During his eight years in office, Harry S. Truman devoted his presidency to handling the challenges in international affairs that occurred as results of World War II and the early stages of the Cold War. Following World War II, Truman took part in his first major act in foreign affairs when he attended the Potsdam Conference to discuss how to rebuild the world after the war. Not long after, he was forced to make a controversial decision on whether to use nuclear warfare in the fight against Japan. President Truman also implemented his most famous act of foreign policy, the Truman Doctrine, which was created in an attempt to counteract the spread of the Soviet Union. In sum, Truman had a hugely positive impact on America and the way that United States diplomacy was executed throughout the Cold War era. From July 17th to August 2nd, 1945, the leaders of the “Big Three” - Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom (replaced by Clement Attlee), and Harry Truman of the United States - met in Potsdam, Germany to negotiate European borders following Germany’s unconditional surrender in World War II . Truman’s most notable contribution in the conference was getting Stalin to agree that the Soviets would fight …show more content…
Nuclear warfare was the main factor in Japan’s decision to ultimately surrender from the war. On August 15th, 1945, after losing more than 100 000 civilians to the atomic bomb, Emperor Hirohito announced the Japanese surrender which was immediately accepted by the United States and then formalized on September 2nd of that year , ending World War II approximately one year earlier than the United States military planners were suggesting it would have had they been forced to put soldiers on the ground in the eastern hemisphere .
Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower shared many similarities yet still many differences when it came to Cold War foreign policies. Truman’s foreign policies revolved around the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the United States would financially support Greece and Turkey . Despite Truman’s and Eisenhower’s differing political parties, the foreign policies of the presidents shared several similarities. The main differences between the two presidents can be attributed to differing circumstances during their years in office. Both Truman and Eisenhower sought to eliminate communism and support civil rights, but Truman emphasized international relations and the American economy while Eisenhower dealt more with domestic issues around civil rights.
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.
When WWII ended, Americans were left in the hands of Harry Truman. Known as an aggressive Cold War fighter, he led Americans against...
Roberts, G. (2004). Sexing up the Cold War: New evidence on the Molotov-Truman talks of April 1945. Cold War History, 4(3): 105-125.
President Harry Truman came into office right at the end of World War II, after the death of President Franklin Roosevelt. Almost immediately after becoming president, Truman learned of the Manhattan Project, and had to decide whether or not to use the atomic bomb. With the advice of James Byrnes, Secretary of State, Truman decided to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, in part to demonstrate America’s power to the world and gain a political advantage in Europe (Offner 294). After World War II ended, there were negotiations about Germany, and it was decided that Germany would be split into two halves; the western half would be controlled by the United States and its allies, while the eastern half would be controlled by the Soviet Union. This situation led to increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union because of the two nations’ different political and economic systems. The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raises the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman.
There was a debate on the use of atomic bombs or waiting for the Soviets to step in the Pacific. Thus the Allied finally commanded the “unconditional surrender” to the leadership in Japan, which turned out to be what the Allied expected. The Japanese emperor rejected the request, but there was a point where the Japanese could conditional surrender as possible.
...or both sides; casualties were increasing. This was what mostly led to the U.S to drop the atomic bomb. The Japanese surrender did not occur until after the first bomb dropped of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and a second on Nagasaki. The atomic bomb was the result of a top secret experiment called the Manhattan Project (The Americans. Reconstruction to the 21st Century) the war was finally over when Japan surrendered on August 14th.
Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out at the Potsdam agreement otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated. (McInnis, 1945) Though the public did not know this, the allies, in fact, did. Through spies, they had learned that both Japan's foreign minister, Shigenori Togo and Emperor Hirohito both supported an end to the war (Grant, 1998). Even if they believed such reports to be false or inaccurate, the leaders of the United States also knew Japan's situation to be hopeless. Their casualties in defending the doomed island of Okinawa were a staggering 110,000 and the naval blockade which the allies had enforced whittled trade down to almost nothing. Japan was quickly on the path to destruction. (Grant, 1998). Of course, the Allies ignored this for the reason that dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would intimidate Russia. Had they truly been considering saving more lives and bringing a quick end to the war in Japan, they would have simply waited them out without the major loss of life seen at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Ending the War earlier and saving American lives was indeed a deciding factor. However, General MacArthur who was one of the war heroes on the pacific front reportedly believed that the war could be won in as little as 6 months with little danger to American troops simply by intensifying conventional bombing and naval blockades. However, more importantly, by August the war on the pacific front could have been over for 8 months. In January 1945 Japan offered terms of surrender. The terms that Japan offered were full surrender of the Japanese forces, air, land and sea, at home and in all occupied countries. Surrender of all arms and ammunition. Agreement of the Japanese to occupation of their homeland and island possessions. Relinquishment of Manchuria, Korea and Formosa. Regulation of Japanese industry. Surrender of designated war criminals for trial. And Release of all prisoner...
The Truman Doctrine was the force for the change in United States foreign policy, from isolationism to internationalism; which was the main reason of the involvement into the two wars of containment and into world affairs. The Truman Doctrine began a major change in U.S. Foreign policy, from its beginning, aid to Turkey and Greece, to its influence on Korea and Vietnam. The aftermath of WWII inspired the U.S. to issue a doctrine that would stop Communist influence throughout the world. However, the U.S.'s passion in the achievement of the Truman Doctrine sent our soldiers to die in Vietnam and Korea for a pointless cause.
...to believed his people were capable of "superhuman efforts and sacrifice" (Bix, 2000). In time, it became clear Japan no longer had a fighting chance of winning the war. At this point, the final choice for the Japanese was to negotiate a conditional surrender where the emperor could remain emperor. However, the United States of America were very set on the idea of unconditional surrender, so as to prevent a future rise back to power, similar to what Germany did after World War I. Japan, upon realizing they would suffer defeat, came to the conclusion that "the only course left is for Japan's one hundred million people to sacrifice their lives by charging the enemy to make them lose their will to fight” (Walker, 1964). Due to the difficulty in making the nation of Japan surrender, the atom bomb was certainly the fastest and most efficient method of forcing surrender.
One of the last major turning points in the war with Japan was the use of the atomic bomb on two Japanese cities. By this time in the war bombing was a standard military practice and “Truman said that he “never had any doubt that it should be used”.” (1197) They gave the Japanese a chance to surrender and when they didn’t the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. A few days later after they still hadn’t surrenderd the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and that night the U.S and Japan began communicating and the Japanese accepted the terms on August 14th 1945.
The Atomic bomb that was launched on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) was approved by Truman, he hoped that by nuking Japan it would prevent casualties for the U.S and prevent a Japanese invasion. Japan announced their surrender on August 14, 1945. This decision made by Truman is one of the most controversial decisions made by any president, and Japan still suffers from it to this
Franklin D. Roosevelt was president of the United States up until April 1945 and was then succeeded by Harry S. Truman. The change in leadership altered the foreign policy and the attitude the US had towards the Soviets. One reason why the grand alliance occurred and lasted, is due to Roosevelt’s appeasement to Stalin. Roosevelt’s main goal was to preserve the United Nations declaration and to sustain the wartime alliance during the peace, despite the fact that Stalin was making it difficult to minimize tensions during Yalta. However, when Truman became president on April 12, 1945, US foreign policy changed drastically. Truman was blunt and eager to halt the expansion of communism, one of his reasons being that “Russia may well outrank… the
Japan had the spirit of fighting till death. At that rate, they would never have even thought about surrendering. Since we dropped the nuclear bombs on their land, they became frail and had to surrender due to mass destruction and casualties. According to washington post, it states “Japanese fought nearly to the last man on Iwo Jima, a month long battle in which almost 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed. They alter fought tenaciously until mid- JUne to hold Okinawa.” This explains in more detail how Japan never had any intentions of giving up and were willing to give it their all. Also, President Truman used to those bombs to stop further invasion from Japan that would also cause damage to the U.S. According to history extra.com, it states “Postponing the use of the atom bomb would only have prolonged the war and potentially created an even worse fate for the people of Japan, with an estimated five to 10 million Japanese