Truman’s Horrible Mistake to Use the Atomic Bomb Essay -- Argumentativ

The war was coming to a victorious conclusion for the Allies. Germany had fallen, and it was only a matter of time until Japan would fall as well. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was at the forefront of the American war effort, and saw atomic weaponry as a way out of the most monumental war ever. As discussed in Cabell Phillips’ book, The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession, Stimson was once quoted as saying that the atomic bomb has â€Å"more effect on human affairs than the theory of Copernicus and the Law of Gravity† (55). Stimson, a defendant of dropping the bomb on Japan, felt that the world would never be the same. If the world would change after using atomic weapons, could it possibly have changed for the better? One would think not. However, that person might be weary of the biased opinion of White House personnel. He or she should care more for the in depth analytical studies done by experts who know best as to why America should or should not have dropped the atomic bomb. As more and more evidence has been presented to researchers, expert opinion on whether or not the United States should have dropped the two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has also changed. More and more researchers seem to feel that the atomic bomb should never have been used (Alperovitz 16). Despite several officials’ claims to enormous death estimations, an invasion of Japan would have cost fewer total lives. In addition, post atomic bomb repercussions that occurred, such as the Arms Race, were far too great a price to pay for the two atomic drops. However, possibly the most compelling argument is that Japan would have surrendered with or without the United States using the atomic bomb. In defiance of top... ... Conference.† Reader’s Companion to American History. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.historychannel.com/. 23 Sept 2001. Franck, James, et al. The Franck Report. June 11, 1945. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.dannen.com/decision/franck.html. 1 Oct. 2001. Miles, Rufus E. Jr. â€Å"Hiroshima: The Strange Myth of Half a Million American Lives Saved.† International Security (1985): 121-140. Newman, Robert P. â€Å"Hiroshima and the Trashing of Henry Stimson.† New England Quarterly (1998): 5-32. Phillips, Cabell. The Truman Presidency: The History of a Triumphant Succession. New York: MacMillan, 1966. â€Å"Truman, Harry S.† The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia: Columbia, 1994. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.historychannel.com/. 24 Sept. 2001.