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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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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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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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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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The death of numerous Japanese was the price for an end to the war and the ability to send Allied soldiers home-free. The bombs dropped were a strategic decision made by Truman himself to save lives, “We have used it in order to shorten the agony

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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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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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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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Moreover, after the first bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, the Prime Minister, Kintaro Suzuki announced to the Japanese Cabinet that they had no choice but to surrender (Blum 2). However, they would not have time to do so since the second atomic bomb was dropped that same day in Nagasaki. This leads me to question Truman’s real motivation behind his decision. Why would you drop a bomb on a country that was on the brink of surrender? Even more questionable, why would you drop a second without giving adequate time for a

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Two reasons that president Truman dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan. One reason that Truman dropped the bomb on japan was he wanted to shorten the war to save soldiers lives. If truman hadn't made the call thousands of American soldiers would have been killed storming the beaches of japan, just like when they stormed the beaches of normandy fighting the germans in the european theater. A second reason that Truman wanted to drop the bomb was to send a message to the soviet union to say don't mess us after the war was over. At this point many countries were trying to create the Atomic Bomb

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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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was going to war with Iraq because of the imminent threat of Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and ties to terrorism and President Truman dropped two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both President Truman and President Bush had to organize decision making processes to determine the fate of their actions. Truman quickly realized Russian scientists and perhaps the Germans and others may be in the race of developing their own type of atomic weapon, so he knew he had to act fast. With the help of his administration, the effects and statistics of bombing the Japanese were made apparent. Truman was influenced by the sole fact that one atomic bomb on an arsenal would not be much different from the effect caused by any Air Corps strikes.

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At the time the bomb was dropped the president seemed differed about his decision. He received telegrams encouraging him to drop as many atomic bombs as it took to defeat japan. President Truman said, “I know that Japan is a terribly cruel and uncivilized nation in warfare but I can't bring myself to believe that because they are beasts, we should ourselves act in that same manner. For myself I certainly regret the necessity of wiping out whole populations because of the ‘pigheadedness’ of the leaders of a nation, and, for your information, I am not going to do it unless absolutely necessary.”

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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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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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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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