The bombing of Hiroshima was very tragic for the people of Japan. Thousands of lives were lost immediately on that day and thousands more were lost over time due to radiation. The people of Japan thought it could not possibly get worse than this. They were wrong. On August 9, 1945, the US dropped another atomic bomb on a city in Japan. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was named “Fat Man” and it killed 40,000 people almost instantly and killed many more over time. This brings the question, “Why Nagasaki?”. Why would they choose Nagasaki location wise and also why would they need to bomb Nagasaki after bombing Hiroshima. After killing 75,000 people with the bombing of Hiroshima, the bombing of Nagasaki just seemed unnecessary.
Nagasaki was one of four potential targets for the second atomic bomb. The other potential targets were Kokura, Kyoto, and Niigata. Kyoto was soon eliminated because of its religious associations and Niigata was withdrawn because it was to far away and it would be unsafe for the bomber. That left Kokura and Nagasaki. Nagasaki was not favored as a target because it had been bombed several times already. Also because there are many hills and valleys so the impact would not be as great if they dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. So they decided to target Kokura. The plane that dropped the bomb on Nagasaki was named “Bockscar”. “Bockscar” was supposed to leave at 3:40 am, but they were delayed because of malfunctioning fuel pump. By the time they got the fuel pump fixed and were over their primary target, a huge cloud was covering the city. The pilot tried to find a clear patch only to find that there was none. Due to the fact that the pilot would soon run out of fuel, he had to move to the backup city, Nagasaki. Nagasaki was also covered with a cloud but at the last second, the pilot found a break in the cloud and dropped the “Fat Man” bomb. It was devastating. Doctors described people coming in without a lot of their skin. It was a very tragic day for the people of Japan. One of the biggest questions people have with the bombing of Nagasaki is “Why was it needed?” The bombing of Hiroshima was already devastating; why not give time for Japan to surrender. There are a few reasons for the bombing of Nagasaki. One of the main reasons for this second bomb is because some scientists wanted to see the difference between the two types of bombs. The bomb for Hiroshima was a plutonium based bomb and many scientists wanted to see what a uranium based bomb could do. Another reason a second bomb was used is because the US wanted to prove its power to Japan. It wanted to prove that they did not just have one atomic bomb and that they could make many more. They wanted to make sure Japan knew to be afraid of the US so that they would surrender immediately. Another reason why a second atomic bomb was dropped is because they always planned on dropping two bombs and everyone thought at least two would be needed. The last reason is weak but that just shows that there is not a lot of information on why Nagasaki was bombed. Not many people know the reason why a second bombed needed to be dropped. So, was it necessary? In my opinion, the bombing of Nagasaki was not justified. You can make an argument for Hiroshima being bombed, but there is no argument for Nagasaki. The US did not even give Japan a chance to surrender and just dropped another bomb of mass destruction on them. It was completely unneeded and very trigger happy. The US should have waited for Japan to respond. If they did not respond they should have tried to negotiate with Japan to get them to surrender. The atomic bomb should have been a worst case scenario. They should not have dropped a second atomic bomb because they felt like it. Truman sentenced thousands of people to death when he dropped one of the atomic bombs, and he dropped two. Human life is precious and taking that many lives that quickly should have been the very last resort.
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