Should the U.S. have dropped the atom bomb? Seventy years ago, the U.S. became the first and only nation to use a nuclear weapon in war.

• Author: Walker, J. Samuel
• Position: Debate

At least nine countries now have nuclear weapons, but the United States remains the only country that actually used an atomic bomb against an enemy. On Aug. 6,1945, the U.S. dropped an atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima; three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Six days later, on August 15, Japan announced it would surrender, effectively ending World War II. But the decision to use this devastating weapon remains controversial. (For more on the development and impact of the atomic bomb, see Times Past, p. 18.)

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YES Dropping the atomic bomb was necessary to end the war with Japan at the earliest possible moment. By the early summer of 1945, Japanese leaders knew they couldn't win. But they fought on in hopes of securing better surrender terms.

President Harry S. Truman recognized that he had several options to convince Japan to end the war: 1) intensifying the already-heavy bombing of Japanese cities; 2) waiting for the Soviet Union, an ally in defeating Germany, to join the war against Japan; 3) telling Japan that the U.S. would allow Emperor Hirohito to remain on his throne after the war; and 4) invading Japan with ground troops.

But there was no guarantee that any of these options, or a combination of them, would force the Japanese to surrender guickly, and each one posed serious military, political, and diplomatic risks. Invading Japan may have been the least uncertain militarily, but it carried the highest price: More than 100,000 Americans had already died fighting the Japanese in the Pacific, and an invasion was certain to be very costly in American lives. And for Truman, any number of American lives that could be saved by using the bomb would be well worth it.

When the atomic bomb became available in July 1945, it was the most promising way to end the war as soon as possible and without the drawbacks of the other options.

The attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki persuaded Emperor Hirohito, who had wavered for weeks, that the war must end immediately. Combined with the Soviet Union's entry into the conflict after Hiroshima, the atom bombs brought about Japan's surrender within a few days.

The bomb was necessary to accomplish Truman's primary objectives of forcing a prompt Japanese surrender and saving American lives, perhaps many thousands of them.

--J. SAMUEL WALKER

Author, Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and...