Truman’s Decision

The debate on the justification of Truman’s action during the bombing the two cities of Japan continues to cause a headache seventy-five years later. While most individuals judge President Truman based on his choice to abandon all other methods including invasion, I find his actions as on that fateful day as those borne out of necessity. The first problematic issue became when the Japanese hardheadedly refused to surrender unconditionally citing that the concept went against their code of honor (Walker, 2016). At this point, it became difficult for America’s administration to continue reasoning with Japan since the need for a method that could reduce America’s fatalities was impossible to overemphasize.

America was on its way to recovery after defeating a world power, Germany. It was, therefore not an option for Truman to organize troops once again into enemy territory and risk the lives of more men. Also, in a way not acceptable by many, the President was looking at what the other side would suffer as well (Nichols, 2019). In the past attacks, Japanese soldiers were famous for committing mass suicides, especially at the face of defeat, and this level of fanaticism was not necessary to go through once again.

Most individuals may contend that a demonstration of the capabilities of the bomb would have been a good shot at persuading Japan to surrender. At the period, there were only two complete bombs ready for use by the beginning of August 1945, risking a demonstration on a bare lend would leave the country exposed and without a plan that would safely guarantee any more deaths on the battleground (Walker, 2016). Razing other cities with firebombs did not make the Japanese leaders flinch, and there was very little hope that a demonstration on bare land would make the slightest difference. While the murder of innocent people is remotely justifiable, the growth of the Soviets brought a lot of tension, and it became clear that Truman had to devise a solution that would solve of all those problems at ago, thereby ending the hostilities (Nichols, 2019).

 

References

Nichols, T. (2019). No Choice: Why Harry Truman Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan. Retrieved from https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/no-choice-why-harry-truman-dropped-atomic-bomb-japan-28027

Walker, J. S. (2016). Prompt and utter destruction: Truman and the use of atomic bombs against Japan. UNC Press Books.