Decision to Drop the Bomb

What would you do?

Manhattan Project

• Manhattan Project – top secret program to build atomic bomb in Los Alamos

Why the bomb was dropped?

• Wanted to force Japan to surrender

• Limited US causalities

• Show military superiority to the USSR

• Teach Japan not to be cruel to prisoners of War

• Justify expense for building the A-bomb

• Observe its effects

Why Hiroshima?

• The size and topography of the city made it suitable for testing the destructive capabilities of the atomic bomb

• There was a concentration of military troops, installations, and factories in Hiroshima that had been spared previous bombing

Little Boy• Dropped Aug. 6, 1945

• B-29 Bomber, Enola Gay

• Wind caused the most immediate damage from bomb

• It destroyed buildings within a 1.5 mile radius

• 140,000 dead

• Long term suffering due to radiation and burns

• Nuclear material: uranium 235

Fat Man

• Dropped on Aug. 9, 1945

• B-29 Bomber, Bockscar

• 70,000 dead• Nuclear material:

plutonium 239• Japanese forced to

surrender

Damages Due to Blast

• Air pressure generated shock wave

• Wind killed thousands• Windows shattered• All wood buildings in

a 2 kilometer radius were destroyed

Damages Due to High Temp Fires

• Heat rays caused anything burnable to burst into flames

• Fires started by toppled kitchen stoves

• Melted glass and metal

Damage due to Radiation

• After effects of the bomb: Radiation and burns

• Radiation effects extended for for months after the bombing

• Radiations sickness: destruction of cells, disorders in internal organs, lower immune function, loss of hair

• Got into well water to cause sickness

• Those who did not directly experience the bomb were affected

• Many still suffer today: scar tissue covering burns swelled and grew into mounds of thick twisted flesh called keloids

Long Term Effects

• Lung Cancer

• Colon Cancer

• Leukemia

• Thyroid

• Breast cancer

Radiation and Burn Affects

Before and After

Alternatives to Dropping the A-bomb

• Invade the Japanese mainland

• Bomb and blockade the island

• Wait for Soviet entry into the war

• Hold demonstration for Japanese leaders on the power of the A-bomb

Pros v. Cons

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/bomb/small/mb10.htm

Assignment

• You are the President of the United States. You have just been informed about the Manhattan Project and the A-bomb. You now have a decision to make. You must decide how you want to end the war in Japan. In a 3/4 page single spaced 12 point Times New Roman font press release you must inform your fellow Americans of your decision. Include your reasons for or against using the A-bomb. Also include your plan of action. The websites on this page will give you more background on the Atomic Bomb

• Helpful Websites• www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/

peacesite/indexE.html• www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/index.html• www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/

abomb/mpmenu.htm• www.hiroshima-cdas.or.jp/

HICARE/abe.html• www.cis.ad.jp/ABOMB/

hibakusha.html• http://nuclearfildes.org/

hiatomicbomb/manhattan.html