Atomic Bomb: Alperovitz

Why did the Truman Administration decide to drop the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945?

There has been much debate as to why Truman elected to drop the atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the summer of 1945. Historians have long debated the true purpose to which the atomic bombs were designed to fulfil upon there deployment. The Alperovitz thesis of the 1960 was accepted for many years. The thesis revolved around the idea that the atomic weapons were deployed as diplomatic tools to intimidate the Soviet Union. Like many revisionist historians this essay will oppose the thesis of Alperovitz, and in doing so, attempt to understand why it was that the Truman administration decided to drop the atomic weapons on Japan in the summer of 1945.

Truman's diary entries and letters are fundamental to understanding why it was that the President decided to deploy the atomic weapons in 1945. Truman’s diary entities suggest strongly that Truman's primary concern was to end the war in the Pacific in order to save American lives. Truman's entry from July 18th at Potsdam supports this statement: 'I'll say we'll end the war a year sooner now, and think of all the kids who won't be killed.'[1] The diary entry shown here from Truman clearly demonstrates that he believed that the Atomic weapons were the quickest way to end the war in the Pacific theatre and to save American lives His entry on the 6th August 1945 emphasises a similar point, associating the need to deploy the atomic weapons with saving American lives. 'We have to use it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands of young Americans. We shall continue to use it until we destroy Japans power to make war.'[2] Truman’s diary entry here, clearly suggests that Truman used the bombs primarily to save American lives. This diary entry also illustrates how Truman believed that the best way to defeat the Japanese was to disable them from being able to manufacture the instruments of war.

Bibliography: Alperovitz , Gar. "Foreign Policy." Summer of the Bomb No.99 (1995): 15-34. Ferrell, Robert . Plain Speaking: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman. New York: Harper & Row, 1980. White, John, and Chun, Clayton. Form Operation Downfall to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. New York: Osprey Publishing, 2008. Books, 1997) ,p.35. [ 2 ]. Robert H. Ferrell, ed., Plain Speaking: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (New York: Harper & Row, 1980) [ 3 ] [ 4 ]. Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkely, Rise to Globalism: American foreign policy since 1938, (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), p.35. [ 6 ]. Stephen Ambrose and Douglas Brinkely, Rise to Globalism: American foreign policy since 1938, (New York: Penguin Books, 1997), p.35. 1980) [ 9 ] No.2, (1991) [ 10 ] [ 11 ]. Robert H. Ferrell, ed., Plain Speaking: The Private Papers of Harry S. Truman (New York: Harper & Row, 1980) [ 12 ] Books, 1997) ,p.35. [ 14 ]. Clayton Chun ,John White, Form Operation Downfall to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, (New York: Osprey publishing, Oct 2008), p.41 [ 15 ] Books, 1997), p.35. [ 16 ]. Clayton Chun ,John White, Form Operation Downfall to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, (New York: Osprey publishing, Oct 2008), p.42.