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
When an army major general Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, reported the success of the bomb test, the news left the president "tremendously pepped up," according to Stimson's account (Herken, 13). Nevertheless, the bombing of the two cities brought down about 240,000 Japanese citizens deaths most of who consisted of non-army men and sailors. Truman was no exception to this generalization. "The bomb became America's source of ultimate defense as well as a way to establish the Americans as morally superior to the Japanese (Hiroshima & Nagasaki, 3). 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). Truman's statements implied that the bomb was a legitimate weapon and America's proud invention. After surveying the damage in Hiroshima, President Truman should have more seriously considered his decision to drop the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki. The bomb did cost more over two billion dollars and three years to conduct. The hatred toward Japanese race and the urge to use the ultimate weapon contributed to the deaths of thousands of people. Human beings are naturally tempted to seek more - in this case destruction of the city by bombing. That was because we wished in this first attack to avoid, insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. " President Truman was more than willing to bring the closure to the war by the use of the bomb. Thus, it seemed that military pressures lied most heavily on Truman's mind. It is as though the first drop of the bomb was not good enough for the government to be satisfied with so they carried out the second bomb, like going through practices of chemistry experiments. In some sense, the bombing of the first city might have led to the enforcement of the second bombing.
Common topics in this essay:
Hiroshima Nagasaki,
Japan Herken,
President Truman's,
American Japanese,
Times Hiroshima,
President Truman,
Henry Stimson,
Manhattan Project,
Allied Nations,
Japan American,
hiroshima nagasaki,
bomb dropped,
decision drop,
president truman,
military target,
drop bomb,
240000 japanese citizens,
proud invention,
dropping bombs,
bomb nagasaki,
japanese citizens,
decision drop bomb,
hatred japanese race,
hiroshima nagasaki 3,
|
Acceptance Essays
