Was Truman Justified Dbq Research Paper

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On August 6, 1945, the U.S. made history with a fatal blow to the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended WWII. To this day there is a controversy on whether the dropping of the atomic bomb, ordered by President Harry S. Truman, was justified or not, but in fact, it was. Thousands of Japanese would perish, but this act would, in turn, saved American lives and end the war. Throughout various battles, the Japanese consistently crossed lines of ethics of warfare, and in an attempt to bring justice and an end to the war Truman put forth a plan to bomb Japan. President Truman warned Japan of the upcoming attack and gave demands, but in the end, the Japanese denied those negotiations which led to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The death of numerous Japanese was the price for an end to the war and the ability to send Allied soldiers home-free. The bombs dropped were a strategic decision made by Truman himself to save lives, “We have used it in order to shorten the agony …show more content…

against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war…” (document 1). The Japanese seemed to enjoy the unnecessary brutality towards opposing soldiers while both alive and deceased in POW camps and in the field. Stories of war bring to light just some of the terrible conditions veterans were put through. During the Bataan Death March POWs were forced on a 70 mile advance to Japanese camps, soldiers were ridden with disease and starved, those who fell behind were beheaded or left for dead. Soldiers were not the only ones who suffered at the hands of Japanese, many accounts of rape, internment camps, and massacres were forced on the families of many Filipinos and Chinese. The atrocities committed by the Japanese would be brought to justice, and rightly

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