There were many factors that were considered on whether to or not to use the newly found weapon against Japan in the time period. With having the opinions of scientists as well as military advisors, President Truman had several people 's opinions in mind, with many opinions present it made the decision on whether to or not to drop the bomb difficult to decide for the president. Many can agree or disagree with what would have happened if Truman hadn’t had ordered the first atomic bomb dropped. If the bomb hadn’t been dropped, there is no telling on what would have happened in the war with Japan. President Harry S. Truman 's intentions of the atomic bomb were to bring an end to the war, the Japanese had made it clear that there would be no surrender on their side. In Truman 's diary entry from the Potsdam Conference, he discussed that the bomb would only be dropped and used on "military objectives and soldiers and sailors", the innocent women and children where not their target. Although he did state “Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless, and fanatic, we as the leaders of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new.” Truman was aware of the affect the atomic bomb had, and how dangerous it was; making it known that dropping such forces on the people of Japan would cause major damage. He also mentioned that there would be a warning to the Japanese government to and save the lives of their people, even though they had
In the brutal and deadly Pacific Theater of World War ll, President Truman had to make a crucial decision on whether or not to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Some believe that Truman’s actions to drop the atomic bomb were unethical and inhumane; however, Truman was justified in his decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan due to the fact that they are our enemy, saving American lives is the first priority, and the atomic bomb will ultimately prevent Russia from gaining control of Asia.
I believe that the decision made by the United States to bomb Japan was not thought through well enough and could have been approached differently. There were many possible alternatives to setting off the bombs that could have saved many innocent lives or at least lowered the death toll of Japan. One alternative that could have been more successful was if the United states had chosen to continue conventional bombing. There was a survey taken in Japan, called the Strategic Bombing Survey, that proved Japan was more than likely to surrender soon due to the pressure of the United States dropping continuous, conventional bombs (Arguments Against the Bomb: Argument #4.4). If truman had decided to wait and continue to use conventional bombing, the
President Truman's choice to drop the atomic bomb was to achieve the end of the war, to stop the loss of life. The United States thought Japan might surrender following the bomb's
On August 6, 1945, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. To this day there is controversy on whether the U.S. should have risked the lives of hundreds of thousands of people to win the second world war. The U.S. Should have considered other options before dropping the bomb on Hiroshima. There were many alternative actions that could have taken place instead of dropping the bomb, but President Truman decided that using it was the best way to get the Japanese to surrender. If he would have chosen differently, the world would be a different place today.
President Truman was informed about the Manhattan Project after he became President. Once, the success of the project was secure, the United States has the capacity to end the war with Japan is in our hands. President Truman’s primary goal is “to win a complete victory and to keep the U.S. casualties to a minimum” (Walker 50). Japan on the other hand is not willing to surrender without a fight, even though American forces took over Okinawa and Iwo Jima and were continuously bombing Japanese cities. Japan has denied unconditional surrender, although the refusal is certain to result in total destruction. Thus, President Truman should be advised towards the use of the atomic bomb to quickly bring an end to the
President Harry S. Truman had the power to end war with Japan, but it would involve unleashing the most terrible weapons ever known. The world changed when the United State dropped the first atomic bomb on Japanese city, Hiroshima seventy thousands of Japanese citizens vaporized. Three days later another bomb was dropped on Japanese city, Nagasaki eighty thousands Japanese citizens perished. The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lead many historians and policy analyst to questioned if president Truman was correct in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. In my opinion, President Truman was correct in his decision to drop the atomic bomb.
This thought brings me to my next motive of why Truman might have dropped the bomb. I do not think Truman was unaware of the lasting effects of the atom bomb, but by the time these facts were presented to him, piled upon facts about the actual bomb and the projects supporting them, it was to late to change his decision. He needed to save face for America (which brings me to the next motive of pressure) even if it public opinion was not his main concern. Truman did not want to look soft upon the Japanese, something further consideration and negation of the plan to bomb would have caused in some officials eye's. Also, Truman and much of the rest of the nation did not like seeing the U.S. as moral failures like many other nations. Who knows what the reaction to the President's decision would have been like if he had decided to let an invasion with hundreds and thousands of our men involved take place.
The nature of the careers and by extension the feelings of the president as opposed to scientists was one of the factors that differentiated the finer points of their views on the usage of the atomic bomb. Truman was not aware of the true effects of dropping the atomic bomb, and therefore his decision lay as a purely military choice. Truman, as president, was obligated to protect, preserve and defend America, and the American lives taken by Japanese kamikaze pilots stood as a threat to homeland security. He viewed the bombing as no different than the firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo; essentially, a necessary step in protecting America, blind to the inevitable repercussions for the Japanese, such as radioactive sickness. J. Robert Oppenheimer, the lead scientist of the Manhattan Project, explains the viewpoint of the scientists. The scientists were unaware of the ill effects of the bomb as well, and felt deep regret as expressed by Oppenheimer that such a drastic scale of damage had resulted from the very thing that they had spent months
In 1945, World War Two was coming to an end. Following Adolf Hitler’s suicide, and Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945, the war in Europe was finally over. The allies began began postwar planning for future, as well as establishment of post-war order and peace treaties issues. America’s war wasn’t done yet as they were still fighting Japan, eventually pushing them back to their main island. The Japanese’ plans of defending themselves was a group of final decisive battles on the Japanese mainland utilizing all people in Japan to fight to death against the Americans. Fearing costly land battles,
To my belief the two biggest issues that play a role in making and educated on wether to drop the bomb or not, would be time and money. The U.S. had already spent billions of dollars making these bombs, and couldnt afford to waste anymore money on the war. Sending troops to invade would have cost the U.S. alot of money that they didnt have, mind you they still were facing the great deppression. Not to mention the time that had gone into making these intricate atomic bombs, and the time that had already been wasted fighting the war. The war lasted about six years and could have been longer if Truman hadnt dropped the bomb because of the Japanese ethics and warfare perspective.
Truman held advantages and moral dilemmas. Truman had to decide if ending the war was worth the death of thousands of people. Other than Truman, no one will ever know the hardships faced when taking on this challenge or the amount of time spent pondering which way to go. Truman was not alone in this decision, but in the end all the pressure is left on his shoulders. We have no way of knowing what would have happened if Truman decided to not drop the atomic bomb, but we do know that the choice he made worked out in the United States favor and won them the
“Truman stated that his decision to drop the bomb was purely military. Truman believed that the bombs saved Japanese lives as well. Prolonging the war was not an option for the President,” (ushistory.org 1). President Truman and the United States government made a fair decision by dropping the atomic bomb on the Japanese citizens in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during 1945. The bomb allowed the United States to appear more powerful and led to them influencing the rest of the world. The dropping of the atomic bomb was also a just response to the previous atrocities committed by Japan to other countries including the United States. In the long run, the bomb saved more lives that would have been lost in the war, since the bombs caused the
Imagine yourself making the toughest decision in your life, whether sacrificing a million of our men and thousands of war ships and plans, verses several thousand of Japanese civilian populists. This decision was on the shoulder of Harry S. Truman, the United States President, who had to make this decision by deciding whether or not to drop a newly designed weapon. The atomic bomb was tested in the sands of New Mexico, where it proved to be very successful. Harry S. Truman made a very successful decision, because he wanted to end the war quickly, show others that the United States had power, and the retribution of Pearl Harbor.
The decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the hardest decision for President Truman to make. He had the power right there in his hands to end the war but he would have to unleash the most powerful weapon known to man, at this time. Everyone was very tired of fighting but the Japanese would not give up so Truman decided to drop it. Even though we told Japan that if they did not surrender we would completely demolish some of their cities, they did not listen and they did not surrender. Maybe they did not think about what kind of weapons we would use because
With the approval of American President Harry S. Truman, the fates of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sealed. This decision came with heavy hearts, as the United States attempted to end their involvement in World War II by using nuclear power against the nation of Japan. Truman’s primary goal in this form of attack was to discontinue the war as quickly as possible, while also sending a message to the enemy and establish the United States as the leader in atomic energy. Beginning as a secret operation labeled the Manhattan Project, atomic bombs became the new weapons of mass destruction. The evident frontrunner in nuclear technology, the United States was the first country to release atomic bombs on another nation for war