The bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima: Is It Still Justified?

Shortly after World War 2, according to Pew Research Center 85% of Americans believed that the use of the nuclear bomb was justified. Today, that support has diminished to 56%. There’s one reason that I can think of that explains this trend. During the time of the war, both American citizens and soldiers had animosity towards the Japanese because of their inhumane battlefield tactics, and because of the bombing of pearl harbor, but with time, that animosity diminished, as well as the support for the nuclear bombing. I think it is quite hard to find any reasonable justification for the atrocities in WW2 especially because most people nowadays don’t have first hand, or second hand experiences of WW2.

I think the bombing was justified because of 4 main reasons: Japan initiated aggression through their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, 2; they had incredibly inhuman and horrifying battlefield tactics, 3; their whole nation, including women and children, were heavily devoted to the Japanese cause, and 4; Despite Japan’s definite likely-hood of losing the war after Germany surrender, they still refused surrender. So this left Americans with 2 choices, they either plan a full scale invasion that would last for months, which many argue would have caused over a million deaths of American and Japanese lives. The second option was that the U.S. can use a nuclear bomb to end the war. Even despite the bombing of Hiroshima, with over 100,000 deaths, Japan still refused to surrender unconditionally. It took the second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, and the USSR invading Japan to warrant Japan’s surrender in WW2.