Why Truman Did Made the Right Decision

At the end of World War II, few questioned Truman’s decision to drop the atomic

bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The general consensus in the American public was

that droppings of the atomic bombs brought the war to a timelier end. They were at ease

with over one hundred thousand most likely innocent civilians being killed at the

discretion of President Truman. In years later, the conformist wisdom that President

Truman was saving lives was disputed and experts began brining forth theories of their

own. However, when one examines the issue with great attention to the results of the

atomic bombings and compares these results with the possible alternatives, the fuzzy line

between truth and conspiracy begins to clear. Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb

on Japan was for the purpose of saving lives and ending the war quickly in order to

prevent a disastrous land invasion and the deaths of more American lives.

Of the theories that dispute Truman’s decision, the most common is that Truman

wanted to impress Stalin with the power of the atomic bomb. This claim is simply

without any evidence that would come close to justifying itself. The most imperative

thing on Truman’s mind as he ordered the bombing was that they would prevent a land

invasion of Kyushu and the massive loss of life, both American and Japanese, that would

accompany such an invasion. He made the easy and obvious choice to cause life loss on

only the Japanese front and not the lives of young Americans. Furthermore, if Truman

truly desired to blow away Stalin, he would not have informed him of the bombs

creation. Instead, he would have let the shock value set in on Stalin when he got word

that Japan had been devastated by a massive nuclear attack at the hands of the United

States.
 The only way anyone can judge Truman’s motives with any credibility in

dropping the atomic bomb is by analyzing the result of his decision. He likely used

revenge for Pearl Harbor, saving American lives, and ending the war as quickly as

possible all as validation in dropping the bomb. However, it is evident that in the big

picture, the use of the atomic bomb saved lives. About 105,000 Japanese lost their lives

in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. While this is a large number of innocent lives lost, the

number who died in American bombing raids on the six largest Japanese cities is far

greater at close to 250,000. By the estimation of military experts and from Truman

himself, an invasion of Japan would have cost at least 500,000 Japanese and American

lives. It can be easily determined that no more people died in the atomic bombings than

would have in a land invasion of Japan and ended the war quickly. Truman’s motives,

therefore, cannot be called into question due to the results of his decision. In this case, the

end results justify the means.

The first year that President Truman faced is arguably the hardest of any president

to this date. He stepped in as president after the death of the most popular president of all-

time, Franklin D. Roosevelt while the United States was near the end of World War II.

While the bloodshed in Europe came to an end, Japan struggled on in the war and

Truman had to make a decision to save American lives at the cost of innocent Japanese

lives, or spend more money, more American lives, and continue the difficult lives for

those on the home front. In order to protect the American cause and American life, he

chose the former and made the right decision in doing so.