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The Pros And Cons Of Making The Atomic Bomb

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In August, 1945 the Japanese were forced to accept defeat in World War II due to the terrifying bombs known as “Little Boy” and “ Fat Boy.” Harry Truman stepping up to take over the presidential job and making the decision for these bombs to be dropped after the death of president Franklin D. Roosevelt will forever be known as one of the biggest decisions in American history. Over the years Americans have accumulated questions such as why President Truman made this decision, if there were any alternative options for peace, and if President Roosevelt would have made the same decision. Regardless of any decision that Truman made, most people would agree that he was making decisions that were in the best interest for our country. The choice whether …show more content…

The American troops and civilians were all very tired from the ongoing 4 year war. There were troops occupying Okinawa and Iwo Jima, two cities in Japan. The Japanese army was refusing to surrender with the 2 million troops stationed in the homeland islands of the Japan. As much as Truman did not want to have to drop the two bombs, the Japanese left the United States no other choice. The allies even demanded an unconditional surrender. Even though the demand clearly stated if there was refusal to this surrender there would be total destruction, the Japanese military command declined the unconditional surrender. This resulted in Truman making the deathly decision of nearly 150,000 Japanese civilians being vaporized by the enormous blast of the atomic bombs. Some people say that there were also other options that could have been used, but they may not have been the best. Truman Bomb 4 Truman was very limited to any solutions for peace due to the Japanese refusing the unconditional surrender. There were really only four options that President Truman was forced to consider. Option number one was to do conventional bombing on the Japanese homeland islands. This option was actually carried out with many bomb runs. After many raids, this was …show more content…

These types of bombs were not yet to be made. This option was not used because the United States was afraid that upon demonstration time the bomb could possibly be a dud. The last option was mainly used because Truman wanted to show that this war has gone way too far and pride is getting the best of Japan. This option was to bomb a populated area such as Hiroshima and Nagasaki to attempt to end the war. As deadly as this tactic was, it was the only way to end the war. Some ask if President Roosevelt would have made the decision. There isn’t much evidence to show if Franklin D. Roosevelt would have dropped the bomb, but that doesn’t one cannot assume. The Manhattan project was already in effect before FDR passed away, which means he clearly intended to either use the bomb or make a threat out of it. Sources say that Roosevelt never even mentioned the Manhattan project to his Vice President Harry Truman. Why was President Roosevelt so secretive about this specific project? Did he keep it a secret because he doesn't like the idea of using the bombs against the Japanese? Did he just want to have that secretive card up his sleeve unless things got messy? These Truman Bomb

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But he had no compelling reason to do so. The bomb provided a promising way to bring about a prompt Japanese surrender without the disadvantages of other alternatives, and in Truman’s mind, its use did not require a lengthy consideration” (Walker pg. 96). After the bombs were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, people decided that the bombs were actually required. The people thought that if the bombs weren’t dropped, thousands of American lives would have died while America invaded Japan. The problem with this logic is that many people died in those bombings.

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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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During harry S. Truman's presidency he was faced with one of the most world altering decisions in the war against japan. The use of atomic weapons would set an example of the united states of america’s military strength,power and knowledge of a very destructive technology. It was necessary for president Truman to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for these reasons. American soilders were tired from the four years of fighting and a surrender from Japan was not in sight.. In (Doc L) it says the bomb saved more lives than killed people in the end, President Truman needed to retaliate for their attack on Pearl Harbor and the bomb would just end the war more quicker.

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Although he did approve of the bomb, Roosevelt was unconcerned about actually dropping the bomb on Japan. Instead he supported the idea that since Germany was possibly looking into the same type of destructive weapon, the U.S. needed to advance in the field in order to prevent detrimental attacks against them. He had the Great Depression on his hands as well and was less motivated during his time to destroy Japan to end the war more efficiently. On the other hand, Truman saw his opportunity of bringing the United States to the end of the war in a quick manner by releasing the bombs since Japan had no intentions of taking an easy surrender. To prevent going through an invasion, Truman made a hasty decision to drop the bombs.

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The U.S. viewed bombings as a necessity because Truman gave the Japanese a chance to surrender when he issued the Potsdam Declaration. In his message, Truman warned the Japanese that if they would not unconditionally surrender that they would be struck with “prompt and utter destruction.” Similarly, by bombing the Japanese it would spare up to 1 million American lives along with 250,000 British casualties because U.S and allied soldiers didn’t have to attempt to invade the heavily guarded Japanese territories. Another reason the United States needed to bomb Japan was dominance. The secretary of state thought it would put the U.S. in a dominant position in the postwar and have power over the Germans.

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By dropping the atomic bomb it ended the war and saved Americans lives. In document J the estimated total casualty of Japanese people was estimated to be 199,000 people that is to the estimated 1 million American casualties if we kept fighting until the Japanese surrendered. Also, in document I it says “His (Truman’s) advisors had warned him to expect massive casualties if the United States invaded Japan.” Truman didn’t do it out of revenge he did it out of protection for American lives. In document A it says “It was their (committee of top men) recommendation that the bomb be used against the enemy as soon as it could be done.”

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These lives of innocent civilians were lost on top of countless amount of people who were affected by radiation. No matter how good their reasoning for using these types of weapons, President Truman should not have used them. An argument to drop the atomic brom, from a military standpoint, is that using these weapons could put America superior over other nations. Dropping these atomic bombs would make other countries fear the United States army. With other countries fearing the United States, that could result in Americans being more safe, because no country would want to mess with our military.

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The Declaration gave Japan the opportunity to surrender voluntarily under certain conditions or be completely destroyed by the Allies military power (Doc B). The Japanese did not fully understand the full scope of the threat, so they merely disregarded it. This ultimatum was rejected by Japan and was one of reasons why the United States’ decided to drop the bomb. President Harry Truman was determined to destroy all their supplies and ability to make war (Doc C). Hence, Hiroshima was chosen because of its military importance and Nagasaki was chosen because it was a major ship building city and had a large military port.

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Imagine a world where World War 2 took two more years, four million more people died, and the U.S. didn’t drop the atomic bomb. All of this would have happened if we didn’t drop the atomic bomb when we did. The U.S. did the right thing by dropping the bomb because if we didn’t drop it more lives would have been lost, we would have ran out of supplies, and finally Japan attacked the U.S. first with zero warning. Many people think the atomic bomb shouldn’t have been dropped but our group thinks it was necessary to do to save our country. - Ben First, the U.S. should have dropped the bomb on Japan because without the bomb, more lives could have been lost from both sides.

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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).

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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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As all the world has known, the biggest atomic bomb in warfare history by the end of World War 2 is the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima that hit on August 9th, 1945 by the direct order of our 33rd president of The United States Of America; Harry S. Truman. He thought this bomb would bring a close ending of the war (World War 2) and it definitely did but it was too much to handle afterwards when it hit. There was no choice for Truman because there was no other way to bring the war into a close. It was the last call, but they didn’t realize that after they released the bomb, it was hard to decide whether it was a mistake or the right decision. The bomb killed innocent people of 199,000 (plus more).

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The use of these devastating weapons would change warfare forever. President Truman had to make a choice; use atomic weapons that could end the war quickly, possibly save American lives, but at the same time, destroy cities and thousands of lives. The decision to use atomic weapons was justified

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