Critical Analysis of "A Good Man is Hard to Find"
...e atom bomb cannot be looked at in retrospect. One cannot make this pivotal choice while knowing what effects it will have on the world order for generations to come. The choice must be made inside the Oval Office at the time. One must imagine they are the President; faced with countless casualties, America’s growing impatience, and having relatively little experience as commander-in-chief. Facing all of these problems and more, Truman was forced to make the largest decision of his Presidency, the choice to drop the bomb. Historically, Japan was known for fighting to the death. In Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and the Solomon Islands, the Japanese soldiers fought for every inch of land. They would not surrender, rather they would prefer to die in the name of their emperor. By the end of the War in the Pacific, Japanese Kamikaze pilots were flying their plains into American battleships and aircraft carriers. Although these instances were rare, it shows the extraordinary will and determination of the Japanese. To end the war, the Joint Chiefs of Staff conjectured, required a full-scale amphibious invasion of Japan planned for early 1946. This invasion, however, would be costly; resulting in the loss of thousands of American’s lives and bringing about a huge financial burden. To avoid this “end all” battle, Truman ordered the release of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Truman believed that the lives lost by the atom would be less than that of a full-scale land invasion of Japan. He felt he was morally obligated to drop the bomb, since it would save countless American and Japanese lives. (many more Japanese would die in an invasion) The economic strains on the United Sates at the time were similarly as foreboding as the potential for thousands of lost lives in a land invasion of the main island. The massive American production of arms throughout World War Two was beginning to decelerate by August, 1945. With the end of War in Europe, America was on the rode to recovery; men were coming home to their wives and children, defense department contracts with corporations were coming to an end, and food rationing was becoming less stringent. Furthermore, our financial resources were already stretched to their limits. Much of our capital had been loaned away to the allies through lend-lease provisions and an increasing national debt and inflation prevented the further borrowing of funds. With the impending monetary crisis and the virtual return to normalcy in America, it would be nearly impossible to stage the land invasion needed to take Japan. Moreover, Truman was obligated to use the atomic bomb since so much funding and research was already tied up in it. The cost to build three atomic bombs cost a total of twenty billion dollars. (figures are in constant 1996 dollars) This includes funding for the National Defense Research Council, the Manhattan Project, and The Office of Scientific Research and Development. Comparatively, the cost of bombs, mine and grenades in both Europe and the Pacific was 31.5 billion dollars . Truman, therefore, had a monetary responsibility to employ the atomic bomb, or else of the funding used to build it would have gone to waste. The most influential factor in Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was political factors. Truman, a staunch anti-communist, had deep-seeded distrust of the Soviet Union’s communist regimes and subversive motives. Truman, a...