Dropping the bombs resulted in fewer deaths than if the United States would have invaded the island. Years after the war, Secretary of State James Byrnes claimed that “500,000 American lives would have been lost” if the United States had invaded Japan. So many people would have died because the Japanese fought to the death because of the samurai code.
Also, the government was training the citizens to fight, therefore the United States army would have had to fight every Japanese citizen. The bombing resulted in only 110,000-210,000 people killed. Therefore, the United States was justified because it killed fewer people than an invasion would have.
One counter argument is that the United States was not justified in bombing because the Japanese were going to surrender before the bombs were dropped. Although Japan was willing to surrender, it would have been a conditional surrender. They would have kept the government, and Japan would have stayed unoccupied. If the United States had agreed, they would have lost millions of dollars fighting the war and gained nothing. Therefore, the United States was justified in the nuclear bombing, and ending the war, even though the Japanese were willing to surrender.
Although the nuclear bombs killed more civilians than an invasion would have, it was justified because it ended World War II quickly. During the war, civilians were dying throughout Japan at a rate of about 200,000 per month. The submarine blockade and the United States Army Air Forces's mining operation, Operation Starvation, had effectively cut off Japan's imports.
Historian Daikichi Irokawa once stated, "Immediately after the defeat, some estimated that 10 million people were likely to starve to death,". Also, firebombing had killed well over 100,000 people in Japan since February of 1945. Therefore, the nuclear bombing was justified because it ended the war quickly which saved millions from starvation and firebombing.
Although the nuclear bombs killed many Japanese civilians, and the Japanese were willing to surrender with conditions, dropping the bombs saved many American and Japanese lives.
