...Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb Ronald Takaki Back Bay Books September 1, 1996 Joseph Marty Professor J. Cosco U.S. History Since 1865 November 27, 2011 Throughout the recent years of history, there has been an intense debate justifying the use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima as well as Nagasaki a few days after, but many others argue that it was unjust to use such a weapon of massive catastrophe on an almost defeated nation at the time during the end of World War II: Japan. Ronald Takaki, author of the book Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb was an avid writer in the terms of Asian-America equality and morals based on his own experiences. In this book, he gave many thorough details explaining plausible reasons as to why Truman decided to launch the devastating attack on an already weak Japan. Takaki has used many sources including military reports, personal letters, and self recordings to further expand on this debate based approximately on facts more than moral opinions. When America had already won the war in Europe, there was still one more target left deemed as a threat to society according to the government. That target was Japan. The commander of the Pacific forces at the time was General Douglas Macarthur and he was never consulted about the use of the atomic bomb. Macarthur was only notified two days before the official use of the atomic bomb. The general was very depressed to hear about the use of the bomb because he...
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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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...Hiroshima and Nagasaki Takesha McCaleb Mr. Spitler Was the Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary to end the war? As I did my research on this topic I found out that some found it necessary while others didn’t. During the course of this research paper I will be discussing why the atomic bomb was dropped. The effects right after the bomb was dropped for the Japanese and Americans also the after effects such as genetic effects. I will also touch on how Americans feel about the bomb more than fifty years later and what lessons were learned throughout all of this. Hiroshima was founded in 1589, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, and became a major urban centre during the Meiji period. The city is located on the broad, flat delta of the Ota River, which has 7 channel outlets dividing the city into six islands which project into Hiroshima Bay. The city is almost entirely flat and only slightly above sea level; to the northwest and northeast of the city, some hills rise to 700 feet. Hiroshima was founded by Mori Motonari as his capital. About a half century later, after the Battle of Sekigahara, his grandson and the leader of the West Army Mori Terumoto lost the battle. Finally Asano was appointed the daimyo of this area and Hiroshima served as the capital of Hiroshima Han during the Edo period. After the Han was abolished the city became the capital of Hiroshima prefecture. During the First Sino-Japanese War, Hiroshima emerged as a major supply and...
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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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...Was America right to drop the bomb on Japan? In some ways yes, America was right to drop the bomb on Japan because it was a quick way to end the war and was an easy way to stop the conflict between the countries. On the other hand the Japanese still didn't back down immediately after America’s air force dropped the bomb. The fact that Japan didn’t still back down immediately could be argued as America was insisting that they surrender; this would mean that they had to give up their emperor. This kept Japan fighting for longer, if America didn’t insist that Japan should surrender Japan would of fought for less time and this could of avoided a lot of conflict between the countries. Also, in a way it was sort of helpful for Japan that America dropped the bomb as it avoided Japan becoming communists by Russia, but this point could be argued on why America’s air force didn’t drop an Atomic bomb as well on Russia to avoid Japan becoming communist. The fact that America dropped the bomb on Japan could be seen as beneficial for Japan as from when America dropped the bomb Japan has been re- born and developed; Japan has now developed as one of the largest countries in the world for manufacturing. In other ways no, America was not right to drop on Japan because the effects of the Atomic bomb were far worse than the bomb Japan dropped 4 years before. The effects of the atomic bomb would have been unfortunate for the innocent Japanese victims involved in it, America could argue this...
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...Monday, August 6, 1945, at 8:15 AM, the nuclear bomb 'Little Boy' was dropped on Hiroshima by an American B-29 bomber. The decision to do so has become one of the most controversial topics in scholarly debate. The two major arguments among historians, such as Herbert Feis, Barton Bernstein and Martin Sherwin, are that on the one hand, the atomic bomb was dropped to end the war with Japan and on the other, that the bomb was dropped by the Truman administration to make the Soviet Union more manageable. I am in more agreement with the latter and this essay will argue that the decision to drop the atomic bomb was an American attempt to inhibit Soviet diplomatic ambitions rather than an attempt to bring the war to a quick end. The American decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was without doubt influenced by the desire to end the war since that is what it accomplished. Truman assured after the bombs had been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that “the dropping of the bombs stopped the war and saved millions of lives.”[1] The dropping of the atomic bombs prevented an American invasion on Japan, the approximate cost for this exceeded $500,000 and more than a million lives would have been lost. Herbert Feis argued that many in the Truman administration believed that a land invasion of Japan would not have been sufficient enough to cause Japan to surrender quickly and unconditionally and thus Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb was a quick solution to ending the war with Japan...
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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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...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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...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 several...
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...When people hear the words “atomic bomb”, the first thing that most likely comes to mind is the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the United States. This was a crucial part of World War Two, as this was the breaking point for Japan. There is much discussion about if Japan should have surrendered right after the bombings, or if discussing it and surrendering a few weeks later as they did was the best plan. As there is much discussion about this aspect of the bombings, there is also much discussion about if the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary for Japan to surrender. There is evidence to prove that the Japanese government believed that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was necessary for Japan’s quick surrender, however, Japanese citizens and the United States believed it was unnecessary. Once the war had finally come to an...
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...In the year are 1945, America dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. As the years and decades have passed, the controversy has only grown. Millions of people both American and foreigners have questioned America’s choice and have even condemned both America and President Truman for making a decision that killed tens of thousand. Many claim that the use of the Bomb was mainly to scare Russia and to get ahead on the already developing Cold War. However, I believe that the dropping of the atomic bomb was the course of action that would have caused the least amount of bloodshed for both the Allies and the Japanese. There are several arguments that justify the dropping of the atomic bomb. For example, the bomb ironically saved Japanese lives. Casualty...
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...August 6, 1945, the United States of America made history by dropping the world’s first atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima (Truman, Reilly, 992). To this day this is only one of two incidents in history where an A-bomb has been used. The other was three days later by the United States on the city of Nagasaki, also located in Japan. This event was a very controversial act by the United States and shocked those around the world, but President Truman made sure to let all of the people of America know what they were doing when it came to atomic energy. It is very important to understand the effects of the A-bomb, and it is described in a recollection from Akihiro Takahashi. Therefore, informing people of the shocking incidents in...
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...I’ve heard you ordered the use of the atomic bombs against Japan. After you’ve found out the Manhattan project had been successful, I know you had to make a decision to move forward with it or not. At first you and the Allies put out a demand for an immediate unconditional surrender, but Japan had refused. So since Japan had refused, you made a hard decision to drop the atomic bomb and put an end to the long four years of war with Japan. I understand why you strongly want to drop the bomb; however, for my sincere advice to you, I strongly suggest you don’t. Dropping to atomic bomb on Japan can lead to many disadvantages. For instance, when other countries realize that America had help this type of power, they will began the race to develop their own. Thousands of innocent Japanese people will die from the impact of this bomb and millions more will be affected by the residual radiation. Japan will be close to surrender anyways, and dropping the bomb will definitely insult in a major way. Most of all, it will forever create a great amount of animosity and anger between the two nations, that will exist for many years to come. Overall, the way you are using the atomic bomb is not justified because along with many others, we believe such...
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...The Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki The World War II had been going on for over two years and the U.S. was staying in isolationism. But on December 7, 1941 Japan launched an attack on Pearl Harbor. After this The United States declared war on Japan. On August 6, 1945, little boy, the first atomic bomb ever used in war was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. This resulted in 70,000-80,000 people died immediately and another 70,000 were injured. Hiroshima at the time was very large with roughly 350.000 people living there. It was chosen because it had industrial and military significance. Three days later it was followed by Fatman, the second and last atomic bomb used in war, which was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. This resulted in over 40,000-75,000 immediately dying. Originally Fatman was to be dropped on the city of Kokura, but because of the weather they decided to bomb their secondary target Nagasaki. Nagasaki was important because it was one of the largest seaports in Japan and the large industrial activities including producing military equipment.Many things led up to the bombing of these two great Japanese cities. The first event leading up to the bombing is World War II and Japans involvement in bringing the US out of isolationism. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the US was already furious with Japan and wanted revenge. Another thing leading up to this event was Manhattan Project. This was started in 1939 when the U.S., feared that the Germans...
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...Deepali Shinde Professor Kalra Academic Writing 101 19th September 2015. Was United Nations justified in dropping atomic bombs on Japan? World War II also known as The Second World War was a global war that was fought from 1939 to 1945 in Europe and Asia. The Second World War was debatably the most consequential period of the 20th century. World War II led to vital advancements in technology and set the base for post war social changes, that includes the end of colonialism by the Europeans, the civil rights movement in the United States., and the American Women’s Rights Movement in 1950s, in addition to the initiatives for research and exploration of outer space. The prime fighters were the Allied Nations that included Britain (leading combatant) and its Commonwealth nations, USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and America. The other combatants were the Axis nations that consisted of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan and their allies. The war was won by the Allied forces. One significant consequence of the Second World War was the Cold War between the two superpowers of the world, that is, United States of America and the Soviet Union (USSR). Japan is an island country located in East Asia in the Pacific Ocean. Japan is a leading country when it comes to technological establishments but lacks natural resources, particularly in iron and oil. After the World War I the fascist governments increased their expenditure on military supplies and training. This...
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