On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, an American naval base off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii. This attack was the catalyst that triggered former American President, Harry S. Truman, to use atomic power to bomb two of Japan's most active military bases. Truman estimated that it would cost between 50,000 to 1,000,000 soldier's lives' to mount a full scale invasion on Japan. He also wanted a guaranteed surrender from the Japanese government. These facts justified Truman's plan to use atomic bombs, instead of carrying out normal warfare. Truman issued his executive order to drop the bombs on July 26th, 1945.
             Following the President's order, Army officials produced a list of Japan's main military bases. From that list, two targets were chosen. These two targets were the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
             The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima at 8:15 am on August 6th, 1945. "Little Boy," the smaller of the two atom bombs, was used to bomb Hiroshima. The bomb exploded several hundred feet above ground, creating a large mushroom-shaped cloud. The blast annihilated houses and buildings within a 1.5 mile radius of the drop site. The death toll created by "Little Boy" was approximately 200,000 people. Despite the utter devastation caused by the bombing, paired with the U.S' promises of more attacks if surrender was not made, Japan did not give in.
             Greatly disappointed with the Japanese' fail to comply, Truman followed through with his promised plan to strike again; however, this time "Fat Man," the larger and more destructive of the two atom bombs, was to be dropped over Nagasaki.
             "Fat Man" was dropped at 11:02 am on August 9th, 1945. The bomb's death toll was slightly less, killing 150,000 people. Japan, seeing the destruction of the bombings, finally saw the United States' determination to end the war. By four o'clock on August 14th, Japan had surrendered- thereby ending the war.
             ...