Why U.S was Obligated to Drop Bombs

I believe the atomic bombing on August 6, 1945 during World War II, through the city of Hiroshima and the city of Nagasaki was a good decision and saved more Americans in the long run. Waiting for the Japanese to surrender and put an end to the war themselves,which would have been highly unlikely, would have put many U.S. lives in danger. The end of the war slowed the spread of the Japanese controlled the shortage of supplies in 1945, avoiding around one to two million deaths. The Japanese gave no signs that they were ready to give up and stop fighting, so Truman was forced to authorized the bomb, because it appeared to offer the most effective way to produce an American victory on American terms with the lowest cost in American lives, which was the ultimate goal.

 

  By the summer of 1945, hundreds and even thousands of American, Australian and British soldiers were prisoners of the war for more than three years. These brave soldiers were being used as slaves at work camps throughout Japan, China, and Southeast Asia. President Truman knew that while they were trained to survive most were near death from malnutrition and harsh overwork in bad conditions. When the United States had freed some of the prisoners in 1944, the circumstances  they found were unbelievable and absolutely unnecessarily cruel, many had past way, and Truman knew that other prisoners must be freed soon or none of them would survive causing more American soldiers and their allies soldiers deaths. Without the atomic bomb, the United States would have to invade and attack the home islands of Japan, which would be very hard and cause many deaths. Casualty estimates predicted hundreds and thousands to more than one million Americans would be wounded, killed, or missing in the action. Harry Truman decided that he must use the atomic bomb to end the war as quickly as possible, and while he hated to do this to innocint citizens in the long run, he would save American lives as well as other countries fighting alongside of The United States of America.

 

  Truman also knew that Japan had a code called 'the way of the warrior' that was very respected as a Japanese soldier. Each and every soldier knew the requirements of the code, which were to  never be captured, never break down, and never surrender. Surrender was dishonorable to their country. Each soldier was taught to fight till death, and was expected to die before suffering dishonor to their country. When Truman discovered this, he was smart enough to know that Japan was not  going to give up at all, and it would take something extraordinary, like an atomic bomb to end this war. He knew an invasion would end the war quicker than an other alternatives so he had to make a tough decision.

 

   By August, 1945, the ?defeated' Japanese Empire was costing the United States nine hundred  casualties a day. We had firebombed over sixty cities and destroyed most of their factories, yet they were still fighting back insanely hard with no intentions to stop or even slow down. So while some might say the use of atomic bombs was unnecessary or too aggressive, it was a hard decision that needed to be made. As a President Truman's job was to do what was best for his country, and having nine hundred casualties a day was not in the best interest for the country, so he had to do something to stop it, and quick.

 

 Truman decided that the best decision for America was to drop the bombs. The Little Boy exploded with about thirteen kilotons of force, leveling five square miles of the city and killing eighty thousand people instantly. Tens of thousands more victims later died of radiation exposure. When the Japanese did not immediately surrender, the United States was worried so we dropped a second atomic bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki. The Fat Man killed an estimated forty thousand people on impact. The purpose of the second bomb was to show the Japanese that we had power, and to lead them to think that we had more power than we did. This lead then to surrender and the war to officially end.

 

  As you can imagine the devastation of sixty million dead and fifty million forced to leave their homes and city. People lost friends and loved ones, and didn't really know how to move on with life. Many people tried to go on without food, water, and jobs and thousands more died from famine and disease. United States gave Japan two billion dollars to restart their economy and the Japanese Emperor became a figurehead.  The victorious allies put Japan under international control. U.S. General Douglas MacArthur was supreme commander for the reconstruction of Japan. Goals for reconstruction were democratic self-government, economic stability, and peaceful Japanese co-existence with the community of nations. The United States is still obligated to protect Japan to this day.

 

Overall I believe the United States was obligated to drop the two atomic bombs. While we did cause heartache and economical issues we were protecting American lives which is ultimately our main goal. We also helped rebuild the economy and are still helping other countries thrive today. The atomic bombs were not meant to be personal attacks but strictly business, which is why we chose to drop them.

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