The second atomic bomb, on Nagasaki came only three days after the bombing of Hiroshima. The devastation of Hiroshima had not yet been fully realized by the Japanese. The short time between the bombings has led many historians to state that the second bombing was “certainly unnecessary” (Sherwin, Martin 2003) (2), “gratuitous at best and genocidal at worst” (Cummings, Bruce 1999) (3). Maddox wrote in response that
“Some historians have argued that while the first bomb might have been required to achieve Japanese surrender, dropping the second constituted a needless barbarism. However, the record shows otherwise. American officials believed more than one bomb would be necessary because they assumed Japanese hard-liners would minimize the first explosion or attempt to explain it away as some sort of natural catastrophe, which is precisely what they did. In the three days between the bombings, the Japanese minister of war, for instance, refused even to admit that the Hiroshima bomb was atomic. A few hours after Nagasaki, he told the cabinet that "the Americans appeared to have one hundred atomic bombs … they could drop three per day. The next target might well be Tokyo.” (4)
Many Historians believes that there we other alternatives than the atomic bomb. Historian Michael Barnes believes that it was “either the American Boys, or the bomb”. Many people believe that President Truman should have tried other options before resorting to the bomb. (5)
An alternative suggested could have been to arrange a small demonstration of the bomb. Although America and Japan had no political relations until Pearl Harbor, a demonstration could have been arranged separately through some back channel like Russia. America already knew that the Japanese reached out to the Russians earlier attempting to arrange some type of intervention with America. After the war America did conduct many atomic bomb tests on small volcanic islands in the Pacific. Historians believe that if a site like that could have been prepared in 1945, representatives of the Japanese government, scientific community and military could have seen the bomb, it may have been enough to convince them of the foolishness of continued battle. If not, America could say they had tried and therefore take it to the next level. (5)
References-
1. Wikipedia, Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accessed 4th of May 2015, updated 2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#CITEREFMaddox1995
2. Sherwin, Martin (2003). A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance (3rd ed.). Stanford, CA:Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-804-73957-3.
3. Cumings, Bruce (1999). Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American–East Asian Relations at the End of the Century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-822-32276-4.
4. Maddox, Robert James (1995). "The Biggest Decision: Why We Had to Drop the Atomic Bomb". American Heritage 46 (3). Retrieved 1 June 2012.
5. Authentic History, Arguments against the Bombs, accessed 4th of May 2015, updated January 13th 2013
http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/1-war/4-Pacific/4-abombdecision/3-against/
Images-
1. http://hiroshima-a-poor-decision.wikispaces.com/file/view/hiroshima6.jpg/114154541/hiroshima6.jpg
“Some historians have argued that while the first bomb might have been required to achieve Japanese surrender, dropping the second constituted a needless barbarism. However, the record shows otherwise. American officials believed more than one bomb would be necessary because they assumed Japanese hard-liners would minimize the first explosion or attempt to explain it away as some sort of natural catastrophe, which is precisely what they did. In the three days between the bombings, the Japanese minister of war, for instance, refused even to admit that the Hiroshima bomb was atomic. A few hours after Nagasaki, he told the cabinet that "the Americans appeared to have one hundred atomic bombs … they could drop three per day. The next target might well be Tokyo.” (4)
Many Historians believes that there we other alternatives than the atomic bomb. Historian Michael Barnes believes that it was “either the American Boys, or the bomb”. Many people believe that President Truman should have tried other options before resorting to the bomb. (5)
An alternative suggested could have been to arrange a small demonstration of the bomb. Although America and Japan had no political relations until Pearl Harbor, a demonstration could have been arranged separately through some back channel like Russia. America already knew that the Japanese reached out to the Russians earlier attempting to arrange some type of intervention with America. After the war America did conduct many atomic bomb tests on small volcanic islands in the Pacific. Historians believe that if a site like that could have been prepared in 1945, representatives of the Japanese government, scientific community and military could have seen the bomb, it may have been enough to convince them of the foolishness of continued battle. If not, America could say they had tried and therefore take it to the next level. (5)
References-
1. Wikipedia, Debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accessed 4th of May 2015, updated 2015
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki#CITEREFMaddox1995
2. Sherwin, Martin (2003). A World Destroyed: The Atomic Bomb and the Grand Alliance (3rd ed.). Stanford, CA:Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-804-73957-3.
3. Cumings, Bruce (1999). Parallax Visions: Making Sense of American–East Asian Relations at the End of the Century. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-822-32276-4.
4. Maddox, Robert James (1995). "The Biggest Decision: Why We Had to Drop the Atomic Bomb". American Heritage 46 (3). Retrieved 1 June 2012.
5. Authentic History, Arguments against the Bombs, accessed 4th of May 2015, updated January 13th 2013
http://www.authentichistory.com/1939-1945/1-war/4-Pacific/4-abombdecision/3-against/
Images-
1. http://hiroshima-a-poor-decision.wikispaces.com/file/view/hiroshima6.jpg/114154541/hiroshima6.jpg