Should America have dropped the Atomic Bomb Paper
- 1. Should America have dropped the Atomic Bomb? At 9.15am on the 6th of August, 1945, the Enola Gay, and American bomber, dropped an atomic bomb nicknamed the “Little Boy” aimed at a T-shaped bridge in the industrial town of Hiroshima, killing 45,000 instantly, following more deaths due to radiation, and destroying 80% of Hiroshima’s buildings. Was the extent of deaths necessary to win the war or was it simply to stop the Soviet Union? These questions form two possible arguments, should the bomb have been dropped or not. I think that the bomb should not have been dropped. It killed thousands of innocent Japanese lives to save Americans. Who is to say that American lives were more important than the Japanese? Although, the bomb should have been dropped for a few reasons but this is not to say that it was right. President Truman said, on the dropping of the bomb; “Having found the bomb we used it. We used it against those who attacked us without warning.” This statement is referring to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on the 7th December 1941. He is saying that they attacked first and this was merely revenge for what they did. Another reason you could argue that the bomb should have been dropped is from an extract from Hiroshima Diary saying, “I began to feel the same way- Fight to the bloody end and die. The one word- surrender- had produced greater shock than the bombing of the city.” The person who wrote this diary is suggesting that surrender is not an option. They would rather fight and die than surrender. Therefore, America did potentially save millions of lives as the Japanese wouldn’t surrender otherwise. Turning now to the evidence against the dropping of the bomb. This is, in my opinion, the stronger side of the argument. Firstly is the obvious reason that they shouldn’t have dropped it. The bomb caused widespread destruction and killed thousands including women and children. The people who were called “lucky” to survive the bomb had severe burns and haemorrhaging which meant that their blood boiled because of extreme heat. Then there is the fact that 97000 people suffered and died from cancers after the bomb for years to come because of radiation. Due to the high temperature, the Japanese suffered from scarred tissue covering apparently healed burns beginning to swell and grow into thick twisted skin called Keloids which was extremely painful. America claimed to not know the capability of the bomb but they had tested a bomb like it in New Mexico on 16th July 1945, so they knew its power. We know this because an eyewitness 5 miles away said that “The whole country was lighted by a searing light” and “to be followed by the strong awesome roar which warned of doomsday.” These statements suggest how powerful the bomb was and the Americans knew it. A strong reason that I think the bomb shouldn’t have been dropped is the suggestion that America used the bomb to stop the Soviet Union from expanding their empire. Here is a piece of evidence to support this. A statement from James Byrnes, the US Secretary of State in 1945, said that he “feared what would happen when the Red Army entered Manchuria.” (The Red Army being the Soviet Union.) This means that America may have used the bomb to stop The Soviet Union from capturing Manchuria, which is Chinese territory taken from the Japanese.
- 2. Also, at the Potsdam Conference the Soviets said that they would invade Japan on the 8th of August and so America planned Hiroshima on the 5th of August suggesting they were worried about the Soviets expanding. Another reason that America should not have dropped the bomb is because Japan asked for peace talks a month before the bombing then asked again a week before the bombing but America continued to drop the bomb once again suggesting that they dropped the bomb to stop the Soviet Union. “The Arms Race: Opposing Viewpoints” by D.Bender, 1982 suggests that the use of both bombs, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were to compare the outcome of the bombs. “The decision to use these bombs was nothing less than a grotesque experiment.” America killed thousands of innocent Japanese people to experiment. More evidence to show the devastation that the bomb cause to Hiroshima is this picture: This picture was taken from American planes after the bomb. It shows flat land where there used to be buildings and people. Only a few buildings remain. A final piece of evidence says that Japan was already surrendering and yet America continued to drop the bomb. “The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender.” Tensions heightened between the Soviet Union and America and they raced to do things first such as explore space. This was referred to as the “Cold War” There was also a split throughout Europe known as “The Iron Curtain” or the “Bipolar World”. Europe was split into countries which agreed with either the Soviet Union or America. These were due to the dropping of the bomb which gives another reason the bomb shouldn’t have been dropped. To conclude, I say that America were wrong to drop the bomb because it could have been an experiment, could have been to stop the Soviets from expanding, they knew its full power and it turned out to kill thousands. But, at the same time, America was right to drop the bomb in some aspects such as revenge for Pearl Harbour, although Pearl Harbour did not kill nearly as many as Hiroshima, and it did in the end, end the war which did save American lives.