Answer the following question:
Was it prudent and just for the United States to use the atomic bomb against Hiroshima and Nagasaki near the end of World War II? (40 points)
What seems like eons ago, during my first semester as a teaching assistant, one of my assignments, from a professor who was a major authority on the Nazi’s rise to power, was to supervise a discussion of the American use of the atomic bomb in World War II. The assignment was daunting, not only because there were 144 students in that “experimental” course on the Second World War, but also because my knowledge of the subject was—to say the least—limited. In the end, however, it turned out to be a fascinating experience. I was particularly struck by how tenaciously the most vocal students clung to their opinions, even though most of them knew even less than I did about the subject. The reason, I gathered, was how indoctrinated people had become to the orthodox view of the atomic bombings.
With that in mind, let’s have some fun.
As you know, this course deals with European history and ends with World War II. Yet, after the war ended in Europe, it continued in the Pacific theatre for four months, ending soon after the United States unleashed the A-bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Therefore, I normally try to conclude the course with basic information about the war’s Pacific theatre. I also raise the issue of whether it was prudent and just for the United States to use the atomic bomb against the two Japanese cities in August 1945.
So, here’s what you’re going to do. Find at least six sources for this topic. The first two should be from the aftermath of the bombings, say, from 1945 to about 1950, one of them providing the official justification for using the bomb, the other offering a dissenting opinion. The remaining sources (three to six) should be from later periods. At least two should be recent appraisals, say from the mid-nineties to the present.
You will quickly learn that, despite some dissenting voices, the [President Harry S.] Truman administration’s justification—the official narrative—for using the A-bombs remained the prevailing view until the 1960s. Since then, a furious debate has raged over the issue.
What I want you to do is weigh the facts, consider the contrasting arguments, and come to your own conclusion on the issue.
Your essay should be two-and-a-half- to three pages of text (typed, using 12 pt. font, and double-spaced with 1” margins).
Be sure to insert footnotes when necessary and include a bibliography on a separate page.
Here are some sources you may find helpful for getting you started.
Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb
Harry S Truman National Historic Site
https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm
PRESIDENT HARRY S TRUMAN
http://www.doug-long.com/truman.htm
HIROSHIMA:
HARRY TRUMAN’S DIARY AND PAPERS
http://www.doug-long.com/hst.htm
Doug Long “Hiroshima: Was It Necessary?” http://www.doug-long.com/
This source contains links to other articles.
“Debate over the Bomb: An Annotated Bibliography,” Tuesday, May 17, 2016 https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/debate-over-bomb-annotated-bibliography
Michael D. Gordin, “THE EMBRACE OF ATOMIC BOMB ORTHODOXY AND REVISIONISM,” Review of Wilson D. Miscamble, The Most Controversial Decision: Truman, Atomic Bombs, and the Defeat of Japan, in American History, Vol. 40, No. 3 (September 2012), pp. 500-505
Articles by and about Gar Alperovitz, perhaps the leading scholar of the “Revisionist School” on the American decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan, are easy to find online. For example, Michael R. Beschloss “Did We Need to Drop It?” The New York Times, July 30, 1995, https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/30/books/did-we-need-to-drop-it.html
Also, consortiumnews.com and antiwar.com traditionally publish articles on the bombings in early August. These articles are easy to find at those websites.
In fact, in August 2020, consortiumnews.com published a series of articles on the bombings. Here is how to access them. Go to the site and scroll down the right side of the page to August 2020. Click and you will be taken to a page showing articles from that month. Scroll to the bottom where you will find a box listing pages. Pages 7-9 list sixteen articles, one an introductory article and another which contains two video discussions of the topic.
One final thing that should serve as food for thought: During the war, in his “Letters to a German Friend,” the French writer Albert Camus argued that the allied nations fighting the Nazis had to resist any urges to emulate Nazi cruelty to win the war. Otherwise, he suggested, the Allies might win militarily but still lose. Hmm. Now what could he have meant?