World War 2

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Jonathan Ouder
Dr.Stinson
EN 1113-18
21 Mar, 2014
Was Dropping the Atomic Bomb Justified
While writing my exploratory essay about Mechanical Engineering, I stumbled upon
Engineering in the Air Force. From there, I dove into different military research until I found a summary of the events in World War 2. World War 2 was a war that lasted 6 years, from 1939 to
1945, and there was many countries involved, including: The United States, Germany, Japan,
Soviet Union, Britain, and many more. The war was ended shortly after the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, but I wanted to know if dropping the bomb was absolutely necessary. Therefore, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki because the United States wanted to force Japans surrender as soon as possible to save the United States money, the United States needed to use the atomic bomb before The Soviet
Union did, and Truman wanted to prevent anymore American casualties.
All throughout World War 2, Japan and the United States fought many battles one including the surprise bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 6, 1941, the Battle of Midway, battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and finally the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The
United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan because the United States wanted to win the war as fast as possible while spending the least amount of money. Donohue writes, "The primary objective for the U.S. was to win the war at the lowest possible cost. Specifically,
Truman was looking for the most effective way to end the war quickly, not in a way to not use

Ouder 2 the bomb." (Donohue p6) This point explains how Truman decided to drop the bomb because it was the most effective form of action during that time. While at the same time, Truman wanted to make a move because the plan of creating a nuclear bomb, or the "Manhattan Project" for short, was costing a ridiculous amount of money. Donohue also puts in his article that, "The
Manhattan Project was a secret program to which the U.S. had funneled an estimated
$1,889,604,000 (in 1945 dollars) through December 31, 1945."(Donohue p7) The Manhattan
Project cost the Unites States a lot of money during World War 2, so Truman decided that dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.
During World War 2, the Soviet Union had their hands on nuclear research just like the
United States. The United States wanted to drop their atomic bomb on Japan before the Soviet
Union entered the war by dropping their atomic bomb. An Australian historian writes, "Truman and his generals first and foremost pursued the war against Japan, and the atomic bombs were an important part of their strategy for ending the war. This, however, is not to say that they were not aware of the race with the Russians or the advantages of being able to demonstrate the destructive power of the new super bomb."(Bastian p12) The race for nuclear warfare was going on all throughout World War 2, but the two main powers who had their hands on nuclear warfare would have to be the United States and the Soviet Union. Bastian also writes that, "The bomb had been developed in accordance with US military strategies to win both the European and
Pacific war as quickly and cheaply as possible and had the bonus of heading off Soviet influences in Asia."(Bastian p15) The president at the time, Truman, did not want the Soviet
Union to get involved during World War 2, so dropping the bomb on Japan before the Soviet

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Union did was the best decision at the time. The justification about keeping the Soviet Union out of the loop was a decision to make by Truman after he weighed out all the pros and cons.
The last reason behind why dropping the atomic bomb was justified is that Truman and the United States wanted to end the American casualties over in Japan. Before the atomic bomb was dropped during World War 2 the United States suffered an approximately 400,000 military soldiers. The United States dropped the bomb knowing that many Japanese 's lives would be lost.
Donohue states that, "Weapons were created to be used. By 1945, the bombing of civilians was already an established practice. In fact, the earlier U.S. firebombing campaign of Japan, which began in 1944, killed an estimated 315,922 Japanese, a greater number than the estimated deaths attributed to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The firebombing of Tokyo alone resulted in roughly 100,000Japanese killed." (Donohue p6) The United States had to drop the atomic bomb on the United States because the American casualties were on the rise. Truman made the ultimate decision which in the long run was the right decision.
Although most people believe that the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified, there are some people that believe that we could 've avoided dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. One of the main reasons people believe that dropping the bomb on Japan was unjustified was that the atomic bomb killed thousands of innocent people. The next point about how dropping the atomic bomb was unjustified is that Truman followed a "war is hell" motto which is basically anything that ends the war as quickly as possible will be used. Although the "war is hell" motto wasn 't the most appealing, Truman did what he had to do. The last point about how dropping the atomic bomb was unjustified was that the United States gave no warning to when the bomb would have been dropped on Japan, so the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had no warning to when the

Ouder 4 bombs were coming. If the Japanese were aware of the disastrous effects of the bomb they would have surrendered unconditionally in order to protect the lives of their people. While dropping the atomic bomb had terrible effects on Japan 's people and the country, Harry Truman and the United
States did not want to invade Japan risking the lives of the United States military.
The dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan took a lot of thought and consideration. Japan started the war with the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, so the United States responded with attacks on Iwo Jima, and Okinawa before dropping the atomic bomb on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Harry Truman did not want to invade Japan and spend any more money, so dropping the atomic bomb ended the war as quickly as possible. Another reason why dropping the bomb was justified was that the United States did not want the Soviet Union to get involved with nuclear warfare. The United States wanted to keep the Soviet Union out of it as long as possible. The last reason was that the United States military was that the United States military had lost approximately 400,000 soldiers during World War 2, so the atomic bomb eliminated having to go invade Japan. At the end of the day, Harry Truman and the United States put everything into consideration including the lives of the Americans before making the drastic decision of dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ends World War 2.

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Works Cited Page

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Donohue, Nathan. “Understanding the Decision to Drop the Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
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Mindell, David. "The science and technology of World War II." Learnnc. National Museum of
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Rizzo, Johnna. "Japan 's Secret WWII Weapon: Balloon Bombs." Nationalgeographic. May
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Cited: Web. 13 Mar. 2014. Csis. Aug. 2012. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.