Dropping of Atomic Bombs on Japan
Anubhav Kaur
3.26.2012
Period 6
Mr. Blaine AP History Qualifying Essay If the topic of World War 2 were to come up, I am sure you would jump straight to thinking about the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because President Truman made the decision to do that, many people began to despise him. But there is a lot that people do not know about what led to him making that horrific decision. In my opinion, President Truman’s decision to drop the bomb on Japan was justified. First of all, the United States did not immediately drop the bomb on Japan. In fact, they considered 4 other options that they thought would end the war. Their first option was invade Japan, but that would lead to high American casualty rates. Their second option was to warn Japan about the U.S.’s nuclear progress, but that would increase the risk of having more American soldiers captured. Their third option was to drop the bomb on a deserted island, but that might not work/ might not send a clear message. Their fourth (and last) option was to drop the bomb on Japan, the negative being that it would kill civilians. As you can see, the United States tried to think of as many different ways as they could to avoid dropping the bomb on Japan. It all came down to the fact that the other options were too dangerous or too risky. In conclusion, the United States went through a series of other options before they decided to drop the bomb on Japan. Second, The United States gave Japan two clear opportunities to surrender before August 6th, 1945. The first opportunity was for them to have an unconditional surrender- but Japan ignored this. Then, the U.S. bombed a different Japanese city every night during the month of July. They were running out of cities, and Japan still hadn’t responded. This is when President Truman decided that the United States had no other choice but to use their weapon of mass destruction, the atom bomb. They knew that
3.26.2012
Period 6
Mr. Blaine AP History Qualifying Essay If the topic of World War 2 were to come up, I am sure you would jump straight to thinking about the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because President Truman made the decision to do that, many people began to despise him. But there is a lot that people do not know about what led to him making that horrific decision. In my opinion, President Truman’s decision to drop the bomb on Japan was justified. First of all, the United States did not immediately drop the bomb on Japan. In fact, they considered 4 other options that they thought would end the war. Their first option was invade Japan, but that would lead to high American casualty rates. Their second option was to warn Japan about the U.S.’s nuclear progress, but that would increase the risk of having more American soldiers captured. Their third option was to drop the bomb on a deserted island, but that might not work/ might not send a clear message. Their fourth (and last) option was to drop the bomb on Japan, the negative being that it would kill civilians. As you can see, the United States tried to think of as many different ways as they could to avoid dropping the bomb on Japan. It all came down to the fact that the other options were too dangerous or too risky. In conclusion, the United States went through a series of other options before they decided to drop the bomb on Japan. Second, The United States gave Japan two clear opportunities to surrender before August 6th, 1945. The first opportunity was for them to have an unconditional surrender- but Japan ignored this. Then, the U.S. bombed a different Japanese city every night during the month of July. They were running out of cities, and Japan still hadn’t responded. This is when President Truman decided that the United States had no other choice but to use their weapon of mass destruction, the atom bomb. They knew that