The Atomic Bomb Ends the War

After the battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese Empire was reduced back to the mainland of Japan. Japan however was not going to surrender without a fight. Japan, had a large standing army on the mainland that was prepared to defend at all costs. In the case that the United States adopted a frontal attack, it would have been a long and desperate struggle. President Harry S. Truman did not want to send American soldiers into such a deadly and demoralizing battle. Military estimates presented a possibility of 1 million American casualties and 500,000 British Casualties. During the war, the Army commissioned the Manhattan project, in which the atomic bomb was developed and built. The Atomic bomb project created bombs which weighed less than a dozen tons and could be dropped by a single bomber but had the destructive capability seen in thousands of tons of TNT. J. Robert Oppenheimer oversaw the project which had up to 600,000 members, although few were informed of its true goal. President Truman told the Japanese to surrender or face severe and total destruction, but his request was denied. On August 6th, a B-29 bomber dropped "Little Boy", a five ton bomb (with the power of fourteen kilotons of TNT) in Hiroshima destroying the city and killing approximately 100,000 people. Despite this, Japan did not surrender so President Truman ordered the army to drop Fat Man three days later, a bomb with the destructive power of twenty-one kilotons of TNT, onto Nagasaki, killing an additional 80,000 people. At this point Emperor Hirohito cried to his advisers that they needed to surrender, as the destruction of the Japanese people was far too much for him. On September 22nd, Japan formally surrendered on the USS Missouri as a result of the two bombings.

By Tyler Adams and Katie Lacek

The Atomic Bomb Ends the War

After the United States took over Iwo Jima and Okinawa, it opened a gateway for the U.S. to invade Japan. However, the U.S. knew that Japan would fiercely defend their country and not give up. Therefore, to invade Japan, the U.S. decided to use the atomic bomb (The Manhattan Project). This secretive project was led by General Leslie Groves and scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. This project was unknown to most the American public, the workers, and even Truman before he became the president. However, after Truman learned about the bomb, he did not hesitate in using it. Before Truman made the final decision to drop the two atom bombs on Japan, he asked Japan to surrender one last time, but the government refused. Thus, on August 6, the atomic bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on Hiroshima. All the buildings were disintegrated into dust, but the Japanese government still did not surrender. Therefore, 3 days later, the bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. This was the final blow, and after viewing the devastating destruction, Emperor Hirohito decided to surrender. On September 2, Japan surrendered at Tokyo Bay on the U.S. battleship “Missouri”.

By: Alee Cho and Bohsen Hsu

Women in the Military

Women in the Military Ketki S., Ashima S., C Period
In 1920, women had finally received what they had wanted for many years: the right to vote. However, women still did not receive the equal treatment that they deserved, especially in the office environment. The stereotypes of women being stay-at-home-moms restrained women from achieving their goals and getting the jobs they want.

However, after two decades, World War Two provided the perfect opportunity for women to be indirectly involved in the war while still causing a big impact on the war effort. In fact, 6 million of these women joined the workforce for the first time, out of which one third was employed in defense plants. These jobs not only pulled women out of traditional jobs such as domestic service, but also provided them with a better pay.

In fact the military was in such a great need for workforce that General George Marshall pushed for the creation of a Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. This bill allowed women volunteers to serve in non-combat positions. These women worked as nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians and pilots. At first they were not granted the full and equal rights that men had. However, after the influx of women working in the military increased, the U.S Army granted members of the WAC full benefits of the Army.

Women also occupied many jobs in the factories that were left vacant by men who left to serve the war. Employers were reluctant to hire women as they felt that women did not have the ability to work in factories for long periods of time. However, women showed that they could perform as well men could.

In fact, there were so many able women that employers could not hire all of them. Even though women only earned around 60% of the pay men earned, the 6 million proud and patriotic women still worked hard to help America in every possible way that they could.