President Harry S. Truman's Moral Dilemmas
Truman’s Dilemma
The decision to use the atom bomb posed several significant moral dilemmas for President Harry S. Truman, among these were attacking without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, to shorten the agony of the war, and to end the war all together.
“Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack severely damaged the American fleet and prevented, at least for the short term, serious American interference with Japanese military operations. In response, the United States declared war on Japan” (World War II in the Pacific.). The attack was not expected and involved the United States to …show more content…
I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared.... I was shocked by the sight.... Of course I saw many dreadful scenes after that — but that experience, looking down and finding nothing left of Hiroshima — was so shocking that I simply can't express what I felt.... Hiroshima didn't exist — that was mainly what I saw — Hiroshima just didn't exist.”
Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the atomic fallout” (Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb).
The Japanese kept American prisoners. “There were more than 140,000 white prisoners in Japanese prisoner of war camps. Of these, one in three died from starvation, work, punishments or from diseases for which there were no medicines to treat” …show more content…
Even though they did not know what they were saying the Japanese punished them because they would not follow the instructions given to them. There were seven different war camps in Japan but there were also other camps in Taiwan and Singapore. Not only did they capture soldiers they also had gotten people that did not have the chance to leave the east. If one of the prisoners tried to escape they would capture them and later execute them in front of the others and often also executed ten more prisoners. Very few guards new English and some prisoners were forced to learn how to speak Japanese. "The majority of prisoners were put to work in mines, fields, shipyards and factories on a diet of about 600 calories a day. Harry Carver comments “..I was – a white slave. I worked 12 hours a day on a diet of soya beans and seaweed.” Prisoners were rarely given fat in their diet and all were continuously hungry. The majority survived on barley, green stew, meat or fish once a month and seaweed stew. Red Cross parcels were not distributed to the prisoners.Those that suffered the worst conditions and hardship while Japanese prisoners of war, were those that were sent to build the Burma-Thailand railway. Prisoners of war and Asian labourors worked side by side to build the 260 mile railroad by hand. They were expected to work from dawn to dusk, ten days
The decision to use the atom bomb posed several significant moral dilemmas for President Harry S. Truman, among these were attacking without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who have starved and beaten and executed American prisoners of war, to shorten the agony of the war, and to end the war all together.
“Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack severely damaged the American fleet and prevented, at least for the short term, serious American interference with Japanese military operations. In response, the United States declared war on Japan” (World War II in the Pacific.). The attack was not expected and involved the United States to …show more content…
I saw that Hiroshima had disappeared.... I was shocked by the sight.... Of course I saw many dreadful scenes after that — but that experience, looking down and finding nothing left of Hiroshima — was so shocking that I simply can't express what I felt.... Hiroshima didn't exist — that was mainly what I saw — Hiroshima just didn't exist.”
Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the atomic fallout” (Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb).
The Japanese kept American prisoners. “There were more than 140,000 white prisoners in Japanese prisoner of war camps. Of these, one in three died from starvation, work, punishments or from diseases for which there were no medicines to treat” …show more content…
Even though they did not know what they were saying the Japanese punished them because they would not follow the instructions given to them. There were seven different war camps in Japan but there were also other camps in Taiwan and Singapore. Not only did they capture soldiers they also had gotten people that did not have the chance to leave the east. If one of the prisoners tried to escape they would capture them and later execute them in front of the others and often also executed ten more prisoners. Very few guards new English and some prisoners were forced to learn how to speak Japanese. "The majority of prisoners were put to work in mines, fields, shipyards and factories on a diet of about 600 calories a day. Harry Carver comments “..I was – a white slave. I worked 12 hours a day on a diet of soya beans and seaweed.” Prisoners were rarely given fat in their diet and all were continuously hungry. The majority survived on barley, green stew, meat or fish once a month and seaweed stew. Red Cross parcels were not distributed to the prisoners.Those that suffered the worst conditions and hardship while Japanese prisoners of war, were those that were sent to build the Burma-Thailand railway. Prisoners of war and Asian labourors worked side by side to build the 260 mile railroad by hand. They were expected to work from dawn to dusk, ten days