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Truman Persuasive Essay

540 Words3 Pages

President Truman faced a dilemma when it came down to dropping the atomic bomb on japan because of everything that would come with it. There are great consequences when a bomb of that size and portion gets dropped, not only does it get the job done and defeat the enemy but it kills innocent people too. There where moral issues he faced when it came down to dropping the bomb, “It is an awful responsibility that has come to us,” the president wrote. He would be responsible for innocent deaths, but also he would end a war. Truman had come up with many plans and ideas to avoid the use of the so called, “most terrible bomb in the history of the world.” The president said that and he meant it. He had four options he came up with to approach the …show more content…

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.” 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.” Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the atomic

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