Why do you think that President Truman might have decided to use the atomic bomb?

Answer 1

Japan had no chance to win the war after the Battle of Midway in June 1942. They had no way to avoid defeat after the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the landings in Leyte Gulf.

Fighting the Japanese was especially disturbing for the Western nations: Japanese routinely fought to the last man, almost no soldiers in history could ever be relied upon to do this. At Okinawa in 1944, Japanese civilians killed themselves en masse rather than be taken alive.

While Germany was able to fight effectively until the last months of the war, the Japanese were in major trouble much earlier. Troops in New Guinea were virtually abandoned in 1943 because the Japanese Navy could not supply them. The Japanese were economically crippled but showed no inclination to surrender, they were utterly imbued with willingness to die that even today's Islamists cannot replicate.

There was no chance whatsoever of an internal coup, unlike in Germany, because the Emperor's authority was total and he was too weak/uncaring to spare his population, while the military junta eliminated all opposition years earlier in its rise to power.

Given these factors, what choice did Truman have? A land invasion of Japan would have cost hundreds of thousands of casualties, simply in order to convince the Japanese of a defeat that was inevitable and, indeed, effective. Thousands died in China and elsewhere every day the war continued, in a brutal war of annihilation- all carried out in th Emperor's name. Allied prisoners were dying like flies in the last months of the war as the Japanese sought to 'consume' them before defeat.

Truman was not to know the consequences of the a-bomb beyond their incredible destructive potential. If the technology was not leaked, there was little possibility of other nations acquiring the technology. The Japanese leadership had no desire to surrender, and given defeat was inevitable it was up to them to spare their people, not Truman. Even after Hiroshima, they were paralysed... unable to surrender because of their pathetic and evil sense of 'honour'.

After Nagasaki, Hirohito finally did what he should have done years earlier- he was the evil bastard, not Truman... and he lived a life of privilege until 1989.

Answer 2

Because of several reasons, 1. The invasion of Japan would have likely cost over a million men's lives, 2. The Japanese had never surrendered and an attack on Japan would likely result in the same 'never surrender' approach, 3. It would quickly end the war without the need of a massive invasion attempt that would likely have taken a year or more to succeed, if it could have. History has judged it and some favorable and some unfavorable judgments have arisen, yet we cannot predict what would've happened had the invasion have taken place rather than the bombing.

Answer 3

The march to Tokyo was a long one and started on an atoll called Tarawa. Each successive step towards the Japanese mainland was more brutal. The tenacity with which the Japanese fought on land that wasn't even Japanese soil had people very concerned about the losses that would be taken once we reached the Japanese mainland. The battle for Okinawa gave some insight about how tough a landing on mainland Japan might be. Allied troops lost 12,500 troops with another 39,000 wounded. The Japanese lost 66,000 troops with 17,000 wounded. Those were just the military numbers. There were also 150,000 civilians killed in the battle.

After enduring this battle for an island of just 456 square miles, the casualties that would have been totalled during a landing on the mainland would be mind boggling.

Answer 4

It's funny how I was thinking about that today because I was watching a Vietnamese TV show imitating American Soldiers and I thought, I can't believe they have gotten over all the damage the US did to them. I also thought of all the damage the Atomic Bomb did to Japan. Not only did it kill off the people that were directly struck but also left the survivors radioactive. I think it was a war strategy to destroy Hiroshima and then rebuild it. Most likely Halliburton rebuilt Hiroshima, the same way they're rebuilding Iraq. We destroy and then rebuild it. It's all about the money.

Answer 5

To end the war was is official line,
but many of my sources say that he was trying to scare Stalin's communist Russia, which was getting more aggressive. The demonstration of the bomb led right into the Cold War.

Many military officials opposed the bomb, including Eisenhower (supreme commander of European Allied forces) AND MacArthur (supreme of Pacific). Also Head Navy Admiral and Truman's own adviser. They believed that the war was essentially won. Some say the US intentionally ignored Japanese peace attempts.

Answer 6

i think he saw it as the most reasonable of 2 options. the other option would have been to invade japan and that would have resulted in thousands of more allied deaths. the day before the 2 bombs were dropped was the single largest bombing raid on japan to date. Truman was trying to make them surrender before he had to drop the bombs but the Japanese were a very proud and stubborn people.

Answer 7

To terrorize Japanese proletariat after the defeat of Japanese Army.Always that an Army is deffeated , oppresed people reacts against the oppressor, in this case the Japanese ruling class, USA droped the A bombs to help the Japanese fascist regime.Its the same reason why so a few Nazis were condemned ( the Judge at Nuremberg was an US "judge").Why didn´t the allied let the German people to try the Nazis?

Answer 8

As I understand it, it was to greatly minnimize the lives of American troops lost in the war if Truman had implimented the alternative: a full scale land invasion of the Japanese mainland.

Answer 9

First of all, since it was the first time that they had used the bomb, no one was aware of its power, or conceive of its power. Of course, that does not explain the second time, but then looking at the devastation at ground level and the future consequences could not have been known
The other is the old argument that he wanted to forestall the loss of lives that would have ensued from an invasion given the fighting on Okinawa.

Answer 10

To being the war to a conclusion much faster than fighting the japanese all the way to Tokyo. Guaranteed that many 10s of thousands of lives - American and Japanese were saved. It is truly a shame that so many died and suffered but the numbers and suffering were smaller by far.