The Manhattan Project and the Bombings of Hiroshima/Nagasaki Essay Example

bomber named Enola Gay released the Little Boy bomb on Hiroshima.

The city was an important military center, containing about 43,000 soldiers. As many as 400,000 civilians also lived and worked in the city and outlying areas. This is a source of great controversy, that a purely military target was not chosen. Almost 4 times as many civilians as soldiers died in the attack. Another bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki 3 days later, killing more than 75,000. Finally on August 10th, 1945, after the invasion of Manchuria by the Soviet Union and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan's leaders conceded to the unconditional terms of the Potsdam Declaration.

An editorialist wrote in the Japanese Nippon Times, “This is not war, this is not even murder, this is pure nihilism... a crime against God which strikes at the very basis of a moral existence.” (Out of Many 669). Truman stated in his memoirs that he gave the order with the expectation of saving “a half a million lives” in ground combat, yet no such official estimate exists (Out of Many 669). To some, this justifies the fact. But does it? Was not Japan on the verge of defeat? Some sources' estimates of projected U. S. casualties were significantly lower — perhaps as low as 50,000 men.

It is also not entirely clear that unconditional Japanese surrender was impossible, especially if Russia had entered the war before the bombing there were other motivating reasons for the use of the nuclear bomb. “Russia might be more manageable if impressed by American military might, and that a demonstration of the bomb might impress Russia." (Spencer Weart and

Gertrud Szilard, Leo Szilard: His version of the facts, pg. 184). The decision to drop the bomb on Japan leans dangerously close towards the logic of the end justifying the means.

This slippery slope could spell disaster when dealing with weapons of such power and magnitude. The atomic bomb has changed world politics forever. We live under the menacing shadow of missiles that could obliterate the earth 10 times over. It's impossible to say what would have happened had Truman not decided to use nuclear weapons.

All we can hope for is the fact that they will never again be used on earth.