One of the most controversial decisions of the 20th Century, or any other century for that matter, was the decision to use the Atomic Bomb on Japanese cities. President Truman's decision has been scrutinized by scholars, as well it should be. There are many opposing views on the morality of the decision as well as the military necessity of the bombings, or lack thereof. Read the sources on the Teaching History page. You will notice that the essay on this site compares how different history textbooks have presented the bombings in the years since 1945. How does our textbook's account of the bombings compare to the ones discussed in the essay? Read the other sources presented on this website (listed on the left) and decide where you stand on this historical issue. Do you believe that President Truman made the right decision? Do you believe that the bombings were immoral or were they necessary to end the war? Support your position with information from the sources presented.
President Trumans decision about dropping the bombs was a decent decision in a sense. I think that dropping the bombs was a good decision because alot of people may not be here now. I think it was a bad one because alot of people lost there lives do to the bombing such as them getting killed by radiation and just by the expolosion of the bomb. I believe that President Truman was in his right mind when he ordered the dropping of the bomb. I think nit was also a good thing because we warned them to evacuate but they didn't listen to it. We also went back to Japan to rebuild the cities so we technically didnt leave them hanging. The Japaneses i feel just needed a wake up call to show them that it was going to be a tough fight to defeat us and they decided not to attack us any longer. Although many people thought that Trumans decision was a bad one it eneded up to be a better solution in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI think President Truman's decision to drop the bomb was the right decision millions more Americans and Japanese lives would have been lost. If the united states had to invade the Japanese home island because of their leaders telling the Japanese that America would do bad things to them if the were captured. America is the good guy if we make a mistake we admit to it. Also if that not enough if we bomb your cities we will help you rebuild so that you can be a trading partner with us. Text books in the past try'd to hide most of the details of the bombings and the text books now go more into detail about thing. our text books talk about the missions and the teams of the aircrafts.
ReplyDeleteI believe President Truman made the right choice by dropping the two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan had attacked us and after we fought them for 44 months, they showed no signs of surrendering. The bombs were almost like an ultimatum to get them to surrender (which the Emperor did days after the second bomb was dropped). In this sense the bombings were necessary to end the war. Also using the bombs prevented a lot more casualties that would have been caused by years of fighting in mainland Japan. We gave the Japanese enough warning that if they did not surrender they would face complete and total destruction.
ReplyDeleteI believe President Truman's decision to drop both bombs were good decisions. The two bombs together did not kill as much people as the regular bombing. If Truman did not choose to drop the atomic bomb at the time when he did it, then i think more people weather it was Americans or Japanese would of died.World War ll would have went on longer then it was. Truman dropping the atomic bomb when he did saved lots of solider's and it ended the war. Truman's idea of dropping the bomb was a good decision and i think it saved more lives then if the war would of continued.
ReplyDeleteI feel that the decision to drop the atomic bombs was a smart but a very difficult decision by President Truman. Although many lives were lost at Hiroshima and Nagasaki it was a sacrifice to save many more. If we had invaded the Japanese home islands thousands of Americans and Japanese would have died. Also the war would have been extended for a longer time. It was a hard but neccesary tactic to finally convince Japan to surrender so the world would be at peace again.
ReplyDeletePresident Truman had a very tough decision to make thinking about dropping the Atomic Bomb on the Japanese. In the end I think he made a good one. By dropping the bomb we killed so many less people than we would have using any other method. I believe that if the bomb wasn't dropped the war would have gone on longer and we would have had a very different outcome in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI believe President Truman made the right decision to drop the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As America began to get closer to the Japanese home islands, we became very familiar with how the Japanese would never surrender and fight to the last man. If we were to invade the home islands, the amount of American and Japanese casualties would have been enormous. The use of the atomic bombs not only stopped us from having to face more American deaths but it also showed Japan and the rest of the world the power we had. I also believe the use of the second bomb was justified because Japan may have thought we would not attack for a second time and still keep fighting. After the war had ended we agreed to help rebuild the cities that had been destroyed which showed we were willing to work with them. In our history book, it describes how we warned Japan that we were capable of mass destruction but they refused to surrender so we decided to drop the bombs.
ReplyDeleteWere the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified? To begin with, Harry S. Truman had a difficult decision to make after the Japanese rejected the Potsdam Declaration. He basically had two options,he could allow the use of the atomic bomb, or order the Marines to invade the Japanese homeland. We know each bomb was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, but to question its justification we must consider the likely outcome of the alternative option. As the U.S. marines were employing their "island-hopping" strategy and moving in closer to the Japanese homeland, they were encountering more and more fierce resistance. In fact, because of propaganda by the Japanese government telling it's citizens that the American invaders would do terrible things the citizens of Japan, they were committing suicide to avoid capture. If the intensity of the Japanese forces and it's citizens' suicidal tendencies were increasing as Americans got closer to the Japanese homeland, then we could imagine millions of deaths as a result of the invasion of Japan. Because the atomic bombs were capable of ending the war with relatively fewer deaths(as compared to a theoretical invasion) it is clear to me the Truman decided upon the lesser of two evils when permitting the use of atomic weapons.
ReplyDeleteThe decision president Truman made to drop the two atomic bombs on Japan was a decision that is still being questioned today. Many people argue that it was immortal and not necessary to drop the two bombs on the civilians. On the other hand there are plenty of people who support Truman’s decision, because it may have actually saved lives. If the United States had to invade Japan the death toll could have possibly been in the millions, the two bombs killed thousands of people, but not millions. Bombs were being used steadily in the war, killing people left and right, so why should these two bombs bring so much controversy with them? Maybe, because the bombs wiped out thousands of people instantly, but in my opinion that is a more pleasant way to die, rather than suffering through the end of the war or being bombed by several smaller bombs over a longer period of time. Textbooks also have a difficult time trying not to agree with either side and still get the facts across. Our textbook does a good job staying neutral and even has a section called, “Different Viewpoints”, thus the name implies it has two historian’s opinions helping you look at the subject from both point of views. Other textbooks don’t due as good of a job staying in the middle though, one clearly opposes Truman’s decision and states that the bombs were devastating and dwells over the deaths from the bombs. It is apparent there were many deaths, but we gave them a chance, we warned the Japanese with, “prompt and utter destruction”. The only thing I think was a mistake though was the second bomb. Japan was still shocked from the first bomb and we dropped another one on them not giving them a chance to respond.
ReplyDeleteIt is obvious that President Truman was faced with a very difficult decision. He had the Presidency thrust upon him and then he learned of the Manhattan Project and almost immediately had to decide to use the new weapon or not. I believe that he made the right decision in dropping the first Atomic bomb. With the Japanese following their no surrender tactic I do not believe that they would have surrendered if we had not bombed Hiroshima. I agree with all those who say that it saved more lives than it took. With the only other option being to invade Japan, the dropping of the “Little Boy” ended less lives than an invasion. Also America did warn the citizen that the bomb would be dropped. Even though I agree that the dropping of the first bomb was justified I think that the dropping of the second atomic bomb was a rash decision. I do not know if one bomb would have been enough to make them surrender but I do think that we should have given the Japanese a little bit longer to get over the shock of what had just happened. America should have waited more than just two days before dropping the second bomb. Our text book was very good at staying unbiased and presenting all the facts on both points of view. The text books in the link tended to take one side of the argument and not portray all the facts as accurately as they could have.
ReplyDeletePresident Truman made the right decision about dropping the two bombs on Japan because the Japanese were not going to surrender.
ReplyDeleteIt saved time, money, and most importantly many American lives.
Our history books told us that we showed warning signs that we could cause mass destruction. If we had not dropped the second bomb than the Japanese would have not backed down.
The bombs were justified.