Atomic Bomb

– Pro And Con Essay, Research Paper

THE ATOMIC BOMB

The United States entered World War Two after the Japanese bombed Pear Harbor on December 7, 1941. After four years of war, and the death of hundreds of thousands of people across the world, an end of the war was necessary. In hopes of achieving this, US President Harry Truman ordered the bombing of Japan with a secret weapon, “the little boy”. On August 6th, 1945, US pilot Colonel Paul W. Tibbets flying a B-29 named after his mother, Enola Gay, dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan. The devastation and destruction caused by the bombing has been the focus of many arguments over whether or not the United States should have dropped the atomic bomb, but despite, whether or not people support the bomb being dropped, it was and thousands of Japanese died because of it.

At 8:15am, on the morning of August 6, 1945 Colonel Tibbets dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima missing his target by 800 feet. At that instant the lives of Hiroshima citizens were changed. The decisions made by most people of Hiroshima that morning resulted in their death or their survival. The people of Hiroshima heard nothing, but saw a bright bluish light, and within seconds windows exploded. An enormous mushroom cloud of black smoke rose over the city and a ball of flame seemed to be in its center. For 80 percent of the people that lived within a radius of 1500 feet from the site of the blast, death was either instantly or shortly followed the blast. Most others suffered for weeks and some even months. Most people in the city received burns from the second heat wave. Fires sprung up all over the city, in some places reaching as high as 3000-degrees Celsius. Raw and festering red burns covered victims, skin dangled from their bloated bodies, and their hair was burned to a crisp. Those that survived the blast walked around the city half-naked or naked, their clothes being burned off. These survivors walked around the city searching for their loved ones and a safe place to go, while black gritty rain fell from the sky and the nauseating odors of open cremations filled the air. These survivors walked passed charred corpses and bodies, whose eyes, ears, noses, and mouths were either burned or melted away. They blocked out the screams for water and help from those trapped under the wreckage caused by the collapse of most of the city’s buildings. People vomited a yellow liquid caused by the radiation, and within days, bodies were disfigured, mouths were too swollen to talk or chew, people were covered by small purple spots, their gums were sore, their hair fell out, and they had bloody stool. The death of an estimated 130,000 people and the suffering of thousands of others was the accomplishment, some commend and others denounce, of the atomic bomb.

Many people will argue that the United States was justified in the dropping of the atom bomb. These people believe the dropping of the atomic bomb was necessary for Japan’s surrender and the end of World War Two. Before the bombing, Japan refused to except the unconditional surrender offered to them by the Potsdam Declaration, and in response to the Declaration Japan prepared every man, woman, and child to fight till death. There was no possibility that Japan would surrender. The pride of the Japanese would not allow them to surrender and many of Japan’s soldiers fought in a kamikaze style, committing suicide to kill at least one enemy soldier. President Truman needed some method other than the Potsdam Declaration to force the Japanese to surrender, he found that in the atomic bomb. The use of the atomic bomb was believed to be the only way to end the war quickly with the fewest American casualties. The only other option would be a military invasion of the Japanese mainland, which was estimated to produce a million American casualties, as well as Japanese. Dropping the atomic bomb was the only solution that would end the war, force the Japanese to surrender, and save the most American and Japanese lives.

Despite the justifications provided by people, who support the dropping of the atomic bomb, there are an equal number of reasons why other people believe it should never have happened. The destruction cause by the bomb is one major justification for why it should not have been used. The US did not know the amount of damage the bomb was going to create, or the effects it would have on the people effected by the radiation. The dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was an inhumane act of cruelty and murder to over a hundred thousand Japanese, and the twenty-three American prisoners of war that were being held in Hiroshima at the time the bomb was dropped. The US should have held back from dropping the bomb until knowledge of the bombs full power was known. The US should have demonstrated its power to Japan by bombing an unpopulated area, not incinerating a Japanese city. The continuation of naval blockade around Japan would have weakened the already low resources, and possible cause means for a Japanese surrender.