The Decision to Drop: WWII Atomic Bomb

Was it the right decision?

Yes, it was a neccessity.	31.4%	[ 38 ]
No, it was immoral.	26.4%	[ 32 ]
It was immoral BUT a neccesity.	31.4%	[ 38 ]
On the fence.	10.7%	[ 13 ]
Total Votes:			[ 121 ]

[ratrapid]

holdingontobelieve

That they had to cause mass panic to get the Japanese people who'd been brainwashed to surender.

Source please?

[ratrapid]

Emit Revid

Ashler Kingsley

Good thing I've read the Japanese version

No wonder your sense of history is goddamn warped.

Really? Did you actually just say that? I call troll or "goddamn" idiot. May I ask where you got your version of events?

[Spocky_Wocky]

I think it was just the American's going too far, as usual, and never stopping to think of the consequences. They should never have used the bombs. The long term affects have been dire.

[Zinroni]

I actually wrote a research paper on this subject. This is not the full paper, because the whole paper on on my school computer.

Zinroni

On a clear weather day in April, 1945, when the Japanese people of Hiroshima were going about their daily routine, there was a sudden loud explosion, a blinding light, and a mushroom cloud reaching 40,000ft, which was that of the atomic bomb “Little Boy”. “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which created an immediate 70,000 casualties in Hiroshima, and ultimately 70,000 in Nagasaki. Not only did both of the bombs combined kill about more then 70,000 people instantly, it killed 70,000 people later on due to the immense amount of radiation that was released by the explosion of the uranium-235. But worst of all, is that as nations gain nuclear strength, enemy nations may also attain nuclear strength that will not be used as political power, but as a weapon. Nuclear bombs should not be used in war because of their destructive power, the radiation they release, and that it prompts enemy nations to attain such weapons.

The Manhattan project had begun when the United States had been informed of Germany’s attempt to create a nuclear bomb through the splitting of the atom, which released an immense amount of energy when done. This energy was thought to have the potential to create a bomb that was more powerful then any of the weapons previously used at that time period. The problem that they had encountered with said bombs was that there was no known way to separate the uranium-235 from the uranium-238 (u-238 is no good for nuclear bombs). Harold Urey along with his colleagues had figured out a method in which they could extract the two isotopes through a process of gaseous diffusion. Over $2 Billion had been invested into research that ultimately gave the U.S. the first nuclear warhead developed in history. On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb, which was code-named “The Gadget”, was tested in New Mexico. The explosion had formed the symbolic mushroom cloud, green radioactive glass, and a light that could be seen from over 120 miles away. When the test had produced a successful result, the United States had started arming themselves with the two nuclear bombs that would end the war with Japan.

Nuclear bombs, although they can be used for clearing out a huge amount of land, should not be used when fighting any other nation in any kind of warfare. The fisrt bomb, which was code-named "Little Boy" was dropped on hiroshima. The explosion from that bomb was so huge, that the immediate death toll was over 70,000 people. Hiroshima was the first target for the United States for nuclear bombs during World War II and would be the most devastating. With almost 300,000 civilians and about 43,000 soldiers, the blast had wiped out nearly 50% of Hiroshima's population.

[Tettsure]

angelsparda30

I think it was just the American's going too far, as usual, and never stopping to think of the consequences. They should never have used the bombs. The long term affects have been dire.

And some long-term effects have been beneficial.

[The Cheshire Effect]

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

[Tettsure]

Zinroni

I actually wrote a research paper on this subject. This is not the full paper, because the whole paper on on my school computer.

Zinroni

On a clear weather day in April, 1945, when the Japanese people of Hiroshima were going about their daily routine, there was a sudden loud explosion, a blinding light, and a mushroom cloud reaching 40,000ft, which was that of the atomic bomb “Little Boy”. “Little Boy” and “Fat Man” were the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which created an immediate 70,000 casualties in Hiroshima, and ultimately 70,000 in Nagasaki. Not only did both of the bombs combined kill about more then 70,000 people instantly, it killed 70,000 people later on due to the immense amount of radiation that was released by the explosion of the uranium-235. But worst of all, is that as nations gain nuclear strength, enemy nations may also attain nuclear strength that will not be used as political power, but as a weapon. Nuclear bombs should not be used in war because of their destructive power, the radiation they release, and that it prompts enemy nations to attain such weapons.

The Manhattan project had begun when the United States had been informed of Germany’s attempt to create a nuclear bomb through the splitting of the atom, which released an immense amount of energy when done. This energy was thought to have the potential to create a bomb that was more powerful then any of the weapons previously used at that time period. The problem that they had encountered with said bombs was that there was no known way to separate the uranium-235 from the uranium-238 (u-238 is no good for nuclear bombs). Harold Urey along with his colleagues had figured out a method in which they could extract the two isotopes through a process of gaseous diffusion. Over $2 Billion had been invested into research that ultimately gave the U.S. the first nuclear warhead developed in history. On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb, which was code-named “The Gadget”, was tested in New Mexico. The explosion had formed the symbolic mushroom cloud, green radioactive glass, and a light that could be seen from over 120 miles away. When the test had produced a successful result, the United States had started arming themselves with the two nuclear bombs that would end the war with Japan.

Nuclear bombs, although they can be used for clearing out a huge amount of land, should not be used when fighting any other nation in any kind of warfare. The fisrt bomb, which was code-named "Little Boy" was dropped on hiroshima. The explosion from that bomb was so huge, that the immediate death toll was over 70,000 people. Hiroshima was the first target for the United States for nuclear bombs during World War II and would be the most devastating. With almost 300,000 civilians and about 43,000 soldiers, the blast had wiped out nearly 50% of Hiroshima's population.

Zinroni, weren't other nations actually developing nukes as well at the same time America was inventing/testing theirs? Therefor nations may have been inspired to take up such bombs regardless.

[Tettsure]

The Cheshire Effect

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

Then they would have velociraptors! We actually should have used the argentinosaurus. Make the earth tremble beneath our feet!!! scream

[The Cheshire Effect]

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

Then they would have velociraptors! We actually should have used the argentinosaurus. Make the earth tremble beneath our feet!!! scream

Well with our growing fat problem, it kind of already does

[Tettsure]

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

Then they would have velociraptors! We actually should have used the argentinosaurus. Make the earth tremble beneath our feet!!! scream

Well with our growing fat problem, it kind of already does

Maybe we should use fat people as ammo next time. confused

[The Cheshire Effect]

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

Then they would have velociraptors! We actually should have used the argentinosaurus. Make the earth tremble beneath our feet!!! scream

Well with our growing fat problem, it kind of already does

Maybe we should use fat people as ammo next time. confused

Fatapolt

[Tettsure]

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

Then they would have velociraptors! We actually should have used the argentinosaurus. Make the earth tremble beneath our feet!!! scream

Well with our growing fat problem, it kind of already does

Maybe we should use fat people as ammo next time. confused

Fatapolt

This is more devestating

[The Cheshire Effect]

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Real question is how could we have used T-Rex to win the European front faster?

Then they would have velociraptors! We actually should have used the argentinosaurus. Make the earth tremble beneath our feet!!! scream

Well with our growing fat problem, it kind of already does

Maybe we should use fat people as ammo next time. confused

Fatapolt

This is more devestating

And if we use flying tanks we could be even more deadly

[Tettsure]

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Tettsure

The Cheshire Effect

Well with our growing fat problem, it kind of already does

Maybe we should use fat people as ammo next time. confused

Fatapolt

This is more devestating

And if we use flying tanks we could be even more deadly

We are a long ways off from that, not even Star Wars had flying (not levitating) tanks.

[Sir_Huma]

Tettsure

I already have an opinion in that being teleological, it seems the bombing was more beneficial rather than if not dropped, IMHO (unless of course swapped with bat bombs).

However, I have some questions.

Was japan a one party dictatorship? Much like the Nazis in Germany where no other party was allowed?

Can I have a sources or evidence the Japanese brainwashing and almost complete support of war?

Can I have sources or evidence of Japan prepared to surrender before the bombs?

And finally, FRF, can I have sources of 90% of Japan's military capability being in their homeland and the areas near by?

http://www.doug-long.com/quotes.htm

There's quotes from various people who opposed the bombings even before they occured, saying the Japanese were ready surrender or that there was no need for the bombs because they were trapped anyways.

Here's a few highlights:

DWIGHT EISENHOWER
"...in [July] 1945... Secretary of War Stimson, visiting my headquarters in Germany, informed me that our government was preparing to drop an atomic bomb on Japan. I was one of those who felt that there were a number of cogent reasons to question the wisdom of such an act. ...the Secretary, upon giving me the news of the successful bomb test in New Mexico, and of the plan for using it, asked for my reaction, apparently expecting a vigorous assent.

"During his recitation of the relevant facts, I had been conscious of a feeling of depression and so I voiced to him my grave misgivings, first on the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary, and secondly because I thought that our country should avoid shocking world opinion by the use of a weapon whose employment was, I thought, no longer mandatory as a measure to save American lives. It was my belief that Japan was, at that very moment, seeking some way to surrender with a minimum loss of 'face'. The Secretary was deeply perturbed by my attitude..."

- Dwight Eisenhower, Mandate For Change, pg. 380

In a Newsweek interview, Eisenhower again recalled the meeting with Stimson:

"...the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing."

- Ike on Ike, Newsweek, 11/11/63


~~~BRIGADIER GENERAL CARTER CLARKE
(The military intelligence officer in charge of preparing intercepted Japanese cables - the MAGIC summaries - for Truman and his advisors)
"...when we didn't need to do it, and we knew we didn't need to do it, and they knew that we knew we didn't need to do it, we used them as an experiment for two atomic bombs."

Quoted in Gar Alperovitz, The Decision To Use the Atomic Bomb, pg. 359