
History has always been interesting to me. I love American history in particular because it is fascinating to see how the generations before us have shaped the lives we live now. Everyone remembers learning about World War II in their history classes in high school. Our teachers told us that the U.S. was in a precarious position after V-E Day (victory in Europe), the war in Asia was still going and Japan vowed to fight until the end. President Truman needed a swift way to end the war with as little American soldier casualties as possible. The only other alternative was a land invasion that would cost a lot of time, money, and soldier lives. After warning Japan multiple times to surrender, and warning their civilians of the impending bombings, Truman made the decision to drop two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the bombings, Americans were left to decide for themselves whether or not they thought it was the right decision. This topic has been very controversial in the years since the end of the war, and people tend to feel passionately one way or another. Although the suffering and death caused by America dropping the atomic bombs on Japan was horrific, President Truman's decision was justified. 

Undoubtedly, America's biggest enemy in World War II was Nazi Germany. In the late 1930's, even before American entry into the war, American scientists caught wind that Germany was funding the research and testing of nuclear weapons. A group of scientists from that area that had fled political strife were then asked to head our government's research of nuclear weapons in case it came to a nuclear war. Thus, the Manhattan project, a top secret nuclear testing project located in Los Alamos, New Mexico, was started. The team of scientists spent the next few years researching and testing different ways to make atomic bombs. On July 16th, 1945, the Manhattan Project tested its first successful atomic bomb. However, by the time the bomb was ready for testing, the war in Europe was already over, which meant a nuclear war with Germany was no longer an American fear. The American armed forces then turned their attention to the war in the Pacific, and to Japan in particular, to bring an end to the war in Asia (History.com Staff). 

Japan had been the aggressors in the war in the Pacific arena, starting with the bombings of Pearl Harbor in 1941. After the first foreign attack on American soil since the revolutionary war, America was forced to enter World War II. Throughout the war, Japan was guilty of severe mistreatment of POW's (prisoners of war). Japan never signed the Geneva Convention (outlined the international laws of treatment of POW's as well as other standards of war) and thus didn't feel the need to treat POW's in humane ways. The Japanese treated their POW's in barbaric ways that included; forced labor, starvation and poor living standards, harsh beatings by the camp guards, shootings and beheadings, and even medical experiments. One particularly inhumane example of the Japanese mistreatment of the POW's was the Bataan Death March. A large group of American soldiers were caught off guard and unprepared on the Pacific Island of Luzon. General MacArthur was forced to remove his command to Australia and the soldiers that were left were forced to surrender. Despite promises from the Japanese soldiers on the fair treatment of the surrendered American soldiers, they were forced to trek the 66 miles back to trains that would take them to POW camps. Along the way the soldiers were beaten, starved, deprived of water, tortured and some were even buried alive. Thousands died on the way there and thousands more perished when they arrived at the POW camp ("Japanese Treatment of World War II Prisoners of War (POWs)"). The harsh treatments of the POW's eventually got back to the American government and fueled America's fire to put an end to the war with Japan. After years of fighting, the war in Europe finally came to an end in 1945. Japan felt the pressure to surrender, but vowed to fight until the end despite the fact that there was only a small chance of their victory. The Japanese government began to train their civilian women and children on how to fight American soldiers if it came to a land invasion as a last ditch effort to inflict the most amount of American solider death as possible (Long, Doug). 

Top American generals began to put together a plan for an American land invasion of Japan after V-Eday, called "Operation Downfall". This operation would span from November of 1945 to March of 1946 and would result in the loss of approximately one million American soldier lives ("Operation Downfall, Victory in the Pacific."). President Truman was faced with an incredibly difficult decision. The war in Europe was over, the American public wanted their soldiers home and he was about to commit to another year of fighting after which many soldiers wouldn't return (PragerU.). However, around this time, the scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico successfully tested the atomic bomb they had been working on for years. Truman made his decision and on July 26th, he issued the Potsdam Declaration in which he gave the emperor of Japan an opportunity to surrender as well as warned him of the dire consequences if he chose not to. Despite being given many more opportunities to surrender after the declaration, the Emperor still refused to surrender and vowed to continue to fight. On August 6th, 1945 American planes dropped the first atomic bomb, called "Little Boy", on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. However, after three days, the Japanese government still had not surrendered. On August 9th, American planes dropped a second bomb, this one called "Fat Man", on Nagasaki. An unconditional Japanese surrender was issued by their Emperor Hirohito on August 15th (victory in Japan, V-J Day) and America had won the war (History.com Staff). In the months preceding the bombings, the United States dropped approximately 63 million leaflets on 35 target cities warning civilians about the impending attacks and urging them to evacuate (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments in Support). 

Although President Truman was the one who publically took responsibility for the decision to drop the bombs, he was not the only one to make that decision. The Committee of Shared Responsibility was created in May 1945 and was involved with the decision to use the bombs. On June 1st, the committee came to the conclusion that there was no other option other than using the bomb to bring an end to the war, this was recorded in their meeting logs and then reported back to President Truman. Truman made his decision based on the recommendations made by the committee. Another fact to consider was the enormous price it took to produce the bombs. The Manhattan Project was founded by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 and by the time of the completion of the bomb the project had used 2 billion dollars of tax payer's money. In an unfortunate way, the government would have been under a lot of heat if the public found out that they had been paying for a secret project that was never used when it could have ended the war earlier and saved lives (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments in Support).

Despite the fact that the bombs were a devastating hit to the Japanese people, the bomb was a necessary evil in order to save American lives as well as bring a swift end to the war. The Japanese had fought a dirty war starting with Pearl Harbor as well as through the barbaric treatment of the POW's, so the bomb was partially an 'eye-for-an-eye" form of justice. President Truman referenced Pearl Harbor in his radio announcement of the bombing of Hiroshima saying; "The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold." (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments in Support). The bomb also inadvertently, and ironically, saved Japanese lives. The Japanese had calculated that if they continued to fight the casualties were estimated to be 5-10 million. However, both of the bombs together resulted in 120,000 deaths. A Japanese professor was quoted as saying that if the government had their way, they wouldn't have stopped fighting until all 80 million Japanese civilians were dead (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments in Support).

One reason the Japanese took so long to surrender is because they almost didn't. After the first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, the Japanese called an emergency meeting on August 7th. The agreement upon this meeting was that the cabinet members refused to believe that the bomb was atomic and that they would not surrender. The cabinet met again on August 9th and the consensus was that the cabinet members refused to believe that America could have the materials and resources to produce two atomic bombs and they still refused to surrender. The cabinet met again on August 10th and they received reports that both the bombs were in fact atomic and they also heard a lie from an American soldier that America had hundreds more atomic bombs waiting to be dropped. The panel was split 3-3 and they needed a unanimous vote in order to surrender. The prime minister of Japan went to the Emperor, who never spoke in cabinet meetings, in order to break the deadlock. Emperor Hirohito said that not surrendering would only result in the destruction of their nation, so he decided to accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and then recorded a message to the Japanese people. The people heard the message on the evening of August 14th and a group of civilians tried to stop the message from being heard by the rest of the Japanese people and even attempted a coup in order to prevent a Japanese surrender (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments in Support). 

In the months and years after the drop of the bombs, Americans mostly supported Truman's decision. The American public was fueled by a relief that the war was over, that their loved ones would return home to them, and that there was peace and order in the world again. So, they didn't question the decision to drop the bombs because they were basking in all the positive consequences. However, after time passed, some people began to question Truman's decision and felt as if the country as a whole was responsible for the death and destruction that happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. An article from Pew Research Center found that in a Gallup poll taken immediately after the bombings, 85% of people supported Truman's decision where as a poll taken in 2015, only 56% of people agree with the decision(Stokes, Bruce.). People have had time to reflect and form unbiased opinions on the matter. Now, people have come up with counterarguments, as well as, different alternatives to the use of the bombs (Southard, Susan).

One of the arguments people claim is that the use of the bomb was illegal. In 1938, the League of Nations declared that the international bombings of civilians was illegal, and the League also declared weapons of mass destruction, in particular, to be illegal. This argument is invalid, however, because the United States never joined the League of Nations, as well as, the fact that the League of Nations was disbanded long before 1945 when America dropped the bombs. People also argue that the dropping of the bombs was simply inhumane. While it is true that the bombs were extremely violent and they killed a lot of innocent people, the United States sent out over 63 million leaflets over the course of a few months warning people to evacuate. The United States also warned the Japanese government in the Potsdam Declaration of their "complete and utter destruction" if they didn't surrender (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments Against).

Another argument is that the bomb was only supposed to be used as a defense mechanism against a threatening attack on America. Japan had been the aggressors of the war and had treated American POW's badly, so while the bomb was originally meant to protect America against the Germans, it was still used in a way that put America on top and made it known that America wouldn't be pushed around. Similarly, some argue that the bomb was only used to scare the Russians (because the end of WWII was the beginning of tensed relations with Russia). The use of the bomb was multifaceted, it was used to defeat Japan in a swift manner with as little casualties as a possible, and it also put America back on top as a world power. It made other countries aware of the fact that America was a powerful country that wouldn't be pushed around by anyone (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments Against).

In the time since the dropping of the bombs, people have also come up with a plethora of different alternatives that could have been used instead of dropping the bombs. People argue that the U.S. could have just demonstrated the bomb to scare the Japanese into surrendering, that the military should have just kept up with the conventional bombings of the Japanese cities, or that the U.S. should have waited for Russia to get involved and then let them finish the war. All of these arguments would have cost more time, money, and lives. The U.S. couldn't have demonstrated the bombs because the U.S. and Japan had no amicable relations after Pearl Harbor. Continuing conventional bombings would have taken more time, money, and risked American soldier lives when there was no need to. Lastly, waiting on Russia to get involved could have taken years, or they might not have even gotten involved at all. All of these alternatives would have dragged out the duration of a war that no one wanted to fight anymore (The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments Against).

U.S. history is an interesting topic to study. Throughout history people have always looked to the leaders of their countries in times of need. The leaders are there to guide them and to make decisions that will benefit the majority of the people. Sometimes these decisions are hard to make, and sometimes what's best for your own people is what's worse for the country you are in a conflict with. President Harry Truman was our leader at the end of World War II and the American people looked to him to make a decision that benefitted the public. President Truman was faced with a difficult decision, to drop an atomic bomb on Japan and bring a swift end to a war that everyone was tired of fighting, or to drag out that same war and potentially lose a million more soldiers that could have been prevented. President Truman made the right decision to drop the bombs and bring an end to the war as well as reestablished America's dominance as a world power. My great uncle served in the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. I can say that I have been personally affected by the atomic bombs, but not in a negative way. It was President Truman's decision to drop the bombs, bring a swift end to the war, and send the soldiers home that allowed me to have the memories that I do with my uncle. 

