Hiroshima Essay Research Paper

“No man has the right to seek values from others by means of physical forces, no man or group has the right to initiate the use of physical force against others, however men have the right to use force in self-defense and against those who initiate it’s use.” Claims philosopher Ayn Rand. The Japanese were seeking values (land, natural resources etc.) by means of physical force, and therefore, according to this philosophy which I whole heartily agree with, any method the United States government used, even destroying their enemy beyond rational purpose (as some believe was done) was justifiable. They rightfully acted for their own safety, neither sacrificing themselves to Japan nor sacrificing Japan to themselves. The United States bombed Hiroshima for their own rational self-interest, with the achievement of the their own safety as their highest moral purpose. The U.S. was not the aggressors and sought to take nothing away from the Japanese. Their only announced objective, and the first requirement of all strategic planning was to get the Japanese to surrender unconditionally. . The dropping of “Little boy” on Hiroshima and “Fat Man” on Nagasaki served many purposes. It halted an invasion of Japan from the north by Russia, which may have created a divided Japan much like what happened in Korea and Vietnam. It stopped a possible US invasion of the homelands, and also gave the emperor leverage to bring war to and end. Toward the end of the war, prior to the dropping of the bombs, Japan, though defeated in a military sense, showed no disposition to surrender unconditionally. Japanese troops demonstrated time and again that they could fight and inflict heavy casualties even when the outlook was hopeless. The reason for such behavior could be traced to their belief in Bushido, and ancient code of conduct that held ideals such as “die but never surrender.” and “Accept death before dishonor.” Some military leaders were so repulsed by surrender that they killed themselves after signing the surrender document, and did it only because the Emperor Hirohito who was believed to be a god desired it. It was insane for the US to compromise, for the enemy who is not afraid of loosing the thing you prize the most, in this case life, is the most dangerous of all. I can not differentiate between 500 bombers dropping their bombs, and one bomber dropping a more powerful bomb. Killing is killing. The destruction of the two cities resulted from the belief that the nuclear option would both end the war and help organize peace. Whether or not it saved lives will never be known. But it served its purpose and ended the war in allie victory. We’d be kicking’ ourselves in the ass right now if we had taken another option and Japan by some stoke of luck prevailed in killing more allied soldiers. People of are generations are oblivious to the true brutalities that engulfed the world during the second world war. Many americans today believe dropping the bomb was the wrong thing to do. I think that this is belived in most cases only because they did not live during the 40’s, and did not experience the horrors that went on first hand. They never had to watch their brother and father and sons board a train for the last time heading to Japan to fight against a merciless advasarys . The People of the time wanted the war to end, and as soon as possible if this meant a mass destruction of the enemy than so be it. The brutalities of war are unjustifiable. Ending them is not.