What was Truman's justification for using the ATOMIC BOMB?

Question

did i ever say it wasnt justified? for those negative comments out there, i just simply asked a question...i didnt give my opinion.

Answer 1

I have already answered 3 questions like this on Answers. It has been proved that American shock and shame regarding the use of the atomic bomb corresponds closely with a lack of knowledge on the Pacific War. First off, anyone who says it wasn't justified must look at the immense scale of atrocities committed by the Japanese. In Manchuria, Japanese soldiers cut fetuses out of wombs, shoved dynamite up girl's vagina's to blow them up, and in one case, strung a boy up in a tree and let their dogs pick away his flesh while he was still alive. And on Guadalcanal, they were anything but boy scouts; a patrol once sent to accept the "surrender" of a squad of Japanese soldiers was cut to bits. There were only two or three survivors of the patrol, and as they swam away, they could see swords hacking away at their dead comrades. And in the Pacific, they gouged out babies' eyeballs and spread them like jelly over the hospital walls. Patients were chained to their beds and set afire. And-I WISH I was kidding-there were reports of Japanese soldiers actually cannibalizing Chinese civilians and Allied servicemen. And to all you revisionists: the atomic bomb SAVED LIVES. If we had not used it, we would have had 1 million casualties and 267,000 killed. Now Okinawa, which was the bloodiest single battle in the Pacific, had around 13,000 killed, maybe more. We didn't want to use it. But they would have NEVER surrendered. And again, to you revisionists-what is so awful about saving thousands of American lives? If we didn't use it you or me likey wouldn't be here.

Answer 2

Another atomic bomb question? Okay, the invasion of Japan was estimated to cost millions of lives, and as we have seen occupation for rebuilding takes a lot of time. An invasion would have brought a great deal of resentment and many more would have been killed after the war. I think Truman's justification for using the atomic bomb was to save lives and end the war.

Answer 3

The battles of Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa showed that the Japanese soldiers were willing to fight just about until the last man. Each of these battles resulted in many thousands of U.S. killed and wounded. On Saipan and Okinawa, Japanese civilians who lived on the islands actively contributed to the defense. The Japanese military had hundreds of thousands of troops on the main islands of Japan and a civilian militia of up to four million. U.S. experts expected that as many as one million U.S. soldiers would be killed or injured while fighting in Japan. This is nearly the entire number of casualties in all the other fighting against both Japan and Germany combined. By using the bomb, they hoped to shock the Japanese leadership into realizing that no matter how hard they fought, the U.S. had the ability to totally destroy the Japanese nation. In retrospect, the bombings of Japanese cities by B-29s, especially the fire bombing of Tokyo which killed over 100,000 people, had many in the Japanese government thinking about accepting the U.S. demands of unconditional surrender. Thus, it is likely that the Japanese would have surrendered without a U.S. invasion of the main islands or the use of the atomic bomb.

Answer 4

Your question assumes that a justification was required and is therefore flawed to begin with since no justification need be given in the situation that existed.

The United States had been attacked and was at war with an enemy that refused to surrended and Truman therefore used a weapon that was at his disposal to force them to surrender.

Your question makes no more sense than asking what his "justification" was for using submarines, airplanes, or marines.

Answer 5

A study done for Secretary of War Henry Stimson's staff by William Shockley estimated that conquering Japan would cost 1.7–4 million American casualties, including 400,000–800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese fatalities.

Answer 6

First of all he didn't realize what he had and what the consequences of his actions were. The ability to destroy human civilization was not what was on his mind. The only two reasons were to save american lives from not having to invade Japan and 2: not allowing the Soviets time to get into the act and establish hegemy in the Orient, similar to how they did in Eastern Europe.

Answer 7

the killing of civilians for the time of warfare can on no account be justified , the willful destruction of city inhabited via civilians and not a defense force aim is genocide .. once you got down to injury a monster , this is especially much imposable to no longer develop right into a monster... in ww2 the winners have been the biggest killers

Answer 8

To avoid american casualties during an invasion of Japan

Answer 9

The short answer is they wanted to test it on living human beings.

The long answer is far more involved and complicated.
It sounds very moral and upright and all about finishing the war early and saving lives.

Answer 10

To scare the sh1t out of the Russians.