Why did America drop the bomb? This is a question that remains at large. Born on April 12th, 1939, in Oahu, Hawaii, Ronald Toshiyuki Takaki was an American historian. Ronald Takaki was a professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. He eventually migrated into Japan. Takaki has written many masterpieces discussing history. In 1995, he wrote a book called, “Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb”. In this work, he summarizes the events that led America to make a great decision. He analyzes why the decisions were made. He provides his view on these choices and aims to assist you in your view. Takaki provides many facts and shows that the bombings were not necessary.
August 6th, 1945 has left a great impact on the world. On this day, for the first time ever, America decided to use nuclear weapons against Japan in World War II. A B-29 bomb known as Enola Gay was dropped on Hiroshima Japan. The bomb was nicknamed “little boy”. Just three days later, on August 9th, 1945 a second bomb nicknamed “fat man” was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The first bomb killed about eighty thousand people. The second was much more powerful. The second bomb took over one-hundred thousand lives. Americans felt the first bomb was justified. With the use of the second, they began to think differently. They began to question the purpose of dropping multiple bombs in a short amount of time. Japan was already known to be on the verge of surrendering.
Ronald Takaki’s book discusses many views on the bombings. It looks deeply into all aspects and focuses on many facts. It does not place fault on anyone nor does it remove fault for anyone. The book is written with the point of view of each and every factor in the decision to drop the bombs. Along with these views, you can build on his personal view towards it. In Takaki’s view, the bombs were dropped based on racial discrimination and for the demand of power. Ronald Takaki puts great emphasis on President Harry S. Truman. He places great focus on Truman’s psychological aspects during the events. He explains that Truman was very prejudiced. Truman did not hesitate to drop the bomb because he had a desire to destroy the lives of the Japanese. He claims Truman was a highly insecure man. He looks back into Truman’s diaries and explains how Truman was a troubled man who had regrets about using the bombs. Not only does he analyze these diaries, letters, and more, Takaki analyzes Truman’s childhood. He connects the effect of Truman’s childhood on Truman’s role of power. It has caused Truman to be a determined man. It has caused Truman to make immediate decisions with little to no thought. Takaki claims that one cannot know for sure what was going through the minds of these people at the time but it must be learned. If you take the time to learn one’s thoughts, you can achieve a better understanding of the reasons for their actions. With the use of a better understanding, you can come to a conclusion.
Takaki does not solely focus on Truman. Truman was very prejudiced and so were the minds around him. Many officials and many Americans shared Truman’s view on the Japanese. Ronald Takaki takes many films and memories into account. He displays how people discriminated towards the Japanese. He places great emphasis on the personalities of all the decision makers. He shows how they wanted nothing but destruction. They had a strong desire to ruin the Japanese towns and to take many lives. Japan was already weak and wanted to seek peace. The bombs were still used because of the racist and selfish Americans who had the desire to ruin the Japanese.
Ronald Takaki also focuses on the other options. He tries to provide a logical aspect of the use of the bomb. He looks into the thought of invading Japan rather than using the bombs. He claims the bombs were unnecessary towards Japan but make progress in the Soviet Union problem. Had the United States chosen to invade, nowhere near as many lives would have been lost. Russia was becoming a threat at the same time. At the cost of many innocent Japanese lives, the bombs would place fear into Russia. According to Takaki, the bombs were used to solely show Rusia that the United States would not be overthrown. The United States wanted to give off a message that they were prepared for anything and would be a great threat to anyone who attempts to overthrow them.
The efforts used in this book are tremendous. They come from multiple logical perspectives. They focus mainly on the facts rather than the opinions of others. Takaki aims to educate his readers and to assist them in making their own answer for his main question. He is attempting to show all of the reasons America dropped the bomb and whether or not they were justified. He looks into all of the benefits of doing so and all of the harms of it. Takaki is a fair man who aims to find the truth and the right answers to all unanswered questions. He looks into the factors of the past and the factors of that moment. Takaki is a well educated man who has placed a tremendous amount of work and great pride into writing this book.
After reading, you will begin to disagree with America and their choice in dropping the bomb. Although you are provided with arguments for both sides, one can gather Takaki’s point of view. Takaki places much more emphasis on the negatives rather the positive of the use this deadly weapon. He makes an attempt to steer his readers away from the officials. The work leaves you to find the bombing unjustified and should have been avoided. There were other ways to gain Japanese surrender. Many innocent lives were taken in this process. Takaki shows you that the bombing was unnecessary and both Russia and Japan could have been handled in a different manner. The government claimed the atomic bombs ended the war sooner and saved many lives but Takaki proves otherwise. He shows there was more to this decision than they provided the public with. He provides his readers a great understanding and shows how this event has changed the world. It continues to affect decisions today and will continue to affect them in the future.
The highly educated man, Ronald Takaki, took his own life on May 26th, 2009. In his time he has written many books. “Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb?” is one of his most important works of literature. It is a must read and will provide it’s readers a better understanding of the reasons for the use of this deadly force, and of how the world. It will explain how the world works and how certain factors may lead to the wrongful decision. This work of literature will forever remain on your shelf as one you do not want to rid of. Racism plays a key role in many decisions today as it did back then. A person’s childhood still affects them in their future no matter their age. The use of the atomic bomb is still a problem today. Takaki uses proper thinking and looks at both sides to make his final decision. The use of the atomic bomb was the wrong thing to do. The option is to change this decision is non-existent and must be used as a great learning experience for future endeavors.