USA atomic bombing on Himoshita

Understanding the Decision to Drop the Bomb on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki http://csis.org/blog/understanding­decision­drop­bomb­hiroshima­and­nagasaki Why is the source reliable and useful?
This source is provided by CSIS ­­­­ Center for Strategic and International Studies. It is a prominent American think tank based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. The center conducts policy studies and strategic analyses of political, economic and security issues throughout the world. So the article provided by them is professional and dependable which can provide a deep and comprehensive understanding and analysis of this historic event. th
In addition, the source was written in 2012 which marked the 67 anniversary of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is different from those analyses which were written years ago or right after the bombing. This indicates that after decades of the atomic bombing, the author can analyse the whole thing based on abundant research and investigation conducted throughout the 67 years from a new and long­term point of view. The source states quite objective analysis instead of subjective or extreme opinions, it mainly focuses on explaining the complexity of the situation at that time. The source analyzes several general reasons why the USA dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki including ending the war at the earliest possible moment, to justify the cost of Manhattan
Project, to impress the Soviets, a lack of incentives not to use the bomb and responding to the
Pearl Harbour. The source also lists out several alternatives instead of the atomic bomb and its possible effects, it also points out additional considerations when the government decided to drop the bomb which is rare in other sources. Source Analysis
The source made an argument that the USA made the final decision to release the atomic bomb for various reasons and the bombing indeed ended the war quickly and efficiently while saved more lives instead of sacrificing more casualties. The source analysed the reasons President Truman decided to bomb Japan with an atomic bomb which can support its argument. One of the reasons he did so was that he wanted to end the war at the earliest possible moment at the lowest possible cost. He focused on looking for the most effective way to end the war quickly. So as we can see, the main purpose of dropping the atomic bomb is to end the war quickly and reduce casualties so of course the decision was considered as the best method the government can take to achieve that point. This supports the argument that the atomic bomb dropping ended the war in a efficient way and reduced casualties. The Manhattan Project cost about $1,889,604,000 which made it a pity not to reveal its power and it exactly met the need to end war in a efficient and quick way. From this we can

also see that a weapon was designed to be use instead of being a symbol of high technology, the unknown power and the temptation of showing­off made the atomic bomb the first choice without any doubts for the government to end the war quickly. The article mentioned though it was quite obvious that Japan was losing the war at that time, but it showed little inclination to surrender but a strong determination to fight to death.
The most important task at that time was to find out the most effective way to end the war as quickly as possible. So we can tell the atomic bomb was selected because it was definitely the most deadly weapon without any doubt that could distinguish the idea to fight within the
Japanese and it could also justify the cost of Manhattan Project and impress the Soviet Union.
Japan finally surrendered six days after the bombing which proved the atomic bomb’s effect on ending the war quickly which could prove the effect of the atomic bomb in ending the war quickly. Also from the above evidence, the earlier the war ended, the less casualties there would be, so the atomic bomb ended the war more quickly so it also reduced the number of injuries and deaths caused by battles and brought happiness to more families who were suffering a longing heart to their sons and daughters. Another evidence mentioned in the source is that, before the atomic bomb, the US was engaged in a massive war with the Japanese. As the summer of 1945 began, the US military campaign continued to involve numerous aerial raids as well as large scale invasion on
Japanese islands which cost 315,922 deaths of Japanese, and the number was greater than the estimated deaths attributed to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If the atomic bomb was unavailable at that time, the USA would even plan another large scale invasion of Japan codenamed Operation Downfall for the fall of 1945 which is hoped to overwhelm the Japanese and end the war. This evidence showed the atomic bomb indeed saved many lives both of Japanese and Americans. In my points of view, Both American and Japanese soldiers were dying in those massive battles and the conventional aerial bombs were also killing many many peaceful Japanese civilians. Germany had surrendered but the Japanese were ready to fight to death no matter how many people had died. The longer the war lasted, the more people both from Japan and
America were killed. So it was clear that it was necessary for President Truman to find out a way to end the war as quickly as possible to stop increasing the number of casualties with the minimum cost and there came the atomic bomb which was powerful and destructive enough to threaten Japan to surrender. Many people argue that the atomic bomb was not necessary and the source mentioned several alternatives that the USA could choose instead of using the atomic bomb, the alternatives include intensifying conventional bombing and the naval blockade, allowing the
Japanese to retain the Emperor and waiting for the Soviet Union to enter the war. But no one would ever know whether one of these alternatives could act as the same effect as the atomic bomb to end the war quickly meanwhile save more civilians.

The situation was complex, but history has proved that the atomic bomb did its role quite well in ending the war quickly because Japan surrendered 6 days after the bombing and it marked the end of the second World War.

Statement by the President Announcing the Use of the
A­Bomb at Hiroshima http://trumanlibrary.org/publicpapers/index.php?pid=100&st=atomic&st1=bomb Why is the source reliable and useful? This source is the official statement to the world from the white house after they dropped the atomic bomb. The statement was drafted several days before the atomic bombing for the
President Harry S.Truman’s announcement about the atomic bomb on August 6, 1945. The source is reliable because it was the official statement and it was one of the most original sources to study the case of the USA’s atomic bombing on Hiroshima in 1945. The source was provided by Truman Library where contains many original archives about President
Truman and the statement was a photo of the original copy, hence the source was reliable. Among many thesis on the Internet which talk about the USA’s atomic bombing on
Hiroshima in 1945, this source stood for the opinion of the USA’s government at that time which was official and made it more directly to study the USA’s government’s points of view of the bombing and why they did that. The other thesis and analyses contain personal opinion on the case of USA’s atomic bombing on Hiroshima less or more which make this source unique. The source not only explained the reason why the government dropped the atomic bomb, it also described how the atomic technology developed in the USA and what the cost was. We can also read about the USA’s opinion on Japan and what they wanted to say hid among the words which made the source very useful. Hence, the source is reliable and useful to be used to do further analysis on the case of the USA’s atomic bombing on Hiroshima. Source Analysis The statement at first stated that an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima and described briefly how powerful the bomb was. It compared the atomic bomb with the
British ‘Grand Slam’ and claimed the atomic bomb was about 2,000 times more powerful than the latter one. Then the statement criticized Japan for its attack on Pearl Harbour and pointed out the end was not yet. The Japanese started the war so they should receive what they gave out and the war must be ended. As we can see from here, they wrote this in their statement because they wanted to justify their action to bomb the Hiroshima in spite of the sacrifice of so many peaceful

Japanese civilians. They wanted to show that they did this because Japan was their rival in the Pacific War and it was the Japanese who started the war, they wanted the world think that
Japanese was the one who deserved the a mass­killing weapon like the atomic bomb, and what they did was only to defeat them for revenge and protection, they did this only to end the war and bring the world the peace. Then, they mentioned this weapon increased the destruction ability of their armed force and they were producing more bombs like this and making them more powerful. It said, ‘It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against who brought who brought war to the Far
East.’ These similar sentences were repeated throughout the passage, the USA government kept emphasizing the powerfulness of the atomic bombing and the evilness of Japan. It kept threatening Japan if they refused to surrender, what they would get was more than one atomic bombing but more deaths and more destruction of the whole country. As we can tell from this, the determination of the USA’s government to destroy Japan’s inclination to fight till death and only accept unconditional surrender was very clear. As the statement said, ‘We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan's power to make war.’ The USA’s government was suppressing the Japanese government, they wanted to threaten Japan that if they did not surrender more civilians would be killed and more land in
Japan would be bombed. They also informed Japan and let it realize the situation at that time, that was Japan had already lost the war, it was not opponent to the USA’s government any more and surrender was the only way they could do. Another strategy of the USA’s government was it also stated that they dropped the atomic bomb also for peaceful Japanese civilian’s good, the statement criticized the leaders of Japan for their rejection of the ultimatum which could trigger the Japanese civilians’ anger towards the Japanese government and enhance the pressure the government faced. It also said they would not only use atomic bombs but also more sea and land forces which was likely to take over the whole country and make them surrender. The tone was very demanding and it showed the USA’s government wanted to suppress the Japan government not only by threatening them of using more forces but also by criticizing them of leaving their Japanese civilians in danger and even sacrificing their lives.
They wanted to justify their use of atomic bomb for they wanted Japan to surrender and end the war as quickly as possible to save more Japanese civilians’ lives. From all the evidences above, we can see the USA’s government wanted to end the war quickly, the eagerness to have the Japan’s unconditional surrender was obvious. The USA’s government wanted to end the war to save cost and casualties. Germany had already

surrendered, the USA government really wanted to end the war and was afraid and troubled by the inclination of the Japanese government to fight till death which meant more deaths and cost would appear. So they dropped the atomic bomb to threaten Japan and kept suppressing
Japan and emphasizing the ability of the atomic bomb so that they could end the war quickly.
Hence the USA’s government dropped the bomb to end the war in a quick and efficient way which means less cost and less casualties not only from the United States but also include
Japanese soldiers and civilians’ lives.