Was it right for America to use the atomic bomb on Japan'?

Answer 1

America was wrong in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki My main argument for why the United States should not have dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is because they killed an unnecessary amount of innocent civilians. Most of the people killed were civilians and not military personnel, which made the bombings immoral and were only dropped to scare them into surrendering even though their military had not been severely attacked. We all know that life is not always fair, but by dropping the bombs, America had an extremely unfair advantage. Battles were going back and forth how they always had until America decided to show its power and drop the atomic bombs. They were not, however, the only country with such a weapon, but it had not been used by Another Country because it was very possible to win without such an immoral weapon. In the Potsdam Declaration, we did not mention the atomic bomb. We told Japan that if they didn't surrender then we would destroy their military. It was not right for us to not tell them how drastic of a measure we were really willing to take. If they had known that we were considering dropping the bomb, they might have surrendered earlier and then no one would have died in the process. The bomb was not our only choice. We could have ended the war politically instead of militarily. By jumping to conclusions and quickly making decisions, we killed many people that did not need to be killed in order to end the war. "The stark fact is that the Japanese leaders, both military and civilian, including the Emperor, were willing to surrender in May of 1945 if the Emperor could remain in place and not be subjected to a war crimes trial after the war. This fact became known to President Truman as early as May of 1945. The Japanese monarchy was one of the oldest in all of history dating back to 660 B.C. The Japanese religion added the belief that all the Emperors were the direct descendants of the sun goddess, Amaterasu. The reigning Emperor Hirohito was the 124th in the direct line of descent. After the bombs were dropped on August 6 and 9 of 1945, and their surrender soon thereafter, the Japanese were allowed to keep their Emperor on the throne and he was not subjected to any war crimes trial. The Emperor, Hirohito, came on the throne in 1926 and continued in his position until his death in 1989. Since President Truman, in effect, accepted the conditional surrender offered by the Japanese as early as May of 1945, the question is posed, "Why then were the bombs dropped?" - John V. Denson America was right in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki One reason is because Japan probably would not have been so sudden to surrender otherwise. In the movie we watched, they talked about how the Japanese were very surprised when the emperor agreed to surrender. They were used to the fight 'till death idea and they followed it until after the bomb was dropped and they surrendered. The battles at Okinawa and Iwo Jima demonstrated how difficult it would have been if we had invaded Japan. They showed that many American's would die along with many Japanese. By dropping the bomb, America saved many of its own soldiers and quickly killed off the Japanese as well as ending the war more quickly than if they had battled. Another reason that it was good for the U. S. to drop the bomb was to keep from Russia getting involved. We didn't want them to take sides against us and turn our chances of winning the war and extending the war. By dropping the bomb, we showed Russia the amount of power we had so they would not get involved. If they had joined the war, there is a possibility that either more Americans died or we might not have ended the war and won. When Japan declined the Potsdam Declaration which was sent to them saying that if they did not surrender we would destroy their military, we knew we would have to begin what we declared we would do. Dropping the bombs didn't wipe out the entire military but it served more as a warning for what was to come if they didn't surrender. America had been firebombing other Japanese cities. Continuing this instead of dropping the bomb probably would have killed just as many people, so dropping the bomb was just a faster, more effective way of doing it. One final point is that by showing the world the effect of the bomb at this time prevented any other nations from using it later on. During the Cold War for example, if the USSR and the US hadn't known about the effects of the bomb, either one of them could have tried it out then, possibly altering the outcome of the Cold War.

Answer 2

No, of course not. War is never 'right'. Better to go out and plant gardens for food, than it is to have a war.

War can be justified and those who say it cannot not should maybe consider the halocaust as a reason why war is right. The dropping of the atomic bomb by America on Japan though not ethically "right" can be aruged to be a strong reason why nuclear weapons have not been used in an act of war since then. It has shown the world how powerful nuclear weapons are and the implications of firing one at another country. We should be greatful that nuclear weapons were used at a time when very few countries had access and technology required to use them otherwise the world today may not exis as we know it.