re building an atomic bomb. Roosevelt authorized the establishment of the Manhattan Project.The German blitzkrieg rushed through Europe overwhelming Norway, Denmark,Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Soon after the Germans invaded France which ledto the French surrender in June of 1940.Meanwhile the U.S. approved shipments of 50 old American destroyers to Britain inreturn for the right to establish naval bases in British territory. In 1940, Roosevelt signed measures authorizing a massive military build-up. In order to remain neutral, the U.S. organizedthe lend-lease act which allowed for the borrowing of military good on the condition that they bereturned after the war.On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union which forced Hitler to fight warson two fronts and allowed the U.S. to extend the lend-lease act to the Soviets.On December 7, 1941, Japan launched an attack on the U.S. naval base in Pearl Harbor. The surprise attack disabled 19 warships and 150 planes. But worst of all it killed 2,335 soldiersand 68 civilians. Three days later the United States officially declared war against the axispowers.For months the war waged on until President Truman used the atomic bomb produced bythe Manhattan Project to severely cripple Japan. On August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber dropped anatomic bomb on Hiroshima. 160,000 civilians were killed or severely wounded but Japan stillrefused to surrender. So on August 8, another bomb was dropped, this time on Nagasaki. TheJapanese surrendered five days later on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri and World War II wasofficially over.Was Truman justified in dropping the bomb? I have no choice but to say yes. AlthoughI wish it could have been done any other way, it couldnt. At that time and that place, the onlyway to end the war was to show the rest of the world that the U.S. would not stand for anymorebloodshed and was prepared to use force to save future lives....
