Why Did President Truman's Decision To Drop The Atomic Bomb

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August 5th, 1945 marked the day the world was changed forever when thousands of lives were taken in a scorching blink of an eye. Deep into what seemed a perpetual World War II, the Japanese city of Hiroshima was the first example of the new US technology, the atomic bomb, that could kill thousands more easily than ever. Carried out by the Enola Gay, the bomb ironically nicknamed Little Boy decimated an estimated 130,000 citizens and the city of Hiroshima itself. Three days later a second bomb named Fat Man was dropped on the city of Nagasaki killing around 65,000 people. Around 7,000 miles away in the comforts of the White House in Washington D.C., president Harry Truman was the one who decided to order the bombs to be dropped. To his death bed Truman never once regretted the decision to drop the …show more content…
This was a primary mission when Roosevelt was in office as he realized the importance of the Soviets weakening the Axis Powers. He tried to convince them to join in war at the Yalta Conference with no success but with the knowledge that the Soviets wanted to invade Japanese controlled Manchuria. When Truman came in office they pushed this information aside instead of realizing the vulnerability in Japan this could produce. Because of the information they knew, all they had to do was wait for the Soviets to take action before the US did anything. The US ended up acting first with the bombing of Hiroshima and the Soviets used the better strategy of waiting for us. The Soviets attacked Manchuria and took it from Japanese hands. The Japanese surrendered not too long after the loss of Manchuria, causing many to believe that losing this land made the Emperor lose his Bushido code. The Soviet invasion could have very well been the tip of the iceberg that caused Japanese surrender, and the US did not need to use the atomic bombs as quickly as
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