The Decision To Drop The Bomb
It has been said that the United States decided to use the atomic bomb to intimidate the Soviet Union rather than to strictly force Japan=s unconditional surrender. This statement is false in that the United States did drop the bomb to intimidate the Soviets and to bring about Japan=s unconditional surrender, as well as many other reasons. It seems that from the documents and from a general knowledge of American history, one can find that Harry Truman=s decision to drop the devastating atomic bomb on Japan was a function of weighing the pros versus the cons, and in this case the pros are far more numerous than the cons. Anything that is this complex and costly in nature must never be based on a single expected outcome. Just as to any complicated problem, the question of whether or not to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was based on a multitude of solid, concrete reasons. The Japanese government, by the end of 1944, knew that defeat was inevitable. The Allies had completely blockaded the Japanese island and had a strict and conventional aerial bombing schedule that had wip
The intentions of the Soviet Union as expected by both Truman and Roosevelt was proven by the invasion of Manchuria by the Soviets early in the morning of August 9, 1945, only three days after the dropping of the first atomic bomb and only hours before the dropping of the second. Even with the dropping of the two atomic bombs and the Soviet invasion, however, Japan still did not surrender. The Japanese held their emperor to be a god, and as such, the termination of his stature would be a crushing blow to Japanese culture. There were rumors spread to the highest levels of government that the next target of an atomic attack would be Tokyo, where the war planners were meeting. @ To go against the emperor=s wishes that they war ministers had for so long wanted to protect would be hypocritical and thus Japan surrendered, under a few conditions. The race for the atomic bomb was, for the most part, a blow out win for the United States. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. The Japanese were absolutely determined to sur!render with the retention of their emperor. Surrender only came at Emperor Hirohito=s request, AIt is my desire that you, my Ministers of State, accede to my wishes and forthwith accept the Allied reply. These conditions, however, quite explicitly showed the retention of the emperor, but Athe authority of the emperor and the Japanese government to rule the state shall be subject to the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. @ This stipulation allowed for their emperor to be saved, and thus the Japanese agreed. Another point which makes the application of the atom bomb seem more natural is the fact that the Soviet Union had promised to invade Japan, Awithin two or three months after the surrender of Germany. With this fact in mind, it is clear that the use of the atomic bomb on Japan intimidated the Soviet Union greatly, and this intimidation allowed the American government to hold some leverage over the Soviets during the early years of the Cold War. The only way to prevent this was to end the war with Japan before the USSR could get involved. They did not want the Soviet Union to set up communist governments and principalities in Asia like they did in Eastern Europe.
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Acceptance Essays
