Based on the four given documents, Was the United States justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Based on the four given documents, Was the United States justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
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Based on the four given documents, Was the United States justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Please be detailed and specific. Use all documents.
![STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
READING LIKE A HISTORIAN
Document C: Stopping Russia
"[Byrnes] was concerned about Russia's postwar behavior. Russian troops had
moved into Hungary and Romania, and Byrnes thought it would be very difficult
to persuade Russia to withdraw her troops from these countries, that Russia
might be more manageable if impressed by American military might, and that a
demonstration of the bomb might impress Russia."
Source: James Byrnes was one of Truman's advisors on the atomic bomb. In
addition to defeating Japan, he wanted to keep the Soviet Union from expanding
its influence in Asia and to limit its influence in Europe. Manhattan Project
scientist Leo Szilard met with Byrnes on May 28, 1945. Leo Szilard wrote about
his meeting with Byrnes in 1980.
Document D: Survivor
One of my classmates, I think his name is Fujimoto, he muttered something and
pointed outside the window, saying, "A B-29 is coming." He pointed outside with
his finger. So I began to get up from my chair and asked him, "Where is it?"
Looking in the direction that he was pointing towards, I got up on my feet, but I
was not yet in an upright position when it happened. All I can remember was a
pale lightening flash for two or three seconds. Then, I collapsed. I don't know
much time passed before I came to. It was awful, awful. The smoke was coming
in from somewhere above the debris. Sandy dust was flying around...
I crawled over the debris, trying to find someone who were still alive. Then, I
found one of my classmates lying alive. I held him up in my arms. It is hard to tell,
his skull was cracked open, his flesh was dangling out from his head. He had
only one eye left, and it was looking right at me. . . . he told me to go away.
I, so, was running, hands were trying to grab my ankles, they were asking me to
take them along. I was only a child then. And I was horrified at so many hands
trying to grab me. I was in pain, too. So all I could do was to get rid of them, it s
terrible to say, but I kicked their hands away. I still feel bad about that. I went to
Miyuki Bridge to get some water. At the river bank, I saw so many people
collapsed there. . . I was small, so I pushed on the river along the small steps.
The water was dead people. I had to push the bodies aside to drink the muddy
water. We didn't know anything about radioactivity that time. I stood up in the
water and so many bodies were floating away along the stream.
Source: Yoshitaka Kawamoto was thirteen years old. He was in the classroom at
Zakoba-cho, 0.8 kilometers away from the hypocenter. He is now working as the
director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, telling visitors from all over
the world what the atomic bomb did to the people of Hiroshima.](/v2/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.bartleby.com%2Fqna-images%2Fquestion%2F7c6a3dff-6729-485c-933e-bf615eefedb6%2Fa0946f25-b165-4c64-b47c-ec22aa132c5a%2F2g8rg0s_processed.jpeg&w=3840&q=75)
Transcribed Image Text:STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
READING LIKE A HISTORIAN
Document C: Stopping Russia
"[Byrnes] was concerned about Russia's postwar behavior. Russian troops had
moved into Hungary and Romania, and Byrnes thought it would be very difficult
to persuade Russia to withdraw her troops from these countries, that Russia
might be more manageable if impressed by American military might, and that a
demonstration of the bomb might impress Russia."
Source: James Byrnes was one of Truman's advisors on the atomic bomb. In
addition to defeating Japan, he wanted to keep the Soviet Union from expanding
its influence in Asia and to limit its influence in Europe. Manhattan Project
scientist Leo Szilard met with Byrnes on May 28, 1945. Leo Szilard wrote about
his meeting with Byrnes in 1980.
Document D: Survivor
One of my classmates, I think his name is Fujimoto, he muttered something and
pointed outside the window, saying, "A B-29 is coming." He pointed outside with
his finger. So I began to get up from my chair and asked him, "Where is it?"
Looking in the direction that he was pointing towards, I got up on my feet, but I
was not yet in an upright position when it happened. All I can remember was a
pale lightening flash for two or three seconds. Then, I collapsed. I don't know
much time passed before I came to. It was awful, awful. The smoke was coming
in from somewhere above the debris. Sandy dust was flying around...
I crawled over the debris, trying to find someone who were still alive. Then, I
found one of my classmates lying alive. I held him up in my arms. It is hard to tell,
his skull was cracked open, his flesh was dangling out from his head. He had
only one eye left, and it was looking right at me. . . . he told me to go away.
I, so, was running, hands were trying to grab my ankles, they were asking me to
take them along. I was only a child then. And I was horrified at so many hands
trying to grab me. I was in pain, too. So all I could do was to get rid of them, it s
terrible to say, but I kicked their hands away. I still feel bad about that. I went to
Miyuki Bridge to get some water. At the river bank, I saw so many people
collapsed there. . . I was small, so I pushed on the river along the small steps.
The water was dead people. I had to push the bodies aside to drink the muddy
water. We didn't know anything about radioactivity that time. I stood up in the
water and so many bodies were floating away along the stream.
Source: Yoshitaka Kawamoto was thirteen years old. He was in the classroom at
Zakoba-cho, 0.8 kilometers away from the hypocenter. He is now working as the
director of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, telling visitors from all over
the world what the atomic bomb did to the people of Hiroshima.
Transcribed Image Text:STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP
READING LIKE A HISTORIAN
Document A: Textbook
Even before the bomb was tested, American officials began to debate how
to use it. Admiral William Leahy, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, opposed
using the bomb because it killed civilians indiscriminately. He believed that an
economic blockade and conventional bombing would convince Japan to
surrender.
Secretary of War Henry Stimson wanted to warn the Japanese about the
bomb while at the same time telling them that they could keep the emperor if they
surrendered. Secretary of State James Byrnes, however, wanted to drop the
bomb without any warning to shock Japan into surrendering.
President Truman later wrote that he "regarded the bomb as a military
weapon and never had any doubts that it should be used." His advisers had
warned him to expect massive casualties if the United States invaded Japan.
Truman believed it was his duty as president to use every weapon available to
save American lives.
Source: American History Textbook, American Vision, pg. 615.
Document B: Thank God for the Atomic Bomb
My division, like most of the ones transferred from Europe was going to take part
in the invasion at Honshu (an island of Japan). The people who preferred
invasion to A-bombing seemed to have no intention of proceeding to the
Japanese front themselves. I have already noted what a few more days would
mean to the luckless troops and sailors on the spot.... On Okinawa, only a few
weeks before Hiroshima, 123,000 Japanese and Americans killed each other.
War is immoral. War is cruel.
Source: Paul Fussell, a World War II Soldier, Thank God for the Atom Bomb,
1990.
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