Learning Curve
HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Why did Truman decide to use the atomic bomb?
At 5.30am on 16 July 1945, in the New Mexico desert, a team of Allied scientists carried out
an atomic explosion for the first time in history. The development of the atomic bomb, based
on massive funding and intensive scientific research, had given the United States the most
powerful weapon in the world. The decision to use this weapon passed into the hands of a
man who had been president for less than three months, Harry Truman.
By this time, the Allies had defeated Germany, but the Japanese fought on. Both sides had
suffered great casualties in the fighting in the Pacific since 1941. The Allies were gradually
defeating the Japanese in a series of battles, advancing slowly from island to island. They
were also beginning to discover the atrocities that Japanese soldiers had committed against
prisoners of war and civilians in occupied territories.
The Japanese leaders declared they would fight to the end rather than surrender
unconditionally. The atomic bomb, with its awesome power, offered the USA a way to bring
the war against Japan to a speedy conclusion, saving the lives of many Allied servicemen.
However, the effects of the bomb were so terrible that we must ask why Truman decided to
use it. The Allies were winning the war. There is also new evidence that the Japanese had
been trying to surrender since 1944. They had a condition for surrender - that Emperor
Hirohito be allowed to stay on the throne. Hirohito supported the moderate forces in the
government who wanted to negotiate for peace. Perhaps Truman could have dropped the
insistence on unconditional surrender and entered negotiations.
If the Japanese had surrendered before the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, then
the power of the weapon would not have been demonstrated to other countries, especially
to the USA's emerging rival, the USSR.
Examine these sources to find out more:
Radio broadcast by
Truman, 9 August
1945
Newspaper
headlines on the
bomb
Stimson: 'The
Decision to use the
Atomic Bomb'
US report on
Japanese surrender
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 1
Part of a radio broadcast by Truman on 9 August 1945, referring to the atomic bombing
of Japan
(Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum, ref 427/1)
Questions
1. What reasons does Truman give for atomic bombing Japan?
2. Why does Truman say that Hiroshima was a military base chosen as a target to limit
civilian casualties?
3. Do you think Truman is being sincere when he says that the decision to use the bomb was
not taken lightly?
4. The same day Truman gave this speech, a second different type of atomic bomb (made
with plutonium) was dropped on Nagasaki. What reasons might there have been for
bombing Nagasaki?
5. These are words that Truman really spoke. Does this mean that this is a reliable piece of
evidence for a historian?
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 1
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 2
News of the bomb in The Daily Telegraph newspaper, 7 August 1945
(Telegraph Group Limited (1945), source from The British Library)
2a
2b
Questions
1. What words would you use to sum up the reaction of this British newspaper to the dropping
of the atomic bomb?
2. Do you think the news was a surprise to the British people?
3. Does this article present an unbiased account of this event? Give reasons for your answer.
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 2a
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 2b
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 3
Extracts from 'The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb' by Henry Stimson, Truman's
Secretary of War, published in the Daily Telegraph, 14 February 1947
(Catalogue ref: PREM 8/486)
3a
3b
3c
3d
3e
Questions
1. What reasons does Stimson give for deciding to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki?
2. Do you think the majority of British and American people in 1947 would have thought that
these were good reasons for the decision?
3. Do you think the majority of Japanese people in 1947 would have thought that these were
good reasons for the decision?
4. Do you get the impression that the decision to use the bomb was taken lightly?
5. What are three questions that you would have liked to ask Stimson in order to find out more
about the event?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 3a
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 3b
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 3c
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 3d
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 3e
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 4
Section of a US report on the atomic bombings, June 1946, looking at the Japanese
surrender
(Catalogue ref: FO 371/59640)
4a
4b
Questions
1. How would you describe the viewpoint of this source?
2. What new light does this source shed on the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?
3. The date of this source is 1946. Do you think Truman could have known all this information
in 1945 when he took his decision to drop the bomb?
4. Other than getting the Japanese to surrender, can you think of any other reasons for the
USA to use their atomic weapons?
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HEROES & VILLAINS
Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 4a
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Truman & the atomic bomb > Why did Truman use it?
Source 4b
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