The Bombing of Japan

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, although more than half a century has passed since the atomic bombing of Japan, it is still arguable whether such actions by the Allied forces were justified. The author points out that the atomic bomb was used just like any other weapon war and that the United States military did not see the atomic bomb as anything other than an instrument of war; there is little difference between the conventional destruction of Tokyo by conventional American saturation bombing, which killed some 100,000 people, and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which also killed 100,000 people. The paper relates that former President Herbert Hoover had expressed that use of the bomb had besmirched America's reputation and that its potential disastrous effects should have been described in graphic terms before the United States decided to bomb Japan.

From the Paper:

"President Harry S. Truman stated on August 9, 1945, "We have used it in order to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of thousands and thousands of young Americans. We shall continue to use it until we completely destroy Japan's power to make war." The Allied forces believed that the use of the atomic bomb was justified due to Japan's relentless denial to surrender. Japan had demonstrated fanatical resistance by fighting to almost the last man on Pacific islands and committing mass suicide on Saipan. Moreover, by the summer of 1944, the Japanese had resorted to one major asset they still possessed, the willingness of their pilots to meet certain death, hence they developed the Kamikaze technique whereby a pilot would fly his plane directly into a ship or target."

More papers on The Bombing of Japan:

• Term Paper # 103267 : "The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki"
• Research Paper # 1118 : "The Bombing of Pearl Harbor: Its Impact and Repercussions"
• Research Paper # 6935 : "The Entry of Japan into the Second World War"

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