Most Americans were in favor of ending the war easily, effectively, and with minimal cost (in lives, money, economic growth, etc.). Thus, the atomic bomb satisfied these objectives. “We [the USA] have used it to shorten the agony of young Americans.” This was a quote from Harry Truman, the president at the time of the bombing. He thought that by creating and using the bomb the agony of Americans in the military, and other Americans would be shortened if the war ended. Another reason for the quick end of the war using the atomic bomb was to minimize the Soviets influence on the region. “The soviets could gain a large foothold of the region.” The Soviets were beginning to influence Japan, and could have caused the soviets to cause an imbalance in the region, so the US decided that using the bomb would end the war before the Soviets had the chance to conquer.
Other Americans believed that using the atomic bomb was a barbaric tactic and shouldn’t have been used. Despite the previous argument there are many reasons to oppose the use of the atomic bomb. “95% of the people who were killed were Japanese civilians”. The US was mostly concerned about the lives of US military personnel while 95% of Japanese civilians were killed. By killing civilians it becomes more of a barbaric tactic and less of a military issue. Even though many lives were lost they may have been lost for unnecessary reasons. “The Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing”. Dwight Eisenhower even agreed that the atomic bomb was an “awful thing”, and Japan was going to surrender anyway, so the bomb was an unnecessary act.
The atomic bomb was a controversial issue with each side having credibility. People who argued for the use of the bomb argue in total fewer lives were lost, and the soviets couldn’t influence the region. People against the use of the bomb argue many Japanese civilian lives were unnecessarily lost. Though there are many trade offs think about how many human lives were lost.
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