Juan Mendez Period 2 US History To Drop the Bomb or Not?

It was morally incorrect for the United States to unleash a force as disastrous as two atomic bombs each upon the small Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. Apart from bringing a new danger to the face of the Earth, the USs decision to unveil this weapon has also quite literally saved the world. The atomic bomb has had long-term effects on its victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The few that survived have been affected with radiation from the bomb causing birth defects in their offspring and eventually affecting future generations; others were left with high-degree burns and missing limbs. The rest that didnt survive were all incinerated by the intense heat at the moment of the bombs detonation. These were innocent people that did not deserve to suffer for one mans selfish decision to not give up his position as emperor of Japan. Aside from that, it was an inhumane decision to bomb a small town rather than any Japanese military bases that had many men who were willing to die anyways. My own feeling was that in being the first to use it, we [America] had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages." -- Admiral William D Leahy, Chief of Staff to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. If the bombings had taken place in an area where Japanese soldiers and military bases were located, then there wouldve been a sense of fairness and the attack would have seemed as a military defense and not an act of terrorism upon innocent civilians. After the entire world had been alerted that the United States had now gained a new status in the world as the first nuclear superpower in all known history of man, Russia decided to come up with their own doomsday machine which was tested on August 29, 1949, four years after the war had ended. This induced even greater fear now of a nuclear arms race between the two great countries that had never quite settled their differences and that the capability of a nuclear war between the USSR and America well would have ended up destroying whole nations. The atomic bomb became a threat to humanity due to its infamous force of destroying an entire city but nobody wouldve ever thought this new creation would be the solution to wars. World War III was avoided in 1983 thanks to lieutenant colonel, Stanislav Petrov, who was monitoring satellite activity on a Soviet ship during the Cold War era, after some time, an alarm rang and notified him there were 5 American missiles heading his way; Petrov knew that this meant a third world war was inevitable and chaos would take place. Petrov was the only man on that ship with permission to press the red button that would send USSRs own nuclear missiles in response and launch a full-scale nuclear war. Petrov knew that many lives depended on his next move, so he decided to wait and eventually it turned out to be a false alarm. This past event can be used as proof that nuclear weapons may serve as deterrents to war, not only because leaders are afraid of the consequences, but because the future of their nations and millions of people depends on their next move. Nobody wants blood on their hands and the images of the 1945 bombings survivors serve as a reminder of what may happen and this is how the atomic bomb has saved our world.Today, everybody fears a fight between Russia and America because it may mean a third world war will take place and either purposely or 1

Juan Mendez Period 2 US History accidentally, the fight will go nuclear and scientists hypothesize nuclear winters or the destruction of civilization. Despite its intended purpose, scientists discovered that nuclear weapons can also be converted to nuclear reactors and this provides clean energy to large cities and is therefore why the atomic bomb was a benefit to humanity.

The atomic bomb is an example of human power and how far weve advanced and been able to control the elements around us. We may see that this power is capable of destroying our world or saving humanity from future conflicts between Earths people. The bomb may have been upgraded and made much more powerful. It may be used as a deterrent for many countries advantages today to get what they want so it is still a threat to Earth but if we all as a human race attempt to keep the peace and cooperate with each other to accept our differences and all begin working with each other as nations and leaders should, then these nuclear forces should never be used against each other ever again.

Works Cited

http://gimundo.com/news/article/the-man-who-saved-the-world-by-doing-nothing/ DeFreitas, Susan. Is Nuclear Power A Clean Energy Source? N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2012. 2

Juan Mendez Period 2 US History This article explained that clean energy is a result or the atomic bomb. It explained that nuclear energy could be used for good. http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/glossary/g/glmad.htm