President Truman decided to use the atomic bomb when things were getting worse. The decision to use the atomic bomb was a difficult one and many people wonder if it was the right choice.
Imagine an atomic bomb falling into your city and in seconds there is no longer a city or place you used to call home. Would you think it was right for someone to drop an atomic bomb on you even if you were in the middle of a world war? It was not right for Truman to drop the bomb because he didn’t know the consequences of the atomic bomb and what damage it would do to the people and land. Truman could’ve easily invaded Japan instead of dropping the A-bomb.
First of all, President Truman shouldn’t have initiated this savage way of ending a war. He could’ve found an alternate route by either cutting of the Japanese’s supplies and resources and force the people to surrender. Also Truman could’ve just fought out the war with Japan instead of just bombing their land and killing many innocent lives. According to Truman’s diary, Truman even wrote in his diaries that he did not know how extensive and lethal this nuclear bomb was. He claimed that his main intention to bomb Hiroshima was to test out the strength of the nuclear bomb and stop the war. But I think Truman went too far with this testing of his, this little test that he pursued to fire at the Japanese had caused many lives. "I have always felt that if, in our ultimatum to the Japanese government issued from Potsdam [in July 1945], we had referred to the retention of the emperor as a constitutional monarch and had made some reference to the reasonable accessibility of raw materials to the future Japanese government, and it would have been accepted. Indeed, I believe that even in the form it was delivered, there was some disposition on the part of the Japanese to give it favorable consideration. When the war was over I arrived at this conclusion after talking with a number of J...
Most people choose to either not believe this, or just say that Japan deserved what was coming(because they bombed pearl harbor). However, there is a very overwhelming amount of proof to show that Japan was going to surrender. For starters, the United States had intercepted communications from Japan to russia, that proved Japan was on a breaking point of surrender,” the U.S. had already intercepted communications from Japan showing that the emperor had asked the Russians to mediate a surrender…” says Evan Centanni (Demand Media). America's knowledge of this fact denounces most of the common beliefs of that Japan wouldn’t surrender unless we forced them to. Japan was going to surrender to America, although they wanted to keep their emperor(making them a democratic monarchy like Great Britain), However, America wanted them to be in a full surrender to America, meaning they won't be able to keep their emperor. This goes against everything the Japanese were taught and all of their obligations to the emperor. America being very angered about their disagreement with the U.S. forced (very liberal usage of the word) them to bomb Japan. Swiftly after, America finally let Japan keep their emperor, although still surrendering to America. This is the biggest red flag to why the American army using the atomic bombs were useless, and the biggest waste of resources. Japan already going to surrender before the use of the atomic bomb is why the atomic bomb was useless and should not have been
A well debated, controversial question posed about World War II is: Was dropping the atomic bomb “Fat Man” and “Little Boy” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki really necessary and or justified? After studying the facts, I came to the conclusion that it was justified and absolutely necessary for President Truman to order the atomic bombs to be dropped on the two large cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This order saved many American soldiers lives.