The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb

The decision of the U.S. to bomb the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during A.D. 1945 remains, to date, one of the most controversial sequences of history. The slew of nuclear strikes by then President Harry S. Truman on Japan, the only sole Axis power who, in the end, was defeated in World War II, presents a multitude of moral and strategic issues. The primary debate about the bombings has been over whether or not they were a military necessity to hasten the ending of the war or whether the skin could be saved by other means. The impartial analysis of the views expressed in the given documents, adding extra historical context, determines whether the decision to deploy atomic weapons was justifiable mainly for all military purposes or whether we should consider other factors.

In general, historians perceived Truman’s decision-making regarding the atomic bomb as it was just a way to make a quick military decision, as evident in document one and document seven. Such an address Truman meant for the public mainly demonstrates that Truman presented the military chiefs who recommended unconditional surrender and the decisive end of the war in front of the public(Truman, 421). Truman’s statement on the bomb as a military gun, the reasoning for the use of this item for military purposes only. Also, it makes the point that the bomb had to be done because of Japan’s predisposition and confidence to resist any attack on their territory while ignoring the associated demand of retaliation from people(Dietrich, 1). Political statements declaring that by dropping the atomic bomb, the only option left for Truman was to make Japan surrender this point of view and where Truman’s thinking finally concluded.

Order a well-written high-quality paper now!

However, alternative hypotheses grain at the idea of atomic bombings being necessary as a military action. Document 2, Admiral William Leahy reads, questioned the validity of the bombing in speeding Japan’s surrender, claiming that Japan had already stepped over the edge toward defeat (Elsey, 361). Leahy contradicts ends-means conflict, seeing no ethics in using means such as devastating bombing raids against peaceful populations, and raises a question about the moral lawfulness of such events. Equally, Document 4 addresses the more significant human issues, namely, finding the bombings to be an atrocity (an evil that goes beyond the boundaries of the state). The document shows that the severe ethical problems relating to the use of atomic bombs should have been taken into consideration by the options that do not involve the use of such types of weapons were preferable for the conflict solution (Times, 1).

Apart from military necessity, another factor that inescapably affected Truman’s decision was determination in geopolitics and warfare. In the third document written by Harry Stimson, the Secretary of War, such a side effect could not be corrected, not even in the years that followed after the war ended. However, the fact that many men were spared from certain death during those times overshadowed this fact. Stimson asserted that the bombings were the decisive factor in Japan’s surrender, which ended the conflict and led to fewer casualties(Dietrich, 1). Moreover, another document is Document 7, which mainly consists of the political background of that time. It accentuates the strategic objectives and the need to show the world the bomb was capable of precisely that objective to the adversaries.

In conclusion, the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a multifaceted and morally fraught endeavor. One side is devoted to how urgent and efficient the air strikes are, and they criticize others for not understanding that. In contrast, others only show their discontent over what the air strikes cause and use other ways to end the war. The judgment fell in place within a devastating full-scale environment that accounted for military, morale, and geopolitical issues of war.

Order a well-written high-quality paper now!

Works Cited

Dietrich, Bill. “Bill Dietrich | the Seattle Times.” Www.seattletimes.com, 11 June 2021, www.seattletimes.com/author/bill-dietrich/.

Elsey, George M. “Some White House Recollections, 1942–53.” Diplomatic History 12.3 (1988): 357–364.

Times, Nippon. “English: An October 1945 Edition of Nippon Times.” Wikimedia Commons, 1 Oct. 1945, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: Nippon_Times_1945-10-08_p1.jpg.

Truman, Harry S. “Harry S. Truman on the Bombing of Hiroshima, 1945.” college.cengage.com/history/ayers_primary_sources/truman_bombinghiroshima_