Unit 5 Performance Assessment: ANTI Atomic Bomb (SY23)

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Directions: Below are various primary and secondary sources about the decision to drop the atomic bomb. As you analyze each source, think about how you could use it as evidence to support your argument AGAINST dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 

As you learn from these sources, complete the graphic organizer for the sources you will use in our fishbowl discussion. 

Source A "Protection of Civilian Populations"- League of Nations: Remember to think about why this source proves the atomic bomb shouldn't be dropped.

Source B: Chief of Staff Admiral Leahy testimony : Remember to think about why this source proves the atomic bomb shouldn't be dropped.

President Truman’s Chief of Staff, Admiral William D. Leahy,  in his memoir “I Was There” (Whittlesey, 1950)

“It is my opinion that the use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender because of the effective sea blockade and the successful bombing with conventional weapons…My own feeling was that being the first to use [the atomic bomb], we adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. I was not taught to make wars in that fashion, and that wars cannot be won by destroying women and children…”

Source C: Classified Letter of American Scientists opposed to nuclear warfare Remember to think about why this source proves the atomic bomb shouldn't be dropped.

Classified: Letter of American scientists opposed to nuclear weapons in warfare.

Source D:  Photos of Atomic Bomb Survivors & Newspaper response: Remember to think about why this source proves the atomic bomb shouldn't be dropped.

Photos of atomic bomb survivors.  Warning: Graphic images. You can choose to skip this source if you would prefer.  https://www.life.com/history/hiroshima-portraits-of-survivors/

Nippon Times (Tokyo) August 10, 1945

"How can a human being with any claim to a sense of moral responsibility deliberately let loose an instrument of destruction which can at one stroke annihilate an appalling segment of mankind? This is not war: this is not even murder; this is purely a crime. This is a crime against God and humanity which strikes at the very basis of moral existence. What meaning is there in any international law, in any rule of human conduct, in any concept of right and wrong, if the very foundations of morality are to be overthrown as the use of this instrument of total destruction threatens to do?

Source E: Table of estimates of deaths and total deaths from bomb drop  Remember to think about why this source proves the atomic bomb shouldn't be dropped.

Source F: Testimony of Japanese schoolboy Remember to think about why this source proves the atomic bomb shouldn't be dropped.

 PART TWO Directions: Nice job analyzing your sources! Now, we are going to engage in a full class "Fishbowl Discussion" to summarize all that we have read and learned about. We want to hear from all of you, because we know you all have valuable ideas! 

We will divide our class into two circles --- a smaller, inner circle and a larger, outer circle. The inner circle will be provided with an opportunity to talk while the outer circle listens.

It's important that you have your sources graphic organizer completly filled out so that you can refer to it during discussion.

During the discussion, share your ideas on the sources you read and why the bomb should not have been dropped.  Remember the opposing side has not seen your sources, so you should describe what the source is AND why it supports the idea that the bomb should not have been dropped.

Nice job! We appreciate your hard work :) You are now ready for our fishbowl! 