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.
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.
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.
In August of 1945, both of the only two nuclear bombs ever used in warfare were dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. These two bombs shaped much of the world today.
After Truman decided to bomb Japan, they had to plan it out. They first had to decide where to release the bomb. They ended up choosing Hiroshima, Japan and Nagasaki, Japan as their two locations. Hiroshima was a significant military city in the war. It confined two army headquarters and was Japan’s communication center (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 1). Hiroshima was also a huge industrial city and had not been bombed before so it would let Japan see the wrath of the United States (Koeller 1). The planning and actual event of the bombing went great. On August 6, 1945 at 8:15 in the morning the bomb was dropped. The bomb that landed in Hiroshima was called the “Little Boy” (World War 2 Atomic Bomb 2). The bomb ended up killing about 170,000 people. 70,000 people died the first day and 100,000 people died in the next few months due to the radioactivity of the bomb and burns fro...
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.
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.
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.
The war in Asia had its roots in the early 1930s. Japan had expansionist aims in Eastern Asia and the Western Pacific, especially in Indochina2. In July of 1940 the United States placed an embargo on materials exported to Japan, including oil in the hope of restraining Japanese expansionism. Nevertheless, tensions remained high in Asia, and only increased in 1939 when Germany ignited World War II with an invasion of Poland. America’s determination to remain isolated changed abruptly following Japan’s “surprise attack” on Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. Military strategists and politicians poured the majority of American war effort into the European theater, and before the United States could fully mobilize most of South-East Asia had fallen to Japan, including the Philippines. Slowly, the United States recaptured the many small islands invaded by Japan, including Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. These “Japanese forces waged a stubborn, often suicidal battles were ferocious; although the Americans won each, resistance.” They demolished the Japanese fleet and establis...
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.
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?
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
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.
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.