Nuclear bombing

Part 01: Debating Whether Or Not The United States Should Have Dropped the Atomic Bomb on Japan in World War II

Atomic bombs used twice in war. The United States used an atomic bomb against the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. Three days later, on August 9, it dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. These cities were chosen for their strategic significance (Murakami p.12). Kyoto initially was a target but was removed from the list because of its status as an ancient capital and major cultural center. The bombs resulted from a large-scale effort of scientists to harness the energy of the atom, using the knowledge gained from half a century of research in nuclear physics. The two cities were devastated; more than 200,000 people were killed or wounded in the blasts, and more would die later of radiation sickness. The names Hiroshima and Nagasaki have become synonymous with the dawn of the atomic age.

The Japanese city of Hiroshima is known throughout the world as the site of the first atomic attack. On the morning of 6 August 1945 a U.S. B-29 bomber, Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima from a height of about 580 meters (1,900 feet) (Sherwin p. 45). The most authoritative Japanese study concludes that the bomb killed 118,661 persons, left another 30,524 severely injured, with a further 48,606 slightly injured. Of the inhabitants of Hiroshima at the time, 118,613 were reported to have avoided injury. The city was devastated by the attack but was thoroughly rebuilt in the years following World War II.

A second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki late in the morning of 9 August 1945, causing heavy damage and casualties. The most careful estimates conclude that 73,884 were killed and more than 75,000 injured in the attack on Nagasaki (Murakami p.54).

Japan had been making peace overtures in various foreign capitals prior to the atomic attacks, but it began to offer formal surrender immediately after the second attack, as early as 10 August. By 15, August, Japan's offer to surrender was accepted by the Allies. Japanese authorities promised that the emperor would not be charged with any responsibility for the war. Emperor system could continue to operate even during the period of U.S. military occupation.

Mention of Hiroshima represents for people everywhere the dawn of the nuclear age. It is associated in the political imagination with the use of a weapon of mass destruction as a tactic in warfare, and it is understood to signify massive human suffering.

At the time of the attacks, few in the United States or elsewhere raised questions about the propriety of nuclear weapons (Sherwin p. 48). The atomic bombs were perceived as weapons of unsurpassed potency. President Harry Truman and his close advisers justified the use of atomic bombs at the time by arguing that the alternative would have been an invasion of the main Japanese islands, costing upwards of 1 million American lives. Disclosures over the years, including intelligence estimates in 1945, suggest ...