...an editorial on Harry S Truman’s decision to order the dropping of the atom bomb. HARRY S TRUMAN & THE DECISION TO ORDER THE DROPPING OF THE ATOMIC BOMB Boom! Boom! Seventy thousands Japanese citizens were perished instantly after the first atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Japanese still refused to surrender to Allied forces. On August 9, 1945, with the dropping of the second atomic bomb in Nagasaki, where eighty thousands people were vaporized, Japanese surrendered unconditionally and the World War II ended (“The Decision to Drop the Bomb” 5-6). But was it a right decision of Harry S Truman to end the war with two atomic bombs? Becoming the president of the United States on April 12, 1945 upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman faced with a decision of unprecedented gravity in his life: dropping the atomic bombs in Japan to end the World War II. It was just a matter of opinion whether his decision was right or wrong. But at the time the bombs were dropped, most Americans as wells as Allied forces accepted President Truman’s decision and agreed that the atomic bombs were necessary to end the war quickly before the disastrous invasion of the Japanese mainland could occur. But after that, many people started questioning about President Truman’s decision to order the dropping of the atomic bombs. They believed that dropping two atomic bombs to destroy two cities of Japan helped America generally and President Truman specifically accomplishing...
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...In a speech given by Harry S. Truman, announcing the usage of the A-Bomb in Hiroshima, he informs the people of the United States what has happened and why it happened. The speech was given sixteen hours after the bomb was dropped. Harry Truman then explains why the American airplane dropped the bomb in the first place, “The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid…”(Truman, Paragraph 2). Truman then goes on the explain the bomb and why it was so effective. He explains how powerful this bomb actually was and how it was a new weapon of war. “That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of T.N.T. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the british ‘Grand Slam’ which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare”(Truman, Paragraph 1) Largest is what Truman explains the bomb as. That means that the military...
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...The Atomic Bomb: A Necessity or a Desire Tanmay Bhanushali Year 10 Historical Paper “Great power imposes the obligation of exercising restraint” Leo Szilard - Hungarian-born Physicist and main scientist to oppose the atomic Bombings This was spoken in an interview titled “President Truman did not Understand”. This was between a US news reporter and Leo Szilard the key figure among the scientists opposing the use of the bomb. The interview was in August 15, 1960. Why was their so fierce Opposition? In what Way did Truman Not Understand? These answers lie in the depths of the controversy about the Atomic Bomb. Introduction The atomic bomb was a topic of major controversy but the main debate was about the necessity of the atomic bomb. Many say that the atomic bomb was dropped because it would save millions of American lives. However at that period the Japanese were also at the point of surrendering. Huge amounts of incendiary bombs were used in large-scale cities against japan. Many of the scientists in the Manhattan Project were disturbed about it. The incendiary bombs reduced much morale from the Japanese army and crippled the will power. However this small cripple made Japan even angrier because these incendiary bombs were used on innocent civilians and not the Japanese army. Many think that it was necessary to use the Atomic Bombs because Japan attacked America first and not the other way around. It is a fact that when Hitler attacked...
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...When we imagine what could have been if the atomic bombs were not dropped, all history of World War II as we know it would be altered entirely. At the point in the war in 1945, Japanese defenses were gradually weakening despite their constant refusals of surrender. Considering Japan wanted to continue to fight until the end, President Harry Truman ultimately chose to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, taking nearly 300,000 Japanese lives. Yet, what if President Truman had chosen not to use the atomic bombs? While taking this question into thought, if the United States did not drop the bombs, it would have led to everlasting detriments to the U.S. and Japan. Provided that if the U.S. did not release atomic bombs, not only would our country suffer a great loss of American life, but Japan would lose quite an amount of citizens as well. According to James Maddox, author of “The Biggest Decision: Why We Had to Drop the Atomic Bomb,” without the dropping of the bombs, it would have led America to a bloody...
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...Technology in WWII: The Atomic Bomb The most significant way that technology changed in WWII, was with the invention of the atomic bomb. A scientific advancement in the 1930’s made the atomic bomb production possible. The discovery of nuclear fission; the process in which an atom is split, and the realization that the power from this could be controlled to produce mass amounts of energy were elements of what fuelled this development. Once the bombs were made and tested the decision on whether or not they should be used was given to the US president at the time, Harry Truman. Two Japan cities ended up being the main targets for the bombings and suffered great fatalities as a result. The affects of the decision to drop the bombs are still being seen today and it is still debated whether or not Truman made the right decision. Whether it was a justified decision or not, this breakthrough in technology was, and remains to be, a significant turning point in warfare. Looking closer at the decision Truman was faced with we can get a better look at why he decided to drop the bombs. The Allies were still at war with Japan, so the main idea was to drop the bombs on Japan, and weaken them enough so that they would surrender. This was seen as a better solution than the other way that the situation would have been handled – troops forcefully taking over Tokyo – because it wouldn’t be at the cost of countless numbers of soldier’s lives. Also, the bombs could inflict much more damage...
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...Warfare Technology in WWII: The Atomic Bomb The most significant way that technology changed in WWII, was with the invention of the atomic bomb. A scientific advancement in the 1930’s made the atomic bomb production possible. The discovery of nuclear fission; the process in which an atom is split, and the realization that the power from this could be controlled to produce mass amounts of energy were elements of what fueled this development. Once the bombs were made and tested the decision on whether or not they should be used was given to the US president at the time, Harry Truman. Two Japan cities ended up being the main targets for the bombings and suffered great fatalities as a result. The affects of the decision to drop the bombs are still being seen today and it is still debated whether or not Truman made the right decision. Whether it was a justified decision or not, this breakthrough in technology was, and remains to be, a significant turning point in warfare. Looking closer at the decision Truman was faced with we can get a better look at why he decided to drop the bombs. The Allies were still at war with Japan, so the main idea was to drop the bombs on Japan, and weaken them enough so that they would surrender. This was seen as a better solution than the other way that the situation would have been handled – troops forcefully taking over Tokyo – because it wouldn’t be at the cost of countless numbers of soldier’s lives. Also, the bombs could inflict much more damage...
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...Truman’s Moral Dilemma President Truman’s Decision of dropping the Atomic Bomb brought much controversy to the U.S and other countries that were involved in the war, controversy which can be argued to be both good and bad. The U.S was the very first country to develop an atomic bomb, and their focus was to use it and show the world they had it. This action saved and took many lives around the entire world. The question on whether such a powerful attack was necessary to end the war has often been asked. Harry S. Truman became president after Theodore Roosevelt had died of a brain hemorrhage in April 1945. Roosevelt sadly passed away while World War II was still going on. The death...
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...Atomic Bomb Performance Task Do you think dropping the Atomic Bomb that ended World War II was the best way to end a war? This essay is about how the atomic bomb ended the war between United States and Japan. How President Harry Truman’s decision to drop the bomb affect the whole world. J. Robert Oppenheimer was the man behind the birth of the most destructive force mankind ever made. To begin with, making and dropping the bomb was the best way by that time because it ended the war. To explain, in the “Speech to the Association of Los Alamos Scientist” by Robert Oppenheimer. He said that “There was in the first place the great concern that our enemy might develop these weapons before we did ...” This shows that if we didn’t drop the bomb...
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...Hiroshima: A Noiseless Flash The first chapter focuses on the lives of a few people just before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The author John Hersey describes you different point of views of Mr. Tanimoto, Mrs. Nakamura, Dr. Masakazu Fujii, Father Wilheim Kleinsorge, Dr Terafumi Sanaki, and Miss Toshiko Sasaki leading up to the day of the bombing and their experience seconds after the bomb dropped. The blast was so powerful that, even though these people were mostly further than 1500 yards from it, it made the fly out into the air. So this chapter it’s mainly to give the reader an idea of whom these people were, innocent good people that did nothing wrong. It was just another regular day in between a war. Many of them even mention already...
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...Roosevelt initiated a project to start the development of the atomic bomb. This project, led by Robert Oppenheimer, a theoretical physicist, was code named the Manhattan Project. On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, by the United States of America. A second bomb was dropped three days by the U.S. later on Nagasaki. Before these devastating events, World War II was drawing to an agonizingly slow close. In the events prior to this bombing, an estimated 2,420,000 Americans and Japanese men were killed. Starting at the unwarranted attack on Pearl Harbour, Japanese soldiers bombed army bases, ships, and anything that would result in the cause of casualties. This was the start of...
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...forever. Harry Truman had made a life changing decision to drop an atomic bomb named “Little Boy” in Japan’s Hiroshima. The result of this weapon ended up in destroying more than 4 square miles of the city. The company who made the bomb was called Enola Gay. The motive behind the doing of this was to threaten Japan and make them surrender in World War 2. It is a fact that this was the first time in history that a nuclear weapon was used. This event is still one of the most important topics in history. It has been debated by an abundance of historians: Was it justified despite 129,000 innocent citizens died? There isn’t a definite answer to this but there were both sides to the story. Bombing was justified It is widely believed that the bombing was brutal and cruel. However, it was the reason that ended World War 2, and if America did not drop the bomb, the losses of soldiers would be even at a larger number than the amount of people who died in the drop of the bomb. It has also been said to save a lot of American’s lives and soldiers. This statement is backed up by the quotation “Fighting would be fierce and the losses heavy.” that was said by Harry S. Truman in 1955. This quote can tell us that during that time he believed that if the war was still going on, it was very likely that the upcoming invasions of Japan would cause even more severe damage and casualties of American soldiers and citizens. Winston Churchill even estimated that if the bomb wasn’t dropped, two hundred...
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...The use of the atomic bomb in World War II to this day is greatly disputed to this day along the theological, moral and political implications on the United States as a country. As I researched this topic trying to formulate a decisive opinion I could not help but be in conflict with myself. On the one hand American lives were being lost in the Pacific theater on a large scale and would surely continue to be lost at the hands of the determined Japanese as long as the conflict continued. On the other hand the number of civilian lives and sheer destruction that was inflicted upon the innocent civilian population of Japan is very difficult to come terms with. Where is the line in the sand? Does the end result of victory and national security justify...
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...American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and destroyed its usefulness to the enemy. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British "Grand Slam" which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.” This was vocalized by President Harry Truman in his famous speech where he declared the bombing on mainland Japan and, educated the American people of the capabilities their military had. Developed by a group of American scientists, atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 10th 1945 respectively. These are the only two times that these bombs have ever been used to inflict damage on other countries but, physicists estimate that both bombs only used about 1/10th of 1% of their total capacity. From a moral standpoint, dropping the atomic bomb was the right thing to do because it ended up preventing millions of people from being killed by military warfare. Politically, it was also the right thing to do because it strategically helped end the war and, reminded the rest of the world of the supremacy of the United States as a Hegemon and militaristic power. If put in the position of President Truman, after careful analysis, I would choose to only drop one atomic bomb on Hiroshima. First, with the Japanese unwillingness to surrender, the United States was ready to commence with a top-secret mission titled Operation Downfall. This alternative to the nuclear bomb was the only other...
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...I believe that the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was necessary. Although I don’t think that the second bomb should have been dropped, I think that the first one was needed. If President Harry S. Truman had decided not to drop the bomb what would the world look like today? Well first of all, I think that the Japanese wouldn't have surrendered to the United States due to the ancient art of Samurai. I say this because most of the population of Japan still today takes in many forms of the Samurai rules and beliefs. Many of the Japanese were willing to die before even considering to surrender to the United States of America. I truly believe that if it weren't for the bombings that the Japanese would have attempted to make another...
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...My President In 1825 If I was President Harry Truman, Would I have made the decision to drop the Atomic Bomb On Hiroshima? Yes, I would have dropped Bomb on Japan Hiroshima, because of the thing they did on December 7, 1941. The main cause for all of this problem was Japan trying to be World Power. The one way Japan could become world power is by taking control other countries, so they can take their resource and became powerful. They were struggling on resources like Oil, Iron, and War materials. They use to get their resource from America, until America stopped trading with them. Their relationship between America and Japan was broke after their trading stopped. On Sunday Dec 7, 1941, Japan dropped bomb on America without anyone expecting...
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