US Involvement In World War II

Honors U.S History The beginning of the 1900s marked the start of the Second World War Although the U.S did not want to become involved in this war, it eventually joined after the Japanese attacked U.S forces in Pearl Harbor. By dropping two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and declaring war on Germany, the U.S had officially entered the war. Reasons why the U.S dropped these atomic bombs were and still are the subject of much controversy. After the first atomic bomb detonation in 1945 taking place in New Mexico, speculations arose disputing whether or not the implementing of these bombs was necessary to attain the surrender of the Japanese. The U.S claimed that the reason it dropped the bombs was to end
One is because before the atomic bombs, Japan had already been devastated and was close to surrendering anyway. This was because more than 60 of its cities were already devastated as a result of the conventional bombing. Also, the U.S was blocking the Japanese Home Islands with the American Embargo, cutting of trade and resources. In addition, the Soviets had already started attacking Japanese troops in the city of Manchuria. With these factors in mind, it was obvious that the Japanese were in no position to continue fighting. One possible reason the Japanese delayed surrender was because of honor. The Japanese people and government were very dignified group and wanted to go down fighting rather than to give up. But in their predicament, they would have had to give up eventually because they were losing both will and ability to maintain their position in the war. Many Americans also believed that the detonation of the bombs was pointless and avoidable as well as cruel and harsh. General Dwight Eisenhower proclaimed “I told him (President Truman) that since reports indicated the imminence of Japan’s collapse, I deprecated the Red Army’s engaging in that war. They believed that it was completely uncalled for to annihilate so many lives and they urged Truman and other government officials to not detonate them. Even some of the scientists that helped create the bombs believed this; “Those who advocate a purely technical demonstration would wish to outlaw the use of atomic weapons, and have feared that if we use the weapons now our position in future negotiations will be prejudiced.” It is clear that even within the U.S system, people were uncomfortable with the dropping of the