Throughout the recent years of history, there has been an intense debate justifying the use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima as well as Nagasaki a few days after, but many others argue that it was unjust to use such a weapon of massive catastrophe on an almost defeated nation at the time during the end of World War II: Japan. Ronald Takaki, author of the book Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Bomb was an avid writer in the terms of Asian-America equality and morals based on his own experiences. In this book, he gave many thorough details explaining plausible reasons as to why Truman decided to launch the devastating attack on an already weak Japan. Takaki has used many sources including military reports, personal letters, and self-recordings to further expand on this debate based approximately on facts more than moral opinions.
When America had already won the war in Europe, there was still one more target left deemed as a threat to society according to the government. That target was Japan. The commander of the Pacific forces at the time was General Douglas Macarthur and he was never consulted about the use of the atomic bomb. Macarthur was only notified two days before the official use of the atomic bomb. The general was very depressed to hear about the use of the bomb because he knew thousands of civilian casualties would occur and he opposed it. He believed that the bombing of Hiroshima was unnecessary because Japan was pretty much defeated already and that they were asking Russia to negotiate with the U.S. to surrender. W.E. Rhoades who was Macarthur’s pilot once said that the general could see a “complete change in the whole structure of society and the way society was going in the future.” Rhoades said this to explain the reflection of the general’s thoughts towards use of the bomb and that using this weapon would alter the entire configuration of the world and how everyone would be impacted by this.
Based on Macarthur’s feelings and reactions,...