How to End a World War

The world changed forever on the morning of August 6, 1945, when the Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Paul Tibbets, dropped the atomic bomb “Little Boy”, over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Only three days later, on August 9, a second bomb, “Fat Man”, was exploded over Nagasaki, with the pair responsible for the immediate deaths of over 200,000 Japanese, as well as thousands more casualties over the coming months.

The enormity of these statistics weighed heavily on the Japanese, forcing their surrender in light of possible further nuclear attacks. World War II was brought to a close with the combined total of only six airplanes carrying a destructive force on board the likes of which the world had never seen.

The debate over the use of the atomic bombs still presses us today. In researching the issue, the facts dictate that the use of these two nuclear weapons was justified. Justified as it may have been, the decision to employ these horrible devices was weighed seriously against the alternatives. Not taking the consequences lightly, President Truman determined it was in both the United States’ and Japan’s best interests to drop “Little Boy” and “Fat Man”.

As World War II raged on across Europe, North Africa, Asia, and the South Pacific, American casualties continued to rise to heights never before seen in the countries relatively short history. All told, over one million American fighting men and women were casualties of the war, with almost 300,000 KIAs2. Virtually every person in the United States was directly affected by the war, be it through personal participation, rationing, buying bonds, women taking factory jobs, etc.

After over three years of open warfare, America was tired of fixing another European problem. With Germany finally defeated in the spring of 1945, the United States’ interests returned full force to the war in the Pacific. The Japanese were continually pushed back closer to their homeland, as brave American men stormed the Pacific-island’s jungles and beaches. Midway, the Marshall Islands, Guadalcanal… countless tiny land masses were reclaimed by an aggressive and dominating American military machine.

The significant losses counted on either side weighed very heavily on President Truman, more so than on Japanese leadership, as Emperor Hirohito was unwilling to surrender, no matter the cost. Hard-line, militant Nationalists refused to acknowledge their coming defeat. As American forces finally secured the launching point for an invasion into the mainland, the island of Okinawa, the Japanese began to bolster their defenses at the correctly guessed point of invasion, Kyushu.