Enola Gay
Assignment by RJ Huggins
Source 1
James Byrne, US Secretary of State, speaking in
1945.
Any weapon that would bring an end to the war and save a
million casualties among American boys was justified,
and we were talking about people who hadn’t hesitated at
Pearl Harbor to make a sneak attack destroying not only
ships but the lives of many American sailors. I would
have been satisfied had the Russians determined not to
enter the war against Japan. I believed the Abomb would
be successful and would force the Japanese to accept
surrender on our terms. I feared what would happen when
the Red Army entered Manchuria.
Source 2
An extract from The Roots of European Security by
the Russian historian Vadim Nekrasov, 1984.
Officially the Americans claimed that the bombings on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki was aimed at bringing the end of
the war nearer and avoiding
unnecessary bloodshed and casualties. But they had
entirely different objectives. The purpose of the
bombings was to intimidate other countries,
above all the Soviet Union. In other words the US
decision to use atomic energy for military purposes was
meant to produce a diplomatic and
psychological impact, and this has since involved the
world in a nuclear arms race.
Source 3
An extract from Sanity –the voice of CND (the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament), 1985.
The Japanese were on the verge of surrender. General
Groves, the engineer director of the atom bomb project
was desperate to try the bomb. The military equipment
was available and had been developed at a cost of $2,000
million. It would have been difficult to justify not
using it after such a vast financial investment. Truman
was very impressed with what he heard and believed the
bomb should be used. For some reason the scientists
failed to mention the long-term dangers of radiation.
Source 4
Letter
from Truman to Irv Kupcinet, August 5, 1963
Dear Kup:
I appreciated most highly your column of July 30th, a
copy of which you sent me. I have been rather careful
not to comment on the articles that have been written on
the dropping of the bomb for the simple reason that the
dropping of the bomb was completely and thoroughly
explained in my Memoirs, and it was done to save 125,000
youngsters on the American side and 125,000 on the
Japanese side from getting killed and that is what it
did. It probably also saved a half million youngsters on
both sides from being maimed for life. You must always
remember that people forget, as you said in your column,
that the bombing of Pearl Harbor was done while we were
at peace with Japan and trying our best to negotiate a
treaty with them. All you have to do is to go out and
stand on the keel of the Battleship in Pearl Harbor with
the 3,000 youngsters underneath it who had no chance
whatever of saving their lives. That is true of two or
three other battleships that were sunk in Pearl Harbor.
Altogether, there were between 3,000 and 6,000
youngsters killed at that time without any declaration
of war. It was plain murder. I knew what I was doing
when I stopped the war that would have killed a half
million youngsters on both sides if those bombs had not
been dropped. I have no regrets and, under the same
circumstances, I would do it again - and this letter is
not confidential.
Sincerely yours,
Harry Truman
Mr. Irv Kupcinet
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago, Illinois
Source 5
An
extract from The Collins Encyclopaedia of Military
History, 1993.
No one knows how long a fanatical Japan could have
continued the war if the bombs had not been dropped. It
is clear that these weapons combined with Soviet entry
into the war, convinced the Japanese Emperor and
Government that further resistance was hopeless.
Source 6
An
extract from President Truman’s memoirs, 1958.
All of us realised that the fighting would be fierce and
the looses heavy. General Marshall told me it might cost
half a million American lives.
Source 7
An Allied prisoner of war in Japan speaking after the war – from The Emperor’s Guest, by Fletcher Cooke, 1972.
There is no doubt in my mind that these atomic bombs saved many more lives than the tens of thousands that they had killed. They saved the lives of tens of thousands of Japanese – for, let there be no mistake, if the Emperor had decided to fight on, the Japanese would have fought to the last man.
Source 8
Secretary to the Japanese war cabinet speaking in 1974.
At that time the army felt it would be a great shame to
surrender. The A-bomb sacrificed many people other than
military men. This provided us with an excuse – to stop
the war to save innocent civilians. If the A-bomb had
not been dropped we would have had great difficulty
finding a good reason to end the war.
Source 9
American scientist advising the government, June 1945
A demonstration of the bomb might best be made on the
desert or on a barren island. Japan could then be asked
to surrender.
Source 10
Henry
Stimson, American Secretary for War, writing in 1945.
A demonstration in an uninhabited area was not regarded
as likely to make Japan surrender. There was the danger
of the test being a dud. Also we had no bombs to waste.
Question
Use the source
Statement:
‘Truman was fully justified in dropping the atomic bombs on Japan to end the war in the Pacific.’
Is there sufficient evidence in Sources A to J support this interpretation? Use the Sources and your own knowledge to explain your answer.
This page about the evaluation of resources can be helpful"!
Copyright: Albert van der Kaap, 2011