Analysis of Reasons Behind The US’s Decision To Drop The Atomic Bomb In Hiroshima and Nagasaki

The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb

The source used in the analysis of reasons behind the US’s decision to drop the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is “The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb”, written by Louis Morton, on the other hand my peer used a source termed as “The Strange Myth of Half a Million American Lives Saved”, written by mills.

Political Perspective in Both Sources

Perhaps one of the major similarities between the two sources used is the fact that both sources analyses the historical event of the atomic bomb from what can be termed as a political perspective or rather both outline the political reasons that contributed heavily to this hallmark decision. However, despite this, one of the major differences between the two sources is that they have different theses.

Morton’s Thesis: Ending the War and Saving Lives

Concerning this, in his article Morton argues that the commonly given justification for dropping the atomic bombs in the cities of Nagasaki as well as Hiroshima aimed at ending the war; hence, saving millions of American and Japanese lives (Morton, 334).

By exploring the steps taken to not only develop but also execute the atomic bomb, Morton asserts that to successfully stop or rather end the war, the US had to create as well as finish the nuclear weapon before Germany. Morton also asserts that another justification was that having spent billions of dollars on the nuclear weapons, the US was inclined to use the weapon as most politicians did not want their finances to go to waste (Morton, 347).

Miles’ Thesis: Fear of the Soviet Union

On the other hand, in his article, Miles explores the long-standing argument or rather justification for dropping the atomic bomb that it saved half a million American lives. By exploring this assertion extensively, Miles argues that the primary reason for dropping the nuclear bombs was as a result of fear due to the involvement of the Soviet Union in the war inclusive of in Asia (Miles, 139).

Reliability of the Articles

Both of the articles can be considered as reliable as they draw their conclusions from a large number of reliable sources such as research done by other authors. Combined, the two articles provide adequate knowledge on the factors that contributed to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing.

Works Cited

Morton, Louis. The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb. Foreign Affairs, vol.35, no.2, 1957, pp.334-53.  

Miles, Rufus. Hiroshima: The Strange Myth of Half a Million American Lives Saved. International Security, Volume 10, Number 2, Fall 1985, pp. 121-140.