Write a policy paper that argues one way or the other if the United States should drop an atomic bomb on Japan. You must cite specific evidence from the readings to make your points, keeping in mind the final decision the President made in the primary source document you read.
Source
The American Yawp – This is a free, online textbook put out by Stanford University, it can be accessed at americanyawp.com (Links to an external site.)
Module 7 Lecture Notes
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A Dangerous World Order – Germany, and especially the German army, felt that they had been “stabbed in the back” by weak-willed German politicians who surrendered and accepted harsh peace terms. There was a sense of injustice and that they lacked respect form the rest of the world. Moreover, there was a rising feeling of nationalism in Germany, which helped with the rise of Hitler. Hitler then ignored Treaty of Versailles by rearming and expanding industrial prowess. In Europe, the real story though, was the weakness of the League of Nations and its inability to prevent conflict. For example, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935 and made it a colony; though technically Ethiopia never surrendered. There were many of atrocities committed by the Italians, and the League did nothing. A civil war broke out in Spain. A Fascist general, Franco, came to power with help of Mussolini and Hitler. In return for military aid, Hitler got to try out his new bombers on a Spanish town during the Bombing of Guernica (1937). Again, the League did nothing. Germany rearms and sends it military to reoccupy the Ruhr Valley, an area they were expressly prohibited from entering according to the Treaty of Versailles. France and England both decide not to intervene because they did not want isolated conflicts to spread into something larger. Everyone understood that international cooperation was failing.
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Asia – Japan was an emerging empire that was slowly moving into mainland China and east towards U.S. holdings in the Pacific. Was it dangerous to still trade with them? Without our oil and steel they could not continue to expand. Could they be trusted? Everyone knew that what Japan wanted was oil and this was fueling their expansion, but no one knew how to deal with this problem, and it was ignored.
