Running head: HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
1
HIS 200 – Applied History
Historical Analysis: Check Three
Southern New Hampshire University
Running head: HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
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Introduction
For the first two years of World War II, the United States remained neutral.
While their
involvement had begun when they started lending aid to European allies, it was the attack on
Pearl Harbor, on the morning of December 7, 1941, that forced Congress to declare war on
Japan, thus, officially entering WWII.
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of
Hiroshima.
Three days later, on August 9
th
, the U.S. carried out a second atomic attack, this time,
on the city of Nagasaki.
Although an official casualty and fatality toll from the bombings will
never be known, the estimated death toll of 225,000 (Hiroshima - 150,000; Nagasaki – 75,000)
are likely overly-conservative (
"Hiroshima And Nagasaki Death Toll",
2007
).
Shortly after the
second attack, Japan ultimately surrendered, unconditionally, to the United States.
The attack on
Japan is highly credited to ending WWII and also represents the only time nuclear weaponry was
used during warfare.
Moreover, it signaled the beginning of the atomic age, the arms race
between the United States and the Soviet Union, and, before too long, the Cold War.
However,
the attack was not without criticism as some called into question the necessity, excessiveness,
and potential ulterior motives of using the atomic bombs.
Overview of Evidence
In 1939, President Roosevelt initiated a series of agencies, components of which would
eventually form a secret program coded the “Manhattan Project,” whose purpose was aimed at
the research and development of an atomic bomb.
By the summer of 1945, the first prototype
was ready for testing; on July 16
th
, the Trinity Test occurred, which was successful, but produced
results beyond expectations at a tremendously reduced scale (i.e. the prototype was attached to
only a 100-foot tower in comparison to 500-600 meters, approximately 1600-2000 feet, which
Running head: HISTORICAL ANALYSIS
3
was the height projected for maximum effort).
In the days following the Trinity Test, President
Truman received a signed petition by scientists, in the field of atomic power, addressing their
concerns of nuclear weaponry in war and a memorandum from the director of the Manhattan
Project, General Groves, to the Secretary of War, Henry Stimson, detailing the drastic effects of
the Trinity Test (Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, n.d.).
There are numerous eyewitness
accounts and several post-test summaries, which emphasizes that President Truman was well
aware of the bomb’s destructive capabilities (Atomic Archive, 2015).
President Truman was now faced with the reality of possibly using the atomic bomb in
war.
According to sources, there were four non-nuclear strategies that served as alternatives to
utilizing the atomic bombs: negotiated peace, intensified bombing and blockade until November
1, 1945, a November 1945 attack on Southern Kyushu, and a massive invasion of Honshu
(Miles, 1985).
