Was In Hiroshma Essay Example

The decision by the then president of the United States, President Harry S. Truman in the year 1945 August to dropping two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima has become one of the divisive, nuanced and complex debates ever in the world history. These two bombs led to the coming to an end to the Second World War. Samuel Walker in his book tries to look at the reasons behind the United States bombing of Japan. At this point, Walker tries to give a critical and bravely opposing dimensions on the reasons behind the attack. On the two opposing sides, one of the sides supported the bombing claiming that it was militarily necessary for saving the Americans and also in ending the war. The other opposing side claimed the bombing was against the human wellbeing and unjustified showing the way the American army intimidated the Soviet Union. The author answers the questions to this question of the justification of the bombing by giving reasons why it was necessary and at the same time giving reasons why the bombing was very unnecessary, and therefore it is a yes and no answer (Walker 76).
According to the book “prompt & utter destruction”, the author James Walker gives concrete decisions and discussions on his assessment of the current understanding of the topic on the necessity of the bombing. In his assessment, he gives the reasons supporting the topic and at the same time he gives reasons for the attack and how the debate, assessment, and the argument have grown over time. Walker uses several main considerations in arguing his case on this topic.
The main reason why the bombs were dropped is because of the decision made by the top organs of the war. These were the United States of America, the president of the United States, President Truman wanted the end of the war all ways possible and he had to use all the ways at his disposal to stop the war. For this reason, the president, and his advices believed that with dropping the bomb, the war will come to an end. For this reason, they chose to drop the bomb. Walker had a different reasoning on this and argued differently saying that this kind of argument made by the United States was just a side issue, they wanted the Japanese to surrender and by bombing their main islands they would definitely do so. Within the island were people from all walks of lives, and the bombing would lead to loss of many lives. The process was costly and one that would take a longer time and the Americans were warned of taking this kind of action in all the debates they were involved in as so many lives would be lost (Walker 95). The killed people and the casualties reflected the kind of damage caused by the attack as explained by Walker. Truman fell on deaf ears on the plea of the majority in stopping the attack, and this made the attack so unnecessary in the first place as reflected in the death and casualties on the innocent people.
The argument by the decision that they would be subjected to much criticism after developing this enormous and costly atomic weapon, and not use it. Walker argues in the book that the president of the United States, President Truman was not ready for these kinds of critics. As stated on page 94 of the book, Walker claimed “The success of the project in Manhattan in building the bomb and ending the war was a source of relief and satisfaction.” The president has the obligation of protecting his people, the citizens of the United States in this case, and in deciding not to use this weapon in protecting the people, any life lost in the war could have been wasted. The main reason was to end the war easily and quickly and this they achieved. The bombing caused complete devastation; the Japanese surrendered immediately after the attack; this attack speeded up the surrender. Without this devastating effect of the bomb, the war could not have ended r the Americans could have used many recourses to achieve this kind of the devastating effect which could at the same time take a longer time. According to Walker, this was a justified move by the Americans though so many lives were lost. Walker explained in his book, (Walker 94), the explanation given by then the secretary to the states that he believes that there is no man in their position and the subject to their responsibility and having this kind of weapon could have hesitated in using it in saving lives and ends up facing the countrymen head up in the face.
The United States used the weapon in bending the Soviet Union towards the wishes of the Americans even after the war. This argument was made by the secretary to the States and was adopted by President Truman. According to Walker, this could not guarantee an attack but was a bonus to the Americans but not the main reason for using the bombs. The growing division amongst the Soviet Union made the Americans think in this line of dropping the bomb though this was the main reason (Walker 95). For this reason, the United States were not justified in dropping the bomb. The secretary of war at that time even acknowledge the fact that the Japanese army was already destroyed, and they did not have any allies, their cities under great attacks and their islands under naval blockade. Also looking at the industrial resources of the Japanese which were already depleted, this shows defeat as they could not sustain themselves properly. For this reason, the use of the bomb was definitely because of its devastating impact. It was completely acceptable according to Walker in his book.
The morality of the use of this atomic weapon had already been questioned in terms of its morality by most of the people, this did very little to the president and his advisors to bow to the plea of the people. Walker states that the people who made this decision on the use of the weapon lacked incentives for using the bomb. And, for this reason, Walker feels that President Truman had all the compelling reason to allow for the use of the weapon. Their main aim being to stop the war as soon as possible. They did not care about the Japanese civilian but only cared about their Americans soldiers who were being killed and at the same time keeping Soviet Union in check within Europe. For this reason, the use of the bomb was not justified.
Within its context of history of the Second World War, the war was justified. At this time of the year, most people abandoned morality in driving away the forces of imperialism, expansionism and fascism. At this time, according to Walker, both opposing sides of the war used all the weapons at their disposal to fight their enemies leaving a gods number of casualties. These were the strategies used by the military in the destruction of a country’s war production abilities making these war production centers to be the main targets (Walker 106). The then president of the United States, President Truman, went ahead to write that their main targets were cities considered to be war production centers. It encouraged the united states to using the atomic bomb which was a more combative and destructive weapon in dealing with their enemies. The Japanese also resisted most of the attacks made by the United States because they boasted their military industry capacity and its productivity. For this reason, the United States were justified in fighting back and dropping the bomb.
Walker finally argues that racist and hatred attitude of the Japanese. At the same time, the urge to revenge on Pearl Harbor was part of the reason for the bombing while this was not a fundamental reason. It was very unnecessary and inhumane of them in dropping the bomb, and, therefore, their reason was not the best and not justified.
At the end of the text, Walker leaves so many questions unanswered. These questions revolve around the use of the atomic bomb. He asked how long the fight would have taken if the bomb had not been used; how many lives of the American army could have been lost; and lastly if there was any other way the Americans could have facilitated the attack without the use of the bomb (Walker 109). Walker leaves the question open with a “yes” and “no” answer to the justification of the bombing.

Work cited

Walker, J S. Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs against Japan. Sydney: Read How You Want, 2008. Print.