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To What Extent Did Truman Dropped The Atomic Bomb

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Truman and the Atomic Bomb Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the USA, made the decision to use the first atomic bombs on Japan in an effort to end WWII. After many years of war, Japan and the US both refused to surrender and had they continued to fight, there’s no telling how long the war would have lasted. This was a piece of information that Truman considered whilst making the decision on what his next move was. Eventually he decided to drop the atomic bombs, despite not having a way to accurately estimate the consequences it would have. Truman knew that Japan wouldn’t surrender unless there were consequences to continuing the war, so he put the necessary circumstances in order to push Japan to surrender. Truman knew that these bombs were …show more content…

After Hiroshima, Japan still refused to surrender so Truman dropped another bomb at Nagasaki. Nagasaki ended up with around 80,000 casualties and it ended up being the last bomb that Truman dropped because Japan unconditionally surrendered. With a death toll of over 210,000 Japanese and an estimated 12 Americans, the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings have left a large mark in history as some of the deadliest bombings in history. Truman had other options aside from bombing large cities in Japan. This is why many people are split on whether he was justified or not. With two vastly different sides of the story, it’s impossible to say which is right. I personally believe that Truman was justified because it was arguably one of the most effective ways to end the war. Had he bombed an inhabited island, Japan likely wouldn’t have felt threatened, but his decision to bomb a city with many innocent people proved to Japan that he would stop at nothing. This fear pushed Japan to surrender, which ended the war. If WWII had continued, more people would have died over time than those who died in the

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Pros And Cons Of Truman's Decision

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Truman’s Decision President Truman was justified in his decision to drop the atomic bombs in Japan. Truman faced many pros and cons of his decision, however, the pros outweighed the cons. There were very few alternatives to the extreme, the casualties in the Pacific were growing and the rate the war it would save lives. Although, there were many lives lost Truman made the right decision for his country.

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Pros And Cons Of Truman And The Use Of Atomic Bombs

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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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How Did Truman Use The Atomic Bomb Dbq

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As stated in document A, President Truman believed that it was his duty as president to use every weapon available to save American lives. By making the decision to employ atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it successfully brought an end to World War II. Now, while these bombs did ultimately spare thousands of American lives, it did also put an end to about 200,000 lives as shown in document E. Document A stated that Admiral William Leahy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed using the bomb because it killed civilians indiscriminately. He believed that an economic blockade and conventional bombing would convince Japan to surrender. As an opposite end of the spectrum though Truman’s advisor, James Byrnes thought that the use of “the A-bombs would not only cause Japan to surrender, but also impress the Soviet Union, and hopefully stop its expansion” (Doc C).

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Was Truman Justified Dbq Research Paper

636 Words | 3 Pages

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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Truman Made The Right Decision Dbq

645 Words | 3 Pages

Truman’s decision to bomb Japan was right for many reasons. One piece of evidence that shows Truman made the right decision is when Japan captured our American troops and kept them as prisoners, they beat and starved them and even went as far as executing them, he talks about this in his radio report to the American people. " against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war" (DocF). A second piece of evidence that shows Truman made the right decision is he was just trying to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. He talks about both of these pieces of evidence in his radio to the American people. "

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How Did Truman's Decision To Drop The Atomic Bomb Dbq

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The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Harry S. Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb is one of the biggest and deadliest controversial turning points in history. America’s president, Truman, decided that on August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb would be dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. President Truman’s choice to drop the bomb on Japan was considered one of the most debatable turning points. The settlement to drop this bomb was a wrong decision because this bomb killed more than 70,000 innocent people with 10,000’s dying later. Also, bombing a country that was going to surrender in a few months would not be necessary, and last but not least, the atomic bomb could give ideas for the world to start nuclear warfare.

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Truman's Decision To Drop The Atomic Bombs

1889 Words | 8 Pages

The reason they say that Truman decided to drop the atomic bombs was so that they could try to get ahead of the Soviet Union. Gar Alperovitz is one of the most popular advocators for this reason. He stated that Truman dropped the bombs to demonstrate the power of America, and so that Russia could not enter the war to get new territorial acquisitions. If the Soviet Union was allowed to enter the war, then they could get some of the Japanese assets in China, which would have favored Russia greatly. Alperovitz’s conclusion was that Truman did this “to convince the Russians to accept the American plan for a stable peace”(Harry).

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What Is Harry S Truman's Decision To Drop The Atomic Bomb

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This weapon was called the atomic bomb. After it was fully developed and tested, Harry S. Truman made the decision to drop this deadly weapon on two cities in Japan, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. President Harry S. Truman was justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan because he saved American lives, crippled Japan's remaining resource cities, forcing them to surrender, and established dominance as a world power. During a meeting in June of 1945, Truman met with Henry Stimson, Secretary of War, and Admiral William Leahy. They

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Truman Should Have Dropped The Atomic Bomb Persuasive Essay

332 Words | 2 Pages

In August of 1945 Truman had to make a huge decision, this was whether to drop the atomic bomb or not to. Truman ultimately decided in the end to drop the bomb on Nagasaki on August 6th, 1945. Truman should have dropped the Atom bomb because it ended a bloody war and began an era of peace for the world, and because a land invasion of Japan would have resulted in countless American deaths. Dropping the bomb ended an insanely bloody war. More than 70 million people were killed during World War 2, and invading Japan would have caused even more people to die (Fallen).

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Manhattan Project Facts

1144 Words | 5 Pages

After Truman was notified of its success, it was up to him to decide if the nuclear bomb would be used against Japan. The President wrote ,”It is an awful responsibility that has come to us.” and awful it was indeed. President Truman had four options when it came to ending the war: option one was to continue to conventionally bomb Japanese cities; two was to conduct a full-scale invasion of Japan; three was to demonstrate the bomb to Japan in an attempt to scare them into submission; or option four, which was to drop the bomb onto an inhabited city in Japan. As you can see, none of these options were necessarily easy to choose.

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Truman Persuasive Essay

540 Words | 3 Pages

Truman seemed to not want to do it because of the burden it would put on his shoulders but he eventually did it. After the second bomb was dropped Truman received telegrams pleading with him to not drop another one. The president never avoided personal responsibility for his decision, but neither did he apologize. He emphasized that he would not use the bomb in later wars. However, given the same circumstances and choices that challenged him with Japan in 1945, he said, “he would do exactly the same thing.”

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Argumentative Essay On Dropping The Atomic Bomb

863 Words | 4 Pages

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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Potsdam Declaration

951 Words | 4 Pages

Even though he made this decision as Japanese government did not respond to the Potsdam Declaration, it was still possible to negotiate with Japan’s side without dropping the atomic bombs. In today’s American society, it is considered that his decision to use the atomic bombs enabled the country to save their soldiers. On top of that, Japanese government never raised any protest against the United States for the use of atomic bombs. Nevertheless, as Hasegawa (2005) states, this cannot be longer justified because it is more of a moral issue. More importantly, it is doubtful whether President Truman was sure about the effects of atomic bombs.

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Atomic Bomb Persuasive Essay

735 Words | 3 Pages

Japan was losing yet they were not willing to surrender so he had to decide the best way to end the war quickly with the least amount of casualties. He decided to drop the atomic bomb and we still talk about this important decision today. Although the atomic bomb caused major destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, President Truman thought it was a military necessity to end world war II and justified by the fact that the bomb forced Japan to surrender, it ended the war quickly, and it saved thousands of lives. First of all, Japan was unwilling to surrender so this meant that the war could have continued for numerous months. They showed no indication of surrender and if the fighting would have continued

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The Atomic Bomb Argumentative Essay

581 Words | 3 Pages

President Truman was treating people even worst by putting them through the torture of the bomb and the resulting effects of the bomb. Time became a major factor into the decision, and dropping the bomb was a result of that fear. On the other side of the argument, the Japanese did bomb Pearl Harbor which was the catalyst that got America involved in the first place. We as a country should not need to compromise with the nation who started the battle.

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