To Bomb? Or Not to Bomb?

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To Bomb? Or Not to Bomb?
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Yes, we should drop the bomb

• The Japanese had shown near fanatical resistance,
  fighting to almost the last man on the Pacific
  islands, committing mass suicide on Saipan and
  unleashing kamikaze attacks at Okinawa. Fire
  bombing had killed 100,000 in Tokyo with no
  noticeable political effect. Only the atomic bomb
  could jolt Japans leadership to surrender.

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Dead at Bataan
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No, we should not drop the bomb

• Japan was ready to call it quits anyways. More
  than 60 of its cities had been destroyed by
  conventional bombing, the home islands were being
  blockaded by the American Navy, and the Soviets
  entered the war by attacking Japanese troops in
  Manchuria.

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After firebombing Bombers
over the cities
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Soviets entering Manchuria
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Yes, we need to drop the bomb

• With only two bombs ready, it was too risky to
  waste one in a demonstration over an
  unpopulated area.

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No, the bomb was not necessary

• America refused to adjust its unconditional
  surrender demand to allow the Japanese to keep
  their emperor. Since their emperor was like a God
  to them, this prolonged their resistance.

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Yes

• An invasion of Japan would have caused deaths on
  both sides that could easily have exceeded the
  death toll at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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No

• A demonstration explosion over Tokyo harbor would
  have convinced Japans leaders to quit without
  killing many people.

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Yes

• The two targeted cities would have been
  firebombed anyways.

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No

• Even if Hiroshima was necessary, the United
  States did not give enough time for word to
  filter out of its devastation before they bombed
  Nagasaki!

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Yes

• Immediate use of the bomb convinced the world of
  its horror and prevented future use as countries
  created huge stockpiles (the peak number of
  nuclear bombs and warheads stockpiled at a given
  time was 32,193 in 1966).

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No

• Did we drop it to justify the 2 billion dollars
  spent on its development? How many zeros is that
  20,000,000,000?

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Yes

• The bombs use impressed the Soviet Union and
  halted the war quickly enough that they did not
  demand joint occupation of Japan.

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No

• The two cities were of hardly any military value.
  Civilians outnumbered troops in Hiroshima five or
  six to one.
• Japanese lives were sacrificed in the political
  power struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet
  Union.
• The U.S. bears the weight of being the first to
  use this weapon. Regular firebombing techniques
  could have caused as much damage.

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Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, which
dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, on
August 6, 1945.
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A Uranium bomb, the first nuclear weapon in the
world, was dropped in Hiroshima City. It was
estimated that its energy was equivalent to 15
kilotons of TNT. Aerial photograph from 80
kilometers away, taken about 1 hour after the
dropping.
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Ohmura Navy Hospital A 14 year old girl
after the bombing of Hiroshima at Ohmura Navy
Hospital on August 10-11.
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A Church in Nagasaki
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VIDEO CLIP 16 MIN

• DESKTOP
• 08-09 VIDEOS
• WWII HOLOCAUST
• PROFILES OF COURAGE AND CONTROVERSY THE ATOMIC
  BOMB

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Now, what do you think?

• Write a persuasive letter to President Truman
  convincing him to either go ahead with the
  bombing or to change his mind.
• Essay will be graded on 6 traits.
• Essay must be at least 4 paragraphs.
• Persuasion DEPENDS on strong vocabulary and
  excellent word choice as well as a strong belief.
• Use Block Format for the letter