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The War Of The United States Essay

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July 16, 1945: This date is one of the most important days in world history. It is the day that the United States successfully detonated an atomic bomb just outside the Los Alamos research facility in New Mexico. It is also the date that created a massive conundrum for newly inaugurated Harry S. Truman and his closest advisors. War with Germany was over but the end of the war in Japan was a long way off, and was becoming farther out of site. The island hopping strategy employed by MacArthur and friends was stalling out. It was becoming more and more clear that the war with the Empire of Japan would be fought harshly to the very last man of the Imperial Army. Harry Truman was faced with a choice: use this new immensely powerful super-weapon on the mainland of Japan, or invade the main island and suffer a massive loss of life for an already bleeding America and Japan. The eventual decision came down to the value of American soldiers’ lives. While Harry Truman may have believed it was the correct military decision, diary entries, letters to loved ones, and top secret minutes reveal that he was struggling with the moral aspect of taking so many civilian lives and “uniformly and extensively devastating” two cities of Japan.[1] Harry Truman’s upbringing as a farmer’s son shaped most of his life, as he was taught to be respectful, humble and kind.[2] This drove many of his endeavors and allowed him a moral compass that would guide him through most of his life. He

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