In the early 1940’s America was involved in a second world war. The war had originated in Europe as a result of German attacks on Poland and Russia. During this time the United States was staying neutral until on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese air force bombed the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This horrific act by the Japanese forced the U.S out of neutrality and got them immediately involved in the war. After series of devastating battles throughout the Pacific with Japan starting in 1942, The Japanese were on the verge of defeat. Truman gave the Japanese government several opportunities to surrender, but they refused to do so. At this time President Truman was faced with the most important decision of his presidency, whether or not he should use the United States’ newest weapon the atomic bomb, on Japan. The other option was to have a mainland invasion of Japan, which would result in the death of thousands of American soldiers. Truman knew that dropping the bomb would ultimately bring an end to the war. Eventually Truman made his decision and on August 6, 1945 he authorized the dropping of the Atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, and again on Nagasaki, Japan three days later, with a main purpose of preventing a mainland invasion.
The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese was the reason why the untied States entered the war. The U.S. had clearly stated that we were going to remain neutral throughout the course of the war, so the attack on Pearl Harbor was completely unexpected and unprovoked. This attack created a huge feeling of racism throughout the United States towards the Japanese, and America wanted to get them back for what they did to our people. In 1942, The U.S. army was in its own war in the Pacific with Japan. At this time, Japan had controlled most of the territory near the Pacific, and we wanted to fight for control for ourselves. In the battle of the Coral Sea, the United States completely demolished the Japanese forces and eliminated them as an offense threat in this area. For the next two years, the United States pursued an advance on Japan. In 1945, American troops invaded Iwo Jima, 700 miles from Japan. There, Americans battled thousands of Japanese soldiers in order to secure this area for American forces. The U.S. army suffered around 25,000 casualties as a result of this attack. Next, American troops invaded Okinawa which was 350 miles off the coast of Japan. This attack was in effort to prepare for the invasion of the Japanese homelands. After eighty three days of fighting, almost the entire Japanese battalion of 110,000 had perished as well as 80,000 civilians. The U.S. also suffered a serious loss of 50,000 casualties. Despite the loss, the attack on Japan was not over. The United States next bombarded the city of Tokyo, Japan with 300 B-29 airplane bombers, in which over 100,000 people had died. On May 14, 500 B-29 bomber planes attacked the city of Nagoya, which was Japan’s third largest industrial city. The New York Times called this attack, “The greatest concentration of fire bombs in the history of aerial warfare.” After these attacks over 5 square miles of Tokyo were completely destroyed, but the Japanese governments showed no signs of surrendering.
President Truman was now faced with a difficult decision. In June, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff scheduled an invasion of the Japanese island of Kyushu for November, as well as an invasion of the island of Honshu later in 1946 if necessary. These invasions would result in devastating losses to the American army. The American forces had also just faced serious losses in the bloodiest battle in history, the Battle of the Bulge, fought against Nazi forces of Germany in December of 1944, in which over 70,000 American soldiers were killed. Also, after facing serious losses at both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, another invasion would cost the Americans too much. President Truman knew how drastic a decision it would be to send in this invasion, so he offered Japan anther opportunity to surrender. After offering this proposal the United States later received this information about the policy of the Japanese government. “The basic policy of the Japanese government is to fight as long as possible in the hope of avoiding complete defeat and of acquiring a better bargaining position in a negotiated peace.” Truman had to take action somehow against the Japanese government, and his choice was to either launch this mainland invasion of Japan, or use America’s new weapon the atomic bomb. Eventually, Truman decided that the mainland invasion would be to devastating to the United States forces, and decided to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima completely obliterated the city. Over 70,000 people died form the initial blast, and another 50-60,000 died in the next several months from burns as well as radiation poisoning. The victims consisted of both Japanese soldiers as well as civilians. After the first bombing of Hiroshima, the U.S. government once again gave the Japanese a chance to surrender. U.S. planes dropped leaflets throughout Japan, warning them that if they did not immediately surrender another bomb of this magnitude would be dropped. Japan again refused, and three days later Truman dropped another bomb on the city of Nagasaki, killing over 35,000. On August 14, the Japanese government finally agreed to the American terms of surrender. About a month later, on September 2, World War II was officially declared over.
There were a few other reasons why President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb on Japan that were not as important as preventing a mainland invasion. These other reasons consisted of preparing for the most likely war with Russia, then known as the Soviet Union, as well as that dropping the atomic bomb saved the United States government a lot of money. During this time Russia was had gained control over the European territories that the German forces had previously controlled as a result of their victory over the Nazis in the battle of Stalingrad. The Russians forces had control over mainly all of Eastern Europe, and The United States started to see them as a threat. President Truman knew that if we dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, and completely obliterate it, that this would display a great deal of power and give us an edge over the Soviet forces. It would also show that our science and technology was far superior to that of Russia’s. Dropping the bomb would also prove to the Soviet Union that the United States government was willing to take drastic measure’s in order to achieve victory, and that if it was necessary we would be willing to take these same actions against them. Although the upcoming war with Russia was an important issue, preventing a mainland invasion was a far more superior reason to drop the bomb. The fact that we didn’t have another invasion on Japan saved thousands of America lives, and that is far more important than anything else. Proving our technology was superior was beneficial, but it was not as important as saving the lives of many American soldiers. Another reason why preventing a mainland invasion was the main reason for dropping the bomb is because the war with the Soviet Union hasn’t even happened yet. America was mainly focused on the effects that the bomb would have on the current state of their forces, rather than an issue that would occur in the near future. Preventing the mainland invasion of Japan was without a doubt the main reason for Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb.
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