Aim: Was the US justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan?

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• Aim Was the US justified in dropping the atomic
  bomb on Japan?

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The Father of the Atomic Bomb J. Robert
Oppenheimer

• Oppenheimer supervised the Manhattan Project to
  build an atomic bomb
• Oppy had deep reservations about the use of
  atomic weapons
• Upon witnessing the first atomic explosion, he
  quoted text from the Bhagavad Gita, Now I am
  become death, the destroyer of worlds.

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Why Drop the Atomic bomb?

• Bring about the immediate surrender of Japan
• Save American lives that would be lost in an
  invasion of Japan
• Deploy an asset that was meant to be used
  (bureaucratic momentum)
• Display American power
• Obviate the need for a Soviet invasion of
  Japan--no power-sharing in Japan

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President Trumans Warning

• "Let there be no mistake, we shall completely
  destroy Japan's power to make war. If they do not
  now accept our terms unconditional surrender,
  they may expect a rain of ruin from the air the
  like of which has never been seen on this earth."

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Hiroshima after the blast
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Near the epicenter of the Hiroshima blast

• The shadow of an incinerated person

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Hiroshima The Results

• Roughly 70,000 people died in the immediate
  atomic blast, including about 20 American POWS
  held in the city.
• By the end of 1945, around 30,000 more people
  died from the lingering effects of the bombing.
• The 5-year death total may have reached or
  exceeded 200,000 people, as cancer and other
  long-term effects took hold.

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The Nagasaki Bombing 3 days after Hiroshima

• The original mission was to bomb the Japanese
  city of Kokura.
• Poor weather caused the US to move its mission to
  Nagasaki.
• Nagasaki was an industrial center and a major
  port with approximately 200,000 residents.

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Nagasaki The Results

• The initial blast probably killed 40,000 people,
  with 60,000 more injured
• 6 months later, another 10,000 people had died.
• The day after this bombing, the emperor of Japan
  offered his countrys surrender.
• World War II ended.

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The Post-WWII Arms Race

• The use of the atomic bombs caused an arms race
  between the USA and the USSR.
• The chart to the right is a depiction of the
  number of US nuclear weapons (by year) capable of
  being used after WWII