The History of the 1940’s

        The 1940’s was a bloody and destructive generation. It started off with the Pearl Harbor, atomic bombs being tested on U.S. soil, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt aiding Britain in their war with Germany.
            The decade begun with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, in late November 1941. The planner of this attack was Yamamoto Isroku who lived in the United States for a short time and during that short time he found out that Americans  are not weak people. Isroku knew an attack on the United States would not be an easy task. Pearl Harbor would be the best choice to attack.  During that time the U.S. military base was stationed there, the bombing killed 2,300 sailors, marines, and soldiers. Civilians, and others were also wounded and/or killed. 19 ships and 150 airplanes were destroyed and the news of the attack did not reach the U.S. until Sunday mourning due to the time differences. This attack changed U.S.’s focus to the creation and of atomic bombs.

            Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Einstein wrote a letter to president Roosevelt stating that Germany may be working on an atomic bomb, and the U.S. should put the creation of one into consideration. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. focus became to create an atomic bomb. The project was called the Manhattan Project and the man who was the leader of it was General Leslie Groves. When a bomb was finally created there was a secret testing of it on U.S. soil. The testing took place at a New Mexico dessert. After the test, Truman gave the “ok” to drop one of the bombs on Japan. The first bomb dropped on Japan was “Little Boy”. It was dropped on Hiroshima. The second bomb that was dropped was called “Fat Man”, and was dropped on Nagasaki. Little Boy killed 140.000 people, and Fat Man killed 80,000. The bombs did not only kill on contact, but is stilling killing people by the toxic radiation emiting from the ground. The total number of deaths from the bombs is at least 90,000 and possibly more. This includes people who died from direct contact from the bombs and the after effects from the radiation. The radiation not only caused death but also birth defects.

         Nearly a week after the bombs were dropped Japan surrendered and was able to keep their emperor. Not only did Japan not want to back down, they also wanted to keep their traditional culture and keep their emperor.

Bibliography

(Fat Man)