In 1945 the entire world could have died. The sacrificial freedom and silence by a few would eventually save the American masses. While the decision to develop The Manhattan Project and drop the Atomic bomb on Japan surely ended World War II, there was a huge debate about the overall process and the social implications of allowing such a disastrous event to take place. There was a race to defeat the growing power of Hitler’s Germany, but that is not where the bomb landed. Scientists that had devoted their time to create the bomb felt they should have a voice in how it was used, but they were ignored. President Truman’s Interim Committee, a military General, and a group of scientists could not agree on how to use this new weapon of mass destruction. It was not easy for the opposition or those in favor of dropping the atomic bomb to make the decision of how to use it. It is important to understand the development of the bomb’s creation as well as the ramifications of its use in order to clearly understand both side’s opinion of its effects. The final decision to drop the bomb, and on what cities, was made on July 25th, 1945. A few months prior, in May of 1945, is when the debate began. The death of President Franklin Roosevelt put the Vice President, Truman, into office. Roosevelt had heard about Germany’s knowledge of splitting atoms. Albert Einstein, who fled Germany, warned in 1939 that there was not much time until Germany mastered the knowledge. However, Roosevelt took
The dropping of the two atomic bombs on Japan is justified due to the severe casualties caused by the bombing of pearl harbor. “On watch with the Shore Patrol until 0400 in the morning when I turned in at my room at the Alexander Young (hotel) in Honolulu: About 0800, my slumber was disturbed by explosions and sounds which closely resembled gunfire.” On the morning, December 7, 1941, Japan had surprised the world by attacking the United States at Pearl Harbor. As stated by President Franklin D Roosevelt “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
During the long battle of WW2, we were all surprised by the death of our beloved president Roosevelt on April 12th. Quickly we had Truman come into office and within 12 days we asked him for this okay for dropping the bomb. Truman had known about the bomb before hand, but on April 25th Stimson and Truman had the official answer after thinking long and hard what the right decision would be. “Truman and Stimson immediately began to see the diplomatic implications of the bomb...” (2. Walter, “Interview Transcripts: The bomb”) They decided
September 1, 1939, marked the beginning of World War II. The war was long fought involving the three axis powers and several allied powers. Among those were Japan and the United States following Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Praino, 2015). Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost amongst the battles from each side of the war. In 1939, Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi fled to America and informed the elected officials that Germany had discovered new outbreaks in splitting atoms, which was one step closer to the creation of destructive weapons for the Axis power. With that news, American facilities launched a program that would later be codenamed “The Manhattan Project” which was the birthplace of the first nuclear atomic reactions. After the first reaction was created, it was a vicious cycle from there that continued to escalate. With the war reaching an all-time high in casualties, Truman was faced with a big decision as the programs had finally experienced breakthroughs to the atomic bomb. He could choose to remain in conventional war tactics and continue to prolong the war until Japan was ready to surrender, or attempt to save the lives of many American soldiers and citizens by dropping the atomic bombs onto two major cities in Japan (Praino, 2015). By choosing the latter, an estimated 225,000 Japanese lives were lost (Perkins, 2016) and the ethical merits of Truman’s decision are still questioned today while some views remain confident in the choice.
The development and deployment of the atomic bomb by the United States towards the Japanese raised a number of issues that still remain relevant today. World War II was tentatively beginning to conclude when the prospect of dropping the bomb was considered; this consideration led to much controversy and thought from scientists and the president. Leading up to this final decision, the scientists and the president did not share perfectly identical views regarding the drop; though they did come to the same final conclusion, part of this being due to the fact that their jobs are not identical in requirement for what must be considered. Though both the scientists working in the Manhattan Project and President Harry S. Truman held reservations
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)
Perhaps the most controversial and heavily scrutinized issue of the twentieth century was President Harry Truman’s decision to unleash atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the summer of 1945. While the sequence of events preceding that fateful summer morning of August 6,1945 are fully understood, the motives behind Truman’s actions are shrouded in controversy. Top military officials publicly denounced the use of such a horrendous weapon, while the obvious advantages to the bomb, traditionalists argue, was a shortened Pacific War. Parallactic views between traditional beliefs and revisionist theories suggest that the issue is still very much unresolved. Why is the issue so hotly debated? Partially because of the overwhelming
The twentieth century saw two World Wars, both with lasting effects, but World War II ended with the use of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was something the world had never experienced before and it was unimaginable. The atomic program started during President Roosevelt’s time in office but the decision to use it or not would fall on President Truman. In 1945, President Truman was faced with the harrowing decision to use the atomic bomb. This paper will explore President Truman’s decision and reasoning to use the atomic bomb while providing supporter and critic’s views.
August 6, 1945 defines a pivotal moment in world history. At 8:15am, the United States
I think Truman made a right decision on dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. If he didn't made that decision the war against Japan would have been lasted for another year and the causalities for both side would have been increased. We would have been wasted more money, resources and lives. By the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan; the number of death people was less and it stopped the war and the resources of Japan to fight.
If the United States did not drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima, Nagasaki in Japan,The world would have had different history than now. The Japanese did not have to die because of the atomic bomb, which might save life in a positive way. However, if the United States did not attack Japan, then the World War might have taken longer to end, and it would cause more people including soldiers to die. Also, the US might not leave their strength to other countries in the world, and other countries including Japan would have attacked the United States because others might think that the US is not that strong, so that the US would no longer be the best country in the world as it is marked in the society in these days. If the best and the strongest country
The research question of this essay is “To what extent was the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War Justified? In 1945, the United States authorized the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The first bomb, dropped on August 6th 1945, had a total casualty rate of 135,000, including non-combatant civilians, and as this, the atomic bombing of Japan at the end of the Second World War has indeed been a hugely discussed topic within academic and social circles until today. There have been historians, academics, and other influential individuals throughout the world who have argued on both sides of the spectrum regarding the effects of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and whether they were necessary and justified towards the ending of the conflict. According to the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), by 1944, it had become clear to both the United States and the Empire of Japan that Japan was indeed losing the war, and as this, there are many arguments and counterarguments regarding the effectiveness of the atomic bombing of Japan, as well as suggestions regarding alternatives due to the enormous human toll the bomb caused.
Intense moral justification was needed in order to make the decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki however, President Truman was ultimately the man who made the final decision to launch ‘Little Boy’ and destroy Hiroshima, Nagasaki and their civilians, thus forcing an end to the war. Although there were many alternatives presented to President Truman, it is unknown as to whether they would have actually succeeded in ending the war or producing less casualties. Truman made the decision to drop these bombs in the heat of war but his justification of having a military target appeared extremely unrealistic, as both cities were full of innocent civilians. The morality of the bombs have been debated over the years, however the publication of the actual damage to civilian life caused a strong voice opposed to the usage in the 60 years following the action.
The atomic bombing of Japan was an unjustified decision that many considered was inhumane. Through the use of atomic bombs, many innocents were harmed in one way or another. Berger described the atomic bombing of Hiroshima as "a terrorist act" and that it was "evil". While Berger 's argument was extreme, the U.S. still remains unjustified because they did not know exactly how much damage the bomb would actually cause. Bombing Japan, the U.S. harmed thousands of civilians and displayed the effectiveness of the atomic bomb despite having other options to end 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.
As its name implies, World War II affected every country on earth either directly or indirectly. Thus, school children in every country learn about the war, though the exact ideas that make up their education differ, stemming from the wartime experiences of the country the students reside in. Naturally, students’ educations tend to focus on events that occurred more locally, or most deeply affected their area; German students learn more about the Holocaust and Japanese students learn more about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even if a country wanted to teach a completely inclusive account of World War II, the length and complexity of the war would make that impossible within the constraints of traditional education.