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Jordyn Bolla Aranda

Cunningham

English 3A

12/6/2021

Why The Atomic Bomb Was The Right Decision

The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was justified at the time in order

to bring a fast victory and prevent the deaths of more Americans. However, it was

clearly not moral or justified to use this weapon knowing that it would kill civilians and

destroy so much, and that is why it's a very debatable topic still to this day. Some say

that it was not right because it caused way too much destruction including two cities,

killed innocent people including children, and/ or it was just inhumane, but those aren’t

the best reasons. People also say the bomb was the right thing to do because it saved

lives of citizens and American soldiers, ended the war quickly, and that it was a

strategic response for the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan. It also just saved many more

lives from both sides too. After adding up both sides of the debate, it’s clear that

dropping the bomb on Hiroshima was the correct decision to make.

First, some people argue that the Atomic Bomb was justified because it saved

lives of citzens and American soldiers. For example, it was estimated that it would cost

the lives of nearly one million plus American soldiers to continue in the war. It was set to

occur in October of 1945 and if it had taken place then, it would have been the largest

most destructive attack in human history. An example of this is “I always go back to

Harry Truman: Should we drop an atomic bomb to save 100,000 lives? That's a hell of a

decision to make. Did he make that decision by himself? No, he had advisers.” (Brainly
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Quote). This quote by Truman illustrates that the thought of saving peoples lives was a

big part of making the decision of whether or not it was the right thing to do or not. It

also proves that Truman didn’t make the decision on his own, and that he has many

other people that took part. And not only did it just save lives of U.S people, but it saved

lives on their side to believe it or not. The lives of citizens and soldiers were very

important.

The second reason people say it was the right decision to use the atomic bomb

is because it ended the war quickly. For instance, the bomb didn't just end WWII, it kick

started the Cold War. The power of the atomic bomb also drove the world's leading

superpowers into a new way of life. One way that this is shown is “Without the bombs,

the war would have likely dragged on for at least another year, perhaps longer” (Course

Hero). That goes to show that the war wouldn't have ended for another year or so, and

so many things could have gone wrong in just a year. WWII ended on September 2nd,

1945 and who knows when exactly it would have ended without the bomb. Even though

people say that Japan was going to surrender soon anyways, they were not completely

sure. The outcome of WWII could have been a lot different if the bombs were not used,

and the Cold War would have been efected too.

Another reason for the use of the atomic bombs against Japan was that it was a

strategic response to their surprise attack against the United States at Pearl Harbor.

The attack on Pearl Harbor is something that pretty much everyone knows about by

now. This was an easy part of the decision making because it was so simple, Japan had

raided the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, then the United States had responded by

bombing Japan's capital. The planes flew west toward China. For a time before the
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bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the United States considered bombing the

Japanese fleet at anchor as kind of reverse radioactive Pearl Harbor, and it worked.

This is shown here when president Truman says “The Japanese began the war from the

air at Pearl Harbor … And the end is not yet. With this bomb we have now added a new

and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed

forces. In their present form these bombs are now in production and even more

powerful forms are in development.” (The White House). This quote shows just how fast

the U.S. responded to the attack. They quickly made the bombs more destructive and

powerful, and didn’t really care abut the outcome at first. As you can see, this is

probably the most reasonable and easy part of the decision making.

In conclusion, the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima has many reasons of why it was

justified and not justified, but these are the most common and argued. Although there

might be negative things to say about it, there are more positive ones. The issues

surrounding whether the U.S decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima was beneficial in

1945 are still very debatable. The negative points for the dropping of the bomb on

Hiroshima are the loss of many lives and children, two cities, and it was just inhumane.

Some of the positive points include bringing a quick end to WWII, and ultimately saved

many more lives from both sides. But in all, it was the right thing to do.