Rough Draft

Eamon Barkhordarian

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Villalobos World History 3/8/09

The Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima It was a beautiful morning on August 6, 1945 in a highly populated Japanese city. It was just after 8 AM and people were beginning to rise from their beds, filling up the streets, and going to work like any other day. At 8:15, the people on the street all stopped to look up at a plane in the sky. The plane was followed by a black speck falling toward the ground. That was when it hit. In that instant a dark mushroom cloud rose to the sky and within seconds the shockwave followed that expanded to the perimeters of the city destroying everything in its path. Buildings collapsed and people that were lucky enough to survive were scarred for life. “Within minutes 9 out of 10 people half a mile or less from ground zero were dead.” The black pellet was actually the first atomic bomb ever used as a weapon in war and was codenamed “Little Boy” and the Japanese city was Hiroshima. In this incident, around 70,000 were instantly killed from being too close to the zone of impact, and an additional 150,000 deaths followed in the years to come due to the effects of radiation. The bombing of Hiroshima has brought up a lot of heated debate on whether or not it was a moral decision by President Truman for many reasons. The bombing of Hiroshima was a horrible act for it brought about many negative general and health effects on the targeted community in Japan, but at the same time was a beneficial attack for it saved countless American lives and billions of dollars by quickly ending WWII. This controversy brings about a lot of important questions, with “Was the bombing of Hiroshima really necessary?” as being one of the most common. A lot of patriots in the United States might have been proud to use “Little Boy” on Hiroshima because it saved a lot of American soldier’s lives, soldiers whose mothers were waiting for them at home, praying every night that their son or daughter was safe and would eventually come home. Also, it was useful

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that the bomb brought the war to a close, for there was no one out there that supported the war anyway. Many important reasons weighed on President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The United States had learned the hard way that Japan was not going to surrender the war easily. Before bombing Hiroshima with “Little Boy,” the allied forces demanded for an absolute surrender from Japan, and Japan had refused. As a result, the bombing wasn’t as horrible of an act for the United States had given Japan a chance prior to the bombing. America also knew of Japan’s perseverance from previous battles taken place against Japan during WWII. One important example was during the Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest battles in WWII. In the battle, the United States was fighting over the control of the Japanese pacific island, and it wasn’t easy. “The Japanese defense was ferocious-their military code viewed surrender as a disgrace, and their commanders told them the Americans would kill them if they gave up.” Although Americans came out on top in The Battle of Iwo Jima, the victory came at a high cost, resulted in 26,000 injuries and 6,800 deaths on the American side. Another factor that contributed to President Truman’s decision, as reported by some recently declassified documents, was that if America was to invade Japan on a full force ground assault, estimated deaths would exceed over one million American troops. This fact baffled President Truman, for he knew that he could not make a decision that would resolve in the death of so many American soldiers. Reports indicated that prior to the bombing of Hiroshima, the number of American deaths ran around 400,000. There was no way Truman would risk more than twice as many lives that had been already lost in the course of the entire war for one single battle that wasn’t even guaranteed to force Japan to surrender. To the president, too many lives were at stake given the report, and by deciding for the use of the nuclear bomb, he believed he was picking “the better of the two.” Another reason that lead to his decision was the fact that the Manhattan project had cost over two billion dollars. The Manhattan Project was the nuclear project that led to the

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successful construction and detonation of the first atomic bombs. With the project having such a high development cost, it was something the United States had to use. Opponents to the decision say that there were alternatives to the bombing, with one being a demonstration of the nuclear bomb. President Truman was well aware of that, saying that a demonstration was a possibility to display to the Japanese government, but there was no guarantee of surrender on the Japanese side even if the demonstration was a success. The price of creating a nuclear bomb was too high for it just to be demonstrated and for the Unites States not to be guaranteed surrender form Japan. As a result, the bombing of Hiroshima benefited the United States in a number of ways that eventually led America to victory in WWII. On the other side of the argument, why were the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese citizens taken away so that Americans could retain their sense of freedom and security? The bombing of Hiroshima not only took Japan by surprise, but America as well. Many scientists that had participated in the Manhattan Project failed to see the short and long term effects of radiation sickness, since “Little Boy” was the first nuclear bomb ever used in war. Once the bomb had hit, a huge explosion erupted over the center of the town, destroying close to everything in the city. Almost all the buildings up to a little over a mile from ground zero had been completely destroyed. Also, more than two-thirds of all the buildings in the entire city had been destroyed following the blast. Apart from those closest to the epicenter that were instantly incinerated, those slightly farther developed third degree burns at the minimum. Soon, hospitals were filled with thousands of patients waiting to be taken care of. Unfortunately, the medical services in the city was also affected by the nuclear bomb that had so recently hit. 90% of the doctors in the city of Hiroshima died of radiation, while 80%-93% of the pharmacist and nurse population was considered as casualties. “Eighteen emergency hospitals and 32 first-aid clinics were also destroyed, and most of the workers needed to restore these health facilities were killed

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or injured as well.” Some short term symptoms to the bombing were: vomiting, diarrhea, and anemia, where the amount of red blood cells in a human decreased. Many people noticed a loss of hair on the head two months subsequent to the terror. For the late effects, diabetes and somatic mutation occurred in the victim population. Not only did the cancer rate increase in general and more people developed leukemia, but cases of mental retardation sprang about in many victims. Cancer of many different human organs including breast, stomach, and liver stole thousands of lives. Most importantly, birth defects would arise from exposure to radiation that would persist for generations to come in the Japanese population. These are just some of the negative health effects brought about by the use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Aside from the negative health effects, there have also been general arguments why the United States didn’t have to use “Little Boy.” Although many say that Japan was never going to give up unless forced to do so with the use of something as powerful as a nuclear bomb, others say Japan was basically on its knees prior to the bombing of Hiroshima. Over 60 Japanese cities had already been left in ruins due to fire bombings while the country suffered tremendous losses of over 2,500,000 deaths in total. The number of deaths on the Japanese side heavily outnumbered those on the American side more than 6:1. Another negative to the bombing of Hiroshima was that civilians outnumbered Japanese troops 6:1 as well. The bombing resulted in the deaths of many Japanese troops, but many more deaths of innocent civilians that didn’t deserve to die. Finally, President Truman’s decision seemed to show that money was more important than lives to the president. The notion that the president had to use the atomic bomb just because it was too expensive to waste was a pathetic excuse for some. The atomic explosion on Hiroshima was the source of negative general and health effects that would reside within the city for years to come. On August 6, 1945, the world was taken by surprise when America’s “Little Boy” exploded over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Terror struck the city as buildings were blown

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apart and bodies incinerated. Radiation swept through the city as those that were fortunate enough to survive suffered radiation sickness for their remaining days. On this day, America had just unleashed the most powerful weapon of mass destruction ever created by man, and when exploded, was equivalent to a fifteen kiloton TNT explosion. Records indicate that around 200,000 lives were lost following the explosion of “Little Boy.” At the same time, many people failed to foresee why President Truman made his, in some eyes, heroic decision to drop the bomb. President Truman’s main goal was to maintain American security and freedom, and the only way to preserve those rights was to win the war. Many people supported Truman’s decision, for he did what was necessary by protecting the country and preserving the people’s freedom. Who knows what the world would be like today if the United States hadn’t won the war? In the course of six years, America had taken a death toll of 400,000 American troops and a sum of over a million casualties. President Truman knew too many lives were at stake if he continued the war, and by destroying Hiroshima, he saved many American lives in a patriotic decision. In the end, it all comes down to one question: do the positives outweigh the negatives? If you ask most people, they would say no. This is because people have only seen one side of the chaos. Many supporters of President Truman’s decision would say that if we were to not use the bomb and were to lose the war, our world today as we know it would be different. I believe almost everyone would have supported President Truman’s decision if Japan was to bring the fight to our country. Yet, since the war stayed outside of US borders, the majority of us will live with the selfish guilt of killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens so us as Americans could preserve our own freedom and security, and unfortunately that guilt will stay with many of us our whole lives. In summary, the decision that lead to the Bombing of Hiroshima is clearly not a one sided debate, and its arguments will continue for years to come.

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Bibliography “Information on how many people died during the bombing for introduction” http://www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/pagepub/CH2.html “description for introduction of project”

http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/hiroshima.htm Pro and con http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/trinity/supplement/procon.html http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1620.html History, US. "Hiroshima and the Atomic Bomb." Oregon Coast Magazine. Oregon Coast Magazine. 7 Mar. 2009 .

http://www.ushistory.org/us/51g.asp http://www.newdominion.com/files/pdf/StarLedgerIwoArticle.pdf Frank, Al. “Iwo Jima: 'You never forget it.'” The Star Ledger. Published 15 February 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2009. http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:DEV8zr9Yy2YJ:www2.unitar.org/hiroshima/programmes /whs05/kataoka2.pdf+effects+of+the+hiroshima+bomb&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=us http://www.atomicbombmuseum.org/pdf/effects/Social%20Damages.pdf