B-25s crowd deck of USS Hornet on way to Japan

•Island Hopping had been successful, and the US was now close enough to bomb Japan.

B-29 bombers

firebombed (napalm)

cities

Starts June ‘44

Still refused to

surrender

Tokyo: 83,000 people

incinerated

Nazis might use atomic energy to build new

bombs

Albert Einstein to FDR

1939

Nuclear Fission

FDR’s top secret operation to develop

an A-bomb 1st Los

Alamos, New

Mexico

Consisted of a team

of top scientists from all over the

worldThey were led by

Robert J. Oppenheimer

July 16, ‘45: Successful test of A-bomb in NM

July 16, ‘45

Truman

Atlee

Stalin?

If you (Japan)

don’t surrender you face, prompt &

utter destruction

Who am I?

Why drop the Bomb on Japan?

3 main reasons

1) Destroy Japan’s ability to make war

2) End the War quickly

3) The A-bomb saved American lives

Where? Hiroshima

When? Aug. 6, 1945 (8:15

AM)

What? The Enola Gay

dropped Little Boy

Detonated 1,900 feet above Hiroshima

2/3 of the city is destroyed

DAMAGE REPORT Some 70,000 to

80,000 people are killed immediately; about

145,000 persons will die from the bombing by the

end of 1945.

8:15 AM

Where? Nagasaki

When? Aug. 9, 1945

(11:02 AM)

What? Fat Man

was dropped

Mushroom cloud over Nagasaki

Detonated 500 meters above Nagasaki

DAMAGE REPORT40,000 - 60,000 dead

Leveled Area: 6.7 million square meters

Damaged Houses: 18,409

I cannot bear to see my innocent people

suffer any longer

Emperor Hirohito

Aug. 15, 1945: Emperor Hirohito surrenders

Japan signed surrender aboard the USS Missouri

Sept. 2

?

The world is changed forever!

What other options do you think

Truman had to end the war with Japan?

Bombing was

immoralFailed to account for

arms race & Cold War

Is it ever morally

justifiable to use a nuclear

weapon?

Should such technology have actually been

created? Used? What future ramifications will

result from Truman’s decision? Are you afraid

of nuclear war?