I completely understand what you are saying. However, if the bombs hadn 't been dropped, many more people could have died from an invasion of Japan. This was discussed on page 188 in the textbook, “Truman knew that dropping an atomic bomb would kill thousands of Japanese civilians and cause horrific destruction. But he believed that it would cost far fewer lives, Japanese and American, than an invasion of Japan.” I do agree with what you said about the horror and deaths the bombs would
If the bombs had not been dropped, anywhere from 500,000 to 2,000,000 more people would have been killed on both the American and Japanese sides (Doc C-1). A fact that often
He saw the bomb as a way to end the war and save lives by avoiding a costly invasion (Smithsonian 56). He was worried that getting caught up in an invasion would have caused the United States to lose many more troops. An invasion would show the United States was not giving up without a fight, it also would have made the death toll rise. If Truman did use the atomic bomb instead of invading, the American death toll would be much smaller, however the Japanese death toll would skyrocket, especially that of innocent people. Historians believe Truman did not decide to use the atomic bomb to solely finish off Japan, but to show the Soviet Union how powerful the United States really was (Thomas and Elliott).
Harry S. Truman and His Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb Harry S. Truman once said, “Carry the battle to them. Don’t let them bring it to you.” In World War II, that is exactly what he did. While Japan was breaking treaties and fighting with allied countries, the United States was developing a powerful weapon that would cripple Japan and end World War II.
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.
The Japanese were ruthless and brutal when it came to their militaristic decisions and motives. Dropping the atomic bomb was our final hope in stopping them from performing further harm. Either way, lives were going to be taken. The question we must ask ourselves is whether we wanted those lives to be those of Americans or the Japanese. President Truman had to make a vital decision, and using nuclear warfare was the only way to stop Japan without killing American soldiers.
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.
This bomb saved many more lives including Japanese, and American. His decision to let this happen ended inhumane fighting all around the world, and saved countless lives. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and in this situation when a war is involved there is no time to linger, but instead come up with a plan that is beneficial. Japan should have been expecting a surrender sooner or later because this was war and they had to expect it. In an extremely reliable source it is stated, “ Nonetheless, I also believe that President Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bombs against Japan almost certainly saved lives.”
The dropping of the bombs were necessary and fair due to the refusal of the Japanese to surrender, the millions of lives saved by a quick end to the war, and the warnings given to the Japanese. To begin, the Japanese soldiers have it ingrained in their brains that it is dishonorable to surrender. The author of Drop the Bomb as agreed by saying that “the Japanese have demonstrated a willingness to fight to the death”. During the war there were many times for the Japanese to surrender, but it was never done. With this in mind, they would have continued to drag out the war, which shows that dropping the bombs sped up the war which lessened the casualties.
Truman and the A-bomb The drop of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the following Japanese surrender on September 2nd was the way Truman and the United States ended the bloodiest war ever fought in history. Nowadays there is a lot of speculating on whether or not the president chose the best option by using doing so. Although there is still a strong moral controversy about the bombing, this writer’s opinion is that Truman made, after all, the best thing among his other options. Just saying that dropping the A-bomb was the right thing to do is not enough without the proper explanation.
However, it is also true that the bombs led to Japan’s surrender, saving countless lives that would have been lost in a land invasion or continued war. Critics may say that Truman’s decision was unnecessary, as Japan was already on the brink of surrender. However, this argument ignores the fact that Japan had not officially surrendered and there was a significant resistance within the Japanese military to surrender. It also fails to consider the potential consequences of a land invasion, which would have been devastating for both American and Japanese forces. In other words, Truman’s decision to drop the bombs was also criticized for its humanitarian consequences.
The Japanese were already on the verge of surrendering, so there was no point on dropping the bomb. Also, President Truman could have just shown an image or chart of the atomic bomb, rather than actually going through with the plan. These examples illustrate how the atomic bomb will always be a big controversy, but America was right for dropping the
Millions of lives were taken during the most destructive war in history, World War Two, but the real question is how many lives were taken in Japan due to the use of the Atomic Bomb on Japanese cities on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that United States decided to drop in August of 1945. If you were on the Enola Gay, would you have dropped the bomb on Japan? There are many Americans citizens that disagree the plan of President Harry S. Truman to bomb Japan specially the scientists who had help make the bomb, since it was initially meant for Germany and also many American people still today, think it was just for an experiment on how it effected socially and economically on the Japanese civilians. If I had the choice to choose whether I would
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
President Truman was treating people even worst by putting them through the torture of the bomb and the resulting effects of the bomb. Time became a major factor into the decision, and dropping the bomb was a result of that fear. On the other side of the argument, the Japanese did bomb Pearl Harbor which was the catalyst that got America involved in the first place. We as a country should not need to compromise with the nation who started the battle.
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.