Introduction: President Truman was faced with a dilemma before he chose to use the atomic bomb to attack the Japanese
Body:
Paragraph1: a description of the atomic bomb. Why were the United States compelled to use it
Conclusion: Japan’s actions of defiance forced President Truman to use the atomic bomb to end the war.
Essay
The debate surrounding the atomic bombings of Japan by the United States on 6 August 1945 at the end of the Second World War is fundamentally based on the legal, moral and military controversies that forced President Truman to sanction the use of nuclear bomb against Japan. On 25 July 1945 President Truman, Winston Churchill the then prime minister of United Kingdom and Chiang Kai-Shek who was the Chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Government had issued a declaration made during the Potsdam conference. The resolution outlined the terms under which Japan were to surrender as had agreed during the conference. Japan had been given an ultimatum to surrender failure to which it would face quick and destruction. Even though the warning declared that rejection of the surrender order would lead to total obliteration, the declaration did not mention any use of weapons of mass destruction. Consequently, the Japanese military authority out rightly snubbed the request for unconditional surrender On May 1945, just a few months before the nuclear bomb was dropped the united states had engaged itself in heavy fighting against the Japanese in at Okinawa and Iwo Jima. The fighting had proved bloody with the United States sustaining more than 75000 casualties in those battles. These victories gave the US an assurance of being within a distance that made air strikes possible on the Japanese mainland (Maxine 24). The Japanese had bombed the Pearl Harbor just four years prior the bombing to instigate the entrance of the United States into the conflict. The memory of the attack was still fresh and clear in the minds of most Americans. A feeling of justification and a wish for the quick ending of the war reinforced the determination of the US to promptly and resolutely end the war.
When the Japanese authority ultimately rejected the terms and condition as laid out in the Potsdam Declaration, President Truman sanctioned the use of the atomic bomb after 3rd August 1945 at any given time after the deadline of the period given in the Potsdam Declaration had elapsed. On August 6, 1945, the United States launched the first nuclear missile bomb, nicknamed Little Boy and was dropped on Hiroshima (Alperovitz, Messer and Bernstein 206). The missile killed over 60 percent of the city residents. More than 70,000 people died instantly in a sweltering heat wave. Three days after the launching of the first missile another missile was launched, nicknamed Fatman was dropped on Nagasaki. More than 20,000 inhabitants died instantaneously. In the following weeks, after the bombs were dropped, thousands of Japanese died due to exposure to radiation caused by the nuclear bombs. A few months after the bombing, Radiation Effects Research Foundation gave an analysis that an estimated population of between 90,000 and 166000 people had died in Hiroshima and a further estimate of about 60,000 to 80,000 had died in Nagasaki. These death toll figures included those who had died during the bombing and also those who died due to the acute radiation exposure caused by the nuclear bombs. Among the long-term effects caused by the radiation left behind by the nuclear bombs was leukemia. Two years after the bombs were dropped increased cases of leukemia were reported, and this cases became more prevalent four to six years after the nuclear attack (Okawa 45). Children were the most affected by the condition. Attributable risks, which refers to the percentage difference in the rate of incidence of a particular condition compared between an exposed population and unexposed one. Radiation Effects Research Foundation gave the Attributable risks of leukemia at 46 percent for bomb victims. Children represent the population that was affected most severely. These findings show the enormous effect of radiation on incidences of leukemia. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation estimates the Attributable risk of leukemia to be 46% for bomb victims. However, for all the other types of cancer there was no significant increase until ten years after the nuclear attack. Cancer increase was noted first in 1956 and later cancer registries were opened in Nagasaki and Hiroshima to gather information on the surplus cancer threats that were being caused by exposure to radiation. The study projected the attributed rate of exposure to radiation to cancer to be at 10.7 percent; this is considerably lesser than that for leukemia. Seventy years after the nuclear bombings took place, a large percentage of the generation that witnessed the attack have passed away(World Health Organization). Presently more attention has been turned to the young children born to the survivors. Studies have shown that persons who were exposed to radiation before they were born have developed physical disabilities such as small head size or mental disability and in some cases impaired physical development. Presently, the dynamism of Nagasaki and Hiroshima acts as a cue not just about the ability of humankind to regenerate them but also of the level to which misinformation and fear can lead to erroneous expectations. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki was attacked, most people thought that the two cities had become a nuclear wasteland. Although the direct outcome of the atomic bombings was atrocious and terrifying, with immeasurable casualties, the use of nuclear weapons did indeed end one of the most destructive wars in human history. However when President Truman decided to use nuclear weapons he opened a Pandora’s box on how the world was going to use its nuclear capability.
Works Cited
Alperovitz, Gar, Robert L. Messer, and Barton J. Bernstein. "Marshall, Truman, and the Decision to Drop the Bomb." International Security (1991): 204-221.
Maxine, Taylor. Was the United States Justified in Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?, 2007. Pri Wainstock, Dennis D. The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb: Hiroshima and Nagasaki: August 1945. Enigma Books, 2013.nt.
Okawa, Ryuho. Was Dropping the Atomic Bombs a Crime against Humanity?: Insights from Harry S. Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt. New York: IRH Press Co., Ltd, 2014.
World Health Organization. International Committee of Experts in Medical Sciences, Public Health, and World Health Organization. Effects of Nuclear War on Health and Health Services: Report of the International Committee of ExpertsK Medical Sciences and Public Health to Implement Resolution WHA34. 38. No. 88. World Health Organization, 1984.
