The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb(s) Doc. A

Official Bombing Order, July 25, 1945 from General Groves to President Truman and Secretary of War Stimson 1. The 20th Air Force will deliver its first special bomb as soon as weather will permit visual bombing after about 3 August 1945 on one of the targets: Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata and Nagasaki. To carry military and civilian scientific personnel from the War Department to observe and record the effects of the explosion of the bomb, additional aircraft will accompany the airplane carrying the bomb. 2. Additional bombs will be delivered on the above targets as soon as made ready. Further instructions will be issued concerning targets other than those listed above. Doc. B

President Truman, Diary, July 25, 1945 We think we have found the way to cause disintegration of the atom. An experiment in the New Mexico desert was startling – to put it mildly. Thirteen pounds of the explosion caused the complete disintegration of a steel tower 60 feet high, created a crater 6 feet deep and 1,200 feet in diameter, knocked men down 10,000 yards away. The explosion was visible for more than 200 miles and audible for 40 miles and more. This weapon is to be used against Japan between now and August 10th. I have told Sec. of War, Mr. Stimson, to use it so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. We as leaders of the world for the common welfare cannot drop that terrible bomb on the old capital or the new. He and I are in accord. The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japanese to surrender and save lives. I’m sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler’s crowd or Stalin’s did not discover this atomic bomb. Doc. C

Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, article in Harper’s Magazine, 1947 The two atomic bombs which we dropped were the only ones we had ready, and our rate of production at the time was very small. Had the war continued until the projected invasion on November 1, additional fire raids of B-29’s would have

been more destructive than the very limited number of atomic raids which we could have executed in the same period. But the atomic bomb was more than a weapon of terrible destruction; it was a psychological weapon. It was the experience of what an atomic bomb will actually do to a community, plus the dread of many more, that was effective. . . . In order to end the war in the shortest possible time and to avoid the enormous losses of human life, I felt that we must use the Emperor as our instrument to command and compel his people to cease fighting, and that to accomplish this we must give him and his controlling advisors a compelling reason to accede to our demands. This reason furthermore must be of such a nature that his people could understand his decision. The bomb seemed to me to furnish a unique instrument for that purpose. . . . I believe that no man, in our position, holding in his hands a weapon of such possibilities for accomplishing this purpose and saving those lives, could have failed to use it and afterwards looked his countrymen in the face.

Doc. D Summary of The Franck Committee Report by top scientists working on the

Manhattan Project at the Chicago lab, June 11, 1945

“The way in which nuclear weapons are first revealed to the world appears to be of great, perhaps fateful importance.” - Noncombat demonstration before representatives of the United Nations to alert Russia, and then possible combat use if sanctioned by the UN after the United States issued a warning to Japan. - Atomic bombs would not break the will of the Japanese - Brief tactical advantages of using the weapons would be outweighed by the political cost – an arms race with the Soviet Union.

Resources: Brinkley, chapter 28, esp; pp. 743-748, Document sheet, Lowe docs, pp. 117-119, 1995 IHT article, “Japan’s Defense to the Death” Essay Assignment: Why did the US use the atomic bomb against Japan? Was its use justified?

Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb(s) Was the use of the atomic bomb justified? The second bomb? Resources: Brinkley, chapter 28, esp; pp. 743-748, Document sheet, Lowe docs, pp. 117-119, 1995 IHT article, “Japan’s Defense to the Death” Essay Assignment: Why did the US use the atomic bomb against Japan? Was its use justified?

Official explanation End the war quickly; avoid invasion of Japan (planned for Nov. 1st); save ½ to 1 million US soldiers’ lives; avoid casualties due to Japanese “fight to the death” US motives? Use bomb to justify time and money spent, test new weapon, revenge for ‘sneak’ attack at Pearl Harbor, avoid Russian invasion and occupation of Japan; intimidate Russians; display US strength/resolve Counter-argument Invasion unnecessary because Japan ready to surrender; peace feelers had been sent out to Russians; naval blockade would be effective in bringing surrender; conventional bombing of the cities had weakened Japan – just a matter of time Estimate of US casualties in an invasion of Japan were exaggerated Diplomacy & ensuring post-war status of the emperor would have worked