To What Extent Was Truman's Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb Justified Research Paper

To What Extent Was Truman's Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb Justified - Research Paper Example The first atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima by a B-29 war craft on august 6 1945, resulting in the destruction of the city and instant deaths of over 90,000 people. It is still not clear why japan hesitated in surrendering after the damage and carnage in Hiroshima as the Truman administration did not give them much time to respond. On august 9 1945, the second atomic bomb was dropped over Nagasaki, a secondary target, to avoid poor visibility due to bad weather in Kokura, the primary target. The bombing of Nagasaki resulted in over 60,000 instant deaths. The Truman administration was planning on further attacks, but japan surrendered 5 days after Nagasaki bombing. These actions exposed Truman to sharp criticism, with many people referring to the bombings as barbaric. The main aim of this report is to use various primary and secondary sources to determine the level to which Truman’s actions were justified. Primary sources include official documents, eyewitness accounts and excerpts from harry Truman’s speeches and diaries, and secondary sources include textbooks and journal articles supporting or opposing Truman’s actions. ... In any case, the American public was getting weary of war and Truman wanted to conclude it to prevent the countless deaths that were happening at the hands of the Japanese2. In addition, Truman was not enjoying the public perception that he was too soft on the Japanese3. Russia had the intentions of taking over the Japanese territory and something had to be done about it; and Truman figured that the United States had to show its power to the world to prevent the Soviet Union from emerging as the world’s super power4. Truman thought that if Russia gained any more power than it had, then it would resort to enforcement, spread and strengthening of communism5. The atomic bombs seemed to be the ideal tool to show America's superiority over the Soviet Union; and Truman showed the Soviet Union that he had the bombs and was ready to use them6. Japan only acted as a demonstration board since the United States was neither in good terms with japan, nor with the soviet union. However, Tru man did not expect to cause deaths of innocent civilians, in fact, he believed that the two cities he ordered bombed were military bases7. In addition, Japan, USSR, and Germany were developing nuclear weapons; it was only a matter of the country that could use theirs first, which was mainly the reason why the United States joined hands with Canada and United Kingdom to pursue the Manhattan project8. To avoid the possibility of a nuclear war, Truman decided to use the means at his disposal to instill fear to the other countries developing the weapons. The other reason cited for Truman's use of the atomic bombs was to end the war as quickly as possible so that he could save countless of lives, including American9, Japanese, and