Why did Truman decide to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?

Question

A. Scientists had just created it during World War II and wanted to test it.
B. Japan was going to attack Hawaii again.
C. Truman did not want more American soldiers to die fighting Japan.
D. Before Roosevelt died, he told Truman to use the atomic bomb.

I'm pretty sure D is wrong...

Answer 1

C. While it can be argued either way whether more Japanese would have died resisting a huge amphibious invasion than did in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (I believe this is true), there can be no doubt many American soldiers would have died if the invasion had been necessary. While intentional killing of civilian populations might amount to a warcrime, it is a fact that a nation at war must value the lives of its own people higher than those of the enemy.
There is some truth to A., but I doubt it was a major determinant. B. was far beyond Japan's capability by the end-stages of the war. I agree with you that D. is not correct: Roosevelt did not confide anything about the Manhattan Project to Truman before he died.

Answer 2

Actually none of the answers you have there are correct. He dropped the bomb after being asked one question by a senator. That question was "Mr President what will you have to say to the american people about why you chose not to drop the a bomb on Japan at your impeachment hearing" This question made Truman realize that the American people wanted the war over now and the only way to do that was to drop the bomb.

Answer 3

C is partly true. The fact is that the Japanese were so trained that they would have fought to the last man, woman, and child to defend the Emperor. In order to cut short the wholesale destruction of the nation and more destruction of our own troops, Truman ordered the dropping of the bomb. It is evidence that this view of the Japanese was correct in that it took 2 bombs on two different cities before they would surrender--finally-- at the Emperor's order. A related aside is that a Japanese soldier was still found hiding out in the hills of one of the Philippine islands in the 1960's, thinking the war had not ended yet.

Was it the right thing to do? It was the quickest way to stop it at that time. Did it open up a can of nuclear worms?
Perhaps the can would have opened itself anyway. But, perhaps not. But it was a terrible death and there is nothing to be said on the other side of that.

Maggie

Answer 4

c. didn't want more American soldiers to die fighting Japan.
There was war all over the globe from the Germans killing people in gas chambers to the slaughter of the Russians.
If it took all the American soldiers to fight the Japanese we probably would not have won the war.
There has never been a weapon created that hasn't been used. If they think they are losing the war they will use any method available to win. If some how the terriorists gets their hands on a nuclear weapon and uses it on the USA. They will retialiate next time with a nuclear weapon. I think they have about established that they do not want to lose anymore men in Iraq. They are almost hoping for another terriorist attack and they will retialiate in kind.

Answer 5

President Truman stayed awake for 48 hours before making the decision. He met and listened to every advisor and military officer.

Estimated US casualties were 500,000 in an invasion of Japan. Aside from those more than that number of Japanese civilians .

He chose two of the least populated islands. Leaflets by the millions were dropped, warning the population to evacuate.
No one could imagine the devastation that was in store.

"C" He did not want 1/2 million more soldiers to die, or more Japanese.

Answer 6

C. Truman did not want more American soldiers to die fighting Japan.
~

Answer 7

History books would say C....but there's a more intriguing answer...

When interviewed well after the war, many scientists said this:
We built it...and once it was built it HAD to be used, if nothing else to show the world it's destructive capabilities...could you have imagined if we kept it a state secret, the rusians did the same, and we used it on each other during the cold war without knowing it's capabilities...pandora was out of the box, but we could ensure that it was never used again

Answer 8

C is the answer. As horrible as it was, it was better that the quarter million people die in the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks than invade Japan and lose 500,000 americans and probably 1 Million or more Japanese. Of course, we let the genie out of the bottle; it's called lose-lose.

Answer 9

C. The war had reached the point where the next step would have been an invasion of Japan itself, which would have surely cost hundreds of thousands of casualties. With the Japanese remaining unwilling to surrender, the decision was made to drop the bomb in order to get them to give up, and avoid the invasion.

Answer 10

C is only half of it. Truman sent a message to Japan to surrender but they didn't so he ordered the bombs to be dropped.