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The bomb should have been dropped on Japan. This, was the quickest way to end the war, saving lives, money, and economic downfall. If America had invaded Japan we could have lost over 750,000 troops of just American lives. Instead 200,000 lives had been lost, money saved, and the war ended. If America had tried to invade, continue its sanctions, bombings, and barricades, the war could have taken many more months, even years. This not only costs America money and creates the beginning of economic downfall, it increases the suffering of Japanese people for a longer duration of time. The bomb being dropped was not ideal, although it was clearly the best option given the situation that the United States of America was handed. The United States …show more content…
On July 26, with the learning that the Los Alamos test(nuclear test) had been successful, President Truman and the Allies issued a last final proposal to Japan, known as the Potsdam Declaration. “The agreement rather incorporated a statement giving the Japanese individuals a decision to keep their ruler or not” (Mantyla). The Japanese government did not believe their people enough to keep the head in power therefore Japanese overlooked Potsdam and did not surrender. he Potsdam Declaration was more than reasonable in its surrender terms and in its notice of what might happen ought to those terms be rejected.Moreover, bomb supporters contend that Japanese regular people were cautioned ahead of time through a huge number of leaflets dropped on Japanese urban areas by U.S. warplanes. “In the months going before the nuclear bombings, nearly 63 million handouts were dropped on 35 urban communities focus for annihilation by U.S. aviation based armed forces” (Williams). The Japanese individuals for the most part respected the data on these handouts as honest. A portion of the pamphlets said the terms of surrender offered in the Potsdam Declaration and asked the regular citizens to persuade Japanese government to acknowledge them. The Japanese individuals for the most part regarded the information on the pamphlets as the truth, however anybody gotten possessing one was liable to be arrested by the
The United States was justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki for many reasons. First of all, just to start out, the bombings had nothing to do with Japan, it was about the Cold War and the real reason America used these weapons was to show Russia that the US possessed them. Second, the war in the Pacific had been raging for almost four years. The two battles immediately preceding the bomb decision were Iwo Jima and Okinawa, two battles where the Japanese fought to the death and the cost in American casualties was horrific. It was predicted that the invasion of the Japanese mainland at the Island of Kyushu -- scheduled for November of 1945 -- would be even worse. The entire Japanese military and civilian population would fight to the death. American casualties -- just for that initial invasion to get a foothold on the island of Japan would have taken up to an estimated two months and would have resulted in up to 75,000 to 100,000 casualties. And that was just the beginning. Once the island of Kyushu was captured by U.S. troops, the remainder of Japan would follow. You can just imagine the cost in injuries and lives this would take. Also It is not beyond the possibility that a million or more Americans could have been killed had we landed. The Japanese had correctly guessed where we intended to land, and were ready and waiting for us. The casualties would have been high. Another reason the atomic bomb was justified is the bomb was dropped with a desire to save lives. It is a matter of math. How many Americans lost their lives fighting how many Japanese at Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa. The mathematical formula showed the closer we got to Japan the more we lost.
However, it was not the case, the Soviets acknowledged the atomic bomb and wanted to create as many as possible so they could yield the control not only in the Pacific, but in the Eastern Europe. In the words of former US senator from South Carolina, James F. Byrnes, claimed “the bomb provided a unique opportunity to check Soviet control of Eastern Europe and Asia in the postwar years, and he very much wanted to delay or avert the entry of the Soviet Union into the war with Japan” (59). In the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, all the Allied countries, except the Soviets, stood together in preparing for the end of the World War 2. President Truman, learning of the success of the Manhattan project, and understanding that he must make a choice whether to drop the atomic bomb or not turned out to be the most difficult decision to make in his life. They came up with a decision to make Japan “unconditional surrender” (59) but they were afraid the Japan would not step down and refused to give up their fight.
In their desperation for an end to the bloodbath in the waters of the Pacific, the Allies forged two strategies for bringing a swift conclusion to the seemingly infinite terror of war: a strategy of words and a strategy of weapons. From the strategy of words emerged the Potsdam Declaration which declared a dire ultimatum of life or death to the Japanese: “Japan must surrender unconditionally or face ‘prompt and utter destruction.’” However, the declaration’s provision of “unconditional surrender” required the Japanese to tax their religious beliefs and remove their sacred emperor from sovereign rule of the Empire, a demand the Japanese were more willing to pay the ultimate price for than to meet. Therefore, the mallet of fate was hammered upon Japan, the strategy of weapons would be used to break the adamantine nature of the island nation: the loud blast of the atomic bomb would quell the raging barrage of war. On August 6th, 1945, 50,000 Japanese were killed when the B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets dropped the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, yet after three days the Japanese did not
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.
“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both” (Roosevelt). The goal of America’s legal system as we know it is that everyone is given an equal opportunity to stick up for what they may or may not have done, as described by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Also this is what officials strive for, it is not always the case. Facts can be skewed, distorted, or misrepresented to make one side seem to be guilty without a doubt and to make the other side seem as if they have done nothing wrong. The Crucible by Arthur Miller begins and ends with one-sided accusations of witchcraft. It all results from a group of girls who had been dancing in the woods. After two fall sick, the accusations begin. The girls who were dancing, especially Abigail Williams begin blaming others to look less guilty themselves. Accusations are flying left and right so that soon, hundreds are in jail and over a dozen are executed. Abby’s main goal is to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, so she can be with John Proctor, a man she previously had an affair with. However, John is not interested in Abby and his
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 ...
“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 first reason that the United States should not have dropped the bomb is because the U.S. violated the Geneva Protocol. The Geneva Protocol banned the use of chemical weapons in war. According to Siebert, “The use of atomic bombs violated these principles: excessive force was used to defeat the enemy; the direct targets were civilians and non-military installations; and the damage caused by radiation poisoning at the blast site and in the surrounding environment was neither limited nor contained”, which proves the United States was wrong in dropping the atomic bomb. That is the first reason why the United States should not have dropped the bomb on Japan.
The use of the bomb prevented what it would have been chaos. Even though the war in Europe had ended, the war over the Pacific was still going which it all started when Japan decided to attack the U.S. at Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941. With it they had the U.S. declared war on them, at first the Japanese show strong but after a long of time, the U.S. was able to get a strong army and navy and so they were able to fight back, finally the U.S. had the Japanese only with their mainland. But the Japanese were not thinking of surrendering, they were still going to fight back with everything this made the U.S. get to the conclusion of dropping the nuclear bombs along with the facts that it would conclude in less casualties, the fear of the Soviet
In this passage, the audience truly sees the meaning behind Herbert Kohl's message. His purpose for writing comes back to the fact that people interpret situations differently in every way. Kohl not only wanted to highlight the purpose behind wanting to learn something new but he also wanted readers to be aware that most time it does not come down to the inability of someone who doesn't want to learn but the real reason behind why they don't want to. People have different opinions on topics such as these but Kohl wanted to show that being able to want to stand up for your culture and the meanings behind it are rather important. Behind Kohl's purpose for writing, we see an insight into his past life relating to Wilfredo's. Kohl's reason for
To fully examine the factors that led to the United States dropping an atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki, one can look at the event as a result of two major decisions. The first decision concerned the use of newly developed nuclear weapons in lieu of other military techniques to secure a timely Japanese surrender. The second decision was to use several of these weapons instead of only one. Although the Truman administration displayed little hesitation or ambivalence over the decision to use atomic weapons (Walker, 51), it is important to examine what factors contributed to these swift actions. It was believed that dropping an atomic bomb on Nagasaki would resolve a number of problems in a simpler fashion than prolonging the conventional warfare until Japan finally ceded defeat.
One alternative might have been to arrange a demonstration of the bomb. If representatives of the Japanese government, military and its scientific community could have seen the bomb, it might have been enough to convince them of the foolishness of continued resistance. Had the atomic bomb not worked the United States would have looked weak and foolish. Also, if America was trying to show that they had more power they should have at least dropped it in less populated area still showing what the bomb could do instead of killing more than 200,000 innocent lives. The people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not criminals they were not guilty of what was going on. Their was many diplomatic options available that could have changed this action. Like for 9/11 their was many Americans killed and all of a sudden it became World Tower Day. The nukes were a hundreds of times worser than those of 9/11. Everyone was innocent so why was it okay to kill hundreds of people in Japan there's really no
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.
The effects of the atomic bomb might not have been the exact effects that the United States was looking for when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively (Grant, 1998). The original desire of the United States government when they dropped Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not, in fact, the one more commonly known: that the two nuclear devices dropped upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki were detonated with the intention of bringing an end to the war with Japan, but instead to intimidate the Soviet Union. The fact of Japan's imminent defeat, the undeniable truth that relations with Russia were deteriorating, and competition for the division of Europe prove this without question. Admittedly, dropping the atomic bomb was a major factor in Japan's decision to accept the terms laid out in the Potsdam agreement, otherwise known as unconditional surrender. The fact must be pointed out, however, that Japan had already been virtually defeated.
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.