Arguments For Dropping The Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Arguments For Dropping
The Atomic Bomb on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Arguments For the Use of the Atomic Bomb
Advisors to United States President Harry Truman
estimated the use of the weapon of mass destruction
would prevent the loss of half a million American
lives.
After Okinawa, Japan would be the next stop for the Allied forces.
If an invasion of the Japanese homeland was to be their plan of
action to ending the war in the Pacific Theater, inferences could
be made to support against it.
The Japanese would fight
desperately to defend
themselves.
An invasion of this scale and magnitude
would result in heavy casualties of half a
million lives.
Most of his advisors also felt that the quickest
possible to the war could be achieved through
the use of the atomic bomb.
The Japanese were standing on their last leg
before the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
They wanted to halt the Allied advance by
destroying the entire American fleet, therefore
preventing the Allies from resupplying their ground
troops
The plan required risking the entire Japanese
fleet. They took the gamble and lost disastrously
eliminating their fleet as a fighting force in the
war.
Despite Japan's enormous disadvantage,
Truman knew they would fight to the last man,
forcing the Allies to continue sacrificing their
people.
Truman wished to see the Pacfic Theater come to a close
come as soon as possible. He infered that a massive,
sudden attack to the Japanese homeland would bring their
surrender.
He stated the atomic bomb had to
be used to shorten the agony of the
war.
The Japanese have been unrelenting and
incredibly cruel through the course of World
War II.
They have starved, beaten, and
executed American prisoners of
war.
They attacked the United States without warning at
Pearl Harbor, killing thousands of Americans and
dragging them out of isolation and into global
conflict.
They had abandoned all pretense
of obeying international laws of
warfare.
Japan failed to comply with
President Trumans warning.
After the bombs first test explosion near Alamogordo, New
Mexico, President Truman told the Japanese that, unless they
surrendered immediately, they could expect a "rain of ruin from
the air".
Due to their failure to respond to the warning, it can be inferred
that either the Japanese weren't afraid of the attack, believed
the United States was blufing, or were preparing for a
counterattack.
Arguments Against the Use of the Atomic Bomb
It isn't morally right/ Killed more
civilians than necessary.
The killing of thousands of innocent men, women, and
children whos deaths won't aid the struggle of the
Allied powers to end the war goes against any moral
decision.
Even though President Truman stated that the atomic bomb was
dropped on Hiroshima (a military base) to avoid the killing of
civilians, the 80,000+ deaths that resulted were almost all
civilians.
These victims represented no
threat tot he United States.
If the United States decided against the use of the atomic
bomb, then the resulted deaths from an invasion of the
Japanese homeland would be those directly invloved in the
war
American leaders knew that Japan would have
surrendered even if the atomic bomb had not
been dropped.
Japan's code was broken and
Japan's messages were being
intercepted.
It was known the Japanese had instructed their
ambassador in Moscow to work on peace
negotiations with the Allies.
Japanese leaders began talking of
surrender a year before the atomic bomb
was dropped.
In June 1945, the Emperor himself had begun to
suggest that alternatives to fighting to the end be
considered.
Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo:
"Unconditional surrender is the only obstacle
to peace..."
The bombs use sparked a
diplomatic war with Russia.
The Russians had secretly agreed they would
come into the war 90 days after the end of the
European war.
Turned out to be on May 8th, so on August 8th, the Russians
should've declared war on Japan. However, the atomic bomb
had been dropped on Hiroshima, followed by Nagasaki the next
day.
The Japanese surrendered to the United States,
no to Russia. The United States would take part
on the occupation of postwar Japan.
The United States tried to spread their
sphere of influence on Japan before
Russia.
Because of the atomic bomb, we beat the Russians
to it. This resulted in tension between the two
countries and ultimately lead to the outbreak of the
Cold War.
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