The Clock Stopped

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The Clock Stopped This clock stopped at 8:15 am the morning of August 6, 1945 when America released the fatal forces of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Unfortunately the owner of this watch, Kengo Futagawa, was terribly burned and mortally wounded by the atomic forces as he stood only 1600 meters from the point of impact. Sad deaths like Futagawa’s are commemorated each year by various Anti-Atomic Warfare organizations that try to spread the realism and the devastation of Atomic Warfare through the told accounts of individual Hiroshima victim’s horrific stories. They, the people of Hiroshima paid an awful price as do many victims in the time of warfare, but their story is different because it was a price that did not need to be so heavy. Due to ruthless war tactics, negligence, and ulterior motives America, the power of peace, used excessive force on Japan when it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. There are many ways to cruelly explain America’s actions in this matter; such as revenge, or simply a quickened end to the war, but the plain truth is the A-Bombing of Hiroshima could have been easily avoided. If the decision to bomb or not to bomb was placed solely on the threat of Japan at the present time of the decision anyone could see that atomically bombing Hiroshima was unnecessary and by all means should have been used as a last resort. Scientist, Botanist, and creator of the theories behind the Atomic Bomb, Leo Szilard and 58 others protested against the use of Atomic Bombs in the war against Japan by writing a letter to the President of the United States. The petition respectfully asked that the use of this new weapon be used in a last resort. An excerpt from the petition clearly states their in... ... middle of paper ... ...ides of the lines can certainly help to discourage future war efforts. Bibliography: Works Cited Fogleman, Edwin. Hiroshima; The Decision to Use The A-Bomb. Ed. Martin Steinmann,Jr. New York: Scribner Research Anthologies. 1964. Pg.1-75. Tsuchida, Hiromi. Hiroshima Collection. Ed. Mayu Tsuruya Available: http://www.lclark.edu/~history/HIROSHIMA/photos 3-4.html Danne, Gene. Szilard petition Version 1 July 3, 1945. (damneng@peak.org 1995-1996) “Atomic Bomb Decision” Available: http://www.peak.org/~danneng/decision/43-07-03.html. Long, Doug. Hiroshima: Was it Necessary? Mercury.net Available: http://www./~dlong/index.html Bloomfield, Janet Why the atom bomb wasn’t necessary to end the war. Chair of the Campaign for nuclear Disarmament. Available: http://www.oneworld.org/news/world/bloomfield.html

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