The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese people. To this day, people still speculate why President Truman made the decision to drop the first bomb on Hiroshima on the fateful early-morning of August 6th, a bomb which caused horrific deaths and appalling radiation sickness that would last for many years to come.

It has been quoted that from only the effects of the Hiroshima bomb, over 200,000 people have died and the question on everybody's lips seems to be "why?"

Nearly six months before the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Tokyo was bombed by American B-29 bombers who officially killed 83 793 people. Two days later, a second attack was carried out on Nagoya. The US airforce then systematically bombed and practically wiped out the cities of Kobe, Osaka, Yokohama and Kawasaki. All in all, 330 000 Japanese died because of these bombings and to kill even further people, the US bombed sixty other cities between mid-June and mid-august. The US Air Operations Commander - Brigadier General Thomas Power said that the bombing of just Tokyo:

"...was the greatest single disaster incurred by an

He and many others knew that it was unessential to bomb the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Admiral Leahy, a senior US military official said:

Unofficial reasons include: so much money was spent on it that it was justifiable to use it, Truman didn't want to look 'soft', it was only an experiment, it would set up post-war American superiority and revenge.

"The idea that atomic weapons were used against Japan in 1945 to save loss of life in a prolonged and resisted invasion is not a credible factual assumption. It was always morally dubious...President Truman's estimate that an invasion would cost half a million American lives has no basis in any military document"

Yet another reason why the Americans shouldn't have used the bomb was that a test, showed to the Japanese, might well have had enough impact to make them surrender. An American nuclear scientist suggested - "a demonstration of the bomb might be best made on the desert or on a barren island. Japan could then be asked to surrender." Yet Henry Stimson deemed that "a demonstration in an uninhabited area was not regarded as likely to make the Japanese surrender. The test might have been a dud. Also, we had no bombs to waste." This also backs up the reason that the bombs were too expensive to waste. A campaign for nuclear disarmament in 1985 said, "the bomb had cost $2000 million. It would have been difficult to justify not using it."

Another principally substantial reason why the atomic bombs were used on the Japanese was that they brought "atomic diplomacy" over Russia. Truman knew this and so he delayed the meeting in Potsdam with Russia until he was sure that the atomic weapons could be used. An extract from Henry Stimson's diary reads as follows -

Another justification that the atomic bombs were unnecessary was the fact that the Soviets declared war on Japan. General Marshall advised Truman as early as June 1945, that this could possibly force Japan to completely surrender. General Ismay told Churchill -

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hiroshima Nagasaki, Ronald King, Minister Suzuki, According Americans, Marine Corps, Henry Stimson's, President Truman, Henry Stimson, Pearl Harbor, American B-29, atomic bombs, hiroshima nagasaki, american lives, atomic weapons, drop atomic, atomic bombs japanese, pearl harbor, bombing pearl, save american, president truman, russia atomic, japanese prime minister, bombing pearl harbor, prime minister suzuki, save american lives,
Approximate Word count = 1466
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)