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Why Was Truman's Nuclear Bombings On Hiroshima And Nagasaki Justified

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This investigation will answer the following question: “To what extent were Truman’s nuclear bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?” There were two sources that tremendously shaped this essay. The essential secondary source that shaped this essay, was the monograph Why America Dropped The Atomic Bomb written by Ronald Takaki in 1995. Takaki, a post-revisionist historian stated that the purpose for his monograph was to explain the reasons behind Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The origin of the monograph is that, Ronald Takaki being a post-revisionist and a third generation American with Japanese descent had a more open mind. As a matter of fact, he had never been to Japan and had only spoken japanese …show more content…

A group of civilian leaders led by Foreign Minister Togo Shigenori hoped that the Soviet Union might mediate a settlement between the US and Japan since the Soviet Union and Japan had signed a five-year neutrality pact in 1941. Furthermore this could potentially benefit the Soviet Union since it’s in their interest to make sure that “the terms of the settlement were not too favorable towards the United States” (Wilson). However, US generals wouldn’t take the chance that the people in charge [Japanese militarists] would want to end the war peacefully especially since the US were hesitant to trust them since events like Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor that began the war (Takaki 32-34) and forcing American prisoners of war to walk almost 100 kilometers through the hot jungle with little food and water which resulted in death tolls upwards of 10,000 (Young 26). Furthermore, three highly respected military leaders — Eisenhower, MacArthur, and Leathy all thought that the atomic bombing of Hiroshima was not needed militarily (Takaki

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As the Japanese forces were considered the aggressors of the conflict by the Allies and Japanese veterans alike, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified. Their aggression previous to the bombing was demonstrated through the attack on Pearl Harbour, which led to America’s involvement in World War II. The attack was not one born out of vengeance and was not strategically logical, whereas there was a reason behind the bombing of Hiroshima, that reason being that the Japanese military would not agree to the clauses presented in the Potsdam Declaration. This declaration was given to the military officials as an invitation to surrender before the first bombing, providing ample time for them to make a decision to hopefully end the

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