The Decision to Drop the Bomb That Changed History

The decision to drop the atom bomb was definitely one of the most controversial topics in the history of our world. The bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945 on the Japanese city of Hiroshima killing 50,000 people instantly and another 50,000 people in the short time thereafter. Many people argue that Truman’s decision to drop the bomb was immoral and against the laws of war that the United States has always followed while others defend Truman’s decision by saying that the atomic bomb was necessary and very effective in bringing the war to end. Truman’s decision was very controversial and immoral in many peoples’ eyes but it was the right decision because it was discussed in the Potsdam Conference, Japan was given a chance to surrender, and death is inevitable in times of war.

After Germany surrendered Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin, also known as the “Big Three”, met outside of Berlin to discuss ending war against Japan. This meeting was called the Potsdam Conference and was held from

July 17 to August 2, 1945. The three leaders discussed the war against Japan and Truman mentioned to Stalin that the U.S. had a new weapon of “unusual destructive force” (Truman). On July 26, 1945 Truman and new British prime minister, Clemente Attlee, issued the Potsdam Declaration, which was an ultimatum asking for Japan to surrender by August 3 or face “prompt and utter destruction” (Truman). Along with this request for Japans’ surrender were requests for an end to Japans’ militarism, disarmament, the evacuation of all territories, punishment of prisoners, and presence of Allied forces in Japan. Truman was further convinced that dropping the bomb was necessary when Japan didn’t accept the ultimatum at first. Because of their reluctance to surrender, they were still a threat and Truman decided to drop the uranium bomb on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima.

Japan was given the chance to surrender but they were reluctant in accepting the terms that Potsdam Declaration supported. In not surrendering they put themselves in a situation where it seemed necessary to take action on their country to bring an end to the war. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and had unfathomable destructive force on that city. It’s estimated that 100,000 people died on that day. But not even after the complete destruction of Hiroshima did Japan surrender. They were still unwilling to give in to the stern but fair requests of the U.S. So, after Japan refused to surrender, Truman decided to drop a second bomb on the Japanese port of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. About 50,000 people died on this day. It wasn’t until the U.S. dropped to atomic bombs on Japan that they surrendered.