Bell Ringer 3/19/13

BELL RINGER 3/19/13

•Manhattan Project

• Standards: CSHS 2: Cause and effect.• Objective: Students will determine whether the United States made the “right” choice in dropping the atomic bombs.

•Watch this video on the Manhattan Project and take notes.

• In 1939 German Scientists successful split an atom. • Albert Einstein contacted President Roosevelt to “step up”

research and development.

MANHATTAN PROJECT

• Got it’s name because the research started in New York

• One of the best kept secrets of the war.

• Harry Truman did not know of the project.

• Robert Oppenheimer headed up the research team.

• July 16, 1945 Alamagordo NM the first atomic weapon was successfully tested.

TO INVADE OR NOT TO INVADE?

• The invasion of Japan had 2 phases•770,000 Japanese soldiers on Kyushu• Invasion and eventual capture of Tokyo

would require 1 million men.•Casualties predicted: 35%

• July 25, 1945 Truman warned Japanese to surrender, or face a terrible weapon.

“LITTLE BOY”

• August 6, 1945• Target: Hiroshima• Colonel Tibbets and his crew flew the B-29 Enola Gay

to drop the first atomic weapon.

• The bomb took 43 seconds to destroy Hiroshima

• 4.4 square miles destroyed• 80,000 killed instantly• 100,000 wounded

FAT MAN

• August 9, 1945• Target: Nagasaki• B-29 Bock’s Car

dropped the 2nd atomic weapon.

40,000 KILLED

INSTANTLY 60,000

WOUNDED

Devastation at Hiroshima

CONTROVERSY OVER THE DECISION TO DROP THE BOMB

Critics said Truman's decision was “a barbaric act that brought negative long-term consequences to the United States.”

Some military analysts say that Japan was on its knees and the bombings were simply unnecessary.

Other critics argued that American diplomats had ulterior motives (intimidate USSR). Our use of the Atomic bomb helped to sow the seeds of the Cold War.

Regardless, the United States remains the only nation in the world to have used a nuclear weapon on another nation.

TRUMAN’S RESPONSE:

His decision to drop the bomb was purely military.

A Normandy-type invasion would have cost too many American lives.

Truman argued that the bombs actually saved Japanese lives in the long run.

He refused to prolong the war, as more than 3,500 Japanese kamikaze raids had already wrought great destruction and loss of American lives.

AUGUST 13, 1945

• Empire of Japan formally surrenders to the US. • September 2, 1945 Aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo

Harbor, Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender.

V-J DAY, THE WAR IS OVER!

EXIT TICKET

•Based on what you now know, was the United States’ decision to use atomic bombs against Japan during World War II ethical? Why or why not. Respond in paragraph form.

• Standards: CSHS 2: Cause and effect.•Objective: Students will determine whether the United States made the “right” choice in dropping the atomic bombs.