Blog Post for Second Reading

What I really don’t understand about this reading is that none of the pieces mentioned the decision to drop the second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan. I do not understand why America furthered the destruction by dropping the second bomb; it seems as though Japan would have surrendered anyway? I think this situation was complicated by America’s relationship with Russia. Tracing the evolution of the relationship through the last reading, we can see that America wanted to impress Russia with the United State’s military might. However, I wonder if Stalin should have been told of the bomb and consulted? He was allied with the United States, and it may have helped the country avoid the Cold War. I have heard previously that America may have dropped the second bomb to demonstrate to Russia that the country had more of these weapons. I hope this is not the case, as to cost so many lives and so much destruction to intimidate a nation would be, in my opinion, inexcusable. I could clearly see that Truman was not prepared to make this decision upon taking over after FDR’s death. In the two opinion pieces, I thought it was interesting that Walzer said America should never have forced Japan to surrender unconditionally. However, I also understood Fussell’s argument that continuing the war for any longer would have killed many American soldiers, and that the ones who would have to die in the fight wanted the United States to drop the bomb and end the war quickly. I am excited to hear people’s thoughts on this complicated issue in class today.