Harry S.
Truman
& The Atomic Bomb
Power point created by Robert Martinez
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Primary Content Source: Speaking of History: Vol. II, by Laura Belmonte
In 1939, physicist Albert Einstein
warned President Franklin
Roosevelt that the Nazis were
capable of producing a weapon that
harnessed atomic energy.
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In response, the Roosevelt
administration funded small studies
of the military potential of fission
chain reactions.
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When the United States entered
World War II, these efforts
expanded into the Manhattan
Project, a top-secret program
employing more than 120,000
people.
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American, British, and Canadian
scientists (the Soviets excluded),
collaborated in laboratories in
Chicago, Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Los
Alamos, New Mexico.
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Their challenges included collecting
enough fissionable material to
produce a nuclear explosion and
devising a weapon that could be
dropped from an airplane.
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On July 16, 1945, scientists at Los
Alamos exploded the first atomic
bomb (Trinity test.)
At that time, the Allies had defeated
Nazi Germany but were locked in
fierce combat against Imperial
Japan.
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Earlier in the year, U.S. forces
sustained heavy casualties in
battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
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Although the Japanese lost over
110,000 soldiers and 80,000
civilians in these clashes, they
continued to fight.
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U.S. military planners predicted
huge losses if American forces
invaded the Japanese home islands.
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News of the atomic bomb’s
successful test gave President Harry
S. Truman an alternative.
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On July 25, while he was attending
the Potsdam Conference with Soviet
and British prime ministers, Truman
issued secret orders to use the
bomb if the Japanese failed to
surrender by August 3.
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The Potsdam Declaration warned
Japan that it faced “prompt and
utter destruction” if it did not
capitulate (end hostilities.) The
Japanese rejected the ultimatum.
Hideki Tojo
http://www.dictatorofthemonth.com/Tojo/Apr2007TojoEN.htm
In response, Truman ordered the
military to use atomic weapons.
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On August 6, the B-29 Enola Gay
dropped a uranium bomb on
Hiroshima, instantly killing at least
70,000 people and leveling five
square miles.
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On August 9, the United States
dropped a plutonium bomb on
Nagasaki, and 40,000 people
instantly perished.
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On August 14, Japan finally
surrendered after receiving
assurances that Emperor Hirohito
could retain his throne.
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The decision to use the bomb
remains hotly disputed. Critics offer
several motives, including the
desire to save American lives, antiJapanese racism, and intimidation
of the Soviet Union.
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Although we will never know the
answer, nuclear weapons
undoubtedly changed the course of
modern history.
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“Let there be no mistake about it. I
regarded the bomb as a military
weapon and never had any doubt
that it should be used.”
- President Harry S. Truman
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