The Atomic Bomb

The End of World War II The United States Decision to drop the Atomic bomb has been a controversial topic since the day the first bomb was dropped August 6, 1945. President Harry Truman made the ultimate decision to use the atomic bomb, to him it was a clear decision that this would end the war with America’s most hated enemy: Japan (Nathan, 2012). There had been thousandths of bloody deaths up to-this-point in the war, Japan was destroyed, they had just about nothing, their country was in starvation, the domestic infrastructure was ruined, both sides knew that America was going to win. The question was not if it was when? (Nathan, 2012) Truman’s decision in using the bomb was not taken lightly it came down to several factors but ultimately he wanted the war to end as soon as possible with the fewest U.S casualties (Maddox, 1995).
Although Truman made the final decision in the dropping of the bombs he had many other leaders around him giving him feedback on the situation, what they thought would be the best decision, and things he needed to consider before the ultimate bombing happened. Truman writes in his journal the night before meeting with his committee on June 18, 1945, “I have to decide Japanese strategy—shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I’ll make it when I have all the facts.”(Maddox,1995). The bomb was going to have many affects and there were going to be both arguments for and against its use both of which Truman had to take in serious consideration. Truman himself said “it was the most terrible thing ever discovered”, (Nathan,2012) which is exactly why he didn’t take this matter lightly. Just before ending the meeting, which was going to result in the invasion Kyushu, McCloy (one of the Joint Chiefs) stated that they could avoid invasion if they warned Japan of their use of Atomic Weaponry (Maddox, 1995).
America’s original plan as of June 1945 was to conduct an Operational Downfall, which was code for the Invasion of Japan but by the time the plan was ready Japan would have enough time to plan their defense against the U.S. In early August the intercepts indicated 13 Japanese divisions defending the invasion beaches. One intelligence officer noted that the U.S would be attacking on a ratio of one-to-one -- "not the recipe for victory”(American Experience). Taking this route Truman received estimates from General MacArthur and Joint Chiefs that this could cause up to 2 million deaths by the time it was over (Nathan, 2012). This operation was too high of a risk for U.S Soldiers (Nathan, 2012). At this time it was time to take the atomic bomb and other alternatives into consideration. The Interim Committee discussed using air power to defeat Japan, General MacArthur felt Japan would surrender within six months with little risk to Americans (Nathan, 2012). Six months was to long Truman wanted the war to end as soon as possible, and this operation would take to long. Another alternative to the Japanese surrendering was letting the Japanese keep their Emperor at throne. But Byrne’s being the new Secretary of State Argued with Truman over this option, “Byrnes argued that the President would be crucified politically by the Republicans for “making a deal” with the Japanese (Barnes, 2013). The third alternative taken into consideration was waiting for the Soviets to invade Japan. This was an important objective because this was something President Roosevelt had earlier negotiated (Nathan, 2012).
Considering the Soviets was strategic because of their control over most of Eastern Europe’s Military (Nathan, 1995). In actuality this alternative had already happened when the Soviet Union invaded Japan from the north after the first bomb was dropped. Historian Tsuyoshi argues that it wasn’t until the Soviet invasion that the Emperor “was finally convinced that the moment had at last arrived to end the war” (Barnes, 1995). But this hadn’t meant it was going to happen, it meant that it was going to make it easier. Some Historians say the Soviet Union was the reason Japan Surrender in the end, not because of the bombs (Barnes, 1995). This alternative wasn’t certain to President Truman, which is why this option was not chosen.
Japan knew all along they were going to be defeated by the Americans, but they weren’t giving up. Japan was weak, they were tired as was the U.S. Japan held their ground and were going to fight till they couldn’t. But why, why would they continue to fight if they knew they were going to lose? Research tells Japan tried multiple times to surrender but none of the options were good enough for the U.S to act upon(Cook, 2011). After the First Bomb was dropped the Japanese were in a meeting discussing the surrendering to the U.S when the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. At this point Japan was forced to surrender unconditionally (Cook,2011).
Truman had many arguments in using the bomb. He wanted to win the war and for it come to an end at its lowest cost. Truman wanted to justify the Manhattan Project; the U.S estimated putting two million dollars into this secret project. Truman argued why not use the bomb? Weapons are used for war and it wasn’t the first time a bombing on civilians had occurred. “An earlier U.S firebombing campaign of Japan, which began on 1944, killed an estimated 315,922 Japanese” (Nathan, 2012). Truman was questioned by a General by the use of the bomb and responded with reminding him of Pearl Harbor and how this would be in response, he said “when you have to deal with a beast you have to treat him as a beast”(Nathan, 2012). These bombs were going to end the war sooner rather than later and cause less deaths than the invasion was estimated to.
The First Bomb was dropped August 6, 1945 killing 130,000 Japanese and the second was dropped three days later August 9,1945 killing 60-70,000 more Japanese. Six days later Japan surrender ending World War II (Nathan,2012). Truman’s decision to drop the second bomb was based solely upon the fact that one bomb would not be sufficient. “American officials believed more than one bomb would be necessary because they assumed Japanese hard-liners would minimize the first explosion or attempt to explain it away as some sort of natural catastrophe, precisely what they did” (Maddox, 1995). Truman claimed that using atomic bombs prevented an invasion that would have cost 500,000 American lives. Other officials mentioned the same or even higher figures (Maddox, 1995). He also stated using the bombs saved Japanese lives (Barnes, 2013).
Truman’s decision to use the Atomic Bomb will always be controversial because of his alternatives but at this time in 1945 he made the decision and ending the war as soon as possible with the least amount of deaths was his ultimatum (Maddox, 1995). This topic will be debated upon for decades as it has been the last 68 years but the one thing that will forever be true is that this bombing ended the deadliest conflict in human history (Cook, 2011).

Work Cited

"American Experience: TV 's Most-watched History Series." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. June 2013.

Barnes, Michael. "The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments Against." The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments Against. N.p., Jan. 2013. Web. June 2013.

Cook, Gareth. "Why Did Japan Surrender?" Boston Globe. N.p., 7 Aug. 2011. Web.

Donohue, Nathan. "Understanding the Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki." Center for Strategic and International Studies. N.p., 10 Aug. 2012
. Web. June 2013.

Maddox, Robert J. "American Heritage." The Biggest Decision: Why We Had To Drop The Atomic Bomb. N.p., June 1995. Web. June 2013

Cited: Cook, Gareth. "Why Did Japan Surrender?" Boston Globe. N.p., 7 Aug. 2011. Web.