Author = Kevin Swanger

Bombing of Hiroshima Paper

What I Leaned from Kevin's Paper

����������� Kevin�s paper has shown me a different side to the bombing of Hiroshima. I had always seen it as unnecessary to end the war, but a far better option as far as casualties were concerned. This paper points out that this may not have been the case, as some estimates predict less casualties than the bombing in the first thirty days, and it also would likely kill much less civilians than the atomic bomb.

����������� I was also never aware of the politics involved in the situation. It is weird that America would ask for help in the Pacific from Russia (as I�ve learned in History) and then change their mind over such an important issue. It does, however, make perfect sense why America would want to contain communism as much as it could. This doesn�t fit in with democracy though, it is Japan�s right as an independently sovereign nation to choose communism if it would like to. It makes it even worse that we killed so many innocent people for the cause. Now if we somehow new that Russia might force communism on them, then we would have a fairer reason, but still not right. It is also horrible that we may have used the bomb as intimidation to Russia or the rest of the world. Intimidation could�ve been achieved from a demonstration in a deserted area, and its power could be nearly equally seen without as many deaths.

����������� I never realized that there was some people who knew what would happen if we used a nuclear weapon. These scientists that foresaw the consequences I believe had the right idea (show the bombs power in an uninhabited area) and I would like to know how much they tried to have their voices heard, and stop the deaths of so many innocent people.

����������� I was glad to learn the reason of why the second bombing was so sudden after the first. As it was, it gave no time to react on the part of the Japanese government. It seems like such a bad reason though. If anything the date should have been pushed back for poor weather, not pushed forward. The Japanese might have surrendered with the extra time.

����������� Overall I can now see a different side to the bombing, because I had formally seen it as for the greater good, and a better solution than an invasion. Now I can see that there were other causes behind the fa�ade, and that maybe it wasn�t such a great decision, maybe America could�ve invaded and ended Japan�s islands the war quick enough.