Hiroshima Bombing
In August of 1945 nuclear weapons were exploded upon the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. Following the bombing of the cities the Japanese immediately surrendered to the Allied Nations. The cost of the war was devastating. Never has there been such destruction brought down by a simple blast of splitting atoms. Killing as many as 240,000 Japanese citizens, the dropping of the bombs became one of the most written about contemporary historical topics (Hiroshima & Nagasaki, 3). In the 50s and the 60s, the traditional view of the bombing was that the bomb was a solely military action that avoided the loss of as many as a million lives in the upcoming invasion of the island of Kyushu. Therefore, President Truman had deliberately chosen to bomb a not-so-heavily populated city and an important military site for the Japanese. However, statistics showed that Hiroshima was at the present-time the most heavily populated area with civilians more so than of army soldiers and sailors. Thus, President Truman's monumental decision to drop the bombs was developed from a complex background. While Truman emphasized that the bombings were the result of military reasons, clearly there were the influences of the political, diplomatic
Truman did believe that the bomb would be used specifically for military use. He knew of the ferocious fighting currently taking place in the Pacific, and naturally had a desire to minimize what he felt would inevitably be a long, bloody struggle. "And adding even more pressure from a military standpoint came when a second invasion was discussed (Rhodes)." The invasion would require risking several American soldiers to fight a violent fight against the Japanese on mainland Honshu. Thus, it seemed that military pressures lied most heavily on Truman's mind. After the dropping of the bombs President Truman quoted in The New York Times, "Hiroshima was a major military target," and "We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history - and won (Shalett)." These phrases directly gave the readers a one-sided view that the bomb was for only a military purpose, and furthermore, there existed no other major contradictory statements of any kind during the 40s and 50s. Truman's statements implied that the bomb was a legitimate weapon and America's proud invention. The two bombings of cities of Japan are clear in that the purpose of the weapon was not just for military strategy. Truman believed that the bomb would be dropped on a "purely military target" so that "military objectives, soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children." (Truman) However, looking back at the situation, the decision to drop the bomb was based on political and more or less of moral reasons. Truman was so focused on using the bomb that he never stopped to think otherwise. The hatred toward Japanese race and the urge to use the ultimate weapon contributed to the deaths of thousands of people. After surveying the damage in Hiroshima, President Truman should have more seriously considered his decision to drop the second atom
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Approximate Word count = 1246
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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