Atomic Bombing Justification

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Justification for the United States Dropping the Atomic Bomb On August 6, 1945, The US bomber the “Enola Gay” dropped the atomic warhead that would spark controversy for years to come. The warhead that was dropped, “Little Boy” was the first time that there has been the destruction of a large city like Hiroshima within a matter of seconds. Approximately 135 thousand people evaporated (Jennings, Why the Bomb was Dropped) in a matter of seconds after dropping. Shortly after, Major General Charles Sweeney, decided to drop another bomb of which the Japanese city of Nagasaki would be destroyed. The bomb, “Fat Man” was made ready for deployment, and dropped without second thought. The destruction of this city had “no prior approval from the president”. …show more content…

The Nanking Massacre is a prime example of this instance. The Japanese raped and murdered over 300 thousand people during the six weeks it occurred. This manicure started on December 17th 1937. The Japanese arrived “with orders issued to "kill all captives."” (The History Place). The Nanking Massacre was reported my many United States news groups and reinforced the American ideaology that the Japanese were simply savages. Terms like “the only good jap is a dead jap” (Jennings, Why the Bomb was Dropped) arose from the American hatred of them. Prior to the dropping of the bomb, the Allied Powers requested for Japan to surrender, but their requests were ignored. The ignorance of this request after being threatened to surrender not only angered the men in charge, but the sum of the American people. After the first bomb was dropped, the emperor took the risk of waiting for the next attack. This decision would hang the 80 thousand lives lost at Nagasaki over his head. Furthermore, the Japanese leaders did not believe that the bomb was atomic. (Maddox) They did not even mention the idea of surrender during their meeting together and suggested to the emperor not to do so. The leaders said that it was impossible for the Americans to collect enough material to even build an atomic bomb. …show more content…

The petition never saw the light of day until 1961 when it was declassified by the United States government.(“Szilard petition”) However, Leo Szilard was the one that urged the United States to build the bomb in the first place, sending a proposal to President Roosevelt that he collaborated with Albert Einstein

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