Decision Making Process in Dropping the Atom Bomb

Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is certainly one of the most controversial moments in the history of warfare. Many perceived that as an episode emphasizing the lengths that man is willing to go in order to achieve his goals. In contrast, others considered that it was the most effective action that the U.S. could take in order to demonstrate that warfare had reached a point where the stakes were too high for someone to continue to support it. Chapter 13 in James west Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle's "The Art of Historical Detention" provides an in-depth look at the steps leading up to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the decision making involved in the event.

The expression "Truman dropped the atom bomb in order to win the war as quickly as possible" is, to many, sufficient reason for the act. On the one hand people are distancing themselves from the event because they associate it with a single individual and on the other hand they highlight the fact that a quick ending of the war was a goal that everyone was chasing. Even before the actual bombing took place, the masses were looking forward to getting a solution to a problem that had been going on for several years and that was seriously harming society as a whole.

One of the most intriguing facts regarding the decision-making process entails the idea that a lot of people were familiar with the bomb and with the effects that it would likely have on people living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "If the bomb could win the war for the United States, all the sacrifices of time, personnel, and materials would not have been in vain." (Davidson & Lytle) This makes it possible for readers to understand that the masses in the U.S. were not only acquainted with the destruction that such a bomb could cause, as they were also aware that the U.S. itself would have to risk a great deal in order to be able to create it in the first place. It would actually be safe to say that the U.S. concentrated the majority of its efforts on creating the Atom Bomb in hope that this would make it much easier for them to put an end to the conflict.

The reason for much of the controversy associated with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings is the U.S. choosing not to alert Japan before the acts took place. This would have likely saved a great deal of innocent people and would have still delivered the message it was intended to. Even with this, the fact that the warning never took place can also be interpreted as an attempt to raise public awareness across the world, not only in Japan. With the second bomb falling shortly after the first, it is obvious that the U.S. wanted to demonstrate their military supremacy. Some might even believe that this was also an attempt to intimidate the Soviet Union in addition to crippling Japan.