Atomic Bomb Argument

The U.S dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, ending WWII. The first one was dropped on Hiroshima, the second on Nagasaki. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was completely needed and justifiable. While, yes, it was incorrect on moral standards, it was necessary to end the war.

If the bomb wasn’t dropped, the war could and would have gone on for much longer, and according to the Christian Century article in the handout, we saved more than one million American lives and 250,000 British lives. The Japanese are known to never give up, and basically fight to the death. They would not have stopped had we not dropped the bombs. An experts believed they had enough suicide bombers and power left to kill at least one million, if not more, lives. Without the bombs, it is likely that an American invasion would have been necessary, which would have caused more casualties of innocent lives than the bombs did in the first place.

Many also argue that the Japanese were not fairly warned, and if they had been told that a bomb was going to be dropped they would have surrendered. This is not true. First, the Japanese were warned of destruction beyond imagination, and leaflets were dropped everywhere telling them of the mass destruction to come. The chances of them not knowing what was coming are next to nothing. Second, even if they had known, it is likely that they would not have surrendered. Even after we dropped the first bomb, they didn’t surrender, proving they wouldn’t have surrendered before we dropped one. Others argued that we should have shown them how much destruction would come by dropping it on a deserted place. However, with the fact that they didn’t surrender after the first bomb was dropped, killing 140,000 people, which was 60,000 people more than the second bomb, there is no way they would have surrendered if they saw the bomb when it killed no one.

Lastly, the usage and placement of the bombs was thought about for a lengthy...