Were the Bombings Necessary?

The Decision

Once Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, discovered the success of the Manhattan Project. He understood he would be faced with a judgment of unprecedented significance. The capacity to end the perpetual war with Japan was in his reach but was it worth unleashing one of the most disastrous inventions ever identified to mankind?
On April 1st 1945, American authorisations occupied Okinawa and Iwo Jima and were profoundly firebombing additional Japanese cities. Although Japan was not ready to surrender, an army of approximately two million was firmly commissioned across the home islands defending against invasion.
For Truman, the verdict of whether or not the atomic bomb should be utilized as one of the most arduous judgments of his life and his presidency.



Final Surrender

First, a Confederated request for an immediate unconditional surrender was made to the authority in Japan. Although the request asserted that rejection would result in damage, no mention of any new weapons of mass destruction was made. The Japanese military command denied the appeal for unconditional surrender, but there were implications that a conditional surrender was probable.

 Despite that, on August 6, 1945, a plane named the Enola Gay released an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The bombing resulted in the immediate death and vapourisation of 70,000 Japanese residents. In the years that succeeded, a further 100,000 perished from burns and radiation ailment caused by exposure to very extreme levels of radiation being near an atomic blast which caused acute health effects such as skin burns and acute radiation syndrome. This also resulted in long-term health effects such as cancer and cardiovascular disease for residents.
In the two days that followed this tragic event, the Soviet Union proclaimed war on Japan and its citizens. On August 9, a second atomic bomb descended on Nagasaki, which produced the deaths of approximately 80,000 Japanese residents.
After a prolonged period on August 14, 1945, the Japanese surrendered.

Ethical and Moral Dispute

Critics have arraigned that Truman's judgment was an uncivilised deed that induced negative long-term outcomes to the United States. The modern age of nuclear horror has driven a perilous arms race.

Some military analysts assert that Japan was perishing and the bombings were simply unnecessary. The American government was accused of racism on the grounds that such a device would never have been practised against white civilians.

Although critics claimed that American diplomats had concealed motives. The Soviet Union had infiltrated the war upon Japan, and the atomic bomb could be perceived as a powerful message for the Soviets to tread lightly. In this respect, Hiroshima and Nagasaki may have been the first shots of the Cold War as well as the final shots of World War II. Notwithstanding, the United States persists the only nation in the world to have used a nuclear weapon on another nation.

The Atomic Bomb

Although critics claimed that American diplomats had concealed motives. The Soviet Union had infiltrated the war upon Japan, and the atomic bomb could be perceived as a powerful message for the Soviets to tread lightly. Notwithstanding, the United States persists the only nation in the world to have used a nuclear weapon on another nation. 
Truman declared that his settlement to lower the bomb was thoroughly military. He concluded that the bombs preserved Japanese lives as well. Prolonging the war was not an alternative for the President. Over 3,500 Japanese kamikaze raids had already wrought vast destruction and loss of American lives.


The President denied a presentation of the atomic bomb to the Japanese leadership. He knew there was no guarantee the Japanese would capitulate if the test succeeded, and he felt that a suspended demonstration would be worse than none at all. Even the scientific community failed to anticipate the prodigious effects of radiation sickness.

The ethical and moral dispute over the arrangement to drop the atomic bomb will never be resolved. The bombs did, however, bring a finish to the most disastrous war in history. The Manhattan Project that generated it confirmed the possibility of how a nation's resources could be mobilized.

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