...Japan’s reaction to the atomic bombs, one the other hand, was anything but celebratory. Even after they found out about the horrific events at Hiroshima, the Japanese government censored reports about the atomic bomb, fervently repudiating its occurrence. The Japanese morning newspapers of August 8th revealed nothing more than how a “few enemy planes” had severely damaged Hiroshima with “a wholly new type of bomb” (Hando). Citizens were kept in the dark about the situation and were simply instructed to wear white clothing in case of another attack (Priddy). In addition, the Office of War Information ran off millions of leaflets calling Japan to give up or face nuclear attacks “again and again” until they ended the war at once (1945: Atom bomb hits Nagasaki). Current Japanese polls indicate that they disagree with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with only 14% saying it was...
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...The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: History's Great Miscalculation On August 6, 1945, a new step in technological warfare was taken when the first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The impact of the bomb alone killed at least 66,000 people.1 This was an event that would not soon be forgotten in history. The Americans, who knew the devastating effects of their new weapon, still chose to use it rather than an alternative means to peace. Many people still argue whether or not it was necessary when Japanese surrender was considered to be a matter of time. Historians also dispute whether the campaign was a morally justified objective. This phrase alone brings up many interesting questions. Can killing thousands of innocent people ever be considered "justified"? Considering these circumstances, the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not militarily or morally justified. In 1939 Franklin Roosevelt, the President of the United States received a verysignificant letter from the famous physicist, Albert Einstein.2 Contained in this letter were details concerning the importance of nuclear research with regards to gaining the upper hand in the war. Roosevelt agreed and approved $6,000 in initial funding. Many scientists began realizing the importance of nuclear fission and in 1940 The National Defense Research Committee was formed. This group's purpose was to oversee research and provide more funding. Many of the world's best physicists...
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...Justified or Not? When Harry Truman learned of the success of the Manhattan Project, he knew he would be faced with a tough controversial decision. The ability to end the war with Japan was in his hands, but it would involve unleashing the worst weapon ever known to man. American soldiers and civilians were weary from four years of war, and the Japanese military was refusing to give up their fight. The atomic bomb was key to ending the war, without too many Allied and Japanese casualties. American forces occupied Okinawa and Iwo Jima and were intensely firebombing Japanese cities. But Japan had an army of 2 million strong stationed in the home islands guarding against invasion. For Truman, the choice whether or not to use the atomic bomb was the most difficult decision of his life. First, an Allied demand for an unconditional surrender was made to the leadership in Japan. The Japanese military command rejected the request for unconditional surrender. So on August 6, 1945, a plane named the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. 70,000 Japanese citizens were vaporized. In the time that followed, an additional 100,000 died from burns and radiation sickness. On August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, where 80,000 Japanese people died. On August 14, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. Critics have charged that Truman's decision was “a barbaric act that brought negative long-term consequences to the United States”. Some military analysts insist that...
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...The Necessity of the Atomic Bombs in World War II On August 6th, 1945, the first atomic bomb intended to kill man was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan by the United States of America. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, in hopes to force Japan to finally surrender. There is much controversy, even to this day, as to whether to deployment of the first atomic bombs were warranted and absolutely necessary. While the bombings did end the treacherous World War II, they ended up killing over 240,000 people. While Samuel J. Walker, a World War II historian, claims that “The fundamental issue that has divided scholars over a period of nearly four decades is whether the use of the bomb was necessary to achieve victory in the war in the Pacific on terms satisfactory to the United States”, the debate also boils down to other factors, such as the fact that it was part of the total warfare that began in WWII, it was more desirable than invasion, and it actually saved lives but hastily ending the war. Arguments against the bombing of Japan revolve around the inherent morality of the atomic bomb, especially considering Japan’s underdeveloped nuclear advancements and the actual necessity of the Atomic bombs. The two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan were absolutely necessary despite the immorality because of Japan’s refusal to surrender, the bombs ended up saving more lives than it spent, it was part of total warfare, and it was the most efficient...
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...on the destructive nature of the atomic bomb: We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire of destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley era, after Noah and his fabulous ark. Yet, despite his characterization of the bomb as the fire that would destroy the world, Truman goes on to state: This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10 It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful. How could a Christian man justify using what seemed to be the very power of God against enemy cities with the intent to kill over 100,000 innocent civilians with the power from one atomic bomb (Goldfield, D., Abbot, C., Anderson, V., Argersinger, J., Argersinger,P, Barney, W, Weir, R. ,2010)?” “Truman’s argument for the use of atomic weapons against Japan focused on the fact that the targets were strictly military and no innocent civilians would be harmed: I have told the secretary of war, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers are the target and not women and children. Truman further argues that the U.S., on account of its reputation as a leader of the civilized world, would never bomb a civilian city: Even if the Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless and fanatic, we as the leader of the world for the common welfare cannot drop this terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. Moreover, Truman stated that the U.S. had no moral reprehensibility for using atomic weapons...
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...The Finishers The use of the two atomic bombs in early August of 1945 was among the huge turning points that lead to the end of World War Two. The organization responsible for the research and development of these nuclear weapons was known as the Manhattan project. The development of this bomb changed the way scientists, as well as the rest of the world, looked at nuclear energy. It also help in bringing along one of the biggest arms races in history, the cold war. So why was this atomic bomb produced? It all started with the discovery of nuclear fission by German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in 1938. This is what made the idea of creating an atomic bomb a very possible theory. The Manhattan project was created in 1942 “During its four years of existence the Manhattan Project mobilized over 120,000 people—including most of the United States' physicists, chemists, engineers, doctors, and technicians, along with a small group of outstanding German/Austrian refugee scientists—into 37 top-secret installations.” (Avery, 383) This made the Manhattan project as big as the auto industry at the time. Basically, the creation of the atomic bomb was inspired by the fear that Germany would make one first, which is what they were on track of doing. On August 6, 1946, a Boeing B-29 Bomber named the Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, and dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan. “Little Boy” exploded 2,000 feet above Hiroshima in a blast equal to 15 kilotons of TNT,...
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...build an atomic bomb, Americans began to concentrate on their research about creating an atomic bomb. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Manhattan Project, which included a group of top scientists, under General Leslie R. Groves, who worked around the clock to try to develop an atomic bomb within three years. The Americans and the British combined their efforts to research the development of the bomb and created plants and factories to work in. They created plants for three separate processes: electromagnetic, gaseous diffusion, and thermal diffusion. These plants helped create the plutonium and uranium 235 needed to manufacture the atomic bomb. The secrecy of the Manhattan Project was essential in order to develop the atomic bombs to end World War II. The United States and Great Britain kept the development of the atomic bomb a secret. In order to keep the secret, Groves spread the work out between laboratories so that the people working on the bomb could not figure out they were manufacturing. The members of the Manhattan Project asked the scientists questions about the bomb, and they gave answers back, but they did not know what the responses were for. The project consisted of so many restrictions for the employees in order to keep the secrecy of the project. They could not hold private conversations about the material they were working on because after awhile, people might have been able to put it together and determine that they were creating a bomb. Employees...
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...scientific importance of the discovery of the atomic bomb. Immediately after the droppings of the atomic bombs on Japan until the present day, there were many debates on whether the Manhattan Project was justified or if nuclear weapons are even ethical. Seeing the destruction of the “Little Man” and “Fat Boy” bombs in the moment arose great fear and discontent. However, looking at the Manhattan Project in retrospect shows that the advantages gained through the years greatly outweigh the consequences of the nuclear weapons. The Manhattan Project was a pivotal endeavor in America’s history...
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...all started when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and the United States entered into World War II. When the United States realized that Germany attempted to build an atomic bomb, Americans began to concentrate on their research about creating an atomic bomb more heavily. President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Manhattan Project, which included a group of top scientists, under General Leslie R. Groves, who worked around the clock to try to develop an atomic bomb within three years (Bondi 493). The Americans and the British combined their efforts to research the development of the bomb and created plants and factories to work in (“The Atomic Bomb…” 257). They created plants for three separate processes: electromagnetic, gaseous diffusion, and thermal diffusion. These plants helped create the plutonium and uranium 235 needed to manufacture the atomic bomb (Gerdes 142). The secrecy of the Manhattan Project was essential in order to develop the atomic bombs to end World War II. The United States and Great Britain kept the development of the atomic bomb a secret (Bondi 493). In order to keep the secret, Groves spread the work out between laboratories so that the people working on the bomb could not figure out they were manufacturing. The members of the Manhattan Project asked the scientists questions about the bomb, and they gave answers back, but they did not know what the responses were for. The project consisted of so many restrictions for the employees in order to keep the secrecy...
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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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...weaponry has allowed soldiers to become more “efficient” when fighting a battle allowing them to kill many more enemy combatants and innocent bystanders. The most devastating of these newly created weapons are nuclear weapons such as the atomic and hydrogen bombs. These weapons have the capacity to eliminate hundreds of thousands of people, obliterate cities, and possibly end life on earth, as we know it. The most destructive of these weapons was tested by the Soviets in 1961 during the Cold War. The hydrogen bomb that was being tested had a destructive power of approximately 60 megatons. The Soviets formally named the bomb Ivan, but nicknamed it the “King of Bombs.” Originally, Ivan was going to be constructed with a power of 100 megatons, but the Soviets decided it was too risky and dangerous. To put this in perspective, a single megaton can create temperatures that are five times as intense as the center of the sun. These weapons essentially contain enough power to devastate if not completely destroy our planet. Due to the potential dangers and stigma of using nuclear weapons, they have fortunately been used only a handful of times. A bomb as powerful as Ivan has not been built since let alone used in actual warfare. In fact, only two atomic bombs have ever been used in combat....
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...The United States continued using the Manhattan Project’s factories. “In postwar years, many Manhattan Project facilities became integral components of America’s nuclear weapons production complex.” (Reed, 5-11). If the United States wanted to be successful in the development of nuclear weapons, uranium is essential. “There has been a long-standing belief among policymakers in the United States that with the success of the Manhattan Project came a hegemony in the field of atomic weapons, especially with respect to uranium enrichment.” (Kemp, 298). The United States were worried that the Russians would soon catch up to their nuclear arsenal, so they needed to continue their development. However, the United States following the Second World...
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...shaped the development of atomic energy. Was the nuclear arms race a product of Cold War tension rather than its cause? The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War The nuclear age began before the Cold War. During World War II, three countries decided to build the atomic bomb: Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Britain put its own work aside and joined the Manhattan Project as a junior partner in 1943. The Soviet effort was small before August 1945. The British and American projects were driven by the fear of a German atomic bomb, but Germany decided in 1942 not to make a serious effort to build the bomb. In an extraordinary display of scientific and industrial might, the United States made two bombs ready for use by August 1945. Germany was defeated by then, but President Truman decided to use the bomb against Japan. The decision to use the atomic bomb has been a matter of intense controversy. Did Truman decide to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order, as he claimed, to end the war with Japan without further loss of American lives? Or did he drop the bombs in order to intimidate the Soviet Union, without really needing them to bring the war to an 2 end? His primary purpose was surely to force Japan to surrender, but he also believed that the bomb would help him in his dealings with Stalin. That latter consideration was secondary, but it confirmed his decision. 1 Whatever Truman’s motives, Stalin regarded the use of the bomb as an anti-Soviet move, designed...
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...Unit 1: The Seeds of Conflict, 1917-1944 The differences between capitalism and communism Capitalism advocated private enterprise, land owned by individuals with minimum government interference. Liberal democracy was a political system where each person has freedom to vote, to elect, of speech and of worship. Communism advocated state-owned property, an economy where all industries and agriculture were owned by the government on behalf of the people. A one-party state was a political system with one political party to represent the people. In the USSR, all political parties other than the Communist Party were banned and elections were contested between individuals of this party. The tensions that existed between the USSR and the USA in the 1920s and 30s Communism was viewed as an unstable force that threatened social and political order and Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution, was to represent this. Allied countries Britain, France, USA and Japan had sent help to Bolshevik enemies during the Civil War therefore there were some hostile feelings towards them even after the war. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918) was a result of Russia withdrawing from the war, leading to a feeling of betrayal amongst the allies who were left to fight Germany alone. Communist groups in Spain and France grew in strength in the 1930s in response to the hardships of the Great Depression which placed strains on the USA. Britain’s appeasement policy towards Germany under Hitler’s...
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...Canadian International Council Strengthening the Non-Proliferation Regime: The Role of Coercive Sanctions Author(s): T. V. Paul Source: International Journal, Vol. 51, No. 3, Nuclear Politics (Summer, 1996), pp. 440-465 Published by: Canadian International Council Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40203123 Accessed: 30/11/2010 19:58 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=cic. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. Canadian International Councilis collaborating...
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