On August 6th, 1945, The United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing many people. The president at the time, President Truman said that he only wanted to use the bomb in military warfare because it would hurt women and children. The bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was morally incorrect because the Japanese were ready to surrender, it was a crime against humanity, and it affected their physical self. The bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was unsuitable because the Japanese were ready to surrender. In Document 2, Admiral Leahy says, “The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.” Some Americans felt as though the weapon should not have been used because the Japanese were ready to give in. COME BACK Not only were the Japanese ready to surrender but it was morally wrong to bomb multiple cities without realizing what the outcomes may be. Some of the outcomes of the bombing at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were many people were killed, people lost their homes, their city got destroyed, it is a crime against humanity, and many more. In Document 4, Nippon Times says,
“How can a human being with any claim to a sense of moral responsibility deliberately
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In addition to the bomb affecting their homes and cities, it affected their physical self as well. Document 9 states, “The three main types of physical effects associated with a nuclear explosion are : blast and shock, thermal radiation, and nuclear radiation; each have the potentiality for causing death and injury to exposed persons … among them, apart from genetic effects, are the formation of cataracts, life shortening, and leukemia.” Many life threatening situations can happen to a person if in contact with a nuclear bomb. Which shows how deadly a nuclear bomb is and how it should not be
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
Nagasaki was a strategic place to drop the bomb because of the torpedo plant, but Hiroshima only had a military base, so why drop on Hiroshima? Therefore, was the United States’ decision ethical and fair to the
The doubts about the U.S. decision in 1945 have been discussed, analyzed, and there are still many controversies. In August 1945, the U.S. decided to use both of its two atomic bombs on Japan to end the war between them during WWII. The atomic bomb has killed about 200,000 people in the Japanese community and brought destruction to the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even though the bomb had terminated the war by Japan surrendering, there were many who were against the action of using the bomb. The reason behind that perspective is that many innocent people have died, and Japan was near surrendering, so there was no need for a major event.
Both atomic bombs killed around 200 000 people and completely destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the images of the destruction show clearly how devastating was for the people and houses ( document 8). “ how can a human being with any claim to a sense of moral responsibility deliberately let loose and instrument of destruction” (document 4), even though this decision was made by the president Truman and as he says in Harry Truman Memoirs; the scientific advisers of the committee reported, “ We can propose no technical demonstration likely to bring an end to the war: we see no acceptable alternative to direct military use”, but this brings us to the second reason: Japan was a defeated nation, Japan’s cities had been destroyed by conventional bombing, the soviet union “betrayed” them and entered the war by attacking Japan in Manchuria, and the American Navy blockaded Japan’s home island (document 7). After both atomic bombs, the emperor of Japan declared Japan’s unconditional surrender manifesting that the soviet union and the technology were something that Japan could not compete with ( document 14). Adding to these, a third reason to question America’s decision is that Document 7 says that the bomb was used to justify the money spend on
The deployment of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by President Truman during WWII is a contentious issue still debated today. With an aim to achieve victory over Japan without any further loss of life or military resources, some say that his decision was logical and ultimately successful in accomplishing national goals. However, others regard this act as immoral claiming that such violence could never be justifiable under any circumstance. In support of dropping the atomic bomb, proponents asserted that it was crucial to quickly end the war and avoid further loss of American lives. According to Document 3, Secretary Stimson believed that deploying the bomb was crucial to quickly end the conflict and avoid a land invasion of Japan, which would have caused more American lives to be lost.
The bombs caused so much damage that the cities bombed over 70 years ago are still recovering from the mass destruction today. For example, statistics show that 192,020 people died in Hiroshima, either instantly or over time because of
As Admiral William E. Leahy, who was President Truman’s Chief of Staff explained in Document 2, they had “adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages.” This statement compared the people of the United States as barbaric, making it clear that the events that took place were as uncivilized and not morally modern. The mentioning of the ethical standards raises awareness to the fact that there was indeed a sort of unjust social outcome. In this document it also mentions how Hiroshima was filled with innocent women and children. Another wrongdoing that occurred with the dropping of the atomic bomb as many of the lives taken were not soldiers of war but innocent citizens who lived in Japan.
The decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified because, in war, death will happen no matter what, the Japanese had already done so much damage to the US with Pearl Harbor, they had it
In 1945 World War 2 was coming to an end, President Truman was faced with a very tough decision on whether or not to drop the atomic bombs on Japan. On August 6 1945 an American B-29 bomber dropped the worlds first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, three days later another B-29 bomber dropped a second bomb on the city of Nagasaki in total the bombs killed well over a hundred thousand people. The use of the atomic bombs were necessary to end the war on Japan, although the bombs killed many people the use of the bombs saved hundreds of thousands of American lives, and eneded Japan’s reign of terror on the world. People believed that with only two atomic bombs ready that it was too risky to use one on a demonstration showing off the power of the bomb.
The United States did try to verbally reason with and even warn the Japanese, but they refused to surrender this easily. Japanese kamikaze occurred more and more and America needed to stop the destruction and interfere with the hopes of the Japanese to win. Without the immediate Japanese surrender following the bombings, American lives would have been lost on the battlefields of the continuation of the war. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended many lives; therefore, the intentions behind them were and are still remarkably controversial. Undoubtedly, these attacks were military necessities and the consequences of them not occurring would have been far worse than the consequences that prevalently took
In their article, Document 4, Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper, Nippon Times, revealed that the United States had caused unnecessary deaths, basically going against an international war law. Nippon Times states in their article in 1945, “What meaning is there in any international law, in any rule of human conduct, in any concept of right and wrong, if the very foundations of morality are to be overthrown as the use of this instrument of total destruction threatens to do?¨ The essence of Nippon Times argument is that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is against the International War Laws that state the unnecessary suffering of people in a conflicted war. The United States, according to Japan, broke a law of war that should be respected and followed as it helps to maintain some humanity in armed conflicts, saving lives and reducing suffering. This example shows that the dropping of the atomic bomb wasn't a military necessity. Additionally in Document 4, Nippon Times responds by claiming “… if the very foundations of morality are to be overthrown as the use of this instrument of total destruction threatens to do?” which implies that the U.S. planned to threaten Japan to bomb them.
bombs were inhumane due to the injuries it caused. It was a way of being cruel and heartless by using the atomic bomb. In addition, the bomb caused widespread deaths and damage. Robert Oppenheimer who was the American physicist who is referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb” stated that “the active material of the bomb itself is toxic.” Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not military targets and as
In fact, Ralph A. Bard, Undersecretary of the Navy wrote to Secretary of War Stimson in a June 27, 1945 memorandum. “I define this decision as an emotional and reckless decision, Japanese government may be searching for some opportunity which they could use as a medium of surrender” (Bard). In fact, the Japanese government expressed desire to end the war, and would have accepted conditional surrender before the mainland invasion in November. The reason for dropping the bomb was forcing Japan to surrender unconditionally. In America’s opinion, Japan had lost the war; they did not have any capital to negotiate with.
The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki annihilated one fourth of a million Japanese people, the majority of whom were civilians. This horrifying and deplorable idea in history should have never crossed Harry Truman’s frontal lobe. Even though these were desperate times, these perverted and twisted actions are not justified by the circumstances. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were detestable and odious for reasons such as Japan was already compliant to a conditional surrender, the extinguishing of about 250,000 Japanese lives, and that one bomb was enough. One reason for why this was a heinous act is that it was unneeded.
According to U.S. estimated, 60,000 to 70,000 people were killed by the bomb, 140,000 were injured many more were made homeless as a result of the bomb and some of them were missing. A very dangerous radiation reached over 100,000 kilometers. In the blast, thousands of people died instantly. The city is completely destroyed, there are 90,000 buildings and 60,000 of them were completely destroyed by the explosion. In all, approximately 33% or ⅓ of Hiroshima is completely destroyed.