Although there were attempts at peace, Japan showed no signs of agreement towards a peaceful and unconditional surrender. Japan’s reluctance to stop fighting could have left to months more of fighting and thousands of more deaths. The atomic bomb ensured an enormous display that could quickly end the war. As Cuhrchill proclaimed, “the end of the Japanese war no longer depended upon the pouring in of their armies for the final and perhaps protracted slaughter… this nightmare picture [has] vanished… in its place the vision of the end of the whole war in one or two violent shocks” (Doc E). Churchill summed up the gist of America’s reasoning for implementing the bombs. The United States did not have to depend on the slaughter of millions of people in bloody, messy fights, and , instead, “a speedy end to the Second World War” could be reached with one machine (Doc E). However, once the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Japanese continued to resist. It wasn’t until a second bomb was dropped that Japan surrendered with a simple stipulation that their emperor remain in his position. This alone proves the military necessity of the bombs. Despite the attack on Hiroshima, Japanese still wished to continue their war. If not for the second bomb, who know how many lives would have been lost.…
I want to thank you for your response and clearly stating your perspective regarding the United States bombing Japan. However, I must respectfully disagree with your argument. I do believe the atomic bomb was necessary to end the war because without the bomb the United States was prepared to invade Japan. Statistically speaking the use of omb actually saved thousands of American and Japanese lives rather than invading Japan. I do concur with the questionable morality of using the bomb because killing many individuals was not an easy decision Truman had to make, consequently the decision ended the otherwise long and drawn out war. Japan was prepared to put a fight, no matter the circumstances. With the Japanese army and civilian militia expected…
Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb was a good decision. If he had not decided to drop the atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the war would have continued and more Americans, as well as Japanese, would have continued to die. Since the Japanese were using ruthless methods of war like kamikazes or killing themselves rather than be captured, it was hard to tell how far Japan was willing to go in order to win the war. Thus, Truman’s decision to bomb Japan is justifiable by the cause of not knowing to what extents Japan was willing to go. I believe Truman wanted to show the Japanese that the United States was willing to do anything to win the…
Although the use of the bomb killed many innocent civilians it also saved many lives because if the bomb had not dropped the war would have gone on with more air raids and more attacks on cities and many soldiers on both sides would have died. If the US had not dropped the atomic bomb the nuclear arms race would have would have went on and the standards would have been different and it may not have been just two cities but an entire country.…
The decision to drop two atomic bombs on Japan in August of 1945 was made by a complex group of technological, political and military influences. History has it that the bombs were dropped in order to save American lives by avoiding the invasion of Japanese homelands, at least, that was what President Truman told the American public at the time. “For years, this simple view has been challenged by a seemingly more sophisticated academic perspective that the bombs were wrongfully used against innocent civilians, did not genuinely factor into the surrender of Japan, and would have better served the war effort as part of a diplomatic “carrot and stick” package.” (Beason 1). Some argue that the first bomb may have been required to achieve Japanese surrender, but the second one was a needless act of barbarism. According to Admiral William D. Leahy, the President’s Chief of Staff, “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war over Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender…” (Beason 1). However, I have many facts to counteract all of these criticisms and to support President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb.…
If the war continued, an invasion would be needed and such an invasion “… would have cost an estimated million casualties,” (The Decision to Drop the Bomb). It was even believed by President Truman “… that the bombs saved Japanese lives as well,” (The Decision to Drop the Bomb). Even though the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, the quick end to the war they brought saved more lives in the long run than those that were lost in the…
The atomic bomb was something that helped America win the war. However, it wasn't something that our country absolutely needed. The United States did an awful thing when it dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. If it was aimed at a military target, it is not remembered for that. It is remembered because of the civilian people whose lives were ruined by this horrible action and the terror that the photos…
The dropping of the Atomic Bomb was an attack made on the Japanese by the Americans. Although the dropping of the Atomic Bomb by the United States helped to end World War II, the act was unjustified because of innocent Japanese civilians that were needlessly murdered and were not given sufficient time to surrender from the area. Consequently, the Japanese were defeated before and they were attempting to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the unsuccessful bombing with conventional weapons. This would be the reason that the bombing was not useful.…
Japan's empire had shattered, and Nazi Germany had just surrendered. President Truman had decided to drop atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There' been a debate ever since on whether or not his decision was reasonable. Japan was ready to surrender and on the verge of collapsing. One could argue that the bombing was barbaric and unnecessary.…
The dropping of the atom bomb on Japan saved American lives. If American soldiers invaded Japan we would have lost even more lives. “More than 55,000 Americans had already died in the Pacific. The bomb prevented more American lives to be lost” (Walker). This shows that so many American lives were already lost, and by dropping the bombs there were many lives that were saved. Because of the bomb dropping, a huge number of American lives were saved. “An invasion of Japan would have resulted in another 500,000 American lives lost” (The Human Cost). This shows that dropping the bomb was a good idea because we didn’t have to invade Japan so we could save lives.…
I am completely opposed to the bombings on the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is…
One reason someone might think we did the wrong thing by dropping the bomb on Japan is that it killed many innocent people, but if we didn’t many more Japanese and American lives could’ve been lost if the war continued. Dropping the bomb caused Japan to lose thousands of innocent lives that could have been prevented. Another reason is that it might not have been the reason that we won the war. We probably would’ve won the war anyway, by dropping the bomb we just won the war faster than we would have if we didn’t. Finally, America just assumed that people would go inside and hide, but they just watched it come down. People thought the bomb was something else so they rushed out to see it come down. In conclusion the government did the right thing dropping the bomb on Japan because it saved millions of Japanese and American lives.…
Everyone around the world will have their own opinion about the bombing on Hiroshima especially between the American’s and Japanese. I believe someone’s opinion makes an importance based off the generation he or she is from because American’s might’ve agreed to the bombing when it occurred because it was their generation when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese so it was a form of deadlier retaliation because their people such as loved ones were victims. Therefore, they didn’t want their deaths to be in vein. Moreover, parents wouldn’t have to send their children off to war because the US made it end with the deadly weapon to cause a surrender. Just as much as our present generation would bomb ISIS they don’t because we would know the aftermath a lot of innocent people will die, get injured and lose their homes.…
“We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man” stated Leaflet B dropped on August 6th, 1945. Since the United States knew how destructive the bomb was, they should have not used it in the first place. Not only was japan in danger but Leo Szilard and 69 co-signers at the Manhattan Project stated “ the cities of the United States as well as the cities of other nations will be in continuous danger of sudden annihilation.” Most people working on the project for two and a half years did not even know what they were working on or hiding from the American public. Though, Japan killed and injured many Americans, the U.S. killed more people and left Japan with high levels of radiation for many years after the bomb was dropped. In conclusion, the United States was not in any way justified for the decision of dropping the atomic…
The propaganda taught in grade schools was that the United States dropped the atomic bomb to save American lives and end the war. President Truman and some advisors stated after the war, that somewhere between five hundred thousand to one million American lives would be loss with an invasion of the Japanese homeland (37). So, in an attempt to bring the War in the Pacific to an end they used the atomic bomb. They also justified the use of the atomic bomb by claiming using the bomb would save an untold number of Japanese lives. The information which came from President Truman and his administrative sounded sensible and salved the conscious of America, but was it the truth? In his book, historian J. Samuel Walker provides a step by step analysis of events leading to Truman’s use of the atomic bomb to bring World War II to closure and extensive coverage of the relationship of the United States and the U.S.S.R.…