December 8th, 1941, one day after the horrific events of Pearl Harbor, the United States officially declared war on its foes in Eastern Asia, the Japanese. After strategically taking out many American battleships, including the USS Arizona, (the last of "super-dreadnoughts" from Pennsylvania), Japan had set off a series of chain reactions, unfortunately ending with the sanctioned bombing of their homeland (Document A). The struggle for victory lasted four years before the devastating, yet just action, occurred. America took countless strides to suppress Japan and stop their malevolent attacks on US soil, including the Ellwood Oil Field in 1942 and the Bombing of Fort Stevens and the Lookout Air Raids in 1942. To stop the Japanese from causing
The evidence clearly shown through historical documents will justify that the bombings were catastrophic and caused many civilian casualties, but was necessary to end World War II. The first reason that the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were somewhat justified is the the Japanese would not surrender without the bombs being dropped. This is clearly shown by a Japanese slogan in the summer of 1945 that says “The sooner the [the
America was left out of the war until then leaving only America to defeat or join forces with. Japan 's idea was to weaken the U.S. and leave them with no choice except to surrender. America was “easy pickings” for Japan, due to Germany finishing of Great Britain and leaving half of Russia and America to deal with. It was meant to be the end of the war many cities in ruins over the rule of the Nazi and Japanese armies that were almost unstoppable. In spite of Japan 's doings which in fact lead us into participating in the war the Pearl Harbor attack did indeed change America’s history.
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. If Japan agreed to the declaration, America would not drop the atomic bomb and Japan would
In 1945, President Truman had to make the most difficult decision of his life. Truman had to decide if the U.S. would drop an atomic bomb on Japan during WWII. He had a way to end the war with Japan, but doing so would unleash the most deadly weapon ever created. The U.S. was 4 years into the war with Japan. While the U.S. troops were weary, the Japanese showed no signs of backing down.
Thesis statement: Though many speculate that the act of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) while not doing so on Europe (Germany and Italy) was racially motivated, racism played little to no role in these bombings. The United States of America and her allies were willing to end World War II at any cost, had the atomic bombs been available they would have been deployed in Europe. In the 1940’s there is no doubt that the United States of America was engulfed by mass anti-Japanese hysteria which inevitably bled over into America’s foreign policy. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human. Japanese-Americans living on the west coast were savagely and unjustifiably uprooted from their daily lives.
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).
Finally, if they had just used smaller bombs, it might have been enough to push Japan past their tipping point of following the Bushido code, a code that says that they should never surrender, something that proved costly to both sides, as the Japanese used kamikaze throughout the captures of Midway, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. Because Truman could use other, available options, he did not possess the right to resort to dropping the atomic bombs. Even though America warned Japan about the bombs, they still should not have used them. Japan had no idea of the grand effects caused by the atomic bombs. For instance, when the bomb was dropped the radius of the blast was many times larger than any bomb before it.
Although many people were killed because of the Manhattan Project, the bombs were requisite in ending the war before war got out of hand. By the end of World War II, the countries with the most casualty in World War II were USSR and China (World War 2 Death Count) instead of Japan, even though the bomb supposedly killed many Japanese. If President Truman did not respond to Japan’s attack by taking any actions like dropping the bombs, even more innocent lives would have been taken away by further
Collaborative Intelligence Operations Won the War in the Pacific December 7, 1941 will forever be remember by Americans as the day the Japanese launched a devastating surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It shocked the American people and was the direct cause for the declaration of war against Japan issued by President Roosevelt the next day. Among the losses were 18 warships sunk or damaged, 174 aircraft destroyed, 2335 military personnel killed with 1143 wounded, and 68 civilians killed with 35 wounded (Dowswell 29). The worst part, however, was knowing that all these losses could have been avoided. Roosevelt proclaimed December 7 “a date which will live in infamy,” because Japan launched an attack without a declaration of war.