English 106
Dr. Puhtang
February 11, 2014
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The Manhattan project
Although many Americans thought the dropping of the bomb would be a good and peaceful resolve, they were not aware of how big of an impact the atomic bombs would make and the disaster the bomb would cause. By looking at a couple primary sources that I have found I will be explaining some of the problems of the Manhattan Project and the Atomic Bombs. The sources that I have show a chronological order from the making of the bomb to the after math of the bomb being dropped. Almost all of my sources demonstrate how the Manhattan and the atomic bombs were not the best choice that America could have made. My sources also show the aftermath and how the people who were exposed to bomb were affected by it. My first source is a letter written by Albert Einstein to the president of the time President Franklin Roosevelt. In August, 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt warning that Nazi Germany was attempting to build a new weapon which was more powerful and more destructive than any weapon ever known to mankind. That weapon was the Atomic Bomb. This letter would eventually change the course of history and would alter the face of the modern world. Einstein's letter and other correspondence about the A-Bomb. The knowledge that Nazi Germany attempting to build an atomic bomb, really edge on America to work on one themselves. Thus, the start of the Manhattan Project.
Einstein's letter did not reach the President quickly, however, nor did it have much effect. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began. Sachs finally met with the President on October 11 and presented Einstein's letter. For next two years, official skepticism continued to stall U.S. research efforts. A large-scale U.S. atomic project did not begin until December 6, 1941, one day before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It became the "Manhattan" Project in August 1942. Einstein having been so considered about the bomb really edged on America to start the project in the first place. Without the overly concern from Einstein, the Manhattan Project might have never happen until many years later and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would have never happen
My next source comes from the Harry S. Truman, Diary, July 25, 1945. President Truman told his diary on July 25, 1945, that he had ordered the bomb used. It is very important to take notice in Truman's apparent belief that he had ordered the bomb dropped on a "purely military" target, so that military objectives and soldiers and sailors are the target and not women and children. Truman states “The target will be a purely military one and we will issue a warning statement asking the Japs to surrender and save lives. I'm sure they will not do that, but we will have given them the chance. It is certainly a good thing for the world that Hitler's crowd or Stalin's did not discover this atomic bomb. It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.” (3) This shows that Truman was in full aware of the destructible power of the atomic bombs but had the dropped anyways. It was physically impossible for bombs that destructive to not do any harm to just military soldiers and not harm innocent people.
Further on in my source Harry Truman goes on to state in his diary “We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesied in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark.” (Page 5) This was again shows that Truman fully knew how much destruction the bomb was capable of but still decided to have it dropped on the innocent people. Truman also goes on to state that “Anyway we think we have found the way to cause a disintegration of the atom.” (Page 5) Information about