Essay Example on US Strategic Bombing: Destroying Japan's Economic Sustainability

The United States used strategic bombings to weaken Japan. When the United States leaders realized that the war with Japan was expensive, they understood that the only way to sustain the war was to destroy Japan’s economic sustainability (Exploring American Histories, page 777). With Japan’s economy being stable, they wouldn’t shake the Japanese. It was since 1942 that a group of scientists and engineers headed by J Robert Oppenheimer had worked tirelessly to make an atomic bomb (Exploring American Histories, page 778).

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The atomic bomb project was known as the Manhattan Project. It was a top-secret project that had cost the United States over $2 billion. The Vice President at that time, President Harry S Truman, also didn’t know about it until he became the President on April 12, 1945 (Exploring American Histories, page 778).

After Truman became President, in July 1945, he issued a Potsdam ultimatum to the Japanese. The ultimatum was given by the United States State Department. It said that the Japanese were to surrender with immediate effect; otherwise, they would have to face annihilation (Exploring American Histories, page 779). The Japanese agreed to the surrender, but it was under the condition that the United States was to allow the Japanese to retain their emperor Hirohito. President Truman declined their request and set for them unconditional surrender hence the Japanese leaders also rejected the ultimatum by the United States. (Exploring American Histories, page 779)

The United States knowing that they had the atomic bomb program that was under physicist J Robert and General Leslie Groves, knew that they were now stronger than the Japanese (Document Project 23). There were suggestions that the atomic bombs should be used during the war against Japan. No sooner had the atomic bomb tests been done than the following day, the scientists involved in the Manhattan Project went to the President. The seventy Scientists wrote to President Truman trying to argue with him that there was no need to use the atomic bomb to Japan (Document Project 23). On July 17, 1945, seventy scientists wrote a petition.

In the petition the scientists stated that they understood that the use of the atomic bomb against the Japanese would have been a success since it would have ended the war, but it was destructive. So they suggested that the Japanese to be given a chance to surrender (Document Project 23.5). They explained that they saw no need to use atomic bombs against the Japanese. The reason was that they feared that the same atomic bombs that they had would be used on them. The scientists had been involved with the atomic bomb for years to the extent that they understood the impact the atomic bombs would have if they were to be used against them (Document Project 23.5). They understood the power of the atomic bombs so well; that is why they asked for reconsideration by offering some recommendations to the President.

The President was the Commander in Chief of all the weapons any country had, whether new or old. He was the overall determinant of whether the atomic bombs were to be used or not (Document Project 23). That is why they requested the President to impose terms to the Japanese and to do it publicly so that everyone would be aware of the terms and conditions that had been laid out for them to follow. In addition to that, they also requested the President that incase the Japanese refused to surrender, and the President was to make a decision that was based on the moralities of the nation (Document Project 23.5).

On August 6, 1945, President Truman released a press conference explaining the atomic bomb, its power, and its destructive ability. He said that it was the Japanese who started the war at Pearl Harbor and that was why the war was there (Document Project 23.6). Their battle was fought using different types of bombs, but now there was an enormous bomb of them all: the atomic bomb. In his speech, he said that he offered the Japanese a Potsdam ultimatum on July 26, 1945, but their leaders didn’t agree with it (Document Project 23.6). So he sounded a warning that the kind of destruction that the atomic bomb would bring would usher in a new era.

It was then that after the Japanese rejected the ultimatum that he released the first bomb in Hiroshima and three days later another atomic bomb in Nagasaki. Both bombs led to the death of over 200,000 people (Document project 23.7). In Hiroshima 80,000 people died and in Nagasaki 120,000 people died.

Even though there was a Potsdam ultimatum, it wasn’t adequate. The reason was that the terms and conditions that the United States offered to the Japanese were one-sided. They didn’t listen and evaluate Japanese desires in order for them to see whether it would have worked. Considering that the United States wanted the terms and conditions to be unconditional, undebatable, and unquestionable, they never created room to hear out the Japanese.

In my opinion, maybe if they came up with a memorandum of understanding, they would have come up with a memorandum of agreement on what would have been favorable for both nations. The physicist would have been satisfied if the Japanese and the United States had come up with an agreement on the ultimatum offered by the United States. The reason was that the physicists were against the use of atomic bombs even thou they were the ones that made the bombs. They understood the impacts that the atomic bomb had to both the nation and the people in the nation that it was used.

In my opinion, there was no need to use atomic bombs against the Japanese. The reason being the Japanese would have surrendered to the United States even without the use of atomic bombs (Document Project 23.8). The Japanese did not need the atomic bomb threat to surrender, and they just needed a threat of invasion. The threat would have worked for a few years earlier it had worked. The Government of Japan was always concerned about the welfare of the Japanese people (Document Project 23.8). An invasion would have jeopardized the welfare of the people of Japan. In addition to that, there was also no need to use the atomic bomb since the Japanese took invasion as a violation of their sacred homeland. Just the idea that the welfare of its people was at risk and that their homeland was also at risk was enough for the Japanese to surrender (Document Project 23.8).

According to the United States, it was the right thing to do. The reason being, the use of atomic bombs on the Japanese was the fastest and easiest way to end the war and to bring the peace. They didn’t consider that Emperor Hirohito, the prime minister, the foreign minister, the navy minister, and the lord privy seal had earlier on agreed to end the war by accepting defeat in May of 1945 (Document Project, 23.8). If the United States had used other means to attack the Japanese, they would have still have achieved the same result of victory against Japan. The survey that was done in November 1945 proved so (Document Project 23.8).

Conclusion

In conclusion, the war between Japan and United States ended. The strategy used to achieve the end of the war wasn’t the best, but it still achieved the mission to end the war. All wars that have been fought need an end, but not all strategies used are right. Sometimes before nations rush to fight a war with extremely destructive weapons such as atomic bombs, other means should be tried first.