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The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bomb

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The end was in sight. The war in Europe has been won, and the Japanese stood as the last of the axis powers. At the Potsdam conference, the allies drafted and delivered an ultimatum for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese. However, the enemy in the pacific refused to give up despite their circumstances. The Allies, specifically the US military, began exploring options of how to force the Japanese into surrender. The ideas of blockades, conventional bombardments, full scale invasion, or use of the developing new weapon – the atomic bomb – was the focus point of the military and of President Truman. The options were weight based upon effectiveness, causality losses, availability/practicality, and other such factors. However, after thorough …show more content…

After the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese finally surrendered to the allied powers. After the war, the decision of dropping the new destructive weapon was called into question. Many argued that it was unnecessary, and didn’t need to be used, or could have been used differently. Many scientists who worked on the development of the bomb at the Manhattan project claimed that they regretted their work, and even hated that it was used. Many politicians claimed that it was unethical, unproportionate, and unnecessary as the Japanese were about to surrender, and many others claim that the plan to invade would have been a better path to take. On the other hand, many supported the use of the bombs, and one of the men who flew the bombs to be dropped even said that if asked to do so again, he would agree to drop the bomb without hesitation, even volunteer. Also the claim of that the bombs actually saved lives on both sides by preventing the invasion, where countless allied and Japanese lives would undoubtedly lost, was brought up as a positive factor into the support of using the atomic …show more content…

However, the USSR covertly wanted to join the war against Japan. The Japanese military had ideals which made the direct pursuit of peace impossible, as they jailed or assassinated anyone who made an effort to extend official peace. These unofficial proposals were entirely intolerable to the US as they only provided vague propositions to return territories in exchange for an end to the war. The question now was how to persuade Japans surrender. Despite Japan's major cities being fire-bombed on a nightly basis, the islands blockaded, and the Japanese Navy utterly destroyed, they still refused to surrender. Planning for a massive invasion by Allied forces was underway to try and put an end to the war by taking japans home island. But was this the best solution? The cost in lives for both Allied forces and Japanese civilians would be great. At the same time, the secrete Manhattan Project had just finished testing the first ever atomic bomb, and now provided Harry S. Truman, whom had just become the US President following Franklin Roosevelt's unexpected death, with an alternate option than invasion to get japan to

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Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan is a book by J. Samuel Walker. He writes about the decision that Truman had to make during World War Two. The Decision that Truman had to make was whether or not the United States should use atomic bombs against Japan. The argument was that if the atomic bombs were used, then Japan would be forced to surrender. “Truman could have decided against it.

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Name: Course Instructor: Class: Date: Critical Book Review: Prompt and Utter Destruction Introduction Within weeks, word on the US dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki began to spread that the main reason behind the bombs was to save the lives of Americans (Bernard). It was put that hundreds of thousands of American military causalities were saved through the bombings.

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By July 1945, it was clear that Japan had been weakened by violent attacks, but there was no indication of any weakening of their determination to fight. In addition, the total strength of the Japanese Army was estimated to be close to 5,000,000 men, which posed an even greater threat to the United States (Blanche M. Touhill, 452). In order to end the war and bring down this large, determined army, the Potsdam Declaration was created. This ultimatum was designed to “spare the Japanese people from utter destruction”, as said by Truman (Kevin B., 605). This rejection shows that the Japanese army and government were aware of the possible dangers of the continuation of war and their choice to decline to surrender.

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World War II has been going on for 10 years and for the war to be over Japan or the Allied Powers would have to surrender. The United States and the Soviet Union were super powers with tension that stayed beneath the surface for the duration of the war. The two were in a race to invent and use the first atomic war head. After ten years of war the conditions of Japan were poor and not likely to withstand much more conflict. Yet on December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed an American naval base in Hawaii.

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The dropping of the bombs were necessary and fair due to the refusal of the Japanese to surrender, the millions of lives saved by a quick end to the war, and the warnings given to the Japanese. To begin, the Japanese soldiers have it ingrained in their brains that it is dishonorable to surrender. The author of Drop the Bomb as agreed by saying that “the Japanese have demonstrated a willingness to fight to the death”. During the war there were many times for the Japanese to surrender, but it was never done. With this in mind, they would have continued to drag out the war, which shows that dropping the bombs sped up the war which lessened the casualties.

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Was America right to use atomic weapons against Japan? The dropping of the atomic bomb in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, was the end of WWII. However, there has been much conflict considering the use of the bomb. In this essay, I will discuss reasons from both sides of the argument and justify my opinion.

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World War Two was drawing to a close in Germany, but still going relatively strong in the Pacific, and Truman was given a choice; he could use the expensive bomb manufactured in the Manhattan Project or he could choose to find some other method of quickly ending the war. Although it still remains a highly controversial issue, Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb upon Japan was ultimately the most logical choice he could make in that situation. The only way to truly win a war is to so demoralize the enemy that they lose their will to continue fighting as was best demonstrated by Sherman’s march to the Atlantic in which he destroyed the south so that the people would no longer want to fight. If the United States wanted to win the war, it was necessary to make sure that the Japanese had absolutely no more will with which to carry on the war. Also the ultimate goal of the United States during the war was to force an unconditional surrender from Japan,

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Truman chose not act on any of these recommendations. A key point highlighted in the Franck report was that it could be difficult to persuade other countries that their country “which was capable of secretly preparing and suddenly releasing a weapon, as indiscriminate as the rocket bomb and a thousand times more destructive” was to be trusted in its desire of having that exact weapon abolished by an international agreement. The Franck Report displays the scientists concern about the repercussions and possible tainted image of America on a national and international stage and their strong recommendation to use demonstration as it was a more humane alternative to dropping the bomb on populated

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During World War II, two atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was done in an attempt to have the Japanese surrender to the allied powers. After and during the war, many people were debating the dropping of the bombs. While both sides had their opinions, not dropping the bomb had the most to back it up. For instance, people discussed the dangerous military and political implications with such a weapon, the number of casualties, and how destructive it was.

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The Japanese were already on the verge of surrendering, so there was no point on dropping the bomb. Also, President Truman could have just shown an image or chart of the atomic bomb, rather than actually going through with the plan. These examples illustrate how the atomic bomb will always be a big controversy, but America was right for dropping the

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The Japanese government surrendered the next day on August 10. Looking at the history of the war, it is difficult not to feel a sense of awe surrounding the event. After the United States entered WWII against both Germany and Japan, a multi-year-long struggle began to defeat both nations. Thousands of lives were lost pushing onward inch by inch to reach the heart of each enemy, moving

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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.

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The alternative for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his advisors was doing nothing and letting Nazi Germany develop atomic power and going on to use it to conquer the world. The United States of America wanted to end World War II on both the Atlantic and Pacific fronts and needed the quickest possible method to do so. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s advisors concluded that hundreds of thousands of American lives would be lost on an assault on the island of Japan. The U.S. Armed Forces was over 16,000,000 strong and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s main motive for dropping the atom bombs was to save American lives.5

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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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