Truman's Decision
James Brady
History 120
April 14th, 2015
Dr. J. Randall III
Truman's Decision
Without a doubt, President Truman was right in the decision to drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In the years leading up to the decision the President had to see America torn apart on many levels, first was the attack on Pearl Harbor. America was trying to stay out of the war, yes there were some small skirmishes with the Germans and the Japanese but America was desperately trying to stay neutral. This all came to an end on December 7th, 1941 when Japan left us with no choice but to enter the war.
“In announcing the bombings the president had said that they were carried out in order to "shorten the agony of war" and save "thousands and thousands of American lives" Later he would be more specific, citing the estimated 250,000 Allied casualties expected to result from the planned invasion of Japan”. (Messer, R. L. 1985) The lives that were lost in World War II on both fronts were the cost of freedom, yes there were many lives lost but we were provoked, attacked on our land. It took heroic action from men during the battles such Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima, and it would have only been worse if we had invaded and had to occupy Japan while getting the country back on its own feet.
Recent wars have backed Truman’s decision even more. During the invasion of Iraq in 2003 the casualty count was relatively small, it wasn’t until we as Allies occupied Iraq that the casualties