Dropping the Atomic Bomb

On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese

city of Hiroshima. The Enola Gay, piloted by Colonel Tibbetts, was

chosen to make the mission. The mission was recorded as successful by

Capt. William S. Parson at 9:20 A.M. This was an extremely

controversial military strategy in the United States. Was the United

States justified in the dropping of the atomic bomb? Yes, they were

justified for many reasons. The primary reason was, that it would stop

the war. Why is it that this war needed to be stopped so badly? Even

though in some ways it was helping our economy, it was very costly in

both money and lives. Also, the United States soldiers were undergoing

harsh treatment by the unmerciful Japanese. Another reason the war

needed to be stopped was to defend ourselves from another attack on

U.S. soil, which in turn would kill many of our U.S.

Nagasaki, Japan. September 24, 1945, 6 weeks after...

This image was selected as a picture of the week o...

Letter from Handy to General Carl Spaatz authorizi...

citizens. This is

why the war needed to be stopped; thus, justifying the use of the

atomic bomb. World War II was the costliest war in history, in terms

of lives lost. No exact figures exist, but approximately between 15

and 20 million military personnel were killed. Of these, 292,000 were

Americans and 6,000 innocent United States citizens were murdered by

our enemies. It has been estimated that if the United States had not

dropped the bomb and had invaded Japan instead, the United States

would have lost about a million soldiers. The Japanese suicidal

fighting strategies greatly effected this number. The Japanese would

rather die than surrender. This is demonstrated by the battle of

Saipan. At this battle over half of the population of Saipan walked

off a cliff instead of surrendering to the United States. This was

often very effective. Many times when a Japanese...