To deter The Empire of Japan’s assault on China, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt placed economic sanctions on the island nation. The timetable of Japan’s conquest of China before they run out of U.S. provided commodities, such as steel, rubber, and oil, had to be accelerated, which means likely U.S. intervention. Japan planned and then carried out their sneak attack of U.S. naval forces at Pearl Harbor, December 7th 1941. Germany and Italy honored their alliance with Japan and they declared war on the U.S. as well. America had been at peace on December 6th 1941 and within the end of the week, the U.S. was entirely involved in World War II.
The U.S. had to mobilize for war by enlisting over 15 million military personnel (both volunteers and drafted), and by a call up of both women and minorities to work in the war effort industries (build tanks, planes, guns etc…).
The U.S. engages its enemies on far away battle fronts, both in Europe and the Pacific theater of operations.
In the Pacific, the U.S. strategy was to seize island strongholds to get near enough to Japan to strike them and compel them to surrender. Small islands in the Pacific ocean become the site of bloody battles (Tarawa -3,000+ casualties / Iwo Jima-7,000 marines killed / Okinawa – 12,000 Americans killed). The closer U.S. drew to Japan the worst the fighting became.
Two U.S. Marines in their lose fitting combat utility uniforms make their way through a bare and harsh war scared terrain. There are smashed remains of trees completely bare of leaves or vegetation. Both Marines have helmets. The one in front is hunched over while moving through the area. He holds a rifle. the Marine behind him has his tommy machine gun elevated as if to fire at some distant target.
Instead of carrying out a planned invasion of Japan itself, President Harry Truman decided to use a new secret weapon: the atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945 a B-29 bomber, known as the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later another Bomber dropped an Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki. Japan soon after surrendered to the U.S. On September 2nd, 1945, World War II was over.
Did Harry Truman make the right decision to use atomic bombs to end the war? Civilian cities had been targets throughout the war. The Germans bombed British cities, Japan bombed Chinese cities, the British and U.S. bombed German cities. The German city of Dresden was fire bombed by the allies in 1945 that resulted in over 40,000 deaths. However, there is something frightening about one bomb and 80,000 people in Hiroshima killed instantly (Nagasaki-40,000). Another difference is the radiation fall out that kills days, months, and even years after the incident.
In one paragraph, voice your opinion over the notion of the justification of the decision to use the atomic bomb. This is a subjective response and I would ask everyone to be comfortable with disagreement as students are to respond to comments from their fellow students. This is meant to be a productive place to voice differing conclusions while considering the opinions of others.
