Do you agree or disagree with President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Question

Why or why not?

Answer 1

I think at the time it was a reasonable choice to make and it did save many American lives, any land invasion would have had very high mortality rates. We really didn't know the consequences of those bombs till the aftermath and then of course it was too late.

Answer 2

I tend to believe they should have done a demonstration bombing of something like Mt. Fuji, or maybe out in Tokyo Bay, rather than blowing up two cities. The argument in favor of the bombing is that 1) it saved about a million lives counting both Americans and Japanese who would have been killed during an invasion, and 2) that it stopped the Russians from marching south from Shakilin Island (sp?) and siezing half of Japan. There may be something to this argument, I cannot dismiss it entirely. However, it is possible the same goals might have been accomplished with a demonstration shot on Mt. Fuji. The Japanese militarists were strongly entrenched, however--they had no inclination to give up power or to surrender, and even after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings they had to be tricked, maneuvered around, for the Emperor's surrender speech to be broadcast, officially ending the hostilities. It remains a sticky moral question at least for me.

Answer 3

I wasn't there and I don't know the feeling of what was going on except what I have been told and what I have read. I believe that something had to be done. Maybe we didn't truly know the devastation it would cause. I think if we hadn't done it we would all be using Japanese as our second language instead of (almost) Spanish. I also think that since then the Japanese have been "plotting" a way to "get even" and they are doing it peacefully, at least, by taking over our auto industry and buying a lot of our industrial and manufacturing businesses. They are having the last laugh as they take over our national economy.

Another thing that bothers me is we compensated the victims and their families but they never compensated the prisoners of war that they held captive and often tortured. My late father in law was a POW in the Philippines for 3 and a half years. In the beginning he rode the entire way to Japan in the hold of a ship and watched people around him starve and die only to turn around and go all the way back to the Philippines where they sat near the stench of death and body waste.

ALSO, what about that sneak attack on Pearl Harbor? Young people can think what they want about "the bomb" but it was not a single act of terrorism. It was the culmination of a horrible, horrible destructive war and that was on all people NOT just the Japanese!

AND, as a later added thought, the Japanese have admitted publically that had they had the technology, they would have "dropped" a bomb as well.

Answer 4

Most People today do not understand the psyche of the Japanese during WWII-especially at the end. The whole war, after it was more than clear that they were losing, became a matter of protecting their honor.
The Japanese were prepared to let themselves die than be "conquered" by the Americans. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki not only saved American soldiers, but showed the senselessness of fighting on. Thus, preventing what would have been the whole genocide of the Japanese people as a whole.

Answer 5

Disagree.. It killed too many. MAYBE HE DID SAVE LIVES BUT WHAT THE HECK? If America is the most powerful country in the world, why couldn't it win the war in different ways? I bet it could have but why the heck this way? He should have dropped it on Arab countries; That would have really killed the terrorists.Truman had no remorse at all, that's so bad. ONLY BECAUSE OF THE CAUSE OF THE WAR WAS SO WEIRD!

Answer 6

Disagree.My reasons are too many to write down but I will say this.The Japanese have very long memories and America will pay for what they did its just a matter of time.

Answer 7

Yes, We did them a favor.
If Blueridge, KIA, or Diaria knew what was going down in 1945 she would agree.

Answer 8

on one city yes but two cities is no necessary
there should be more communication before dropping a second

Answer 9

Agree. It ended the war quickly, saving many American (and Japanese) lives.

Answer 10

completely agree, Harry SAVED lives with that decision,