1.+The+Reason

=Truman's Decision=

The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Harry Truman was forced to make a decision that has possibly been the most controversial and influential throughout the entire twentieth century: the command to drop atomic bombs on two Japanese cities. The results of this bombing are unquestionable: nearly 200,000 Japanese civilians dead, approximately two thirds being women and children, the utter destruction of two major city centers, and the fear of nuclear warfare. Both Little Boy and Fat Man, the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively, were over one thousand times more powerful than any other explosion seen up until that time. Despite the downfalls to the decision to drop the bombs, the immediate aftereffect of the attack was the surrender of Japan to the United States, officially ending World War II in the Pacific.

On December 7, 1941, after the bombing of the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the United States declared war on Japan. The United States, along with the Dutch and British, promptly cut off all trade with Japan, including their vital supply of oil. As the war raged on in the Pacific, soldiers saw gruesome warfare and deaths caused by the most horrific methods possible. The United States soldiers pushed the Japanese out of many Pacific islands until nothing left to be invaded but the Japanese mainland.

With this, as well as the fact that an atomic bomb had been successfully detonated in Alamagordo, New Mexico, in mind, Harry Truman along with the British prime minister Winston Churchill, the leader of Russia, Joseph Stalin, and the Nationalist Chinese president Chiang Kai-shek on July 26, 1945 created what would be known as the Potsdam Declaration. The declaration stated that Japan was to immediately and unconditionally surrender to the United States lest they suffer "inevitable and complete destruction of the Japanese armed forces and just as inevitably the utter destruction of the Japanese homeland" (Takami). These stipulations were accompanied by promises to include Japan in world trade and the requirement to recognize "freedom of speech, of religion, and of thought, as well as respect for the fundamental human rights" (Takami).

The Potsdam Declaration was essentially ignored by Emperor Hirohito, and Truman decided to fulfill his promise of "prompt and utter destruction." This decision led to the deaths of over 150,000 civilians and the end of World War II.

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Truman's warning to Japan after the bombing of Hiroshima