Why did Truman drop the Bomb on Hiroshima?

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Bill O

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Spotlight on Liberal education:
Why did Truman order the atomic bomb to be used on Hiroshima?
What were YOU told in school?
What did your textbook tell you?

What say you America?
Please opine if so inclined and please check back to see the answers!!!
And please be pithy when answering in the No Spin Zone!
 
After the US lost so many troops taking Iwo Jima, Truman knew that if we had to invade the main islands of Japan it was going to be a blood bath. Using the bomb gave him an alternative to that. It worked and saved perhaps a million lives. It was one of the best decisions of the war.
 
To avoid 1,000,000+ American casualties in Invasion of Japanese Home Islands.
 
The textbooks tell you it was humanitarian - ie, it saved the lives of countless American soldiers who would have died during a ground invasion.

The truth is the government poured a lot money into the Manhattan project and they had to justify it somehow - even if it meant killing tens of thousands of civilians in a few seconds.
 
oh man...pappa bear is on here?

I assume he dropped the bomb because he was pissed he was never told about the manhattan project. Then when he finally got his finger on the button..he pushed it twice.
 
Well, Japan was developing nuclear weapons be happy America got to them before they did..

Japans nuclear weapon program - http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/japan/nuke/

I mean really do want the people who did these things to have it? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
 
It was supposed to end the war and avoid massive losses in a full scale invasion of Japan. But after sixty years later we know the truth. The American govt did not want the Manhattan Project expenditures to go to waste. And it was a heck of a way to show our soon to be enemy Russia who's boss. In all reality the U.S. waged a terrorist campaign against Japan by targeting densely populated cities. And it amounted to political and financial gain.
 
The Russians were getting ready to declare war on Japan, it was bad enough we'd have to deal with them in Europe and this would end the war before that could happen. Landing on the main Islands of Japan would have made Utah, Omaha, Juno, Sword & Gold look like a Sunday stroll in the park. While "the bombs" were horrible & the aftermath was brutal, firebomb raids killed more & were horrific in their own way. I believe the targets were chosen because they had not been bombed already, their their pristine 'before' condition would allow the damage to be more easily studied by out scientists & intel folks as well as showing the japanese but mostly letting us see how it worked.
 
I was told it was to end the war with Japan's unconditional surrender. But why do I get the nagging feeling that it was more than that? HMMMM.
 
He ordered the bombs dropped to avoid massive military and civilian casualty's. By dropping the two bombs Hiroshima and Nagasaki and killing 100,000+ civilians, the millions of deaths and the destruction that would occur, if a US invasion of the home islands was followed through was avoided. The Japanese were literally preparing to fight to the death and were training school children with bamboo spears. It would have been practically a re-enactment of Iwo Jima, but on a much larger scale. On Iwo Jima out of the 50,000 or so defenders of the island, only several hundred were captured alive, the rest fought to the death or committed suicide.... not fun stuff.
 
My views (supported by Gen. Marshall):

1. To show the Russians what we could do to Moscow
2. To test the weapons on an actual target

What the textbooks says:
1. To force Japan to surrender.
 
The purpose of dropping the Atomic bomb was to end World War II without the necessity of invading Japan.

An invasion of Japan would have cost at minimum hundreds of thousands of lives, both Japanese and American.

the death toll caused by the two atomic bombs was less than the expected death toll of an invasion of Japan.
 
One point I haven't seen mentioned was that the US civilian population was desperately sick of 4 years of war and the possible loss of yet more boys in the Pacific theater.The military men who had won and survived in Europe were now looking at the grime prospect of dying in Japan. Morale was at an all time low. The bomb was the only way we could hope for an unconditional surrender and get the conflict over before Stalin could demand a huge chunk of the Asian contenent.
 
To prevent the massive US casualties that would have been entailed in invading the Japanese home islands. Also to show the Russians (whom he correctly foresaw the coming Cold War with) that we had a kickass bomb.

What say you Bill?
 
What is never mentioned is there were thousands of speed boats loaded with explosive ready to attack any ship that got close We know what their air/f were capable of doing But try and imagine trying to hit a high speed boat at night
 
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