ACT Practice: Atomic Bomb

On August 6, 1945, an American B-29, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic weapon on the Japanese industrial center at Hiroshima. With a single bomb, the United States completely incinerated a four-square-mile area at the center of the previously undamaged city. More than 80,000 civilians died, according to later American estimates. Two days later, on August 8, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. And the following day, the United States sent another plane to drop another atomic weapon-this time on the city of Nagasaki - causing more than 100,000 deaths in another unfortunate community. The debate over the decision to drop the atomic bomb is an unusually emotional one, and it has inspired bitter professional and personal attacks on advocates of almost every position. It illustrates clearly how history has often been, and remains, a powerful force in the way societies define their politics, their values, and their character.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a different reason for dropping or not dropping the atomic bomb to end World War II with Japan.

Write a unified, coherent essay in which you evaluate multiple perspectives about the dropping of the atomic bomb. In your essay, be sure to:

• analyze and evaluate the perspectives given
• state and develop your own perspective on the issue
• explain the relationship between your perspective and those given

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different. Whatever the case, support your ideas with logical reasoning and detailed, persuasive examples.