Transcript Slide 1

“The US was justified in the use of
the atomic bomb against Japan
given the nature of the conflict
and their hopes for the post-war
world.”
Assess the validity of this
statement using the documents
and your knowledge of the time
period 1930-1946.
Battaan Death March,
1942
Nanking, China, 1937
Caption: “Arizona
war worker writes
her Navy boyfriend
a thank-you note for
the Jap skull he sent
her.”
Life Magazine,
5/22/1944
Japanese-American citizens awaiting transport to Internment camp,
1942
Dresden,
1945
Tokyo, 1945
“Strategic” bombing
•
•
•
•
• Iwo Jima
US: 6,821 dead; 19,189 wounded; Total: 26,504
(of 110,000)
Japan: 20,703 dead; 216 captured;
Total: 20,919 (of 21,000)
• Okinawa
Allies: 2,513 dead or missing; 38,916 wounded,
33,096 non-combat losses: Total: 74,525 (of
548,000)
Japan: 66,000 dead or missing, 17,000
wounded, 7,455 captured; Total casualties:
83,000 (of 100,000+); 75,000-140,000 civilians
dead or missing
Radiation
burns
Shadow burned into
wall, Hiroshima
• Harry Truman, 1941 (after German attack on
USSR):
• “[I]f we see that Germany is winning we ought to
help the Russians and if Russia is winning we
ought to help Germany and that way let them kill
as many as possible, although I don’t want to
see Hitler victorious under any circumstances.
Neither of them think anything of their pledged
word.”
• The Russians are as untrustworthy as “Hitler
and Al Capone” and he deplored “those twin
blights—atheism and communism.”
• Feb, 1945: Yalta Conference: USSR enter
against Japan 90 days after defeat Germany;
world divided up into zones of control based on
where armies are at time of peace
• May 8, 1945: VE Day
• July 26: Potsdam Declaration; Japan “Surrender
or suffer prompt and utter destruction.” (no
mention Bomb)
• August 6: Little Boy on Hiroshima
• August 8: USSR declares war on Japan
• August 9: Fat Man on Nagasaki
• August 15: Japan surrenders unconditionally