Is was justified for America to drop the bomb on japan?

Answer 1

The decision to drop two nuclear weapons on Japan was based upon the belief that Japan would not easily surrender through conventional fighting, and that the war would drag on for months at the cost of many more lives. It was also believed that an invasion of the Japanese mainland was the only way the war would end, and that such an invasion would result in a loss of life for both sides totaling in the hundreds of thousands. I do not know if any other options were considered or even available. If those beliefs were correct, the use of nuclear weapons against Japan had the effect of causing the surrender of Japan with significantly lower loss of life. For the living, then, it appears to be the better choice.

Answer 2

OF course it was, you cannot judge actions from a past period by today's standards.

The US did not start the war, it was attacked, a sneak attack mind you, at Pearl Harbor. The US forces were losing heavy casualties in the island hopping getting closer to the Japanese mainland. The Japanese would have fought furiously to the death to defend their homeland. Not only did thousands of lives get saved on the US side, but even Japanese lives were saved, although its hard to estimate how many more would have died defending their country as opposed to the bombs being dropped.

Its very easy to say this was an immoral act, siting here in the 21st century, but the fact is, this was a different period were talking about. And the decisions that were made back then were made by the people who had to deal with them.