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Elizabeth Schaeffer

Mr. Fischer

CHC2D

26 November 2019

The Ethics of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki Bombing

In 1945, after Nazi Germany had surrendered to the Allies the only Axis power that

remained was Japan. American President Harry Truman conferred with his advisors. He came to

the decision that one final strike would do the ‘Japs’ in (Browne). He was right. But, did he go

about it the right way? Absolutely not. The American idea of a devastating attack on

civilian-targeted, devastating attack, with immediate destruction that was hitherto undreamt of.

The lasting effects were unthought of, and have ruined the lives of many (Fessendon). The attack

itself was a display of force, and may not have even been necessary for the Japanese to

surrender. The American nuclear strikes against Japan were not justified.

A civilian-targeted attack is cruel and dirty. The choice between destroying a military site

and a well-populated city should be an easy one. On the one hand, you have military personnel

and soldiers who put their lives on the line for a living; and on the other, you have innocent

children on their way to school. One survivor detailed his experience after the bomb dropped,

describing a mother who had stood on a bridge shouting her child’s name while dozens of dead

students floated by (Patterson). Terrorism is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “the

systematic use of ​terror​, especially as a means of coercion.” The United States targeting

civilians when they have the ability to instead perform an act of war in a fair manner is terrorism.

They terrorized the Japanese population to get what they wanted.

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In addition to the initial attack, there were also the lasting effects of the radiation. Today,

more than seventy years after the bombing, people are still being affected by the radiation

created by the bomb. Around 94,000 survivors have participated in studies with the Radiation

Effects Research Foundation (RERF) which indicate that the risk of most cancers doubles with

radiation exposure from the bombing. Leukemia, especially, has been shown to have quadruple

the risk (Fessenden). Even before 1945, it was generally known that radiation caused birth

defects and cancer (Popkin). When the scientists of the Manhattan Project created the atomic

bomb, they knew what they were doing. Using a weapon that not only causes immediate damage

but also hurts people later, in a slow fashion like cancer, is an ethical mess. The people who were

doled an instant death in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were lucky — it’s the ones who survived that

were dealt a bad hand.

In addition to the points made above, it’s imperative to also consider whether any attack

was even necessary in the first place. Gar Alperovitz, an American historian, argues that the

claim of President Truman - that the bombing was to prevent a Japanese invasion - is false

(Beschloss). He believes that Truman was always going to use the atomic bomb, and that his

excuse was a story told to make it more acceptable. He suggests that there were options other

than nuclear weapons, like convincing Stalin to declare war on Japan to scare them into

surrender. The only issue with this plan of action is that it would have given Stalin a good anchor

in East Asia. But, when you consider the alternative, it’s better than nothing (Beschloss).

The American use of atomic weapons against Japan was not justified. It was

civilian-targeted, with long-term effects that were given no heed, and the end result could have
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been accomplished any number of ways other than atomic weapons. It was done for the wrong

reasons, in the wrong fashion, and it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Works Cited

Beschloss, Michael R. “Did We Need to Drop It?” ​The New York Times​, The New York Times,

30 July 1995, ​https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/30/books/did-we-need-to-drop-it.html

Browne, Ryan. “Why Did the U.S. Bomb Hiroshima?” ​CNN,​ Cable News Network, 27 May

2016, ​https://www.cnn.com/2016/05/27/politics/hiroshima-obama-explainer/index.html

Fessenden, Marissa. “The Health Effects of the Atom Bomb Are Still Being Studied.”

Smithsonian.com,​ Smithsonian Institution, 6 Aug. 2015,

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-bombings-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-st

ill-inform-health-today-180956185/

Merriam-Webster, “Terrorism.” ​Merriam-Webster​,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/terrorism​.

Patterson, Thom. “A Tricycle, a Toddler and an Atomic Bomb.” ​CNN​, Cable News Network, 6

Aug. 2015, ​https://www.cnn.com/2015/08/05/world/hiroshima-survivors-artifacts/index

Popkin, Gabriel. “Seventy Years Later, Atomic Bombs Still Influence Health Research.” ​Inside

Science​, 23 Aug. 2016,

https://www.insidescience.org/news/seventy-years-later-atomic-bombs-still-influence-hea

lth-research