One of the main reasons that United States was willing to drop the atomic bombs on Japan was because of the Bataan Death March. In this interview with a survivor from this march, he talks about how far the march was, how cruel the Japanese were, etc. He talks about how the march was 80 miles which was not very far but in their conditions it seemed a lot longer. They had to walk from Mariveles to a railroad terminal in San Fernando. Along this trek, many of the prisoners were beaten or killed if they fell behind. The survivor specifically talks about how just on the first day, he saw a Filipino man that had been beheaded. The tragedies and losses that came out of this horrific event showed specifically why the Americans were justified in dropping the atomic bombs.
Draft Statement on the Dropping of the Atomic Bomb
After the dropping of the first bomb on Hiroshima, the Americans realized how powerful they really were. In this draft statement, it talks about how the Japanese started this battle with the air attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It is also talked about how the visual effects of this bomb was greater than anything ever seen in testing. This draft says how with these bombs, a new and revolutionary increase in destruction was added and the power of their armed forces had also dramatically increased. Near the end of the draft it is talked about how atomic power can be a forceful and powerful influence toward the maintenance of world peace.
Press Release by Henry Stimson
In this article it talks about all the effort that went into creating the atomic bomb. Henry Stimson said that the atomic bomb was years of science and industry working in cooperation with the military authorities. He also said that it was only possible because of the thousands of participants. Stimson that altogether it was the greatest achievement of the combined efforts of science, industry, labor, and the military in all history. Without all the effort in the making of the bombs, they would have never been developed and war could have gone on for a lot longer.
In this article, the pilot that dropped the first ever atomic bomb died at the age of 92. It talks about when he died, he had no regrets at all from dropping the bomb. He had said that he never lost a night of sleep over it and all that he ever wanted to do was the best job possible. He dropped the bomb when he was thirty years old. When he died, he asked to not have a funeral or a headstone over his grave because he was afraid that it would turn into a site for protestors.
This is the notes to the very first meeting of the Interim Committee. The Interim Committee was established to deal with war-fare. This Committee consisted of eight people. During this meeting, the committee decided that all steps possible needed to be taken to quickly in order to build up their supply of uranium and thorium.
Telegram, Richard Russell to Harry S. Truman
In this telegram to Harry S. Truman from Richard Russell, Russell talks about how he feels that they should attack Japan with the most viscous approaches. He feels that since the Japanese started the war by attacking Pearl Harbor by air, they should not doing anything less harsh. He thinks that they should carry the war in whatever ways needed in order to get Japan to surrender. Russell clearly wants to save his country by defeating the enemy with whatever attacks needed.
Truman did not agree with Russell's way of dealing with Japan. He did not feel it was necessary to destroy a whole city unless it was completely necessary. He did not want to jeopardize the lives of women and children in Japan. Truman did not want to do anything so dramatic until it was absolutely necessary. This proves that the bombings were not put into action until Truman thought that was the only option they had left.
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