The Atomic Bomb was Justified
The commonly accepted definition of an Atomic Bomb is a bomb that is powered by nuclear fission and thereafter produces a fast release of energy and superior destruction (Gode). The United States was the first country to use the Atomic Bomb. The first Atomic Bomb was dropped on august 6th 1945 on the Japanese city of Hiroshima (World War II: Timeline”). Another Atomic Bomb was dropped just three days later on August 9th 1945 on the Japanese city of Nagasaki (“The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II”). Each bomb had their own name, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was called “Little Boy” and the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was called “Fat Man” (Weber). The President at the time of the dropping of the Atomic Bomb was Harry S. Truman. Truman said in regard to the Atomic Bomb “Its seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful…” (Koeller). Truman knew that the atomic bomb was a necessary evil and many people of that era agreed with him in thinking that the Atomic Bomb was the answer to the end of the war. However some historians believe that the creation of the Atomic Bomb was the most terrible invention by man to date (Koeller). The dropping of the atomic bomb has been a controversial issue ever since the end of the Second World War. The dropping of the Atomic Bomb on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a necessary course of action for the United States, resulting in the end of War World II, thousands of saved American lives, and a powerful statement being made, both to Japan and the entire world, that America was going to stand strong against any act of terrorism.
The dropping of the Atomic Bombs were one of the main causes for the end of the Second World War. The dropping of “Little Boy” on Hiroshima and “Fat Man” on Nagasaki persuaded the Japanese government to sign the conditional surrender to the United States (Weber). The United States had been fighting against the Japanese forces in the Pacific islands for over three years and knew that the Japanese were not going to surrender easily (“World War II: Timeline”). The Japanese had demonstrated near-fanatical resistance, fighting to almost the last man on the Pacific islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan and unleashing kamikaze, also known as suicide fighters, attacks at Okinawa. Fire bombings form the United States had killed 100,000 in Tokyo with no discernible political effect (“Seattle Times Trinity”). So the United States realized that only the atomic bomb could jolt Japan's leadership to surrender. For the many young Americans who were fighting the Japanese in such bitter combat, their attitude was “Thank God for the Atomic Bomb.”
However, there are many people who say that the Second World War would have ended without the use of the Atomic Bomb. For example months before the end of the war, many Japanese leaders recognized that their defeat was inevitable, and by April of 1945 a new government began with the mission of ending the war very soon (Weber). Also, many American officials knew from intercepted messages from the leaders of Japan that Japan were seeking to end the war on favorable terms. Lastly, Japan had already been defeated militarily by June of 1945, and almost nothing was left of the once mighty Japanese navy and air force (Koeller).
Although, it seems the Japanese were ready to surrender and end the war they were not ready to agree to the unconditional surrender. The Japanese would not agree to a complete surrender of all Japanese forces and arms, at home, on island possessions, and in occupied countries (Weber). Japanese would also not agree to relinquish all of the territory seized during the war, a regulation of Japanese industry to stop production of any weapons and other tools of war and release of all prisoners of war and surrender of designated war criminals (Weber). These were all necessary things that the Japanese needed to do for the war to end. However on September 2nd, 1945 almost a month after the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb, the Japanese leaders signed the conditional surrender while aboard the US battleship Missouri in the Tokyo Bay (Weber).
The dropping of the two atomic bombs, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved the lives of countless Americans. President Truman defended his decision to use the Atomic Bomb, claiming that it "saved millions of lives" by bringing the war to an end quickly (Weber). Justifying his decision, he went so far as to state that: "The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians" (Weber). An outstanding amount of American soldiers were killed during the many battles that occurred in the pacific islands. The dropping of the atomic bomb ended the Second World War, thus many American lives were saved because there no longer would be any fighting or blood shed between the Japanese and the Americans who were fighting in the war.
Despite the fact that many American lives were saved, the amount of deaths and casualties of the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that occurred were devastating. The explosion of “Little Boy” on Hiroshima alone destroyed more than four square miles of the city center, and about 90,000 people were killed immediately, 40,000 were injured and many died days later in agony because of the radiation from the bomb (Koeller). The second bomb, “Fat Man” on Nagasaki, killed over 30,000 people and injured over 40,000. The two bombs together killed an estimated 200,000 Japanese civilians (“The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II”). In one of Truman’s journals he asked himself, “My God, what have we done?” (Koeller). Also, the two cities were of limited military value and the majority of the people were civilians. Lastly, the devastation of the two Atomic Bombs was evident but the true damage would not be realized until many years later (Gode). For example, the radiation from the two Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki still effect the people and many people are dying today of rare cancers because of the amount of radiation that is still in those cities (Gode).
The devastation of the amount of deaths and casualties of the innocent civilians from Hiroshima and Nagasaki was horrendous. However, the two cities would have been fire bombed anyway, if they had not been bombed with the Atomic Bomb (“The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II”). Also, an invasion instead of dropping the Atomic Bombs would have caused possibly even more casualties and deaths than that of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for both the Americans and the Japanese (“Seattle Times Trinity”). Lastly, the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved the lives of countless Americans and at that time was more important to the American people.
The bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki could be seen as a vengeful act in response to the bombing on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 (“World War II: Timeline”). Also, the dropping of the Atomic Bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” made a statement to japan and to the rest of the world that the United States is a very powerful country, and that the United States will not stand for any act of terrorism against them(“The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II”). Lastly, the United States was standing up for itself first by declaring war on Japan and entering into the Second World War and then by dropping the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to protect many innocent Americans and to show the Japanese as well as the rest of the world that Pearl Harbor was not a necessary action (Weber).
However, some historians believe that the dropping of the Atomic bombs were wrong. The dropping of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki could also be seen as an act of terrorism against the Japanese. The bombing of Pearl Harbor and the bombings of the two cities in japan were all unjust; and two wrongs don’t make a right. Also, Pearl Harbor was a military base and the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not (Koeller). Instead of an actual Atomic bombing over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a demonstration explosion over Tokyo would have convinced the leaders and the people of Japan that what they did was not a justifiable action without having to kill countless innocent Japanese civilians (“Seattle Times Trinity”). Lastly, there were more deaths, casualties and lasting effects caused by the bombs “Little Boy” and “Fat Man," on Hiroshima and Nagasaki than the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The effects from the Atomic Bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were far worse than the effects of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The number of deaths and casualties caused from the dropping of the Atomic Bombs are tremendously higher than those of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan (“The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II”). However, in 1945 when the United States was at war with the county that made them enter into the Second World War, the only way the Americans felt they could get out of the war was to drop the Atomic bomb, which would force an unconditional surrender from Japan (Koeller).
The United States needed to protect its people, and President Truman and his advisors knew they must drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan to ultimately end the war. On August 6th 1945 the world entered the atomic age (Weber). The use of the Atomic bomb was beneficial because the immediate use of the bomb convinced the world of its horror and prevented future use when nuclear stockpiles were far larger (“Seattle Times Trinity”). The dropping of the Atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a beneficial and necessary action for the United States because it hindered the Second World War, saved thousands of Americans lives and was a statement against any act of terrorism not only against the United States but throughout the world as well.
Works Cited:
Gode, Yash. "Atomic Bomb Effects." Buzzle Web Portal: Intelligent Life on the Web. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/atomic-bomb-effects.html.
Koeller, David W. "Atomic Bomb Dropped on Hiroshima: 1945." Then Again. . . Web. 28 Nov. 2011. http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/world/hiroshima.html.
"The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources." The George Washington University. Web. 28 Nov. 2011. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm.
"Seattle Times Trinity Web: Dropping the Bomb." The Seattle Times | Seattle Times Newspaper. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/trinity/supplement/procon.html.
Weber, Mark. "Was Hiroshima Necessary?" Institute for Historical Review. Web. 27 Nov. 2011. http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v16/v16n3p-4_Weber.html.
"World War II: Timeline." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Web. 29 Nov. 2011. http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007306.
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