Problem Statement
The atomic bombing is not only intended to end the war with Japan in the Pacific. It also pursues another vital goal – to intimidate the USSR, to achieve the US dominance in the post-war world with the help of a nuclear monopoly. If you choose not to drop the bomb, it will be problematic because 250,000 to 500,000 American soldiers may die in the battle (O’Day 32). This will happen when the US military invades the home islands of Imperial Japan. On the other hand, if you decide to drop the bomb, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will violate well-known philosophical and ethical norms. For example, the concepts of “the sanctity of human life” and “the illegality of murder” will be disregarded.
Strategical Frameworks
There are other guiding frameworks for making a final decision, such as the diplomatic and military approaches.
Possible Solutions
Of course, the state interests of the USSR require intervention in the war in the Pacific. However, this would involve the intervention of the communist forces of China and Korea in the war. Therefore, it is necessary to hold a diplomatic meeting with Russia. A non-intervention agreement will be signed; in return, the United States will help Stalin with the occupation of Southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. In the case of Soviet neutrality in East Asia, the following situation would have developed: Japan would certainly have been doomed to defeat in November-December 1945 (Steinhouse 26).
Another approach that can be applied is the military approach, namely bombing instead of the cities on the island of Bougainville, which the Japanese used as an unsinkable airbase. Here, positional battles have been going on since November 1943, but despite the superiority of the Allied forces, by August 1945, the island had not yet been cleared of the Japanese (Steinhouse 26). There are only regular Japanese units on its territory, and in this case, an airstrike would fulfill its direct purpose.
Potential Outcomes of Possible Solutions
The final recommendation is to combine the diplomatic and military approaches. There may be doubts about the military system since the island of Bougainville belongs to allied Australia (Beriont 28). In this case, you can use atomic weapons against any of the small islands of the Pacific Ocean, occupied or part of the empire, but without a civilian population. From a military point of view, the effect of such a strike would be absolute. After such a convincing show of force, it is possible to launch an offensive on the diplomatic front. This will clarify to the Japanese that if there is no surrender in the coming days, then the next blow may be struck at Tokyo. In such circumstances, the probability of diplomatic success is highly guaranteed. At the same time, there will be no burned cities nor hundreds of thousands of wasted victims.
Impact of Solution
In my opinion, Truman used the atomic bomb primarily not as a military weapon against Japan but as an instrument of pressure on the USSR. Another motivation was to demonstrate to the world the US claims global governance in the post-war world. The political impact of Truman’s decision on the United States is that it has become possible to maintain large military bases in Japan, which Washington uses to project power in East Asia. In the early postwar years, the United States also actively intervened in Japanese politics. In particular, they supported the creation of the Liberal Democratic Party, which ruled Japan for almost the entire post-war period and led the government. The majority of the American public supported Truman’s decision that the bombing was justified and humane because it saved many lives. Nevertheless, for the first time, the public began to talk about the terrible consequences and immorality of the application of nuclear weapons which was the main effect on American society.
Reflection on Decision
After the end of the war, the Allies also created several new institutions to control international relations and the UN. They were designed to regulate economic relations within their standard financial system, so the impact of Truman’s decision on the economy was significant. Despite this, in my opinion, there was no military sense in the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian population because they had to be used against military forces instead. Therefore, this decision can be regarded as a war crime.
References
Beriont, Carleigh. “For the Good of Mankind.” Atomic Exceptionalism, Religion, And United States Empire in The Postwar Pacific, edited by Benjamin Park, John Wiley & Sons, 2021, pp. 25-37.
O’Day, John. “What Peterson Gets Wrong about Truman and The Bomb.” Ethics, Policy & Environment, vol. 2, no. 3, 2020, pp. 11-41.
Steinhouse, Carl. Truman’s Resolve: Facing the Prospect of Horrendous Casualties, How the Suddenly Newly-Installed President Took the Bull by the Horns and Ended World War Two and Created Macarthur’s Empire. Gold Star Publishing, 2020.