U.S. History 3/6
• Agenda:
– Assess the Decision to Build and Use the
Atomic Bomb
– Readings and Discussion
Battles in the Pacific Chart, Double Bubble
and Cornell Notes for & 17.3.4 (Rebuilding
Begins page 585-587) Due Thursday
U.S. History 3/7
• Agenda:
– Assess the Decision to Build and Use the
Atomic Bomb
– Readings and Discussion
– T Chart
– Response
Battles in the Pacific Chart, Double Bubble
and 17.3.
Assessing the Decision to Build
and Use the Atomic Bomb
• Get into Pairs:
– Desk Must be side by side
– Pick up a reading in the back of the room,
each students will get their own packet.
– On a sheet of paper title it “Decision to build
and use the Atomic Bomb” (Class Activity)
– Bonus Points for those who are ready first!!!
Decide
1.Get into the mindset of 1939.
2.Read your choices.
3.Discuss with your partner.
4.Pick your choice.
5.Write a rationale underneath your notes.
To Build or Not to Build?
• 1939, President Roosevelt approved the
building
• Manhattan Project included the efforts of
over 600,000 Americans
• Cost $2 billion
VE Day..yay!!!!!
• President
Roosevelt dies
April 12, 1945
• Germany
surrenders
– After Hitler’s
suicide
• May 8, 1945 –
allies win in
Europe
Manhattan Project
• What is it?
• Tell me about the
testing?
• Who was involved?
• Any other facts?
To Drop or Not to Drop?
• August 6, 1945- the Enola Gay dropped
“Little Boy” over Hiroshima = 80,000100,000 deaths
• August 9- Nagasaki = 70,000 deaths
• Japanese would stop within five
days…(officially signing the surrender
Sept. 2)
Atomic Bombs:
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
• August 6, 1945
• “Little Boy” dropped
by the Enola Gay.
• Killed 80,000 people
including JapaneseAmericans, Allied
prisoners of war,
and refugees.
• No Japanese
surrender.
• August 9, 1945
• Industrial City
• “Fat man” Killed
about 80,000 not
counting those
affected with
radiation and
injuries.
• Japanese did not
surrender.
Hiroshima vs. Nagasaki
•
•
•
•
Little Boy
4 tons
15,000 tons of TNT
Exploded 1,900 feet
above the city
• Cloud reached 40,000
feet
•
•
•
•
Fat Man
4.5 tons
21,000 tons of TNT
Exploded 1,800 feet
above the city
• Cloud reached 60,000
feet
VJ Day and Japanese Surrender
• VJ Day was the celebrated
day of victory against the
Japanese, August 14,
1945.
• Sept. 2, 1945, Japanese
surrendered when their
emperor was finally
recognized on the
battleship Missouri.
Effects of the Bomb:
•
•
•
•
•
Blasts = 100 million degrees
People vaporized, bodies left shadows
People’s burned skin peeling in red strips
Buildings completely destroyed
Radiation poisoning led to future deaths
How did the U.S. occupation of Japan
impact its future?
For later – think about the righteous of
dropping the bomb?
Are civilians an appropriate target of war?
Right or Wrong?
• Historians still debate this today
• Sides are split
• By 1990, the U.S. and the USSR had
70,000 nuclear weapons in their collective
nuclear arsenals.
• 10 countries have nuclear
arsenals/abilities: U.S., U.K., France,
USSR, China, Pakistan, India, North
Korea, Israel, Iran
For the Dropping of the Bomb
President Truman
"Having found the bomb we
have used it. We have
used it against those who
attacked us without
warning at Pearl Harbor,
against those who have
starved and beaten and
executed American
prisoners of war, against
those who have
abandoned all pretense
of obeying international
laws of warfare. We have
used it in order to shorten
the agony of war, in order
to save the lives of
thousands and thousands
of young Americans.”
General Leslie Groves
“As to the present war,
there was a feeling
that no matter what
else might happen,
we now had the
means to insure its
speedy conclusion
and save thousands
of American lives.”
Secretary of War Stimson
"These two heavy blows
have fallen in quick
succession upon the
Japanese and there will
be quite a little space
before we intend to drop
another. During that time
I hope something may be
done in negotiating a
surrender. I have done
the best I could to
promote that in my talks
with the President and
with Byrnes and I think
they are both in full
sympathy with the aim."
Against the Dropping of the
Bomb
Albert Einstein
"I made one great
mistake in my
life…when I signed
the letter to President
Roosevelt
recommending that
atom bombs be
made; but there was
some justification the danger that the
Germans would make
them."
General Eisenhower
"During [Sec. of War Stimson’s]
recitation of the relevant facts, I had
been conscious of a feeling of
depression and so I voiced to him my
grave misgivings, first on the basis of
my belief that Japan was already
defeated and that dropping the bomb
was completely unnecessary, and
secondly because I thought that our
country should avoid shocking world
opinion by the use of a weapon whose
employment was, I thought, no longer
mandatory as a measure to save
American lives. It was my belief that
Japan was, at that very moment,
seeking some way to surrender with a
minimum loss of 'face'. The Secretary
was deeply perturbed by my
attitude..."
Debrief
Respond to each in one paragraph:
1. Was the decision to drop the bomb a
military necessity? If not, was it
justifiable for a reason besides military
necessity?