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The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bombs

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Should the U.S. have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan? Some people believe that the U.S. should not have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, while others believe that the U.S. did the right thing by dropping the bombs. One thing both sides should agree upon is that the atomic bombs dropped on Japan ended the war faster than it would have if the U.S. did not drop the bombs. The atomic bombing on Japan was necessary for the war to end because it stopped the fighting and additional casualties that would have occurred if the war had not ended. The U.S. did the right thing by dropping the atomic bombs because they prevented the additional casualties that would have occurred. To be specific, if the U.S. had invaded Japan, both the Allies …show more content…

Specifically, as I have stated above, the Japanese had an extremely strong will and would not surrender even if they had lost many of their men. According to “Arguments Supporting the Bomb” by Michael Barnes, “Some in the leadership argued that there was no way the Americans could have refined enough fissionable material to produce more than one bomb. But then the bombing of Nagasaki had demonstrated otherwise, and a lie told by a downed American pilot convinced War Minister Korechika Anami that the Americans had as many as a hundred bombs. . . Even so, hours of meetings and debates lasting well into the early morning hours of the 10th still resulted in a 3-3 deadlock. Prime Minister Suzuki then took the unprecedented step of asking Emperor Hirohito”. As my quote above illustrates, even after the first and second bomb Japanese leaders were reluctant and did not come to an agreement to surrender-that is until the emperor came with the decision to surrender. Hence, the bombing was absolutely necessary, for it was one the only things that would cause them to …show more content…

Although the bomb did kill many innocent Japanese civilians, as Karl T. Compton says “All war is inhuman” such as the Japanese invasion in China and throughout the Pacific. One event that described the cruelty and inhumane acts of Japan was The Rape of Nanking. According to “The Rape of Nanking or Nanjing Massacre (1937)” the author writes,”The Japanese troops were encouraged by their officers to invent ever more horrible ways to slaughter the Chinese population of the city. . . Batches of Chinese civilians were rounded up and herded into slaughter pits. Here the grinning Japanese soldiers would either bury them alive, hack them to death with their swords, use them for bayonet practice, or pour petrol on the victims and burn them alive. . . After looting Nanking of anything of value, the Japanese started fires that gutted one third of the city”. This quote above proves the argument that war itself is not humane, but this does not change the fact that the bombing ended the war and prevented additional casualties upon both the Allies and the

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813 Words | 4 Pages

With more and more US lives being lost or will be lost when invading Japan more and more, the US made the reasonable decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan because like what Chamber said to win the war you have to end the other side and, “make it terrible, and the war will

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1214 Words | 5 Pages

According to Document G, a memoir of General H. H. Arnold, whether or not the bombs were dropped, the Japanese were already on the verge of surrendering. The United States had already killed about 241,000 people, wounded 313,000, and destroyed about 2,333,000 homes, making it increasingly evident that their decision to drop the bomb was just a selfish and easy manner to end the war. The document also states that the air force was aware that the destruction of most Japanese industries and the prevention of the arrival of the incoming cargo had made it impossible for Japan to carry out a large-scale war. With this fact, the knowledge of their increasing vulnerability was in effect throughout the military and the white house, bringing to light the leverage the United States had going through with the bombings. Overall, the decision to drop the bombs can be viewed as unnecessary as the U.S could have kept fighting knowing that

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345 Words | 2 Pages

Therefore knowing how the Japanese soldiers think about surrendering, the millions of lives saved by ending the war quickly and shortly, and the countless warnings given to the Japanese, I think dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was warranted and

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670 Words | 3 Pages

If the bombs were not dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States would have lost at least one million American soldiers in a mainland invasion of Japan (Tucker, 5). That stated, dropping the bombs was the only viable option for sparing both American lives, as well as Japanese lives. The dropping of the bombs, albeit horrific, is justifiable because it saved millions of both American and Japanese lives, prevented the waste of valuable resources, and played a significant role in Japan's surrender. Dropping the bombs saved more lives than if the United States had done a land invasion (Walker, 5). If the war had been prolonged, the United States would have lost millions of lives (Tucker, 5); but the Japanese would also suffer.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were part of the effort to bring the war to a swift conclusion and prevent further loss of life. The dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not justified. This claim can be supported by three reasons: Loss of innocent lives, Alternatives availability, and psychological

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863 Words | 4 Pages

The US decision to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 has generated much controversy over the years. Some argue that the bombing was necessary to end World War II, while others believed that more than 200,000 civilians died in vain. The use of this disastrous weapon caused a split in society which came down to the usage being necessary for the victory of the Allied Powers as well as stopping more Japanese crimes or a merciless crime that greatly injured an already kneeling, surrendering nation and caused mass innocent deaths. Due to previous Japanese actions, the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified and needed to be done to protect Americans and other countries oppressed by the Japanese.

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In Document 2, Admiral Leahy says, “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.” Some Americans felt as though the weapon should not have been used because the Japanese were ready to give in. COME BACK Not only were the Japanese ready to surrender but it was morally wrong to bomb multiple cities without realizing what the outcomes may be.

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The first reason they should have not uses atomic bombs is because the Japanese did not have enough time to look for an opportunity to surrender. According to Ralph A. Bard, that was the United States undersecretary of the Navy during World war II in June 27 1945, the Japanese were looking for a reason to surrender, so before the bomb is actually used, “Japan should have some preliminary warning... the Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity which...use a medium of surrender”( Document 2). In this quote, he says that the Japanese should have more time or warning before dropping the bomb because he feels that this would give them the perfect opportunity they are looking for to surrender and end the war. He also says that the United States is a “great humanitarian nation” with a “fair play attitude.”

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712 Words | 3 Pages

Even though dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed thousands of Japanese citizens in a matter of seconds, it was still justified. On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, a naval base on one of the Hawaiian Islands, thus plunging the US into the biggest war the world had ever seen. President Harry S. Truman decided to use the atomic bombs to save American lives by not invading Japan. American soldiers were able to return to their wives and children since they did not have to fight in the war any longer. The war ended just six days after the bombs were dropped.

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681 Words | 3 Pages

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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455 Words | 2 Pages

On August 6, 1945, the united states dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, immediately killing 80,000 people. Three days later another one was dropped on Nagasaki. Some historians say the bomb was not needed because according to the author “japan was ready to call it quits anyway. More than 60 of its cities had been destroyed by conventional bombing, the home islands were being blocked by the american navy, and the soviet union entered the war by attacking japanese troops in manchuria” (Dietrich 1).

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852 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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547 Words | 3 Pages

The Japanese proposed the idea, “to surrender as long as assurance was given concerning the fate of the emperor.” Japan was ready to end the war knowing the security of their emperor. Instead of taking the agreement, the United States turned this down and instead gave the myth that the only way to end the war was to have an invasion or drop the bomb, a myth that carried on many years after the war, with American citizens not knowing the true story and believing what they did was their only option. My final piece of evidence is how the bomb was dropped.

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690 Words | 3 Pages

This was the wrong decision. America should not have dropped the atomic bomb. Firstly, the use of the atomic bombs caused trauma and suffering to millions of people around Japan. When America dropped the Hiroshima bomb, 13 year old Yoshitaka Kawamoto was in his classroom, when suddenly he was

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563 Words | 3 Pages

As a result of Japan bombing Pearl Harbor, and the United States suffering the lives of nearly 1200 crewmen, afterward not responding to the attack immediately, we were bound to return soon enough recharged and ready for war. Merely 4 years later, the summer of 1945 as the conjuring of the bomb began, The United States finalized their combative weapon to defeat Japan entirely. This weapon became the most powerful yet, an atomic bomb that no country has ever anticipated. The atomic bombs “Little boy, and Fat man” destroyed, “wreckage of the city, in gutters, along the river banks, tangling tiles and tin roofing, charred trees”, without any doubt, “instantly, 70,000 Japanese citizens were

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