The United States decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The United States decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki In World War 2 the United states of America made a major decision in their reaction to the bombings they received in Pearl Harbour, they choose to demonstrate there power once and for all to the rest of the world, by making a very controversial decision. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbour. Taking the Americans by surprise 19 ships were sunk and about 2,400 American soldiers and sailors were killed. Four years later, on August 6 and August 9, 1945 the Americans would take the Japanese by surprise by destroying the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with two atomic bombs. This decision is still an ongoing debate with many historians and politicians on why the atomic bomb, and why these cities. Harry Truman said in regard to the atomic bomb, "it seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful" The atomic bomb could very well be the most terrible thing ever invented. It is a weapon of destruction. “When first tested with only thirteen pounds of the explosive, the bomb left a crater six feet deep and twelve hundred feet in diameter as well as causing a sixty foot steel tower to literally

His reasoning was that countless lives would be saved while delivering all people who were currently under Japanese rule. Nagasaki had been described to be a fast growing city with houses and industrial buildings being beside one another (Walker). New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1961Kurzman, Dan. The population of Hiroshima had reached a height of over 380,000 earlier in the war but prior to the atomic bombing the population had decreased to around 255,000 due to the demand for soliders (Wyden). Some would also say that Truman should have chosen one of the several available ways to force a Japanese surrender without an atomic bombing of two cities. He decided to use the bomb in order to shorten the war. Truman"tms motives, therefore, cannot be called into question because he did save lives no matter what his other intentions could have been. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984. These very strong buildings were the reason for the fact that the frame of some of the buildings which were close to the center of bombs explosion in the city did not collapse. However, some have come to think that Truman had either partially or entirely different reasons for bombing Japan. Day of the Bomb: Countdown to Hiroshima. It contained the2nd Army Headquarters, which commanded all of southern Japan. The most crucial thing on Truman"tms mind as he let the bombings go on was that they would prevent a land invasion and the massive loss of men, both American and Japanese if an invasion would have been necessary. If this cost was not justified, Truman would have faced a Congressional inquiry into the misappropriation of 2 billion.