The Pros And Cons Of The Atomic Bomb

Theodore Roosevelt once said, “I believe the more you know about our past, the better you are prepared for the future.” Never has this quote been more relevant than in the debate of the questionable decision made by President Truman to drop the Atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For years this decision has been debated, backed by insurmountable amounts of evidence on both sides of the argument. Was there another way to break the will of the Japanese? Was there any way to avoid death and destruction? Did this action taint America's legacy? These are all questions that both sides believe they have the right answers to.

One of the many points argued against the dropping of “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” are that there were

On a day that will live in infamy in

1941 at Pearl Harbor, over twenty-four hundred military personnel along with around one-hundred civilians were killed in the Japanese surprise attack. This attack crippled the

American force greatly. At least for a while, the American force were too few and not strong enough to retaliate. Once they regained their strength, the American force began the Pacific campaign. Soon after Pearl Harbor the Japanese Empire began their conquest on the islands of the Pacific such as Guam, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Singapore. After suffering defeat after defeat, the Allied forces finally had the advantage after forcing the Japanese to retreat at the

Battle of Midway. Though they had been pushed back, the Japanese mentality was to never surrender. It was seen as dishonourable, so it would have been near impossible for the Allied forces to get the Japanese to surrender. Our nation's leaders thought that the most viable option was to drop the Atomic bombs that had been developed during the top secret Manhattan Project.

For those that believe this was the right decision, the time for this attack should have

Though the dropping of the bombs seemed to be the best decision for saving American lives and shortening the world, did this extremely controversial decision taint the great American legacy?

America has been self proclaimed the best country in the world. Even the generation that fought in the second world war was known as the “Greatest Generation”. We have built a persona that we are always there to help whenever it is needed. So did this action taint the amazing legacy that our soldiers have fought to create for the United States? John F. Kennedy once said, “A man does what he must in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures - and that is the basis of all human morality.” Or in this case an entire country does what they must. There seems that there was no completely correct way to approach this decision.

Within the space of August 6th and 9th of 1945, the United States was accountable for

120,000 Japanese civilian deaths. This decision pushed the Japanese nation over the edge, finally forcing them to surrender to the American forces. No matter what side someone is on in the argument over Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bombs, one must consider that no