Ethical Issues In Ww2 Research Paper

441 Words2 Pages

On August 6, 1954, during World War II, the United States dropped the World’s first atomic bomb. Three days later another one was dropped. The effects were devastating. So many Japanese people lost their life and their cities were destroyed. It is unethical and morally wrong that this happened.
It can even be considered against the law. For example, in the 1920s the League of Nations signed and brought into effect the Geneva Protocol, which banned the use in war of chemical weapons. The United States went against this act when it subjected Japan to the known effects of widespread radiation poisoning.
II. Body:
1st Main Point: The mass murdering of Japanese citizens was unnecessary when other steps could have been taken. Harmless, innocent civilians were killed, the subsequent radiation made cities unlivable, and the environment was harmed horribly. These actions that were taken weren’t decisive in Japan's surrender. …show more content…

Within months about 140,000 people were killed when the United States bombed Hiroshima. Then three days later when the US bombed Nagasaki there was 80,000 deaths. This mass murdering is unethical. There has to be a limit to what is acceptable in war and what is not. As United States Senator and former Vietnam prisoner of war John McCain has stated, we treat prisoners of war humanely to preserve our own humanity and in the expectation that our captured soldiers will be treated in kind. Weapons of mass destruction are banned for similar reasons. For years, it has been generally agreed on about when a war is just and how to be fought. The use of atomic bombs violated these principles. The direct targets were civilians and non-military installations and the environmental damage was not