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Truman's Role In Dropping The Atomic Bomb

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Harry Truman became the 33rd president of the United States of America, taking over from Roosevelt after his sudden death. Truman was sworn to presidency on April 12th, 1945, only having served 3 months as vice president. Little did Truman know, but he would be the man to make one of the most important decisions in mankind history, about the dropping of the most lethal weapon known to mankind. As found in his personal diaries, Truman was not prepared for managing a war, the decisions and consequences that came along with it. Here he writes to his wife, Margaret Truman; “As you know I was Vice-President from Jan. 20 to April 12, 1945. I was at Cabinet meetings and saw Roosevelt once or twice in those months. But he never did talk to me confidentially …show more content…

Not only did they bring the Americans unwillingly into the war at Pearl Harbour, but the atrocities committed by the Japanese throughout wartime were horrific. The Alexandra Hospital Massacre for example, where the Japanese slaughtered majority of a hospital including those being operated on, or the Massacre of Manila, where two Japanese Generals disobeyed orders and made their men fight to the death in order to make a ‘final stand’. When the Americans arrived the Japanese started killing any civilians inside the city, a total of 100,000 civilians killed, a similar number to those killed in Hiroshima. Although most of Truman's decisions were based on facts, figures and politics, also taking the atrocities the Japanese committed into account, he knew full well the horrific consequences of the bomb. He states in a diary entry after the bomb; "Nobody is more disturbed over the use of Atomic bombs than I am but I was greatly disturbed over the unwarranted attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor and their murder of our prisoners of war. The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them.” Truman wanted these Japanese atrocities to end, for the war to end, and for eventual world peace. He made the decision to drop the bomb in order to save as many of his own as he could, which any good leader would

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The Bombing of Hiroshima The bombing of Hiroshima was the right thing to do due to the military lives that were going to be lost if the bomb did not get dropped, America also wanted to impress Russia or intimidate them by dropping it and the president saw this opportunity to make japan surrender as well. This all supports the main point on why it was the right thing to do but many to all Japanese say otherwise Lots of soldiers lost their lives because of the conflict with japan, in document B, it states,”123,000 Japanese and Americans killed each other”. Paul Fussell, a WWII soldier also stated, ”war is immoral, war is cruel”. This is speaking for all the soldiers in the war or most of them, this also means that he doesn’t like war and it would

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According to Truman’s memoir, he states “it should be used without specific warning” (Doc 2). This evidence shows that the U.S. used the atomic bombs without warning because of the way Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Since there was no warning, it harmed more people than Japan did in the Pearl Harbor attack. To summarize, the U.S. used the atomic bombs against Japan as an act of revenge for Pearl Harbor. This act of revenge harmed and destroyed many lives of the

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As stated the response was not due to the U.S. just wanting to be superior and not wanting to lose to Russia, there could have been more options if more patience was given, and there were many more casualties in this time. This matters because no matter what the situation is there is always a way to go about the situation and come up with the best solution. I feel Truman was not seeing how one thing could harshly affect the world and resulted in deaths. This should matter because every individual should be aware enough to know how badly things may go and not just make a decision so fast. Some might argue that the War ended faster and lives were saved because of this decision that was made.

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Harry Truman evidently demonstrates ultranationalist actions and motives to a moderate extent, accordingly, he is guilty of crimes involving the mistreatment, internment, and use of nuclear warfare against the Japanese peoples. Arguments on whether or not he is an ultranationalist are debatable to a considerable extent. Nevertheless, due to the complexity of the issue, the most reinforced position points to a moderate degree of ultranationalism for various reasons.     Although Harry Truman was responsible for the death of 129 to 246 thousand Japanese civilians as a direct result of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he ultimately prevented further casualties.

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They raised six children. Roosevelt was then given a job with the Untied States Civil Service Commission. In 1895 he was president of the New York City Board of Police Commission. Then in 1897, he was named assistant secretary of the Navy by President William McKinley. When the Spanish/American War broke out, Roosevelt left the Navy in 1898 and was commander of the United States volunteer Calvary known as the Rough Riders.

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The quote is a pro-nuclear bombing perspective as he feels that American lives are worth more than the Japanese population. Truman tries to convince people that the bombing helped to save American soldiers’ lives and he has done this for the American people. He shows no sympathy towards the Japanesecivilian lives to an extent that he is willing to destroy the Japanesecities. The above lines are similar to the previous quotes where Truman justifies this decision to drop the bomb. “President had to decide,” reinstates the supreme power that Truman believes he has in deciding the fate of Japan.

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Sure, Truman may have realized that he might be able to “put down” the Soviet Union and force the Japanese to surrender, sort of a kill two birds with one stone. However, implying that this was the impelling reason for President Truman wanting to drop the bomb is absurd. Two major pieces of evidence used in this argument are the fact that the Soviet Union’s entry into the war almost certainly pressured the Japanese into surrender, and that General Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Secretary of War Henry L Stimson personally to not drop the bomb while at Potsdam. With the Soviet Union’s entry into the war, it was only likely that Japan would surrender. If they didn’t, that would still lead to Operation Downfall, and that was not an option President Truman wanted.

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Afterwards, the United States declared war on Japan, and joined allies against the axis powers. The United States’ use of the atomic bombs is justified because it saved American lives; Japan was given fair warning, and their aggressions towards the U.S. The atomic bombs on Japan saved many American lives. Document 15 reads: The entire population of Japan is

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John Hersey wrote that “[Mrs. Nakamura] immediately turned 4 on the radio, which … [was] broadcasting a fresh warning”. Along with radio warnings there were also rumors that Hiroshima might be hit with bombs and air raid alarms when enemy planes flew over the city. Truman also dropped leaflets on many different Japanese cities a month before the attach informing them of what could happen if they did not surrender. PBS translated the leaflets which said that “we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war”. With the warnings given by radio, alarms, and leaflets, this demonstrates that the Japanese knew what could happen to their beloved city and decided not to evacuate their cities.

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I believe Truman was right in his actions of commencing the dropping of weapons of mass destruction against the Empire of Japan. While morally it may have been carried out in a better way, that's a debate for a different time. There are three reasons I would like to clarify to show why I believe it was the right decision. The Japanese did not believe in surrender.

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Paul Ryan once said, “If we don't make tough decisions today our children are going to have to make much, much tougher decisions tomorrow.” This is relevant to Harry Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb because he had to make a difficult decision that affected many people and their children. Harry Truman made the right decision in dropping the atomic bomb. The atom bomb should have been dropped because it saved millions of American lives. Also, the atomic bomb was an extreme form of revenge for the attack of Pearl Harbor.

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Destroying these two cities would eliminate a majority of supplies that Japan needed to finish fighting the war. Using Pearl Harbor and Japan’s insubordination to the rules of war, Truman justified the use of the atomic bomb in a speech to the American people (Doc F). An example of Japan’s inhumane nature was the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. The Japanese forced the filipinos to march over 80 miles in treacherous conditions; if any filipino fell or stopped walking they were shot. This was significant because the Philippines were previously under the United States control and was lost to the

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The decision to use the atomic bomb to force Japan’s surrender was the best option available to the U.S. at the time to end the war in the Pacific. Following the Allied victory in Europe, the United States was in the position of simultaneously celebrating Germany's defeat and the return of American troops, while shifting its focus to the war in the Pacific. The war in the Pacific had long been on the back burner due to the Germany first agreement, but upon Allied victory, the U.S. faced the possibility of continuing the war in the Pacific with no clear end in sight. As the leader of a nation that was war-weary and ready to return to life as normal, President Truman was in the unenviable position of determining the best course of action to bring the war in the Pacific to an expedient conclusion. Upon reviewing the alternatives with his closest advisors, President Truman issued the order for the military to drop two atomic bombs on Japan.

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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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