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Essay On President Truman's Decision To Drop The Bomb

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1.0 Introduction
World War Two was a long and arduous war which saw the deaths of over fifty-four million people. It was between the Allied and Axis powers but as is often the case in wars, it took its toll on civilians. The American and Japanese were continuing their war well after the war in Europe ceased, and as a result they were running low on supplies and losing troops on both sides. This brought upon a weapon of mass destruction that was used by Harry Truman (the President of the United States at the time), to bring a swift end to the war against Japan. However this decision still has the public divided and debating over the ever timely question; was President Truman justified in his decision to drop the bomb?
2.0 Events that lead up …show more content…

About 90% of the nuclear material (radiation) was taken into the mushroom clouds that appeared above the targets, rather than contaminating the surface. As a result Hiroshima and Nagasaki recovered and became liveable faster than it would have if the radiation fallout had been higher. Today, Hiroshima and Nagasaki match the world’s average radiation of 0.87 mSv/a, and are habitable with over a million people residing in both …show more content…

Yes it is true that President Harry Truman did end the war just days after the US proceeded in the dropping of the bomb, but it is still a matter of ethics. While he did save the lives of many troops, he also killed hundreds of thousands of civilians who were going about their day as per usual. He specifically targeted Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the fact that they were civilian areas and were untouched by the war. The bombing in itself was horrendous but its long term effects that it had on people was truly atrocious. The base of the decision to drop the bomb was also faulty as the Japanese were about to surrender anyway and put a stop to the war. Japan knew it was at its end since nearly all their naval and air force had been destroyed. They were running low on supplies and could not risk fighting any longer. There were also talks of Emperor Hirohito seeking peace; however the Potsdam Declaration that was given as an ultimatum was very problematic and if its terms were discussed further there may have been a resolution instead of nuclear annihilation and the entrance of nuclear warfare in the

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