what made Truman decide to put containment into action?
488268
Have provided a couple of web links.\n\nSpartacus is great - gives the build up of events, pictures, first hand accounts, etc. (it's made for school level)\n\nSecond one I just stumbled upon.
437854
I would have to say that it would be impossible to know the answer, Pure speculation...however, after reviewing the facts:\n\n1. Japan had made overtures via Sweden of negotiating a peace prior to Hiroshima.\n2. However, they did openly turn down the Potsdam demands for unconditional surrender.\n3. Like you mentionioned, Iow Jima and Okinawa showed their army's determination to fight to the last man, altho it may not have proven that the civilians would've done the same on Japan proper.\n4. The first nuclear detonation did not bring immediate surrender from the Japanese leaders.\n5. By using the bomb, we lost the moral argument after the war that the A-bomb should be controlled and never used.\n6. The bombing of civilians was recognized as barbaric before the war and in the Geneva conventions, and yet the allies began using incendiaries on Dresden, Tokyo causing major firestorms.\n7. By ending the war earlier, we did not give the Soviets a chance to mount an offensive against Japan and create a Soviet Bloc as they did in Europe.\n8.Oppenheimer, Fermi and others considered the alternative, increased American casualties vs ending the war sooner by using the weapons, and they recommended the use of the bombs. There were some scientists who recommended a demonstration to show the Japanese leaders the potential devastation, but they were overrulled.\n\nMy opinion is that we did save Japanese lives that would've exceeded the number killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, vis a vis the continued encendiary bombing of Japanese cities and loss due to "fighting" to the last man mentality that showed at Iwo and Okinawa.\n\nThe number of allied lives saved, i would guess, would be around 200,000, but that's only pulling a number out of the sky...the US stated hundreds of thousands, if not more.
278696
Technically, none of these are correct.  In 1947, George Kennan, who was responsible for setting up the US Embassy in Russia published an article in Foreign Affairs under the penname "X" calling on the US to prevent expansion of communism through the policy of 'containment'. It was based upon the dual plan of attempting to thwart the efforts of Soviet Russia of expanding into Asia and other parts of Europe and by doing so, economic system would collapse (this only took 30 years and a HUGE amount of deficit spending on OUR part). \n  \nTherefore, containment Policy would deal with USSR from a two-pronged approach (economic and militarily) Economically, the Marshall Plan was the large part of it the aid package delivered to France, Italy, Germany, etc. to rebuild after the war....secondly, NATO was created.  So I choose E....none of the above.
107422
Japan was duly warned by Pres. Truman, but the Emporer refused to back down.  I would say his callous disregard for diplomacy called for a squashing attempt to prove that an end was necessary.  However, it is sad that the technology used was so harmful to so many, and placed such a great limit on the longevity of the entire planet.
692421
from http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/node143.html 'when I talked to Churchill  he unhesitatingly told me he favored the use of the atomic bomb.' \n\n"It would nevertheless be wrong and imprudent to entrust the secret knowledge or experience of the atomic bomb, which the United States, Great Britain, and Canada now share, to the world organisation, while it is still in its infancy. It would be criminal madness to cast it adrift in this still agitated and un-united world. No one in any country has slept less well in their beds because this knowledge and the method and the raw materials to apply it, are at present largely retained in American hands. I do not believe we should all have slept so soundly had the positions been reversed and if some Communist or neo-Fascist State monopolised for the time being these dread agencies. The fear of them alone might easily have been used to enforce totalitarian systems upon the free democratic world, with consequences appalling to human imagination. God has willed that this shall not be and we have at least a breathing space to set our house in order before this peril has to be encountered: and even then, if no effort is spared, we should still possess So formidable a superiority as to impose effective deterrents upon its employment, or threat of employment, by others. Ultimately, when the essential brotherhood of man is truly embodied and expressed in a world organisation with all the necessary practical safeguards to make it effective, these powers would naturally be confided to that world organisation."\nSinews of Peace Address by Winston Churchill http://www.hpol.org/churchill/
1063824
Hi, I've learned in History that President Wilson came up with a plan- the fourteen points to prevent another war from occurring however congress did not approve of Wilson's idea of the US joining the League of Nation. Without the peace keeping organization US got involved and fought in WW2.
691612
The whole speech was a metaphorical comparison of the "cold war" to Bush's "war on terror".  His point was that by America's being able to claim victory in the cold war Truman was vindicated, and by extension his "war on terror" would be vindicated by its eventual success.  However, that is probably unlikely, whoever gets elected Dem. or Rep. is probably going to drop Iraq like a hot potato (with no e).  So, its just Bush trying to make himself feel better because he knows he isn't really popular in the polls.  Whether he really has oil interests in the region or represents them is another question entirely, and one I personally cannot answer with any definitive evidence either way, but then, Cheney does have well known ties to Haliburton.
441180
It was the Religion of a Republican Congress at the time of Harry Truman, and America really regrets these genocide actions that were taken. America had Japan surrounded already with the American Navy. It would have taken longer, and America was afraid Hitler was going to over take Britain at this point so they did it, and did it twice.
248594
1) the US wanted to get the Japanese back for the bombing of Pearl Harbor\n\n2) the US wanted to intimidate the Soviet Union \n(because there were tensions between the US and the former Soviet Union and the US wanted to show the Soviet Union that it had a new, deadly weapon which the Soviet Union didn't have)\n\n3) Truman justified the dropping of the bomb by stating Japan would not surrender without an invasion that'd cause enormous loss of both American and Japanese lives. At least, with Hiroshima and Nagasaki...no American lives were lost (*rolls eyes*)\n\n\nThe bombing of Hiroshima came first (August 6, 1945), the US dropped the bomb in hopes Japan surrenders.\nSince Japan didn't surrender, 3 days later (August 9, 1945) the US dropped another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. \nJapan got the point, surrendered, and World War 2 was over.
673783
I believe that Hiroshima was always the primary target that day....I think it was Nagasaki 3 days later that was selected because the primaty target was cloud bound.  I think it was Kyoto that was the primary target for the second bomb.
586134
The ANNOUNCEMENT was related to end of WWII.  The ENFORCEMENT was related to Korea.  Truman misspoke his doctrine - or was ambiguous - and the Russians and Chinese misjudged his wording, leading to conflagration on the Korean peninsula.  I just don't remember what his misstatement was, precisely.
585817
Basically to take Europe out of the equation in case of Nuclear war.\n\nReally though the Soviet Union was in such deep financial chaos that they could no longer afford the development and upkeep of targeting nukes on Europe.  \n\nSo taking them off the table was mostly a financial decision.\n\nI should add that there was also a growing emphasis on Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles.  They were easier to hide and defend.
823419
During WW2, there was a top secret project using the best minds of the world except for Einstein and a few others as they opposed the project called Manhattan Project.  Its goal was to harness the power of the atom and turn it into a weapon.  They did and the first bomb was fired in the Nevada dessert and was called the Trinity test.\n\nThe bomb was then tasked to be weaponsized and a B29 was specially fitted and modified to carey the giant beast of a bomb.  While the bomb was being constructed and designed and such, the military command along with the president were debating the outcomes of a land invasion of Japan.  After much delberation of whther the bomb should be used or hundereds of thousnads of troops be used in a invasion, it was decided to drop the Uranium based bomb on a designated city that had not suffered the same bombing campaign as the other cities had.  The first choice (the name of the city escapes me) was covered with clouds so the secondary target of Hiroshima was chosen and bombed.  The Japanese were stunned at the new weapon.  Emperor Hirohito wanted to surrender to the Americans but the Military did not want to lose face by surrendering.  in the turmoil of the that followed with the debates of surrender or not, Nagasaki was wiped away by a Plutonium based weapon.\n\nAt that time the Emperor won the fight and surrendered to the Americans.  They also did this to avoid retribution by the Russians whom they have faught for many years with prior.\n\nAfter the war was over, a tour was done by the American command and found out that they would have had overwhelming casualties had they attempted to land on Japan as they had 3 lines fo trenches, bunkers, and other assorted fortifications armed with soldiers and civillians.\n\nI hope this answered your question!
181530
Neither of the previous posters have a clue what they are talking about.  Here is the right answer.  The United States decided on a blockade of all in-coming Soviet vessels.  When Khruschev saw that Kennedy would not back down he agreed to dismantle aggressive Russian missiles and the entire world took a collective sigh of relief.
373642
The Truman Doctrine planted the seeds of our involvement in Vietnam. These seeds grew so that by the end of Eisenhower's presidency he placed it as one of the most important issues to face the incoming Kennedy Administration. An assasination and two presidents later we would know how accurate that was. \n\nOne of the cores of the Truman Doctrine was the domino theory, or the idea that as nations fell to communism, the border nations surrounding would as well. Therefore, it was of vital national importance to prevent the spread of communism by any means necessary. \n\nOur decision to back continued French control over South Vietnam was guided by the Truman Doctrine and the logic that any government was preferable to the pro-communist north assuming control. This self-serving support of a colonial power and subjugation of the indigenous power rightfully angered the vietnamese, an anger the north willfully stoked vis a vis the Viet Cong.  \n\nThis of course doesnt do Harry or the theory justice, of course.
616173
the soviets and americans wanted to spread communism and democracy respectively and wanted to prevent the other from spreading their ideologies. this led to the cold war.
146520
It goes against the MAD doctrine, ie, being able to observe nuclear launches.  If the missiles are disguised in lead-lined cargo ships, then, we get no notice of a preemptive strike.  MAD deterred us from nuclear war for 60 years, now MAD is being thrown out the door.