Atomic Bomb Dbq

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Justifying the Atomic Bomb
Through the United States’ isolationism caused by the Great Depression dictators arose across the sea in Europe. While the dictators rose in Europe so did Japan. Having opened up to foreign trade, it began to quickly catch up to other international superpowers. This exponential growth in trade caused Japan to pick up speed and begin to search for more land to gain resources for its growing population. As many know the United States was dragged out of the Great Depression by the cost of the second World War, but it was also given the moral dilemma of the atomic bomb. While the use of the atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki were horrific, and caused enemy civilians who had never lifted arms to begin with to …show more content…
During the start of America’s involvement in the war, the United States joined the race against Germany to create the first atomic bomb. In the Manhattan Project, America created the first and only atomic bombs because Germany stopped the progress of the bomb’s creation due to lack of resources and money. People are correct that the damage inflicted from this bomb was unimaginable and many suffered directly from the release, radiation poisoning, and destruction of their livelihoods, but eventually someone else would create this weapon of mass destruction (Doc. 12). James Franck, a scientist involved in the Manhattan Project, described how America’s drop of the atomic bomb would cause the U.S. to “sacrifice public support throughout the world, precipitate the race for armaments, and prejudice the possibility of reaching an international agreement on the future control of such weapons” (Doc. 8.). Although this is all true, America at this time just came out of a period of isolation after World War 1, and was thriving because of the economic burst from the second World War. So America losing public support may not have been the worst possible outcome, especially since it would most likely to continue to have the support of the other Allies fighting in the …show more content…
President Truman confirmed that in “a committee of top men” they all supported the decision and emphasized it be used sooner rather than later and without warning (Doc. 1). While one could argue all of this committee supported the drop of the bomb because the committee was formed by Truman, his statement made is meant to defend his actions to the American people. The parallel planning to the atomic bomb of the invasion of Japan would cause a huge amount of Japanese and American deaths. Japan put peace feelers in Moscow, and Americans were able to decode radio messages to gain the knowledge that Japan would not surrender unconditionally (Doc.5). Even though the Allies could have been willing to negotiate surrender terms, to expect the United States to let its own citizens die in order to save a foreign enemy country’s citizens is unrealistic. The U.S. did its best to avoid unnecessary deaths, but when the decision is “ours vs. theirs” justifying the use of the bomb is made easier. In the Battle of Iwo Jima there were around 20,000 casualties on each side. In the Battle of Okinawa there were 11,900 soldiers killed in action and 37,000 wounded in action, and 107,500 Japanese military members killed along with 150,000 civilian deaths (Doc. 4). These statistics were collected by the “Congressional Research Service” and served to compare the estimated casualties on both sides. Based on the death
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