I was reading on The Week magazine 's website that on July 18th, 1945, President Truman was informed that the atomic bomb tests were successful. In other words, he now knew that America held the most deadly weapon in history, a weapon able to wipe out entire cities, or even nations.
What a day. Imagine the possible accomplishments with such power; imagine what America could have become if we had used the atomic bomb to conquer the world.
However, President Truman and his staff realized the ramifications coupled with the atomic bomb. Only after careful consideration had the United States decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And they executed it because they believed that the a-bomb would cost fewer lives than any other option.
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Estimates state that flash burns (burns from the flash of the explosion) caused 15-20% of all atomic bomb deaths. Most luridly, one Japanese patient was flash burned from about 6.500 feet away from the explosion. Armed with this information, dropping the atomic bomb seems like a horrible decision.
However, President Truman, his staffers, and the scientific community had no idea that deaths would ensue from flash and radiation burns. So, to Truman, dropping an atomic bomb was equal to fire bombing a city. That is one reason the president decided to drop the bomb. Also, if you 're told that an estimated 1 million casualties would ensue if you made a land invasion, it can make the decision to drop a bomb a little easier.
What is especially noble, however, is that America refused to use their new deadly weapon to ell the world or rule with an iron fist. In fact, America did the opposite when they relinquished control of the Philippines so that it could become its own nation. America was never the land of the conquerors. It personified (and continues to personify!) the land of the helpful, the land of the free, and the home of the