ACTIVITY
You are US President Harry Truman. Just a few months ago, your predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, put your country, the United States of America, into a brutal war with Japan. It is now your job to choose what to do next. You have the power to change the fate of history.
It is early August in 1945. The Manhattan Project was a major success, and you now have access to the atomic bomb. However, one of your scientists, highly ranking Klaus Fuchs, was a Soviet spy, and now the Soviet Union has equal knowledge about nuclear power.
Japan will not surrender. Their soldiers are relentless, and would rather die for their country than give up. If you don't make the next move, they will. Iwo Jima recently occurred, and the scale of warfare is only increasing. Because of your recent victories, Japan has been weakened. It is your opportunity to defeat Japan, and you cannot continue island hopping throughout the Pacific. If you do not take this opportunity, the Japanese will be forced East by the Soviet Union.
You have TWO options: TO BOMB, or TO INVADE.
I have supplied you with a notecard, on which you can change the course of history. Please review the information below and write either bomb or invade. You have sixty seconds to decide (this is a representative of how Truman had hardly anytime to make the most important decision of his life).
You are US President Harry Truman. Just a few months ago, your predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, put your country, the United States of America, into a brutal war with Japan. It is now your job to choose what to do next. You have the power to change the fate of history.
It is early August in 1945. The Manhattan Project was a major success, and you now have access to the atomic bomb. However, one of your scientists, highly ranking Klaus Fuchs, was a Soviet spy, and now the Soviet Union has equal knowledge about nuclear power.
Japan will not surrender. Their soldiers are relentless, and would rather die for their country than give up. If you don't make the next move, they will. Iwo Jima recently occurred, and the scale of warfare is only increasing. Because of your recent victories, Japan has been weakened. It is your opportunity to defeat Japan, and you cannot continue island hopping throughout the Pacific. If you do not take this opportunity, the Japanese will be forced East by the Soviet Union.
You have TWO options: TO BOMB, or TO INVADE.
I have supplied you with a notecard, on which you can change the course of history. Please review the information below and write either bomb or invade. You have sixty seconds to decide (this is a representative of how Truman had hardly anytime to make the most important decision of his life).
Option One: To Bomb
You have access to two atomic bombs: "Little Boy" and "Fat Man." These are capable of destroying cities and killing tens of thousands of people. Their power would force Japan to negotiate, and this would be a near-certain end to the war. Not another American life would be lost, but almost all of the Japanese deaths would be civilians. Your officials estimate that the bombs would kill or severely wound a combined 150,000 civilians. You would also introduce the rest of the world to nuclear bombs, as the only other countries with sufficient knowledge are the Soviet Union and Britain. This could be catastrophic, as the world is in an unstable state, and nuclear bombs could rehabilitate the dying war in Europe. This option is an efficient and effective way to end the war, but the possibility of a future nuclear world war could be much worse than you could possibly imagine, and your country would be right in the center of it. |
Option Two: To Invade
Your military leaders, Admiral Chester Nimitz and General Douglas MacArthur, have formulated a plan to invade Japan called Operation Downfall. Although we are consistently advancing into Japan's territory, our losses are beginning accumulate, and this option would be a likely, yet unclear way to end the war. Your advisors estimate that Japan and America's losses would combine to reach a staggering one million. This would be extremely unfavorable to the public. Remember how the last battle, Iwo Jima, concluded. We ended up losing over six thousand troops in Japan's effort to defend a tiny island with only 8 square miles of size. Their efforts to defend their homeland would kill every last soldier if necessary. Their kamikaze missions are concrete evidence of this. This option would result in an estimated million lives lost and an uncertain ending to the war, but we would maintain the secrecy of the nuclear bomb. |