Dropping the bomb on Japan, what is your opinion?

Question

Was dropping the bomb on Japan a good or a bad thing? I will argue that it was a good thing. My reasons for are as follows. #1) The bomb actually saved lives, combat projections were estimating that it would cost America one million casualties to take the four main islands. This doesn't include the millions of Japanese lives it saved, the Japanese population would have fought for every square inch and the slaughter would have been terrible. #2)Dropping the Bomb saved billions of dollars in spending for sustained combat operations, it brought a swift close to a war that would have lasted another one or two years. I think most people are opposed due to the stigma of nuclear weapons. More people died in the firebomb raids on Tokyo than in both Atomic bomb attacks combined. Lastly Japan started the war, sneak attacked us, they were particularly brutal to our POW's with beheadings being commonplace POW's slaughtered and buried in mass graves and even cases of cannibalism. It was just!

Answer 1

Any American president who had the bomb under those circumstances and refused to use it would have been tried for treason.

It was total war. We got the technology before anyone else.

I think it was the right decision - the best alternative among several awful alternatives.

Answer 2

well, i believe that the usa made a good decision dropping the atomic bomb on japan for two reasons. 1) When Japan dropped the bombs on Pearl Harbor they obviously didn't care who they killed or how they killed people. All they cared about was crippling the usas fleet in hawaii and they were willing to do watever they could to do it. My point is, if they didnt care who they killed over here why should the usa have cared wat they were killing over there. The japanese were asking for it (no offense to anyone) and our president was acting on pressure and he was trying to make the best descision that would protect american lives not japanese. 2) The reason y our president asked for the bombs to be dropped was because he was hoping that it would help end the war faster. I think it was either almost a month or a little over a month when they surrendered so obviously it worked and if the usa hadnt of acted as they had the war may have lasted longer than it had and more people may have lost their lives.

Answer 3

I would not call it a good thing, but I would call it a neccessary thing.

The suggestion above stating that it would have been better to quarenteen Japan is based on faulting reasoning, for two reasons.

First, while at the time Japan lacked the ability to move a large ground force to attack outside the main island chain, it was hardly militarily impotent. Aircraft from Japan still attack Allied shipping. A large military force was gathered on the island in preperation to repel any invasion. A landing would have been extremely costly for both sides. Additionally, Japan was working on its own atomic weapon. Waiting would not have been an option.

The second reason is the fact that a quarenteen would have been more humane. Starvation was already becomming an issue on the main islands. A seige would have resulted in more people being killed through famine and illness.

People need to remember war is not about what is good and what is bad. It is about what is neccessary.

Answer 4

I have to agree with the answer you gave yourself. President Truman had to make the choice to Loose alot our side to try to win or take alot of lives so that Japan would STOP!! The only thing that has come out of this War and the Bomb we dropped is that Japan did learn our way of doing things! Buy what you can from other countries, use it, then sell it back to them to make money!! You do not need all the land on the earth to Be Powerful! So we did beat them for what they did start and taught them well. In the War we are at now, our Leader must take the Blame for doing the Wrong thing when He did Not Need to! He must correct it NOW!!!

Answer 5

If you look at damage wise we did more damage with all of the other bombs we dropped than the two bombs. An interesting fact. But that nuke was scarier which is what inevitably lead to Japan's defeat. If you study up on the Pacific war you'll find that Japan would rather have lost without surrender than actually have surrendered but we scared the crap out of them so much with the bomb that they raised the white flag. I think we may have lost many more lives in the end. In addition, Japan is now a thriving community.

Answer 6

It may have been the right decision, but maybe not. The Japanese sent a message to the US indicating that they were "considering" an Allied ultimatum to surrender, but the word "considering" was mistranslated as "ignore.". Perhaps the bomb was not needed. Perhaps a historian would know what could have happened without the bomb. I suspect that it would have been unlikely, or a very long time, before the Japanese would have conceded TOTAL surrender (without the bomb.)

Answer 7

It was a strategic move that accomplished what you said with less casualties and economic cost than a marine assault. However, would it have been more prudent to have dropped the bomb in say, Tokyo Harbor, and given the emperor a little more time than a couple days to decide to surrender before dropping a second device?

Answer 8

The people who criticize Truman for his decision now are using 2006 sensibilities and knowledge to second guess a decision made in 1945. Hiroshima was, tragically, necessary. I'm not so sure about Nagasaki. I think that if we waited more than 3 days before dropping a second bomb then it might not have been necessary.

Answer 9

Dropping the bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki was done only to serve notice to the USSR of the capibilities possessed by the US and that they were prepared to use them. If it was to end the war, then why not drop one off shore to show the Japanese the power, but to bomb, not one but two cities filled primarily with women and children, would have constituted a war crime had it been done by anyone else.

Answer 10

The reality is that it was a good thing. Your reasons are valid. I was recently in Japan and visited the Hiroshima Peace Meseum. It was very humbling to see the devastation, and I felt very out of place and almost ashamed at being an American there. But yet -- they call it the Peace Memorial Museum for a reason. They also realize that it brought peace.