Nuclear Warfare: The Destruction Of Atomic Warfare

Imagine sitting at home after a long day’s work, with no care in the world. A news headline comes across the radio that a nuclear bomb has potential to strike your nation. That may be how Japanese citizens felt when the United States threatened to use such deadly force against them. A special set of U.S. scientist assembled a petition to warn the President of the catastrophic effects that nuclear warfare could have on the United States if they used it against Japan. This group of individuals were not just any scientist, but scientist that specialized in the field of atomic power. They knew if the path of atomic warfare was pursued, there was going to be horrible destruction and consequences to face. In, “A Petition to the President of the United …show more content…
Currently, the United States is the only nation that has used atomic warfare on another nation. In 1945, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities within Japan, killing thousands of innocent people. When the petition was written to the President, the United States had not yet seen the destruction of atomic warfare, but their predictions of destruction were made to be true. Stated by Szilard, “Atomic bombs are primarily a means for the ruthless annihilation of cities” (Szilard 1). This statement was an example of one of the rhetorical concepts, logos. They did not have actual statistics to go off of but they could have painted a better picture of what the destruction could do. Atomic bombs not only take human lives but everything in its path such as wildlife, houses, buildings and the entire cities historical community without due regard. As scientists, they are perceived as intelligent individuals, adding creditable logos must also be supported by ethos to help develop a stronger …show more content…
According to Szilard, “Until recently we have had to reckon with the possibility that the United States might be attacked by atomic bombs during this war and that her only defense might lie in a counterattack by the same means” (1). This was daunting for these scientists because they knew that Japan had the power and technology to use atomic bombs against the United States. Their use of ethos in this piece was present, but an elaboration with qualitative and/or quantitative results would increase this petition to improve their argument to the President. The last rhetorical concept, pathos could have strengthened the petition when utilizing strong leadings from the two previous