Will the War Ever End?

By John Riemenschneider (jriemenschneider@hpschools.org)

8^th Grade Social Studies Teacher at Holland Patent Middle School

“Having found the bomb we have used it.”

~Harry S. Truman

INTRODUCTION:

The year is 1945 and you are a special military advisor to President Truman. World War II has been going on for America for five years now and one Axis power, Japan, is still fighting on. As more and more American soldiers die you realize a big problem: Japan refuses to surrender. You have just received notice that scientists in the Manhattan Project have just created a secret weapon that can do massive damage to cities. This could possibly help end the conflict quicker. Now comes the big decision, will you use this new weapon, or are there alternatives to this?

TASK:

1. Complete web quest graphic organizer while completing process

2. Write a two-page recommendation to President Harry S. Truman on if he should drop the atomic bomb or not. Discuss the problem, evidence and causes. Discuss the option of dropping the atomic bomb with benefits & causes to this. Also discuss possible alternatives to dropping the bomb.

PROCESS: (Click here to print Graphic Organizer)

You will use a four step process called the American History Public Policy Analyst (AHPPA). This is very similar to Science class. You will:

1. Identify the Problem – What is the problem/issue?

2. Gather the Evidence – How do we know about this?

3. Determine the Causes – Why is this problem happening?

4. Evaluate the Policy – What did the government do? Did the results outweigh the costs? Were there alternatives?

Step 1 - Identify the Problem

Explore the situation of World War II in 1945, specifically in the Pacific Theatre. What were some battles like in 1945? How were American POWs treated by the Japanese?

· Overview of World War II

· Battle of Iwo Jima

· Battle of Tarawa

· Battle of Okinawa Video

· Eyewitness account of the Bataan Death March

Step 2 - Gather the evidence of the Problem

Now that you have identified the problem, what was the validity (truth) of it? Did it seem like Japan was going to surrender soon? Give three reasons why America thought that Japan was not about to surrender.

· Kamikaze Pilots

· Truman’s justification for dropping the bomb

Step 3 - Determine the Causes

Go through and try to determine why you think Japan would not surrender. Give at least two reasons why they would refuse to surrender during war.

· Overview of Japan’s motivations

Step 4- Evaluate the Policy

President Harry S. Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb to help end the war quicker. What were the effects of this decision in terms of costs and benefits? The costs would include both economic and social issues and the benefits would be related to the achievement of the objective. Consider how these two relate. Here are some scenarios:

- Benefits obtained at reasonable cost. (Did the USA get what they want within a reasonable cost to life?)

- Benefits obtained at too high of a cost. (Did the USA get what they want at too high a cost to life?)

- Benefits not obtained (Did the USA not get what they wanted?)

- Benefits not obtained and costs were still too high (Did the USA not get what they want AND the cost of life was too high?)

Also you need to brainstorm alternatives to the bomb. What could have Truman done differently? Come up with at least two alternatives to dropping the bomb.

· Deaths caused by atomic bomb

· Opposing thoughts on dropping the bomb

· Quotes on people who oppose the bomb

· Cost of building the atomic bombs

Evaluation

Below is a rubric that I will use to grade your completed graphic organizer. Consult it first to determine the various criteria:

	4	3	2	1	Total
Time on Task	Was totally focused and on task throughout project	Was mostly focused and on task during project	Was distracted easily, had a hard time finishing during class time.	Was not on task at all, had to be refocused by teacher constantly	_____/4
Completed Graphic Organizer	Organizer was completely filled out with lots of details	Organizer was mostly filled out.	Organizer was missing some points.	Organizer was unclear, not fully filled out.	_____/4
Paper-Analysis	Paper fully answers task given	Paper mostly answers task given	Paper somewhat answers task given	Paper does not answers task, is unfocused	____/4
Paper- Organization	Paper is fully organized and flows easily	Paper is somewhat organized but can still be easily followed	Paper is hard to follow and does not stay on topic	Paper is not organized with no paragraphs	____/4
Paper – Spelling & Grammar	There is not spelling or grammar mistakes	There are a few mistakes, but does not take away from the paper	There are numerous mistakes and it makes it hard to follow	There are many mistakes and paper is impossible to follow	____/4

Total_____/20

Conclusion

This web quest was designed to determine the conditions and motives for dropping and killing thousands of civilians in order to end the war quicker and to have students stop and think if there could have been other ways to end the war or if this was the only option for Truman. This will relate to the later unit while discussing the Cold War and the arms race between the USA and the USSR.

Standards

The following state standards were considered and covered in the creation of this web quest.

English Language Arts

§ Standard 1: Language for Information and Understanding Students will listen, speak, read, and write for information and understanding. As listeners and readers, students will collect data, facts, and ideas; discover relationships, concepts, and generalizations; and use knowledge generated from oral, written, and electronically produced texts. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to acquire, interpret, apply, and transmit information.

§ Standard 3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation
Students will listen, speak, read, and write for critical analysis and evaluation. As listeners and readers, students will analyze experiences, ideas, information, and issues presented by others using a variety of established criteria. As speakers and writers, they will use oral and written language that follows the accepted conventions of the English language to present, from a
variety of perspectives, their opinions and judgments on experiences, ideas, information and issues.

Social Studies

§ Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in the history of the United States and New York.

§ Standard 2: World History
Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate
their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments, and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.