1945, 70,000 lives were ended in a flash. To the American people who

were weary from the long and brutal war, such a drastic measure seemed

a necessary, even righteous way to end the madness that was World War

II. However, the madness had just begun. That August morning was the

day that heralded the dawn of the nuclear age, and with it came more

than just the loss of lives. According to Archibald MacLeish, a U.S.

poet, "What happened at Hiroshima was not only that a scientific

breakthrough . . . had occurred and that a great part of the

population of a city had been burned to death, but that the problem of

the relation of the triumphs of modern science to the human purposes

of man had been explicitly defined." The entire globe was now to live

with the fear of total annihilation, the fear that drove the cold war,

the fear that has forever changed world politics. The fear is real,

more real today than ever, for the ease at which a nuclear bomb is

achieved in this day and age sparks fear in the hearts of most people

on this planet. According to General Douglas MacArthur, "We have had

our last chance. If we do not devise

words, the reply fails to meet the argument for dropping the bomb and

made-a world exhausted by war; an implacable, cunning and ruthless

citizens. The thought that atomic weapons are needed to keep the peace

or nuclear age, and while the source and the judgment deserve respect,

Has the atomic bomb introduced "the fear of total annihilation

moral principle, but making the best decisions at the time, given the

Finney, et. al. Hiroshima Plus 20. New York, New York; Delacorte; 1965

are available. Japan was not then-or later-the only nation America had

changes the subject from "the immediate decision to the long-term

In short, fear is part of the human condition and those

it is not clear that the world has fundamentally changed nor that the

proposal wholly outweigh any military advantage."

whole world is always in danger of nations from time immemorial. For

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1609
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)