Was the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki justified?

Essay by FspanishmanJunior High, 9th grade November 2006

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The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not justified. Thousands of innocent people died from either the bomb's blast or the after effects. Even today, some people still suffer from radiation sickness. America's decision of using an atomic bomb on Japan was not only a war crime, but a crime against humanity itself.

The United States may have had some reasons for bombing Japan; however, most of them were unjustified. For example, one of the reasons for dropping the atomic bombs was because the US was trying to justify the two billion dollars spent on the Manhattan project. Also, it was the perfect way to get even with the Japanese for the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. Other reasons were the fact that the US had to prove its superiority to the Soviet Union, and that the effects of the nuclear weapons had to be tested, and Japan was a perfect sample.

In addition, near the end of the war, Japanese diplomats were trying to surrender; however, the US pursued unconditional surrender from the Emperor. At the same time, leaders of the Japanese military were hoping to negotiate an armistice after fighting in Kyushu. After the bombing, this unconditional surrender was not even achieved after all. All these ulterior motives that the US had for bombing Japan show a hypocritical attitude from the superpower country.

Half of the reasons the bombing of Japan was unjustified lie on Hiroshima and Nagasaki themselves. For example, Hiroshima, by John Hersey, is a very factual, non-fiction novel, which tells about the lives of six survivors from the first atomic bomb dropped in Japan. The novel states that Hiroshima had a minor military importance for the US. In a few words, when the bomb was dropped, mostly civilians were killed, which is definitely a...