On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, Japan in an attempt to force the Empire’s surrender. This event marked the first use of nuclear weapons and changed the history of war forever, ushering in the Nuclear Age. Even back then, the US understood the significance of this event as Truman publically addressed the US people shortly after, explaining the use of such weapons.
Into the Nuclear Age
In one of the last major actions of World War II, the United States deployed its first nuclear bomb on Hiroshima City. This act was estimated to have killed approximately 70,000 people immediately along with countless more from health complications.
U.S. President Harry S. Truman made the decision to deploy the atomic bomb to prevent the need for a land invasion of Japan, which was projected to result in millions of American and Japanese casualties. Before this decision, Truman, along with the Allies, issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding Japan’s surrender, but the Japanese government refused to comply.
After years of warfare, the Americans were tired of war and wanted to end it as bloodlessly as possible. This bombing followed up by the second bombing of Nagasaki days later forced Japan’s unconditional surrender and demonstrated the overwhelming power of the new weapon.
The aftermath of this attack sent shockwaves across the world with questions from the people and government alike trying to understand what just happened. To put these questions to rest, President Truman’s address to the American people on August 6, 1945, explained the rationale behind using the atomic bomb. These are excerpts from the letter.
“My fellow Americans,
Sixteen hours ago an American airplane dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, an important Japanese Army base. That bomb had more power than 20,000 tons of TNT. It had more than two thousand times the blast power of the British “Grand Slam,” which is the largest bomb ever yet used in the history of warfare.
The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid manyfold. And the end is not yet. With this bomb, we have now added a new and revolutionary increase in destruction to supplement the growing power of our armed forces.”
-Harry Truman, Former President.
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