Bombing of Hiroshima

History, political science or even philosophy papers can address the topic of the bombing of Hiroshima. Paper Masters will write your project on the bombing of Hiroshima for you to use as a guide and example.

The year 1945 was a beginning and an ending. The modern era began and the depression and wartime despair was behind America. The Truman era began battle with the ideology and politics of Joseph Stalin. Half way around the world, the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and changed the destiny of politics for the remainder of the century. World War II had just ended and the Cold War began.

The bombing of Hiroshima set into motion the realization that a new era of warfare had begun. American culture was flooded with scare tactics on the power of nuclear war and a new enemy emerged from the Iron Curtain, the Soviet Union. The idea of a cold war had begun in the 1930's but remained a silent threat known only by those who understood the power of nuclear weapons. In 1945, As the war was drawing to a close Truman, Stalin and Churchill met to decide on the fate of the Germany and other liberated nations. At the Yalta conference in February 1945, the Allies gave all the countries mostly what they wanted, including free elections in all Eastern European Nations. However, in July 1945 at the Potsdam conference in Germany, Stalin made it clear that he had no intention of allowing free elections in Eastern Europe. The Yalta conference signaled that the Soviets were set on expansionism as Stalin left his armies in Eastern Europe and made it a buffer zone, in case of the future conflicts. Europe was allied so that it would carry out Moscow's decisions. Less than a year later, Winston Churchill, no longer British Prime Minister, delivered a speech at Fulton, Missouri, and cold war would officially commence.

The dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima is still as controversial today as it was at the time when President Harry S. Truman made the decision to show the world the power of the United States. However controversial it may have been, it was necessary for President Truman to drop the bomb on Hiroshima because he had the support and encouragement of Churchill, the scientific community pressing for its use, and a desperate need to stop the number of American soldiers killed from rising past 300,000.

On the afternoon of April 12, 1945, Vice President Harry S. Truman was in the Capitol, having a drink with various members of Congress in the office of House Speaker Sam Rayburn. Almost a soon as he arrived, he was told to call the White House. "This is the V.P." he said, and was told to come to the White House "as quickly and as quietly" as he could.The color drained from his face, he ran back to his office for his hat, and arrived at the White House around 5:30 p.m. Eleanor Roosevelt was the one who broke the news to him: the President was dead.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died from a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia at 3:45 local time (4:45 Washington time) on April 12.Although he had not been expected to live out his entire term by many close to him, his death was unexpected, and a shock to both the nation, and the Vice President. Two and a half hours after Roosevelt's death, at 7:09 p.m., Harry S. Truman was sworn in as the nation's 33rd President. Roosevelt's Cabinet was present for the ceremony, and he briefly addressed them, telling them he hoped they would do their jobs, that he welcomed their advice, and that final decisions would be his alone as President.After the brief meeting, Secretary of War Henry Stimson stayed behind, telling Truman that there was an immense project underway to perfect a new explosive device. That was all the information the new President received.

Truman was wholly unprepared to become President of the United States. During his tenure as Vice President (about three and a half months) he met with FDR exactly twice, on March 8, and again on March 19, for a garden lunch where only pleasantries were discussed.Unknown at the time, Truman had previously discussed the Manhattan Project with Secretary Stimson.In June 1943, the Truman Committee had learned of several secret military plants and budgetary masking of vast expenditures for these installations. Stimson invited Truman to his office and then told the Senator that the project was of the utmost wartime secrecy, asking that the investigation be called off. Truman immediately and patriotically complied.

On April 24, twelve days into his presidency, a note arrived from Stimson. It read:

Dear Mr. President:
I think it is very important that I should have a talk with you as soon as possible on a highly secret matter. I mentioned it to you shortly after you took office, but have not urged it since on account of the pressure you have been under.It, however, has such a bearing on our present foreign relations and has such an important effect upon all my thinking in this field that I think you ought to know about it without much further delay.

The next day, Stimson arrived to brief the President.Accompanying him was General Leslie Groves, chief administrative office of the Manhattan Project.At this meeting, Groves brought Truman up to date on the entire project, estimating a test of the new bomb in mid-July.If this test were to prove successful, Groves foresaw, an operational bomb could be ready in August.Also at this meeting, Stimson urged that a committee be established to advise the president on all of the potential ramifications of the atom bomb, especially whether it should be used against Japan or not.