The Easy Way Out

I believe it is obvious that NBC chose to air this piece for commemoration purposes, as it had been 50 years since the bomb was dropped. This demonstrates the overall ill-effect the atomic ultimately had on the world's memory of WWII, as the end of the war became a moral crisis rather than a time of celebration and closure. In the irrational act of dropping the atomic bomb, the U.S. chose the easy way out in a situation that was too delicate for the action that was called for by president Truman. What is most disappointing is the knowledge the government had previous to the atom bomb's destruction: that Japan was on the brink of surrender, invasion pending or not. Eisenhower was aware of this and attempted to dissuade those in charge from such deadly force. Lastly, the use of this bomb will certainly come back to bite America, for we have set a standard for the use of atomic bombs, one that has been raised higher than it ever should have. And only because we rushed the end of an already decided war.