The Atomic Bombs; The Justifications The United States’ utilization of the atomic bombs on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and on the city of Nagasaki three days later caused thousands of deaths and mass destruction. The cities were plunged into a state of depression and chaos in which homelessness and starvation were rampant; but although the bombs caused this mass suffering, their use was a necessary step taken to end the war between the United States and Japan. President Truman’s decision to use the atomic bombs was justified due to various factors; such as the political popularity of the demand for Japan’s unconditional surrender; the Japanese generals’ refusal to surrender; the amount of casualties an invasion of Japan would…show more content… President Truman was unable to withdraw his demand due to the majority of American citizens’ belief that the Japanese people should be punished for their part in the war by removing their emperor. If President Truman had withdrawn from his policy of unconditional surrender, he would have faced major political backlash (Spector 12). The American people believed that the demand for unconditional surrender would adequately punish the Japanese people because it would remove the Emperor of Japan from power, who was apotheosized in Japanese culture (Alperovitz 35). The removal of the Emperor as Japan’s leader would have been the ultimate insult to the Japanese people. President Roosevelt was also a proponent of the demand for unconditional surrender because he believed that it was the best way to punish the Japanese people and to make them acknowledge their defeat, unlike the Germans who had denied their surrender after World War I (Roosevelt 12) As a result of the popularity of unconditional surrender, President Truman realized that he could not withdraw his demand (Hamby 12). Therefore, President Truman was justified in his demand for unconditional surrender due to the fact that the policy provided adequate punishment to Japan for its actions in the war and guaranteed that the majority of American…show more content… In Japanese culture, surrender was believed to be the ultimate disgrace upon their country (Sheinkin 189). The Japanese people also believed that if they surrendered, their culture would be taken away from them and that their only option was to fight and sacrifice their lives for their country (Butow 14). The code of Bushido, a code that stressed honor and loyalty, was an influential part of Japanese culture; to surrender to the United States would break this code. Because of Bushido, the Japanese troops had never surrendered during the war and they never intended to surrender in the future (United 13). The Japanese generals even refused to surrender after the Emperor, who was considered a deity, gave them a direct command to end the war. (Alperovitz 12). Japanese Foreign Minister Togo said, “We cannot consent to unconditional surrender under any circumstances” (Byrnes 14). Only an announcement from the Emperor himself made Japanese citizens believe that the war was over and that Japan had surrendered (Hersey 64). The people of Japan were dedicated to their country and would never admit defeat under any circumstances; if the atomic bombs had not been used, the war would have continued and thousands more lives would have been