Nuclear Bombs
On April 12th 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died. His successor, Harry S. Truman, took hold of the American presidency and immediately had immense pressure upon his shoulders. He was briefed on the recent completion of the world's first atomic bomb, made in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The project, called the Manhattan project, was headed by President Roosevelt to quickly end World War II. This was the most powerful weapon ever constructed, and the new President had the stress of determining if the bomb would be used on human beings. The war in Germany ended only a month later, thus closing one front of the war. With the European theater closed, the US could focus more on fighting the war in the Pacific with Japan. Many factors were now involved in President Truman's decision. An invasion of Japan was already planned in November of that same year, with the expected casualties in the millions. The Soviet Union's leader, Joseph Stalin, had agreed to help end the war with Japan, but Soviet help would only help the nation to conquer more land. Truman needed to decide which factors would persuade him to act. Many of the creators of the bomb were horrified at what they saw in Alamogordo New Mexico on the day of detonation. Th
had an atomic bomb and the will to use it. " As a result, Truman felt that he had no other option. Truman was quoted as saying: "You tell those scientists that we didn't spend all that damn money to build that thing not to use it!" Truman did not want Soviet help in the defeat of Japan. Estimates were that this invasion would "cost more than a million casualties among the Allied soldiers. Truman feared that if a demonstration was to take place, the US had the risk of releasing a dud. Truman had to make another decision. To determine the final use of the bomb or not, "The United States, the Soviet Union and Britain approved military plans for invasion and drafted a declaration to be sent to the Japanese demanding unconditional surrender. This time with only 70,000 casualties with only "45,000 people killed instantly. " With these casualties, the Japanese were defeated. The city of Kyoto was a city of Japanese history and culture, thus it was treated as too valuable a site to be attacked. " The outcome of Japan's decision would result in Truman's final decision. "1 After the testing, the creators of the bomb had a meeting with the United Nations war council to deter the use of the weapon.
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