Exploring Reasons for the Decision to Drop Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

On the 6th of August 1945 an American B-29 Bomber plane launched a dangerous atomic bomb called “Little Boy”, in the centre of the city of Hiroshima. The Bombs left 140,000 people dead and another ten thousand died later from the toxic radiation exposure.

Before even making the decision to drop the bomb, President Truman knew that the Atomic bomb would cause countless deaths, yet he still dropped the bomb. Knowingly killing thousands of people, where many were completely innocent, is cruel. There were countless women and children innocently killed just because they were seen as the enemy, when in reality, they could have the same beliefs as another person in America. Not only did the Atomic bomb cause thousands of deaths, but it left hundreds of Japanese homeless and destroyed entire cities. Additionally, Henry Stimson, secretary of war, writes, “The decision to use the Atomic bomb was a decision that brought death to over a hundred thousand

The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. This claim can be supported by three reasons: Document A, Document B, and Document F. The bombings had led to deaths of at least 150,000 - 246,000 people.

Everyone in the United States, and the world, knows about the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. There are countless pictures, bombs, and destruction caused, but where did it all start? It started in the Martin Bomber Plant right here in Nebraska.

A retired Major, Richard Gordon, was a POW in Japan and said, ?The dropping of the bomb saved the lives of all of us being held in Japan. There wasn?t one prisoner who wasn?t told they were dead if the Americans invaded Japan. We were looking forward to an invasion, but we knew we might not be around to see it.? Another survivor of the Bataan Death March, Grayford C. Payne, was quoted as saying, ?I had not been a prisoner for fifteen minutes before they bayoneted a fifteen-year-old Filipino kid right next to me.? A Japanese directive describes how the prisoners were to be killed: ?mass bombing, or poisonous smoke, poisons, decapitation?. In any case, it is the aim not to allow the escape of a single one, to annihilate them all, and not to leave any traces.? An invasion was the most favored alternative of the allies to force a Japanese surrender, if the bomb was not used. The other alternatives were naval blockades, modification of unconditional surrender terms, conventional bombing, and waiting a little longer to see if the Soviets would enter into the war. The number of Americans and Japanese who would have died if such invasions had occurred would have been astronomically higher than the number who died at Hiroshima. Pentagon planners projected 132,000 American casualties for an invasion of Kyushu, and 90,000 or so for Honshu. Using Okinawa as a model, there would be one American casualty for every four Japanese casualties, and Japan?s

. . . Modern science has won this war for us. Modern science is winning the peace for us. And modern science will provide a means of living and a security of living for the generations to come which this world has never dreamed of." He was not the only to say things like this after the bombings. Many people thought that this creation would be a positive thing for future conflicts as it could prevent war and provide peace throughout the world. Also, people were relieved that America was able to invent the bomb first as America only wants peace and other countries would have taken advantage of this weapon. As John L. Balderston Jr. of Oak Ridge, Tennessee said, "It is to the good of the whole world that we, a normally peace-loving nation, did discover it first."

On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb is used in war on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, followed by Nagasaki on August 6, 1945 (Findlay & Hevly, 2011, p. XI). Both atomic bombs were fueled by the plutonium from the Manhattan Project. Death counts from Hiroshima ranged from 99,000 to 166,000, and 60,000 to 80,000 for Nagasaki from the debris, blast, heat, and radiation (Listwa, 2012). However, these counts did not factor in the rescue workers who entered the areas breathing in radioactive dust, nor had appropriate clothing and radiation gamma readers like present day to view levels of radiation. Between the United States and the Japanese government research and continued healthcare are conducted by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation. This foundation estimates that after the bombings between the second and sixth year there was an increase in leukemia cases, especially children (Listwa, 2012). Research continues to follow leukemia incidences, cancer in registries, and children of the survivors.

The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945 and Nagasaki on August 9th, 1945 was the first and last time the weapon has been used to date; the atomic explosions exposed the true potential of nuclear warfare whilst also highlighting the global superiority that America possessed at the conclusion of World War II. On August 6th 1945 “Little Boy”, a uranium atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in an effort by the United States backed by the Soviet Union, the British and the Chinese to force a Japanese surrender. However American intelligence suggested no evidence of Japanese surrender which acted as the catalyst for the second use of a plutonic implosion type bomb, “Fat Man” on Nagasaki on August 9th 1945. The sheer force of the bombs reportedly killed 66,000 in Hiroshima and 39,000 in Nagasaki Japanese residents whilst injuring another 94,000 residents suffering symptoms of intense third degree burns.

This all began from a simple mis-understanding and disagreement in 1939 - 1945, the beginning and the end of World War II . It started in the late WWII, when Japan was one of the most powerful country in the war, the conflict between the two countries began when Japan attacked the coast of North America and it hit the Hawaii Islands; it is famous by the name Pearl Harbor, this made a completely big change in the history resulting of a lot of deaths and also the believed reason of why the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Although Japan was practically defeated, the U.S’s reason was just to make sure that Japan would not be able to do more things and to make them surrender so that WWII will be officially over. Many people weren't

The first bomb in Hiroshima killed 140,000 people by the end of 1945. The explosion its self killed 80,000 people instantly. The other major toll the bomb took on the city was the fact that it had killed 60,000 people in the next five years due to sickness from radiation from the bomb. The second bomb Fat Man killed 70,000 people by the end of 1945. Fat man killed 39,000 people instantly but left 25,000 people injured from the blast. If people who had cancer from the radiation that adds close to another 100,000 people who died from the second bombs. In the next five years 140,000 people died from sickness due to the bomb. In total in the five years after the bombs exploded 210,000 people died from effects from the bomb.

He said “I am become death, the destroyer of worlds” (Oppenheimer, Robert). If I were the creator of the atomic bomb I would have felt the same way. I would have not forgiven myself for creating such a destructive weapon. I would have guilty for the rest of my life. Henry J.M. Nouwen said “ the thought that human beings are considering saving lives by killing millions of their fellow human beings is so preposterous that the words ‘saving life’ have lost all of their meaning. One of the most tragic facts of our century is that ‘NO’ to nuclear weapons has been spoken so seldom, so softly, and by so few” (Nouwen, Henri

The bomb killed 80,000 people in the first day. The bomb had a blast equal to 15,000 tons of TNT. It also weighted 9500 pounds. The second bomb called fat man dropped on the city of Nagasaki on August 9,1944. the bomb was bigger than the little boy,but killing

It is estimated that by the end of 1945, the bombs had killed 166,000 people in Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki, totaling about 246,000 deaths, although only half passed the days of the bombings. Among the victims, 15 to 20% died from injuries or radiation poisoning attributed to the disease. Since then, some other people have died of leukemia and various cancer attributed to exposure to radiation released by the bombas.En both cities, the vast majority of the deaths were of civilians.

By bombing Japan, many civilians were killed as a result of the U.S. 's desire to use a new weapon. Laurence describes the bomb as, "a thing of beauty to behold" and "Never before had so much brain power been focused on a single problem" (11). This demonstrated how the U.S. saw Japan as a problem that needed to be dealt with quickly and that the new and supposedly destructive weapon was the best choice. While the targets, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were both production areas ,they were inhabited by a number of civilians. By choosing to drop the bomb, thousands were annihilated and any survivors began to suffer from radiation sickness shortly after. Because of its destruction, the U.S. believed the atomic bomb was a quick solution to the war.

Would you kill a thousand to save millions? Well the drastic actions taken by the United States did save millions. There were two actions that had to occur to save the millions and end the war, the dropping of the two atomic bombs being the first of their kind were to be the most powerful bomb ever invented using atomic and nuclear forces so create it and packed over 20,000 tons of TNT and was about ten feet long. The bomber that transported and dropped them was called the 'Enola Gay’. The two Japanese cities’ that were struck by such creations were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In this essay I will be discussing on how the actions taken by the United States of America were completely justified in dropping the two bombs as is established a future power image, saved millions, ended the war and ended the axis of evil.