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The Manhattan Project. What was the US plan for ending the Pacific War?. Did Japan commit war crimes during WWII?. YES !. Rape of Nanking (300,000 civilians killed). NO!. YES !. Pearl Harbor (2,300 military killed). Bataan Death March (1,600 POWS die). Developing the A-Bomb.
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The Manhattan Project What was the US plan for ending the Pacific War?
Did Japan commit war crimes during WWII? YES! Rape of Nanking (300,000 civilians killed) NO! YES! Pearl Harbor (2,300 military killed) Bataan Death March (1,600 POWS die)
Developing the A-Bomb • New weapon could release more energy than 20,000 tons of TNT • When US learns Nazis were trying to develop an A-bomb, FDR authorizes a secret plan called Manhattan Project to build an A-bomb • Project led by Gen. Leslie R. Groves & physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and developed at Los Alamos Ntl Lab in New Mexico • First bomb called Gadget was tested in a controlled explosion “Trinity Test” Trinity Test
Second bomb was named “Little Boy” • August 6, 1945: a plane named the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” on the city of Hiroshima, Japan • Japan doesn’t surrender. Three days later, a plane named Bockscar dropped the third bomb named “Fat Man” on Nagasaki, Japan • Japan surrenders on August 13th, 1945
Hiroshima & Nagasaki video questions Why does Truman want to use the Atomic Bomb? Why was Hiroshima chosen? How did Japan react to the dropping of the bomb? What is instantly destroyed in Nagasaki? What is Truman hoping for and why?
Pros & Cons of dropping the Atomic Bomb For Against
When the bomb fell, I was 15 years old. At the girls' junior high school I saw something shining in the clear blue sky. I wondered what it was, so I stared at it. As the light grew bigger, the shining thing got bigger as well. And at the moment when I spoke to my friend, there was a flash, it exploded right in front of my eyes. There was a tremendous noise when all the buildings around me collapsed. I also heard people crying for help. I was caught under something which prevented me from moving freely. I was so shocked that I couldn't believe what had happened. I thought maybe I was having some kind of nightmare, but of course, I wasn't. When I finally was free I saw a few classmates that appeared to be crushed by the walls which fell on them. The rest of the students at the school were all screaming for their mothers. After I got better, I found a piece of mirror and looked into it. I was so surprised that my left eye looked just like a pomegranate, and I also found cuts on my right eye and on my nose and on my lower jaw.. I was very shocked to find myself looking like a monster. I even wished I had died with my sisters. – Hiroshima Survivor
I was glad that we dropped the bomb. You couldn’t believe how sneaky the Japs were at Iwo Jima, they don’t fight fair. Tomorrow, I was supposed to land at Japan and begin an invasion of the island. This would have been Iwo Jima all over again and maybe worse. I have fought for a long time and have a wife and daughter at home. Let’s face it, they bombed us at Pearl Harbor and are getting what they deserved. They are brutal and savage. Truman bombing the Japanese saved my life and my daughter will grow up with a father. - US Navy Officer during WW II
My older aunt, my dah ahiee (big aunt), is actually very small. Her wrists are the size of napkin rings, as delicate as rice paper--and the clothes we pass around in our family do not fit her small frame. She is shy, especially in English. And during one heated family discussion on the American bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she kept quiet. I had pointed out to her rather talkative husband that the U.S. government was still the only government that had dropped the atomic bomb on human beings. Hiroshima, I could maybe see, but Nagasaki too? At this point, my petite aunt spoke up. “They raped us and killed our people. I think they should have bombed the whole country!" she bellowed, and then lapsed back into silence. It was the first time I realized how profoundly the Chinese were affected by World War II. Even then, I was not familiar with what had happened in the country of my mother's birth during the war. As Americans, we are almost all familiar with the Nazi-sponsored Holocaust, spawning unspeakable horrors, starvation and genocide. Many will never forgive the Nazis. But now I see how the Chinese feel about their Holocaust. The lesson of a Holocaust is to never forget. (From Iris Chang’s The Rape of Nanking)
