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Was Truman Justified In Dropping The Atomic Bomb

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Truman and the A-Bomb The most powerful weapon America had in WWII, was also the most secret. The Atom Bomb was capable of wiping out an entire city with a blast radius of 3.5 miles. It was truly a killing machine. With such power comes the question, does anyone deserve such a fate? Truman was justified in dropping the A-Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Dropping the bomb was an act of strategy, political reasoning and of moral reasoning. Dropping a bomb with such power puts fear into people and is what forced Japan to surrender to America in 1945. The ETO and the Island Hopping Campaign was a perilous fight that never seemed to end. Beginning when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, America joined the fight against Japan after declaring war in the ETO. President Roosevelt seemed to only slowly gain back the lost territory from Japan and Germany, as the two nations attacked the …show more content…

The bomb was an act of strategy because using the bomb would’ve ended the war quickly and effectively making it so the nations could work on rebuilding both countries faster. The bomb was a moral decision because Truman had two options, keep making the Japanese suffer or end the war quickly but face the amount of deaths. Truman simply put Japan out of it’s misery. The bomb was a political act because at the time we had shaky relations with Russia and the only way to make sure Russia wouldn’t attack America, was to show them how powerful America really is. Some may say, “What if Japan didn’t surrender?” The answer is very simple. America knew the risk being taken if Japan didn’t surrender and that is why America dropped a second atom bomb on Nagasaki to make sure they would surrender. In conclusion, Truman was justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan to end WWII. It was a demonstration and act of strategy, moral and politics. It’s truly hard to believe that the only thing that could end WWII, was the most secret weapon in all of

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642 Words | 3 Pages

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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882 Words | 4 Pages

The United States and Japan fought in World War II during 1941 to 1945. Japan planned to expand their land and gain resources- which led them to invade China whom was an ally of the U.S. In result, the United States cut off the supply of oil to Japan. On December 7th 1941, Japan’s air force did a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor because that is where their military base is located.

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The question everyone is asking is, did Truman make the right decision? I think President Truman made the wrong decision. He chose to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. The three considerations that lead to this judgment were: A lot of innocent souls died, Japan was going to back out of the war anyway, and dropping the bomb cost Japan a lot of money to fix. Truman's decision to bomb Japan was wrong because he killed a bunch of innocent lifes.

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345 Words | 2 Pages

Therefore knowing how the Japanese soldiers think about surrendering, the millions of lives saved by ending the war quickly and shortly, and the countless warnings given to the Japanese, I think dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was warranted and

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608 Words | 3 Pages

Looking at the statistics and charts during the war, the Unites States was already winning the war and the body count and death rate was way lower than the japanese where. If the U.S army stuck to the Island hopping campaign or operation downfall than the war would've still been won by the U.S. History would've turned out way different if the president did not give the order to fire the bomb. Maybe we could of had more allies. President Truman was not justified because of the way that he didn’t really have a plan,There were so many other operations and plans that could've works only if they tried or thought more clearly.(option #1: Invade Japan (operation downfall) President truman could have took many different paths instead of dropping the bomb and ending the war and frightening the Russians.

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688 Words | 3 Pages

The dropping of the atomic bomb was a pivotal moment of U.S. history. Harry S. Truman was put under a lot of pressure and spent a lot of time trying to decide whether to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or not. There were many people telling Truman reasons why he should or should not drop the bomb as well. As for my opinion, I think that Harry S. Truman should not have dropped the bomb. The atomic bomb is dangerous and, in my opinion, should not have even been made in the first place because of how life threatening it is.

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863 Words | 4 Pages

The US decision to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 has generated much controversy over the years. Some argue that the bombing was necessary to end World War II, while others believed that more than 200,000 civilians died in vain. The use of this disastrous weapon caused a split in society which came down to the usage being necessary for the victory of the Allied Powers as well as stopping more Japanese crimes or a merciless crime that greatly injured an already kneeling, surrendering nation and caused mass innocent deaths. Due to previous Japanese actions, the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified and needed to be done to protect Americans and other countries oppressed by the Japanese.

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722 Words | 3 Pages

President Truman was justified to drop the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagaski in order to end WWII. This is due to the fact that it was necessary in order to prevent many more countries and lives lost. In addition to that, using the bomb was simply just a reaction to the arms race. If we hadn’t used it first they would have. Those are just two of the many reasons that President Harry Truman was justified in using the atomic bombs on Japan.

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In the twentieth century, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, which were the most powerful weapons at that time, on Japan. It happened on August 6 and August 9, 1945. The atomic bombs killed 226,000 Japanese and ended the war. However, America should not have dropped the atomic bombs for two reasons. First, it was not necessary to drop the bomb to win the war militarily or to get the Japanese to surrender.

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Was the Atomic Bomb Necessary? It was necessary for the United States to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Truman’s decision to do this was because of the american lives, the Pearl Harbor in general, and bringing an end to it all. This all began when Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor and, for precautions, the U.S. Interned Japanese people here in our country.

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There are many reasons why it could be argued that the dropping of the atomic bomb was justified. One reason is that Japan was warned, they were given plenty of opportunities to surrender such as the Potsdam declaration. The Declaration was issued to Japan by President Truman and the Allies of America after America had tested the Atom bomb on July 26th. The declaration was a proposition of surrender to Japan that linked directly to the dropping of the atomic bomb.

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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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422 Words | 2 Pages

I feel that dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was absolutely not justified nor necessary. Japan was begging to surrender. It was unethical, immoral and inhuman to use such weapons, especially against innocent civilians. Truman was unwilling to accept anything except unconditional surrender. Why hadn 't Truman considered the Japanese 's one provision?

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581 Words | 3 Pages

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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