Relations between Japan and the U.S. were anything but good before, during, and after WW2. Tensions were high even before the beginning of WW2. In 1931, Japan was seeking to find raw materials to fuel its growing industries, so it invaded the Chinese providence of Manchuria. By 1937, Japan controlled large parts of China, and war crimes against the Chinese people were common. In 1934, Japan ended cooperation with many of the big powers across the world. Japan was criticized by the U.S. and many other world powers.
Relations only worsened when Japan took control of Indochina, intending to capture oil from rich areas in the East Indies. The U.S. responded to this by placing an embargo (ban or trade on activity with another country) on scrap metal, oil, and aviation fuel going to Japan, and stopped Japanese assets in the U.S. The U.S. commanded Japanese forces to withdraw from areas in China and Indochina. Japan began to plan an attack on Pearl Harbor by April 1941.
On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces bombed the U.S. naval base Pearl Harbor, officially bringing the U.S. into WW2. Japan sunk many ships, destroyed hundreds of planes, and killed thousands of people. Japan’s goal was to weaken the U.S. fleet, and they almost succeeded. The American people were shocked and angered. During the war, the U.S. hopped from Island to Island. The Japanese were good fighters and every fight was more costly and claimed more lives. The last major battle was the fight in Okinawa, it lasted 3 months and took at least 100,00 lives.
President Roosevelt (the president during the war) passed away in on April 12, 1945, and President Truman was now in charge of how to end the war. The president and his advisors thought of invasion but it would be too costly. President Truman had heard of the Manhattan Project, a secret scientific effort to make an atomic bomb. After a successful test of the bomb, Truman issued the Potsdam Declaration and demanded a surrender of the Japanese government, warning them of “prompt and utter destruction.” Eleven days later there was no reply. The President decided to drop the bombs. On August 6, Enola Gay took a route to Japan and dropped a bomb on Hiroshima at 8:15 pm. In the first few minutes, there were about 80,000 deaths, and thousands of others died from radiation sickness. On August 9, we dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki. 39,000 people were killed and 25,000 were injured. Japan then surrendered to the United States.
In my opinion, I think that we were right in dropping the bombs. They attacked us first, killed many people, and damaged lots of our equipment. They also refused to surrender when the war was over. I can see both sides, but I believe we did what we needed to do.
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/education/presidential-inquiries/decision-drop-atomic-bomb
Q1. Do you think we should have bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Q2. Do you think President Truman did the right thing?
Replies
I believe that violence is wrong but if they did attack us first then I do believe that is was our right to respond to their attack. It was a very hard choice that not a lot of people could make but President Truman thought about many ways and chose the one he thought was best.
I dont think violence is always the answer but they attacked first. They couldve responded back faster so not many people were hurt and they shouldve surrendered faster. It was probally very difficult choice and how many lives it killed for our president at the time President Truman.
I agree with you, but I can also see how violence is not the answer. It is hard to make a choice where a lot of people will die.
I don't believe in the violence of killing others but they did attack us first. They also should have responded back sooner and surrendered. I believe president Truman did the right thing even though it was probably a very difficult choice considering how many lives it would end up taking.
I see how it was a very difficult decision to make. I agree that they should have responded sooner and surrendered.
I do think that Japan was being a jerk and had to be put in it's place, but I think that the US was a little overkill (as always *RAAAHHHH*) and that we should have done something a little bit less than the nukes that were dropped. I think he did what he needed to do but once again, it was overkill. RAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!
Don't mess with the United States of Amarica.
question 1, now with the information we know i don't thing we should have bombed them it killed many innocent people that didn't deserve it and had no warning. question 2, with the information we have now no, and back then in the moment i still think he should have thought about it more but i understand how he made a bad desision in the moment.
I see your point about how killing innocent people is wrong. I still think that we needed to bomb them to protect us.
I think that it was the correct thing to do. It cause lots of damage for peoples lives. However, if we didnt retaliate back we would potensially still be in war. Dropping the bombs saved lives in a way because invading wouldve been much more deadly.
I think we have the right to bomb because they attacked first. If we didn't show defense who knows what the Japanese were going to do. I do think the bombs did a lot of damage but I believe if we didn't bomb back then everything would of gotten destroyed. I think Presdient Truman did the right thing.
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