Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb 1) Identify the Atomic Bomb and explain why the US felt it was necessary to build? 2) Identify the 2 cities the Atomic Bomb was dropped on and the President that made the decision to drop The A-Bomb. 3) Evaluate if the US should have dropped the A-Bomb and provide two reasons why or why not as evidence

Atomic Bomb- largest weapon ever invented (recreates power of the sun by splitting the atom that causes a chain reaction) has the power to destroy the planet if enough are detonated – Temp degrees F – 980 wind speed – 1mt=20,000 tons of TNT Albert Einstein- told FDR the Germans were trying to build an A-Bomb – *US in race with Ger. to build A-Bomb first Predict what would have happened if Hitler had discovered the A- Bomb first? Evaluate if it was worth it for the US to put it’s resources into developing the most devastating weapon in the history of the world?

Manhattan Project- name of the secret project to produce the A-Bomb for US Robert J. Oppenheimer- physicist in charge of the Manhattan Project July 16, US tests 1 st A-bomb in Los Alamos, NM (VE Day was May 8) – Should the US drop the bomb to end the war with Japan? (Remember, why did the US originally developed the A-Bomb? Is Japan a threat to the US and Europe like Germany was? Why would Americans be want to drop the A-Bomb on Japan? – *FDR dies Apr. 1945, VP Harry Truman has to decide to use the bomb Nuclear War- President Truman decides to drop the bomb

Hiroshima- (Aug. 6, 1945) 1 st city bombed, 78,000 died instantly (140,000 died by end of 1945) 200,000 died total Nagasaki- (Aug. 9,1945) 2 nd city bombed, 90,000 died – *No one knew effects of radiation (slow death), thought A- Bomb only produced a huge explosion Evaluate if the US was morally wrong for dropping a bomb that killed mostly civilians? – *Japan surrenders Aug. 14,1945

Decision to use the bomb In Favor End the war/ save American lives- people felt an invasion of Japan would have cost 1 mil. Am. Lives and millions of Japanese lives – *Japan believes in death before surrender Predict how Americans would have reacted of the US invaded Japan, lost thousands of soldiers, and were told later that the US had the A- Bomb that could have ended the war with no American lives lost? Stop spread of Communism- show Stalin/ Soviet Union that US has the biggest weapon on earth and are willing to use it Naivety- know one knew about the after effects of radiation – Evaluate if Stalin, who killed millions of his own people and lost 20 mil. Russians during WWII, would have thought the US was weak because we had the A-Bomb but did not use it. Would he feel that the US was too afraid to use it if he were to invade counties in order to spread Communism?

Decision to use the bomb Against 1) Moral Crime- A-Bomb killed mostly civilians – Identify what other countries or leaders have used the Atomic used against people How would the world react today if any country used an Atomic Bomb? 2) Japan surrender- many people felt Japan would have eventually surrendered, they just needed more time – Was three days enough time between the 2 bombings to convince the Japanese to surrender? (Remember what the Japanese mindset was about surrender? Analyze if you feel all Japanese felt that way at the end of the war?