President Truman decided to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Although the bombing ended World War II, it cannot be justified. There were several reasons why Truman decided to use atomic bombs. First, the atomic bombing was considered a “lesser evil” compared to the other alternative that existed at that time – the US ground invasion of Japan (Luban, 2021). Truman believed that using atomic bombs would save the lives of Americans and citizens of allied countries because they would not have to participate in military action in Japan. Second, Truman wanted Japan to surrender unconditionally, while Japan was ready to surrender only if the Japanese emperor would not be put on trial for war crimes (McKinney et al., 2020). Third, Truman wanted to retaliate for the attack on Pearl Harbor (Luban, 2021). Finally, as the Soviet Union was ready to enter the war with Japan, which would lead to the Japanese quick surrender, Truman felt the pressure to end the war before the Soviet Union could invade Japan (Luban, 2021). Using atomic bombs was the fastest way to end the war and assert US power.
However, the bombing was not justified because there were ways to end the war with much fewer victims among civilians. The US government did not clarify to Japan that the required unconditional surrender was meant to remove the Japanese military threat and was not meant to harm the Japanese emperor (Luban, 2021). The war could have been put to an end diplomatically if Truman agreed to change the terms of unconditional surrender (McKinney et al., 2020). In addition, the atomic bombing cannot be justified from the perspective of the modern law of armed conflict, according to which intentional targeting of civilians is prohibited and measures should be taken to reduce collateral damage (McKinney et al., 2020). The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki involved many victims among civilians that could have been avoided, so Truman’s decision cannot be justified.
Although the bombing of Hiroshima was devastating, Truman ordered to drop the second bomb on another Japanese city, Nagasaki, three days later. Two reasons underpinned this decision: approaching bad weather and the need to end the war quickly by convincing Japan of the US military power and the country’s readiness to employ it until Japan surrenders (Lengel, 2020). The two consecutive bombings quickly ended the war, leading to Japan’s announcing its surrender on August 15, 1945.
References
Lengel, E. (2020). The bombing of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945. The National WWII Museum: New Orleans. Web.
Luban, D. (2021). Were the a-bombs the last resort? United States Naval Academy. Web.
McKinney, K. E., Sagan, S. D., & Weiner, A. S. (2020). Why the atomic bombing of Hiroshima would be illegal today. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, 76(4), 157-165.