"I have to decide Japanese strategy-shall we invade Japan proper or shall we bomb and blockade? That is my hardest decision to date. But I'll make it when I have all the facts."-Harry S. Truman

Many questions have arisen dealing with the need for the atomic bomb since it was twice used in 1945 to end World War II on the Pacific Front. Did it save lives when compared to an all out invasion, or could it have been a statement to Russia in an effort to start suppressing Communism?

What is it that made the United States feel that Japan would not go down by conventional bombing and invasion like we had done with Germany? Most of this idea came from the fact that Japan had instilled an attitude in their people to always fight until death. Surrender was considered a disgrace and it would be better for them to die for their country. Also the United States was having trouble fighting through the islands that Japan had taken over due to their isolation from one another and that there were so many of them. Japan, in actuality, was chosen as the target in 1943. There was a fear that if the bomb did not work on Germany that the Germans would be able to disassemble it and figure

The American citizens were behind using the bomb because they were tired of the war. It had been five years and many had not seen their loved ones and were afraid they would not ever again if they had to invade Japan's mainland. Americans were not willing to sacrifice more lives to end this war. They felt that the developed technology should be used. After all, creating the atomic bomb had been a long and hard task. It had taken many years of planning, developing, and testing. The making of the bomb combined theories and ideas from countless chemists and physicists. Most of all it had cost large amounts of money and the project workers feared being investigated by the postwar Congress if it was discovered that funding had gone to a secret project with nothing to show for it.

out how to make it work. There was not this fear with Japan. Also a revenge factor was set in the heart of Americans ever since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

When discussing the decision-making process many people had opinions in favor of the use of the bombs. A secret government advisory group called the Interim Committee on June 1, 1945, recommended to President Truman "that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible; that it should be used on a war plant surrounded by workers' homes; and that it be used without prior warning." Byrnes felt that one million lives would be saved; General George Marshall stated that the figure would be closer to a half a million. After the dropping of the two bombs Truman noted that Hiroshima was a military base and that we wished to avoid killing civilians. Despite the fact that Truman was trying to justify killing civilians people surrounding him believed that the bomb would not do much more harm than continued conventional bombing. This idea came from the fact that in Tokyo alone, conventional bombing had killed 100,000 civilians. This basically forced killing civilians to be deemed proper and inevitable even in democratic nations. Truman in a diary entry on August 11 of 1945 stated that "nobody is more disturbed over the use of Atomic bombs than I am but I was greatly disturbed over the unwarranted attack by the Japanese of Pearl Harbor and their murder of our prisoners of war. The only language they seem to understand is the one we have been using to bombard them." A US intelligence study does say that Truman knew that the bomb was not really needed. What the study does not point out is that Stalin's declaration of war was not really sufficient enough for Truman's decision. He did not feel Stalin was that dependable. The Russian leader had promised for months to enter the war against Japan but never did make a declaration until August the sixth, the day of the bombing of Hiroshima. An American soldier stationed in North Africa had an opinion that supported Truman's beliefs about Russia. The soldier felt that it would be ridiculous to expect the Soviet Union to enter the war against Japan for three main reasons: the Soviets had heavy losses fighting Germany; the soldiers were left exhausted and starving; and they would have to be transported almost halfway aroun

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Approximate Word count = 2116
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)