Ending the War in Japan: Evaluating the options available to Truman

Lesson Author

Adams, Mark

Course(s)

American History

Required Time Frame

1-2 class periods

Subject(s)

Atomic Bomb

World War II

Grade Level(s)

Lesson Abstract

Using the primary sources provided, students will work in groups to evaluate four options available to President Truman to end the war in Japan and to end the Second World War.

Description

Using the primary sources provided, students will work in groups to evaluate four options available to President Truman to end the war in Japan and to end the Second World War.

Rationale (why are you doing this?)

To have students engage in deliberative thinking and fully examine various options available to Truman. Rather than a black/white; yes/no on dropping the atomic bomb, students will examine four options in depth

Lesson Objectives - the student will

To consider more than just dropping the bomb or not

work with a small group to discuss and evaluate four options

engage in a whole-class discussion debriefing this activity and to write their own viewpoint in a position paper

District, state, or national performance and knowledge standards/goals/skills met

KS Standards for History, Government, and Social Studies (adopted April 2013):

Standard 1, Benchmark 2: The student will analyze the context under which choices are made and draw conclusions about the motivations and goals of the decision-makers.
Standard 3, Benchmark 1: The student will recognize and evaluate significant beliefs, contributions, and ideas of the many diverse peoples and groups and their impact on individuals, communities, states, and nations.

Best Practices & Literacy Expectations:

The use of primary sources - Interpret a variety of primary sources in traditional and digital formats provides the opportunity for students to recognize the discipline’s subjective nature, directly touch the lives of people in the past, and develop high level analytical skills.
Higher order thinking - Grappling with content knowledge beyond remembering and understanding, to applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.
Literacy within the Social Studies - Reading, comprehending, analyzing, and interpreting complex texts and media from various social studies disciplines.

Secondary materials (book, article, video documentary, etc.) needed

Read background material from credible sources

https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm

http://www.crf-usa.org/bill-of-rights-in-action/bria-15-3-b-choices-truman-hirohito-and-the-atomic-bomb.html

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/

http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2015/03/06/to-demonstrate-or-not-to-demonstrate/

http://www.weeklystandard.com/why-truman-dropped-the-bomb/article/7093

Deliberative thinking process - http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/dialogue.html

Primary sources needed (document, photograph, artifact, diary or letter, audio or visual recording, etc.) needed

http://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/online-collections/decision-to-drop-atomic-bomb

http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/

Fully describe the activity or assignment in detail. What will both the teacher and the students do?

Discuss the deliberative thinking model with students. http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/dialogue.html
Have students examine the variety of secondary and primary sources related to Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb (see list above)
Discuss the four options outlined in the NPS article
https://www.nps.gov/articles/trumanatomicbomb.htm

In groups have students consider together the four options available to Truman. Have them write down on the worksheet the advantages and drawbacks of each option – even if they don’t agree with it. Have them consider all advantages and disadvantages

Prompt more responses with questions such as “what would the rest of the world think about this option”? “what would the Japanese think of this option”? and “what would the American public think about this option”?

Ensure students give equal weight to each of the four options

Have each group report back on their completed worksheet.

Assignment:

Have students individually write a position paper as if they were president. Which of the four options would they have chosen and why? Students must use both secondary and primary sources to back up their argument

Assessment: fully explain the assessment method in detail or create and attach a scoring guide

For the individual paper use this template scoring rubric http://uncw.edu/cas/documents/Elaboratedcompetencies3.pdf

Teacher can assign points to each category as they see fit

Other points can be assigned for participation in the group discussion.

President Truman had four options:

Continue conventional bombing of Japanese cities
Land invasion of Japan
Demonstrate the bomb on an unpopulated island
Drop the bomb on an inhabited Japanese city

Continue conventional bombing		Land Invasion of Japan		Demonstrate bomb on an unpopulated island		Drop the bomb on an inhabited Japanese city
Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages

Completed chart (teacher can add more answers, these are just a starting point)


Continue conventional bombing		Land Invasion of Japan		Demonstrate bomb on an unpopulated island		Drop the bomb on an inhabited Japanese city
Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages	Advantages	Disadvantages
Safe approach	War would carry on	Eventual surrender by mid-1946 if all went well	War would carry on	Might cause Japan to surrender	Japanese move US POWS into area	Save US lives	Huge loss of Japanese lives
Possibility of a negotiated peace	More casualties (80,000 killed in Tokyo attack in one day)	Not as many casualties as Atomic Bomb	More casualties on both sides	Radiation (largely not understood at time)	Might not work – dependent on parachute and timer	End war quickly	Radiation (largely not understood at time)
More humane approach	Worry of stalemate	Radiation (largely not understood at time)	Worry of stalemate		At the time only two A-bombs existed	Japanese surrender likely	US lose moral high ground
	American public opinion turning against war		American public opinion turning against war		Still unlikely to surrender	Revenge for Pearl Harbor	Seen as aggressor
	No chance of surrender		Build-up of Japanese defenses was larger than thought		Threat to bomber crews
			Secret intelligence revealed large Japanese defenses		Who would witness and how reliable would their testimony be?

Online Collection

The Decision to Drop the Atomic Bomb

Breadcrumb

Ending the War in Japan: Evaluating the options available to Truman