Hiroshima and Nagasaki: An Analysis of Perspectives

Paper Summary:

The paper examines perspectives of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. In contrast to current perceptions about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reactions of regret, shame, or revulsion were rare in 1945. The paper describes how the nightmarish death toll of World War II and the atrocities perpetrated by the Germans and Japanese imposed a different perspective in 1945 than we have today about these bombings. The writer proposes that neither perspective is wholly justified or accurate, because both of them are based upon sociopolitical perceptions imposed by contemporary cultures, values, and accepted realities.

From the Paper:

"The atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 ended the bloodiest war in human history and precluded the necessity of an Allied invasion of Japan. Six years of global war had taken the lives of more than fifty million people and had devastated most of Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan. Subsequently, contemporary American reactions to the death and destruction inflicted upon Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic weaponry ranged from relief to exultation. In contrast to current perceptions about the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, reactions of regret, shame, or revulsion were rare in 1945."

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