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Nate Hochstetler
Mr. Owens
History 11
2 April 2013
Truman Dropping the Atomic Bomb
One reason that Truman decided to drop the atomic bombs on
Japan is to avoid an extreme amount of American casualties through
an invasion. Invading Japan, while impossible to accurately predict
exact number, would more than likely have caused many American
casualties. Through the many air, land and sea battles that would have
occurred by invading Japan, no doubt exists that Japan would have
done whatever it took to cause as many casualties as possible. Truman
believed that the number of casualties endured would be staggering:
In his memoirs Truman claimed that using atomic bombs prevented
an invasion that would have cost 500,000 American lives (Maddox
13). This reason was a contributing factor to drop the atomic bomb. By
dropping the atomic bombs, Truman was able to seriously cripple Japan
without actually invading Japan, since the bombs were dropped from
the air. This enabled Truman to avoid an extreme amount of American
casualties (Maddox).
Another reason why Truman decided to drop the atomic bombs
on Japan is to have Soviet postwar cooperation. Since the use of the
bombs enabled the war to come to an end quickly, the Soviet Union

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could not demand joint occupation of Japan. Also, the combat
demonstration of the atomic bomb discouraged the imperialistic
expansion of the Soviet Union. In order to have better control over the
actions of the Soviet Union, Truman had to drop the atomic bomb.
Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan to better affect the Soviet
Union after the war (Publishers Weekly).
One reason against dropping the bombs on Japan is that the two
chosen cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had no real military value. The
cities had many more citizens of Japan than it did soldiers of Japan. By
bombing a city with the given circumstances, the United States of
America ends up killing thousands of innocent Japanese civilians.
Killing innocent civilians is always a negative in war, no matter how
serious the circumstances are. A factor that could have caused Truman
to decide not to drop the atomic bombs is the amount of civilian
Japanese casualties (Dietrich).
Another reason against dropping the bombs on Japan is the
radiation effects that the land and people would endure for the time
soon after the explosion. The water in the area around Hiroshima and
Nagasaki was completely contaminated with radiation from the bomb.
This rendered the water undrinkable for quite some time after the
explosion. Also, the cancer rates in the area skyrocketed after the
explosions of the bombs due to the radiation. A reason that could have

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caused Truman to not drop the atomic bombs on Japan was the longterm radiation effects from the bombs (Ron).
I think that Truman was completely justified in dropping the
atomic bombs on Japan. The use of nuclear weapons was sure to put a
quick end to the war, which saved a lot of lives and a lot of money.
Japans initial attack on Pearl Harbor was a devastating way to force us
into the war; no shame exists in taking drastic measures to put a
devastating end to the war.

Works Cited
Dietrich, Bill. "Pro and Con on Dropping the Bomb." Seattle Times
[Seattle] 1995: n. pag. Print.
"Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb." Publishers
Weekly 10 July 1995: 52. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 1 Apr.
2013.

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Maddox, Robert James. "The biggest decision: why we had to drop the
atomic bomb." American Heritage May-June 1995: 70+. Gale
Biography In Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.
Ron, Elaine. "Cancer Incidence in Atomic Bomb Survivors." Radiation
Research (1994): n. pag. Print.