Truman Should Not Have Dropped the Atomic Bombs Essay Example
Should President Truman have used the Atomic Bombs?
World War Two remains to be the deadliest conflict in world history. The United States is arguably the biggest world power to have participated in it; it transformed from a nation of isolationists to one that dictated the results of a world war. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, President Truman decided to drop atomic bombs on two cities in Japan. Since then, his decision has been hotly debated. Some historians justify the dropping of the bombs by claiming that they saved thousands of lives and brought the war to an end. However, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was an unnecessary display of power. The decision was both unjustifiable and immoral. Japanese officials and Emperor Hirohito were already prepared to surrender. It also unintentionally instigated a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.
Both Fat Man and Little Boy, the bombs developed by American scientists, were dropped unnecessarily because Japan was already a defeated nation by June 1945. The country had no troops and the once glorious Imperial navy and air force were all but destroyed. The American strategy of “island hopping” had ended any maritime battles after the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. Three hundred American bombers had bombed Tokyo in March of 1945, killing about a 100,000 people and 60 other Japanese cities had been beaten. Then in May, 520 giant B-29 "Superfortress" bombers unleashed 4,500 tons of incendiary bombs on the same city (DBQ B). The capital city had been battered and Japan’s morale was at an all time low. President Truman’s chief of staff, William D. Healy, said that "The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender” (Alperovitz). The American intelligence program MAGIC had intercepted Japanese code from the homeland to the embassy in America and the Soviet Union; the Japanese had been speaking to the Russians for peace negotiations when they found that the United
World War Two remains to be the deadliest conflict in world history. The United States is arguably the biggest world power to have participated in it; it transformed from a nation of isolationists to one that dictated the results of a world war. After the defeat of Nazi Germany, President Truman decided to drop atomic bombs on two cities in Japan. Since then, his decision has been hotly debated. Some historians justify the dropping of the bombs by claiming that they saved thousands of lives and brought the war to an end. However, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 was an unnecessary display of power. The decision was both unjustifiable and immoral. Japanese officials and Emperor Hirohito were already prepared to surrender. It also unintentionally instigated a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union.
Both Fat Man and Little Boy, the bombs developed by American scientists, were dropped unnecessarily because Japan was already a defeated nation by June 1945. The country had no troops and the once glorious Imperial navy and air force were all but destroyed. The American strategy of “island hopping” had ended any maritime battles after the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. Three hundred American bombers had bombed Tokyo in March of 1945, killing about a 100,000 people and 60 other Japanese cities had been beaten. Then in May, 520 giant B-29 "Superfortress" bombers unleashed 4,500 tons of incendiary bombs on the same city (DBQ B). The capital city had been battered and Japan’s morale was at an all time low. President Truman’s chief of staff, William D. Healy, said that "The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender” (Alperovitz). The American intelligence program MAGIC had intercepted Japanese code from the homeland to the embassy in America and the Soviet Union; the Japanese had been speaking to the Russians for peace negotiations when they found that the United