“Truman is a war criminal, for what is the difference between the US government massacring civilians from the air, as at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Nazis wiping out the inhabitants of some Czech or Polish village?”Goes the quote by G.E.M. Anscombe in Mr. Truman's Degree, and although this quote states that Harry S. Truman is a war criminal, it still applies to his crimes against humanity in Hiroshima. Harry S. Truman is to be charged on the act of a crime against humanity due to the extremity of Hiroshima, Lack of communication to Japan and Aftermath of Hiroshima. As the story of Harry S. Truman and Hiroshima begins to unfold, one should think to oneself, were the horrid attacks upon Hiroshima necessary?
To begin with, Harry S. Truman …show more content…
Truman should be convicted of a crime against humanity due to Harry's lack of communication to Japan. When the second World War beginning to come to an end and the Germans were beginning to surrender, all eyes were directed towards Japan. During that time Japan was fighting against the Chinese and was trying to own Chinese land. As mentioned, before the United States of America wanted japan to unconditionally surrender but didn't make this verbally clear until the Potsdam Conference of 1945. During this time, Harry S. Truman declared to Japan that if they were not to unconditionally surrender, they would face ‘utter destruction’. To the Japanese, unconditional surrender meant that their Emperor Hirohito, could potentially be put on trial, dethroned and possibly executed. The Emperor Hirohito to the Japanese, was a deity and was seen as the holiest person in Japan and the son of the sun. The idea of the dethroning of Hirohito was also put into play when "There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest" and "stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals" (U.S. Dept. of State, Potsdam 2, pg. 1474-1476) was stated. So seemingly, the Japanese refused surrendering to the United States in order to protect their Emperor, but little did the Japanese know that the United States had no intentions of dethroning Hirohito. This entire lack of …show more content…
Truman is to be convicted of a crime against humanity due to the aftermath of Hiroshima. After the ‘success’ of deploying ‘little boy’ on the city of Hiroshima, about 100,000 were pronounced dead and thousands more injured. The real city was in ruins and unrecognizable in comparison to its beforehand state, with 63% of its buildings completely obliterated, Harry S. Truman had truly destroyed a place of civilization in a single order. Although the USA boasted its victories, Harry S. Truman and high governmental officials would not allow photos or videos of the many corpses and destroyed city to be released to the American media. So, not only did Harry S. Truman, and others, murder thousands of innocent lives, they also had the audacity to only focus on the success oriented part of Hiroshima and not conveying what the bombing had truly done. Also, a large chunk of the aftermath of Hiroshima, that doesn't directly correlate to Harry S. Truman but is worth noting, is the radiation related deaths. The bomb “little boy” has been compared to have the same amount of power as 15 kilotons of TNT or about thirteen kilotons of force. Because of this extreme force, citizens living 925 meters away from little boy would have been exposed to 700 rad, which is immensely lethal to the human body. Citizens living 1,025 meters were exposed to 400 rad, which isn't as lethal to the human body but still can result major results. This immense amount of radiation exposed to
To begin with, Harry S. Truman …show more content…
Truman should be convicted of a crime against humanity due to Harry's lack of communication to Japan. When the second World War beginning to come to an end and the Germans were beginning to surrender, all eyes were directed towards Japan. During that time Japan was fighting against the Chinese and was trying to own Chinese land. As mentioned, before the United States of America wanted japan to unconditionally surrender but didn't make this verbally clear until the Potsdam Conference of 1945. During this time, Harry S. Truman declared to Japan that if they were not to unconditionally surrender, they would face ‘utter destruction’. To the Japanese, unconditional surrender meant that their Emperor Hirohito, could potentially be put on trial, dethroned and possibly executed. The Emperor Hirohito to the Japanese, was a deity and was seen as the holiest person in Japan and the son of the sun. The idea of the dethroning of Hirohito was also put into play when "There must be eliminated for all time the authority and influence of those who have deceived and misled the people of Japan into embarking on world conquest" and "stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals" (U.S. Dept. of State, Potsdam 2, pg. 1474-1476) was stated. So seemingly, the Japanese refused surrendering to the United States in order to protect their Emperor, but little did the Japanese know that the United States had no intentions of dethroning Hirohito. This entire lack of …show more content…
Truman is to be convicted of a crime against humanity due to the aftermath of Hiroshima. After the ‘success’ of deploying ‘little boy’ on the city of Hiroshima, about 100,000 were pronounced dead and thousands more injured. The real city was in ruins and unrecognizable in comparison to its beforehand state, with 63% of its buildings completely obliterated, Harry S. Truman had truly destroyed a place of civilization in a single order. Although the USA boasted its victories, Harry S. Truman and high governmental officials would not allow photos or videos of the many corpses and destroyed city to be released to the American media. So, not only did Harry S. Truman, and others, murder thousands of innocent lives, they also had the audacity to only focus on the success oriented part of Hiroshima and not conveying what the bombing had truly done. Also, a large chunk of the aftermath of Hiroshima, that doesn't directly correlate to Harry S. Truman but is worth noting, is the radiation related deaths. The bomb “little boy” has been compared to have the same amount of power as 15 kilotons of TNT or about thirteen kilotons of force. Because of this extreme force, citizens living 925 meters away from little boy would have been exposed to 700 rad, which is immensely lethal to the human body. Citizens living 1,025 meters were exposed to 400 rad, which isn't as lethal to the human body but still can result major results. This immense amount of radiation exposed to