On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the United States utilized the atomic bomb in two acts of total war against Japan: the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Twelve days earlier, on July 25th, 1945, President Truman gave the order to deploy the atomic bombs, a decision that critics and supporters have widely debated in the past 78 years. While critics maintain that atomic action was unnecessary, tactically, the best decision the United States could have made was to bomb the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan was unwilling to accept surrender, a land invasion would have been bloody with many casualties, and Japan was actively planning to force the United States to Surrender. The fastest and least casualty-heavy way to establish peace was for the United States to drop the atomic bombs.

To begin with, Japan’s refusal to accept surrender forced the United States to either invade or bomb Japan. Some small factions of the Japanese government rallied for peace, proposing that Japan accept surrender, however with the intention that Japan should maintain its pre-war empire. The United States could not accept these conditions and continued to push for unconditional surrender. Even if the United States accepted the surrender, the militants were prepared to fight until they died. The Japanese promised in “The Fundamental Policy to Be Followed Henceforth in the Conduct of the War” to fight the United States to the bitter end. There was nothing that would hold the Japanese military back; they would do whatever it took to win or die trying. The Atomic Bomb was America’s only hope for a peaceful surrender.  

However, should the United States have decided to invade Japan rather than bomb Japan, there would have been dastardly consequences. Should the United States have invaded Japan, the militants would do everything in their power to make it as painful as possible. Japan trained soldiers and irregulars alike to defend against the invasion, and if they were to go down, they would go down swinging. The casualty numbers on both sides would have been astronomical. Japanese defenses were so formidable, in fact, that should an invasion of Japan have been necessary, the United States would likely have still used the Atomic Bombs.

Additionally, Japan intended to fight until the United States surrendered. They had no intent of surrendering and were willing to dissolve allied relations and convince the USSR to join them in fighting America to win the war, beginning to try to establish a relationship with the Soviets. Even after the first bombing in Hiroshima, Japan refused to surrender and continued to seek help from the Soviets. The United States had to send a message to Japan: surrender, or else. The best decision for the United States to make was to bomb Japan. 

In the end, while there were downsides to the Atom Bombs, the decision to drop them instead of invading saved countless lives. Japan would not have surrendered without the threat of Atom Bombs, and an invasion would have meant an almost unfathomable level of damage and casualty to the United States Military. If the United States did not drop the bombs, Japan would have kept fighting until either they were conquered or the United States was. The Atom Bombs, while a seemingly cruel act of total war against innocent civilians, saved lives both in Japan and in America. I believe, therefore, that the United States made the correct decision in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There are tragedies in every war: the correct decision is sometimes only the least cruel.