Sara Virostek

Mr. Sebestyen
Honors World Regional Geography
1/29/16

In our countrys history, it was a time of great fear and anticipation throughout the year of
1945. It followed years of secrecy, research, and tests which were all riding on the moment of
releasing the atomic bomb with The Manhattan Project. The topic discussed in this paper is the
question of whether the United States should have dropped the atomic bomb or used peaceful
means to win the war and create world peace. In my opinion, merely threatening Japan with the
prospect of the atomic bomb would not have convinced Japan to surrender. As evidence by the
fact that it took two bombings not just one to convince Japan it could be defeated. The best
solution would be to stand up for justice and fair play by using the atomic bomb on Japan since
Japan stubbornly refused to surrender. This paper discusses the pros and some con of dropping
an atomic bomb.
Up to that point in the United States history, the U.S. has not meddled with foreign
countries affairs and economic problems. The United States would only get involved when it is
necessary to intervene. However, during World War II, Americans had sacrificed their lives,
money, and resources to overcome this hateful war. We owe it to all Americans who had risked
their own lives to solve this conflict. Americans had spent over two billion dollars to research
and develop an atomic bomb, and we had the responsibility to do whatever it cost to protect
American lives. The war had already caused millions of deaths and much destruction; therefore,
the use of the bomb was the most effective way for Japan to realize they could not win and thus
had to surrender and end this war.

The United States were past the point where negotiations were considered a path to a
solution. A president cannot always be popular, President Truman admitted. Truman implied
that if Japan did not want to agree on any terms, we had to do whatever it would take to solve the
major problems of death and losses, as unpopular as the decision to drop the bomb would be.
Any other methods used to secure peace would at this point result in a high number of casualties
or losses for the Americans. However, dropping an atomic bomb on their civilians and killing
thousands of people could prompt other countries to believe it would be best to develop atomic
weapons.
As Americans, we were trying to prevent conflicts so if other countries were influenced
to bomb other countries and the United States could become a target eventually. However, the
result is more favorable in choosing to drop the atomic bomb on Japan than choosing to not drop
it. With every difficult decision that is made, there will always be consequences no matter the
situation.
In sum, this decision created more favorable results for us Americans than bringing
further destruction to our shores. It ended further American deaths and losses, and created a
decisive end of conflicts with Japan and demonstrated to Japan that we were a serious threat to
their security and well-being. America was not built on fear. American was built on courage,
imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand, stated Harry Truman, a
former president and a firm believer in ending the conflicts with Japan at all costs. While he
believed, American was not build on fear, perhaps it was fear that was necessary to bring down
Japan.