Heroic Hiroshima? Essay, Research Paper

The United States decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima was

both a diplomatic measure calculated to intimidate the Soviet Union in the post

Second-World War era as well as a military measure to force Japan?s

unconditional surrender. Both measures influenced the decision to bomb

Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The bombing served to both intimidate the USSR

(then Soviet Union) and secure an unconditional surrender from Japan.

Secretary of State at the time, James Byrnes believed that ?our possessing

and demonstrating the bomb would make Russia more manageable in Europe,”

according to one man?s account. President Truman shared those

sentiment. He once said to Dwight Eisenhower, ?…..we ought not to put

ourselves in the position of requesting or begging for Soviet aid.?

Eisenhower himself felt that, ? …..no power on earth could keep the Red Army

out of that war unless victory came before they could enter.? All of these

thoughts by key political figures center around an effort or need to intimidated

the Soviet Union. Winston Churchill?s reaction to the bomb insinuates a sense of

accomplished intimidation of the Soviet Union by the US.

Not only was the bombing an effort to intimidate the Soviets, It also was a

measure to designed to force Japan?s unconditional surrender. US troops had

tried many measures to force Japan to surrender unconditionally. They had used

other bombs, destroyed about 2,333,000 homes, wounded 313,000 people and

killed 242,000 more. However Japan still seemed to not be ready to

surrender without conditions. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson believed,

?….there was a very strong possibility that the Japanese government might

determine upon resistance to the end, in all the areas of the Far East under its

control. In such an event the Allies would be faced with an enormous task of

destroying an armed force of five million men and five thousand suicide aircraft,

belonging to a race which had….demonstrated its ability to fight literally to the

death.? It is obvious that Stimson believed the bomb was not only the

only way to get an unconditional surrender, but the only way to stop the

Japanese period.

To conclude, the bombing of Hiroshima was a measure to intimidate the

Soviet Union. It was also an equal measure to force the unconditional surrender

of Japan. Both of these measures weighed heavy in the decision to bomb

Hiroshima.