Answer to Question #301947 in History for Janine

Question

1. Do you believe it was morally right to use atomic bombs against Japanese cities?

1. What advice would you have given President Truman about alternatives to dropping atomic bombs on Japanese cities?

1. Do you think the Cold War would have developed even without the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Why? Why not?

1. Were the atomic bombs dropped on Japan a deterrent to the future use of nuclear weapons in war time? Why? Why not?

Answer 1

1. I believe it was clearly not moral to use atomic bombs against Japanese cities knowing that they would kill civilians and destroy the urban milieu.
2. I would have advice President Truman not to drop the bombs given that they would cause more deaths and loss of property at the time. Rather, I would have told him to try and hold peaceful talks for the sake of greater peace and property protection, regardless the limited choices at the time.
3. No, because the Cold War remained largely cold due to the inherent deterrent power of nuclear weapons. Without that deterrence, the world remains in a state where conventional arms and conventional military doctrine reigns.
4. The dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima was justified at the time as being moral such that it would bring about a more rapid victory and prevent the deaths of more Americans. The bomb was necessary to accomplish Truman's primary objectives of forcing a prompt Japanese surrender and saving American lives, perhaps thousands of them.