"It's 70 years later, but it so imprints us. Almost everything about American society is affected by World War II: our feelings about race; our feelings about gender and the empowerment of women, moving women into the workplace; our feelings about our role in the world. All of that comes in a very direct way out of World War II."
The wise words of Rick Atkinson, an author who won a Pulitzer Prize for history, gives an interesting perspective to the results of World War 2. Naturally the simple idea of war give off a negative conotation, however, Atkinson’s words allows a different view on the situation by mentioning the postives that came out of the war. During the World War 2, there was a lot of difficult choices to be made that if they had…show more content… Nevertheless, it is without question that whatever the reason may be for war, it is all factored by fear. For instance, “ But then the bombing of Nagasaki had demonstrated otherwise, and a lie told by a downed American pilot convinced War Minister Korechika Anami that the Americans had as many as a hundred bombs. (The official scientific report confirming the bomb was atomic arrived at Imperial Headquarters on the 10th). Even so, hours of meetings and debates lasting well into the early morning hours of the 10th still resulted in a 3-3 deadlock. Prime Minister Suzuki then took the unprecedented step of asking Emperor Hirohito, who never spoke at cabinet meetings, to break the deadlock” (Barnes, Micheal, The Descion To Use the Atomic Bomb: Arguments in Support). The quotation above demonstrates the fact that fear is what controls each war and ends it. Although, the first atomic bomb was already used upon Nagasaki, the war general was not convinved until he was told that the Americans had ownership to 100 more bombs similar to the one they dropped. The war ended as quickly as it had started, the fear of the weapons had forced the Prime Minister to make draw back. The amount of power that comes with the atomic weapons is powerful and can influence the way that other countries view us, therefore, the weapons are reinforcing our…show more content… For instance, ¨Both were in Japan: Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Just two bombs caused the death of over 129,000 people, with many of them being civilians. Acute effects from the bombs may have contributed to the deaths of over 250,000 additional people in the following decades ¨(16 Pros and Cons of Nuclear Weapons). The amount of deaths that were caused by the atomic bomb was and still is unforgivable, however, there were many reasons that had to be taken into consideration before the descion of the bombing occured. The possibility of a ground invasion is poissble, however, the results may be negative for both sides. For instance, ¨“Truman and his military advisers assumed that a ground invasion would “be opposed not only by the available organized military forces of the Empire, but also by a fanatically hostile population." Documents discovered after the war indicated that they were right. Despite knowing the cause was hopeless, Japan planned a resistance so ferocious, resulting in costs so appalling, that they hoped that the United States would simply call for a cease fire where each nation would agree to stop fighting and each nation would retain the territory they occupied at the time. Almost one-quarter million Japanese casualties were expected in the invasion. Truman wrote, “My object is to save as many American lives as possible but I also have a
