Dropping the Atomic Bomb

1. What factors have affected viewpoints on Truman's decision?

• number of causualties for the Allies


• length of the war


• Japanese signals- showed that the Japanese military were determined to fight to the finish


• Military advice- US military officers wanted to use the bomb as weapon of war and try to achieve complete surprise

2. Do you think he made the right decision? Give your reasons.



I believe Truman made the right decision. This is so because of a couple of reasons. First the Japanese showed that they had no means of backing down or surrendering. Two examples were the battles for the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Japanese fought fiercely and even used kamikazes, ritual suicides in which aircraft pilots would purposely crash their planes into American fleets, instead of surrendering. After the bomb on Nagasaki, Japanese Emperor Hirohito and most of his government wanted to surrender but even then some of the Japanese military leaders attempted to overthrow Hirohito and continue the war. With the Japanese not wanting to surrender countless lives of the Allies and Japanese would be taken. It was also predicted that the war would continue on for one more year if the bombs were not used, inevitably taking even more lives. Finally most leaders of countries, such as Truman, trust their military adivsors to make the best decisions for the country in a state of war. The military wanted to end the war as soon as possible to prevent further loss of lives and thought weakening the moral of the Japanese people would do exactly so.