Ethical Dlemma Invovling the Bombing of Hiroshima - Essay Example

This happened at a time when the intensity of air raids between the two countries had escalated thus leading to war strategies that had to be adopted to defeat the enemy. Although the Japanese had been militarily defeated by the United States army and were considering surrender the United States officials went ahead with the test of the atomic bomb at New Mexico and saw the deadly results. The officials’ in charge took charge and the then president Truman allowed the bomb to be released at Hiroshima.

It became the among the world’s deadliest bomb attack that ruined lives and properties. The first ethical debate concerning the bombing of Hiroshima, and the subsequent bombing of Nagasaki, is the fact that the war could have been won without the bombing. From an analysis of the views of people n the era, it is evident that the bombing was not supported by the majority of people. Winnacker (26) states that Professor Albert Einstein remarked leading physicists in the era urged the American government not to drop the two bombs that effectively ended the world war.

Einstein stated that the War Department was convinced that, with the casualties suffered by the Japanese, their ultimate surrender was not long in coming, therefore, the bombing was not necessary. . Using the theory of consequentialism, America’s action in the bombing of Hiroshima can be condemned by stating that the government used the principle of personal egoism. The principle of personal egoism states that an individual should always act in his own long-term interests and disregard the interests of any other individuals.

In this regard, the United States only considered the interests of its soldiers, in which case they decided to kill innocent civilians in order to end the war. An analysis of the statements of the Secretary of State when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima indicates that the government had taken into consideration the views of scientists and war analysts on the issue in Japan (Bruce 42). The government had been advised that the total surrender of Japan would be a matter of a few weeks, and the bomb did not need to be dropped.

However, Secretary Simpson stated that the best way to totally end the war was through a ‘complete and utter’ destruction of Japan’s military might. Secretary Simpson went on to state that despite the efforts of the Japanese government to surrender the war, the United States government still had to take its own interests before the interests of the Japanese government. The Secretary stated that the Japanese government had gone as far as to approach the Soviet government in a bid to start negotiations with the Allies on the end of the war.

This fact can be analyzed using the utilitarianism argument, which states that the best act is the one that produces the highest ratio of good to evil in every action. Using the utilitarianism debate, the United States would be ethically justified for their actions in bombing Hiroshima and