(Sherrow 74) Therefore, Stalin felt using the bomb was just under the circumstances. Though this is the case, the fact that the U.S. possessed such technology was a threat to Stalin. After the bomb was used, Stalin insisted on the U.S. giving him the formula, but we declined. .
Dr. Leo Szilard, who was a physicist who helped persuade President Roosevelt to launch the atomic bomb project, had a change of opinion in the spring on 1945. When he learned that the bombs would be used against Japanese cities, he, as he put it, "opposed it with all [his] power". Him and other scientists concluded that there would be some sort of after-effect, but they were not positive of its length or intensity. He said that when Truman dropped the bomb, "he did not know what he was in for".
In 1945 after the bombs were dropped and the war was over, the everyday-American was overjoyed. They were glad that the war finally came to a halt, and that their troops were coming home. In this time period, it is safe to say that the majority of Americans felt that the atomic bomb was just. This is because Americans in that time period really hated the Japanese, they were not quite sure what an atomic bomb really was and did not know of the harsh radiation after-effects, and because they were glad the war was finally over and no more American lives were spared. The everyday American in that time period could not really find any reasons to call the bomb unjust.
As time passed, though, more and more people started to call the atomic bomb unjust and barbaric. The first reason for this is because America soon learned of the harsh radiation after-effects of the bomb. Also, as a new generation of people was formed, there was no longer a deep sense of hatred towards the Japanese. This is because these people did not live through the Rape of Nanking, Pearl Harbor, the Baatan Death March, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima. Because of these reasons, more and more people started to feel that the bomb was unjust and that American should not have used it.
