Jenna Lalley
Ms. Rieger
AMH 2020
20 March 2013
Critical Thinking Essay August 2, 1939 was a day that would change the future of wartime weapons. Along with other scientists, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt that stated how Nazi Germany was working on developing pure Uranium-235, which could eventually be used to build an atomic bomb (Bellis.) This was all the information Roosevelt needed before the program of the “Manhattan Project” was put underway. According to Bellis, over $2 billion dollars were spent over the course of the years that the Manhattan Project was in place. July 16, 1945, scientists carried out the first trial of the bomb in the New Mexico desert of Los Alamos. The president at the time, Truman, was informed that the trial was a success. The use of the atom bomb was seen as a necessary option. The war with Japan was going strong, and there was no sight of a Japanese surrender. The atom bomb was what Truman, and many other American military officials believed would end the war and bring about a victory for the United States. The only other alternative was an invasion on all of the Japanese islands, which would have resulted in the casualties of many innocent citizens (Atomic). There were many results of the two atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 15, just days after the attack on Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered (Atomic.) However, the more devastating result was that of the effected citizens. “The first western scientists, servicemen and journalists to arrive on the scene produced vivid and heartrending reports describing a charred landscape populated by hideously burnt people, coughing up and urinating blood and waiting to die” (Atomic.) I honestly do not think that the dropping of these bombs was justified. The United States has been in many wars before where no use of atomic weapons was necessary. These bombs had more negative effects than positive. Although Japan surrendered, and the war was ended because of the dropping of these bombs, a lot of lives could have been