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Should We Have Dropped The Atomic Bomb Persuasive Essay

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In the twentieth century, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, which were the most powerful weapons at that time, on Japan. It happened on August 6 and August 9, 1945. The atomic bombs killed 226,000 Japanese and ended the war. However, America should not have dropped the atomic bombs for two reasons. First, it was not necessary to drop the bomb to win the war militarily or to get the Japanese to surrender. Second, America dropped the bomb not to win the war and save American lives, but to show its power to the Soviet Union. First, it was not necessary for America to drop the bomb to win the war because the United States had already won a comprehensive victory in the Pacific. The United States had an absolute advantage in the number …show more content…

In fact, Ralph A. Bard, Undersecretary of the Navy wrote to Secretary of War Stimson in a June 27, 1945 memorandum. “I define this decision as an emotional and reckless decision, Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity which they could use as a medium of surrender” (Bard). In fact, the Japanese government expressed desire to end the war, and would have accepted conditional surrender before the mainland invasion in November. The reason for dropping the bomb was forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally. In America’s opinion, Japan had lost the war; they did not have any capital to negotiate with. Japan had to accept unconditional surrender; if they disagreed with that request, America would drop the bomb. What made the Japanese surrender was the retention of their emperor; anything else couldn’t have forced a Japanese surrender, including the attack of the atomic bomb. As Japan's Prime Minister Suzuki spelled out on June 9, 1945. “Should the Emperor system be abolished, they [the Japanese people] would lose all reason for existence…. [and have] no choice but to go on fighting to the last man” (Butow). The Japanese could not live without the emperor's life; the emperor to them was God. The retention of the emperor system would not do harm to the United States.The United States should have used a more sensible way to solve

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On August 6, 1945, the U.S. made history with a fatal blow to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended WWII. To this day there is a controversy on whether the dropping of the atomic bomb, ordered by President Harry S. Truman, was justified or not, but in fact, it was. Thousands of Japanese would perish, but this act would, in turn, saved American lives and end the war. Throughout various battles, the Japanese consistently crossed lines of ethics of warfare, and in an attempt to bring justice and an end to the war Truman put forth a plan to bomb Japan. President Truman warned Japan of the upcoming attack and gave demands, but in the end, the Japanese denied those negotiations which led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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The U.S. should have been patient and thought of what the effects of their actions would be and not acted on it. Document C illustrates how Japan at the time was already deciding to surrender due to the influence of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Knowing how much damage it had done they were open to giving up to not have more things happen to them. Also, Document D discussed how using different tactics could have been acted upon. Frank stated “You see what sort of weapon we had but did not use”, this explains how one can give a warning, a statement but nothing was given a chance or an explanation.

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Even though dropping the bomb on Japan was controversial it was the only way to end this war. Following, like what Justice Chamber said: “How to defeat an enemy that could not, would not admit defeat?”(Doc 3), Japan was different than any other country that US faced because Japan committed inhuman and selfless actions just to kill more US

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The Japanese were ruthless and brutal when it came to their militaristic decisions and motives. Dropping the atomic bomb was our final hope in stopping them from performing further harm. Either way, lives were going to be taken. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we wanted those lives to be those of Americans or the Japanese. President Truman had to make a vital decision, and using nuclear warfare was the only way to stop Japan without killing American soldiers.

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government stays adamant that there were no other options to prompt Japan to surrender, this is simply untrue. General H.H. Arnold, Commander of the American Air Force during WW2, revealed that their “[prevention of] the arrival of incoming cargo of critical items… had made it impossible for Japan to carry on a large-scale war…”(Source B). Here he explains that the US strategy to cut off supplies severely weakened Japan’s defenses. This shows that if the U.S. had kept steady with these non-violent tactics, the war could have been ended just as easily as with a weapon. In addition, the U.S. was planning a land invasion of Japan to induce their speedy surrender.

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Japan had noticed they were unprepared for the United States’ firepower. The battle that led the U.S. to control the war with Japan was the Battle of the Midway. In the Battle of the Midway, Japan had lost most of their main navy forces, allowing the United States to obtain complete ownership of the skies in the remainder of the war. Although the Japanese army would not surrender and more troops started sacrificing their own life to kill many others, also known as kamikazes, this represents that the Japanese army were already weak and they could not fight a strategic war. Because Japan was already on verge of complete defeat, the atomic bomb was obviously not needed to win the war.

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The Japanese military was weak and did not have a good chance of winning the war, but that did not stop them from surrendering. “After the Hiroshima attack, a faction of Japan’s supreme war council favored acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration, but the majority resisted unconditional surrender” (Japan Surrenders). The Japanese wanted to fight until death. The U.S. dropped bombs in Tokyo killing thousands of people and almost destroying the whole city. The U.S. was surprised they did not give up.

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Not only did the bomb kill thousands of people, houses and buildings got burned down, causing so many to be poor and homeless. Before the U.S. dropped the bomb on the Japanese, Japanese was already losing in the war and was ready to surrender. In the document 2 it states, “The use of the barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender…” This text proves that the Japanese was already about to surrender.

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Japan was weakening, “The food situation gradually becoming worse and worse…” Stated in source H. America had many industrial resources to use against Japan and so Japan had essentially been defeated. Japan pushed only for the sake of their countries honour as the shame of unconditional surrender goes against their code of honour. Furthermore a warning was given to Japan with America promising to drop the atomic bomb, however there was no evidence and so it could have easily been deemed a bluff. An American nuclear scientist stated, “A demonstration of the bomb best be made… Japan could then be asked to surrender.” This source seems somewhat reliable as it is from one of the American scientists and they would know the strength of the bomb.

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“A world without nuclear weapons would be less stable and more dangerous for all of us” (brainyquote.com). - Margaret Thatcher. The atomic bomb is “a bomb whose potency is derived from nuclear fission of atoms of fissionable material with the consequent conversion of part of their mass into energy” (dictionary.com). During the end of World War II, the American made 2 atomic bombs to dropped on Japan. On August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

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If the United States never dropped the atomic bomb then soldiers would have had to invade Japan which would result in a large number of casualties. “I have been convinced that we saved more lives than we took. It would have been morally wrong if we’d have had that weapon and not used it and let a million more people die”(Source 8). Due to the Japanese bushido mentality, they were never going to surrender, and they would fight until the last man was standing. “The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical resistance, fighting to almost the last man on Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan, and unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa”(Source 11).

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Japan’s armed forces had millions of men around the world ready to give their lives to protect their countries pride, and if America had invaded Japan, they would have risked a potential attack on ally grounds from these deployed troops. Rather than invading or showing a demonstration, dropping the atomic bomb was the one thing that would have caused an immediate surrender. Since there was no chance of Japan surrendering, the only option America had to end the war was to drop the atomic

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Soon the U.S was attacked by Japan. The President then decided to drop the atomic bomb to end this war and quickly. The use of the atomic bomb on Japan was justified because it ended the war, was a better alternative than the others given, and helped save lives. The atomic bomb used on Japan was justified because it ended the war.

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However, the Japanese were committed to fight to the bitter end of the war and see it all the way through, regardless of the fact that the United States demanded unconditional surrender from the small country of islands. This further emphasizes that since the Japanese were not simply going to give up, Truman came to the conclusion that in order to save millions of lives, he had to take thousands. President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to warn the world about the new found power of the United States, force an unconditional surrender of the Japanese, and save millions of lives. With the controversy over whether or not Truman should have dropped the bomb, some consider the decision irrational and unnecessary.

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President Truman and his associates believed that if they dropped the bomb they would receive surrender from Japan. Thus, saving millions of American lives, and ending the war. Nevertheless, by saving American lives they would sacrifice thousands of Japanese civilians. They had other idea to have Japan to surrender, but were willing to take the one that would have the most consequences. They were thinking too much about the US instead of creating actually peace within the nations.

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