During World War II, the United States possessed the most powerful weapon ever seen. It had the destructive power that could result in the death of thousands of innocents in one moment. This device was called the atomic bomb, and the United States went on to use it against Japan by bombing both Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in over 150,000 instant deaths. I believe it was not necessary for the United States to drop the atomic bomb because there was racial motivation, it was inhumane, and alternatives were possible. Although Japan’s honor code was bushido, leading people to believe that the Japanese would never surrender, even they would realize that it was in their best interests rather than being bombed. One of the main reasons that …show more content…
Hundreds of thousands of civilians were sacrificed, one of the main reasons being to justify spending $2 billion on the development of the atomic bomb, and another being showing USSR the United States’ supreme power. Apart from those who instantly died, millions were affected by radiation and mutilations that caused birth defects. Many Japanese suffered from starvation because the Japanese army took all of the food and resources that were saved after the bombing. John Hersey’s Hiroshima details first hand accounts of what some people experienced during the bombing, and how they were affected. Another reason the bombing in Japan was inhumane was that the bomb itself was originally only made for defense. Scientists had not wanted Germany to build an atomic bomb while the United States stood there idle. The bomb should have stayed defensive to show Germany and other nations that the United States could use the atomic bomb if they had to. One of the main reasons the United States chose Hiroshima to bomb was because it was untouched by the war and scientists would be able to see the affects of the bomb more accurately. The fact that Hiroshima was picked to bomb mainly for research sounds extremely inhumane. In regards to the United States’ decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Peter Kuznick, the director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University stated, “[Truman] knew he was beginning the process of annihilation of the species. It was not just a war crime; it was a crime against