The Factors in the Decision
to Drop the Bomb
1. Military
2. Potsdam
3. Japanese Unconditional Surrender
4. Alternatives
1. Military USE

After the battle of Okinawa, Truman sees
the dropping of the bomb as a way to…


1. end the war quickly
2. save approximately 1 million US soldiers
2. The Russian Factor
a. E. Europe
b. The Pacific
Relations w/ USSR – E. Europe

At Yalta




USSR will oversee E. Europe, give
reparations from Germany
Gave into Stalin’s demands A LOT
- WHY!?!?!?
USSR would join in the Pacific
At Potsdam


Tensions Rise over E. Europe
No longer giving into Stalin as
much - WHY!?!?!?


We had the bomb
WHY USE IT for the RUSSIAN
FACTOR?
Churchill, FDR, and Stalin at Yalta
The Potsdam Conference
July 1945


Truman stated that the US had a
“powerful and destructive new weapon”,
but did not say specifically that it was a
nuclear bomb.
Appeared Stalin did not grasp the
significance of the weapon
Relations w/ USSR - Japanese

FDR at Yalta promised Stalin in exchange
for USSR declaration of war against Japan



Japanese territory
economic rights in Manchuria
USE BOMB to END WAR BEFORE USSR
gets involved! WHY?
3. Demand for an
Unconditional Surrender and
Japanese Response
The Potsdam Declaration

July 26, 1945: Japan is given an
ultimatum, known as the Potsdam
declaration:
1.
2.
3.
Japan must surrender immediately or face
“prompt and utter destruction”.
Implied that Emperor Hirohito would be
removed from the throne but not clear.
No mention of Soviet entry in the war or the
atomic bomb.
Excerpt from the Potsdam Declaration:

“We call upon the government of Japan to
proclaim now the unconditional surrender
of all Japanese armed forces, and to
provide proper and adequate assurances
of their good faith in such action. The
alternative for Japan is prompt and utter
destruction. “
Japan’s Response




Japanese premier wanted to accept, could not convince
military leaders who really had the power
Many feared removal of Emperor from throne and tried
as a war criminal
Hint from Tokyo that government might surrender, in
return that Japan could keep their emperor but could not
be trusted***
Officially - Japan refuses to surrender and announces
that it will “ignore” the Declaration.
 Do
Now – Take your seats
 HW
 1.
–
Read ???
 2. Quiz 2 classes
 3. DBQ 3 classes
Alternatives to dropping the bomb
Drop the bomb or:
•
•
•
•
•
Massive invasion of Japan, costing
approximately 1 million Allied casualties
Naval blockade to starve Japan and continued
fire-bombing
Demo of new weapon on deserted or scarcely
populated island to pressure Japan to surrender
Weaken Allied demands for an unconditional
surrender
Simply stop fighting
Consider this…
"As long as America and England
insist on unconditional surrender
our country has no alternative
but to see it through in an all-out
effort for the sake of survival and
the honor of the homeland."
- Japanese prime minister Shigenori
Togo in turning down surrender
demand, July 11, 1945.
In-class notebook:

Rank the options for ending the war in
terms of 1 – best way to end the war to 6
– include the atomic bomb and the
alternatives. (You may add a seventh
option, if you see it as the best way to end
the war.)
“Fat man” (plutonium)
“Little boy”
(uranium)
Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

Chosen because



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Approximately 140,000 deaths by the end of
1945



large size
"an important army depot“
potential that the bomb would cause greater
destruction because the city was surrounded by hills
About ½ on the day of the bombing
Others died from injury or illness due to radiation
The majority dead were civilians
Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

Nagasaki was one of the largest sea ports in S. Japan

Great wartime importance because


wide-ranging industrial activity: ordnance, ships, military
equipment, and other war materials.
Bombings prior to the Atomic Bomb caused concern and
many civilians left for rural areas

An area about 2.3 miles by 1.9 miles was destroyed

Approximately 80,000 deaths by the end of 1945
In an August 1945 poll, 85% of
Americans felt it was OK to use
the atomic bomb.
When the bombs dropped and news
began to circulate that [the invasion]
would not, after all, take place, that we
would not be obliged to run up the
beaches near Tokyo assault-firing while
being mortared and shelled, for all the
fake manliness of our facades we cried
with relief and joy. We were going to
live. We were going to grow up to
adulthood after all.
~ Paul Fussell, age 21 in 1945