The Atomic Bomb Of World War II

Was it necessary for Truman to drop the Atomic Bombs on Japan in World War II? On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped by a US aircraft on Hiroshima. This atomic bomb was dropped to force Japan into surrender, this bomb alone destroyed Hiroshima and over 90,000 people were instantly killed in the explosion and an additional 100,000 people perished from burns and radiation sickness. On August 9, 1945 only three days later, the second atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki resulting in an additional 80,000 casualties of the Japanese population. The people of Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945 soon after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many people opposed to the use of the atomic bombs because people argued that Truman 's decision to use atomic bombs was a barbaric act of cruelty. People also argued that the US government had other ulterior motives to drop the atomic bomb that were necessary for America 's ideals. Necessary motives like presenting The Soviet Union a strong message for the Soviets to watch their step around America. A conventional way of warfare for Japan 's surrender would have costed many more American lives. Truman and others believed that the atomic bomb was necessary to save American lives but also Japanese lives. These actions from President Truman marked the end of the most destructive war in history. The two sources that will used and evaluated in this paper are is The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb by Dennis D. Wainstock (1996)

The end of World War Two in Europe, or V-E day made two things very clear. First, that America showed itself as a world power, and the second was that Russia had no intentions of leaving the land it had taken on its way to Berlin. With the war in the pacific still ongoing, the Americans had to turn its focus to the war on the islands and deal with Russia afterwards. Eventually in July of 1945, an end to the pacific theater of war came (V-J day) with the dropping of the two atomic bombs, little boy and fat man, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The decision to drop the first bomb was made by new president Harry Truman, and was not only used to force Japan into an unconditional surrender, but also to intimidate the Solviet Union.

The agencies leading up to the Manhattan Project were first formed in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Without the discovery of the Uranium isotope the atomic bomb would not have been able to become a reality. However, the Manhattan project had a delayed start, due to theoretical, financial, and experimental obstacles such as not having enough material. The scientist tried to get the project to be taken more seriously, in 1939 a letter written by Einstein was brought to President Roosevelt in hopes of convincing him the importance of uranium. The letter described the danger of Uranium research and the possibility of a chain reaction.

World War 2 was one of the worst wars in world history. The allied forces, the U.S., France, China, Russia, and Great Britain, were at war against the axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan, to stop the nazis from taking over the world. There were many bad events and battles that happened over the 6 year time span of the war; but one of the worst has to be the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings at the end of the war. Some people say that the U.S. Needed to drop the bombs to save American and Japanese lives. Some think otherwise, that the bombs were not nessecary to end the war. Even the scientists who created the bombs believed it shouldn't have been used. Once the bomb was created, there was controversy

Thesis: The dropping of the atomic bomb during World War II by the United States on Japan was a justified act. Not only was the dropping of the atomic bomb used to save American lives, but it prevented the war from lingering on, taking the lives of more civilians. The bomb did not just make sense, but it saved lives, despite taking some, therefore making the atomic bomb a reasonable action. It is not war mentality to think of preserving the lives of innocent people when the safety of the world is at stake. World War II, taking place in Japan, was likely to continue to linger on which would produce more deaths in the long run. In a book entitled, Thank God for the Atomic Bomb, by WWII soldier, Paul Fussell, he noted that "The people who preferred an invasion to a bombing seemed to have no intention of proceeding to the Japanese front themselves. I have already noted what a few more days would mean to the luckless troops and sailors on the spot....on Okinawa, only a few weeks before Hiroshima, 123,000 Japanese and Americans killed each other. War is immoral. War is cruel". By saying this it proves that although dropping the atomic bomb had some consequences, not dropping it, and letting the war carry on had far worse outcomes, and those who did want an invasion were not willing to go fight for it, again proving the high demand for the wars end. Then, in a speech made by President Truman he explains, "My chief

The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II. The Manhattan project was the invention of the first two nuclear bombs, Fat man and little boy. These two bombs were dropped on Japanese islands to end World War II.

“ The atom bomb was no ‘great decision.’ It was merely another powerful weapon in the arsenal of righteousness.” This quote was said by Harry S. Truman the first President who used an atomic bomb. The program that was able to create this monstrous power was known as the Manhattan Project. Creating this weapon was their main priority. The United States was in the midst of World War 2. The atomic bomb is considered to be the main factor that ended that war. It was a race against the multiple enemies of the United States, to be the first to acquire this power and use it when necessary. The Manhattan Project was kept strictly confidential and, created the foundation of the future and more powerful nuclear weapons to come.

When the Eleventh Doctor, protector of aliens and humans, first landed his Tardis on the Starship UK he never imagined that he would be faced with the seemingly impossible decision of choosing between saving the lives of an alien or human. The government had enslaved and tortured an alien to use as the engine for their ship. The Doctor could not allow the cruel treatment to continue, so he had to determine who would die for the sake of saving others. Making a choice between the lives of two parties is a judgment call that makes a good story plot, but also one that the United States government was not exempt from. The United States government was presented with the decision to compare the value of the lives of others when the choice came to use the atomic bombs as a weapon during World War II. The atomic bomb was used in order to shorten the war and save thousands of lives. However, in reality the bombs killed thousands of innocent Japanese civilians and had unfathomable repercussions for generations to come. When the value of lives is called into question, people can be swayed by the forces of loss aversion and diagnosis bias to justify their decision.

In the 1930’s and the 1940’s there was a change in American leadership. Having this change not only changed the outcome of the war that we were currently in, but how the rest of the world would view our country after the war. The decision that Harry Truman was forced to make on the choice to drop the atomic bomb or to attempt more land invasions was a choice that shaped the outcome of the war. There were major influences and side effects from the dropping of the atomic bomb and what it did to the country of Japan. Having the option and the weight of the moral decision weighing on Truman’s shoulders about what decision should be made, he was the only one who was capable of making the decision that shaped the outcome of the war. Having dropped the bomb on Japan, as a statement of power and a means to an end in a form was the only way that American lives could have been spared as comparing that to the lives that would have been lost in a land invasion. Knowing what the issues with the bomb was; one has to look at the moral issues, the results of the incident, and also how it played in the rest of the development of the world.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a bombing attack on the American naval base in Pearl Harbor. This attack on the U.S. brought America into World War II. One Japanese general commented “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” (Yamamoto) Japan’s surprise attack on the U.S. created a much larger enemy than they intended. After the attack the U.S. embarked on a bloody and hard fought campaign through the pacific, which ultimately led to the Dropping of two atomic bombs and the surrender of Japan. Although many lives were lost the American decision to drop the bombs was justified because it ended the war quickly, saved american lives, and showed the world the power of the U.S. The Pacific War was a long and drawn out process that was moving very slowly for the United States, was struggling to pull off any major naval victory and from the mistakes made of the U.S. basically leaving the Japanese unattended while they were fighting the Germans in Europe. The American decision to drop the Bombs was justified because the U.S. wanted to end the war quickly and not to have a costly invasion of the Japanese Homeland as well as showing power to the world. Truman wanted to end the war as fast as he could because we had been in conflict for 4 years now and the American forces were very weary and tired of war, the U.S. dropped it for the other reason of

During this time, the world’s most intelligent scientists discovered that German physicists were learning to produce a bomb that could cause immense destruction. The fear of such a bomb led scientists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi to inform President Franklin D. Roosevelt of Germany’s plans. Renowned scientist, Albert Einstein had fled Nazi persecution and was by then living in the United States; he delivered a letter to President Roosevelt on October 11, 1939. In the letter,

The birth of the Atomic bombs was during WWII, when the nations around the world were fighting against each other, due to disagreements between one another. At the beginning of the war, America was at a stalemate because they did not want to get involved in the war. Even though they were not involved in the war they were helping friendly allies with food supplies and ammunition. And then there was island to the east of the Korean peninsula, also known as Japan, who suddenly decided to send a full blown aerial attack on american territory. In december 7, 1941 Japan launched a full blown attack on Pearl Harbor, an American naval base. This was the turning point of WWII because this spark America to enter into a war. What the enemy did not know, was that the U.S. had a secret under their hands, and that was the weapon that would bring an end the war. An According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. the first Atomic Bomb was build in Los Alamos New Mexico during WWII under the Manhattan Project ("Atomic Bomb." Encyclopaedia Britannica”). But after the bombs were drop the suffering of the Umany people, gave way for the questioning of the actions, some of these questions were : was it the right thing to do, what effect it had in the places that the bomb were dropped, how was America affected before, during, after and the bombs were dropped, what effect did the people had after experiencing the explosion, but the most important

On August 6th, 1945, the Enola gay took off to bomb Japan, changing the world forever. At 8:15 in the morning, a massive, mushroom cloud rose over Hiroshima, Japan killing more than 70,000 people. The first atomic bomb had been used in combat. Then on August 9, another bomb was sent in by the bomber Bock’s Car. It was originally supposed to go to the city of Kokura, but the weather was bad so it was redirected to Nagasaki killing 40,000 people. With the death tolls at around 129,000, Japan unconditionally surrendered several days later ending World War Two. Although, at the same time it put the world into a new generation of war. American President Harry Truman’s controversial choice to drop the atomic bomb on Japan had ended World War 2 but consequently started the nuclear age. Since the surrender, Truman’s choice has been the subject of a great deal controversy, in large part because of the high civilian death toll. However, the choice to bomb Japan had ended the long lasting war. Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb was justifiable by Japan’s refusal to give up unconditionally, the cost of the Manhattan Project, and the high death toll anticipated from an invasion of Japan.

Who is good and who is Evil? Many of us go through life thinking that whatever we do must be what is good, never questioning authority and blindly following a government that is thought to be incapable of doing evil. After World War II, many Americans felt a sense of nationalism. They were proud of the fact that their military destroyed Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan. However this euphoric patriotism can often blind the holder. In August of 1945, the United States Military dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There were noble reasons for dropping the bombs, but surely destroying two entire cities questions the integrity of the United States. So again I ask, who is good and who is evil?