The Manhattan Project: The Impact Of The Atomic Bombs

“Convinced that German scientists could help America’s postwar efforts, President Harry Truman agreed in September 1946 to authorize “Project Paperclip,” a program to bring selected German scientists to work on America’s behalf during to “Clod War””(Laura Knight-Jadczyk). President Truman brought German scientists over to had start Project MKULTRA.

In 1939 the president of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was informed that the axis powers scientists have discovered how to split the uranium atom. The power produced by this is very large and could be used as a nuclear weapon against the Allies. Before WWII America knew that nuclear weapons were being studied and were afraid the axis powers would discover it first. Thankfully Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi fled their countries to inform the American president on how dangerous this could potentially be. Einstein eventually wrote a letter to roosevelt, telling him the seriousness of this power, and urging Roosevelt to create a research program for their own atomic bomb. Roosevelt eventually agreed but told his scientists to proceed

September 1, 1939, marked the beginning of World War II. The war was long fought involving the three axis powers and several allied powers. Among those were Japan and the United States following Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Praino, 2015). Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost amongst the battles from each side of the war. In 1939, Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi fled to America and informed the elected officials that Germany had discovered new outbreaks in splitting atoms, which was one step closer to the creation of destructive weapons for the Axis power. With that news, American facilities launched a program that would later be codenamed “The Manhattan Project” which was the birthplace of the first nuclear atomic reactions. After the first reaction was created, it was a vicious cycle from there that continued to escalate. With the war reaching an all-time high in casualties, Truman was faced with a big decision as the programs had finally experienced breakthroughs to the atomic bomb. He could choose to remain in conventional war tactics and continue to prolong the war until Japan was ready to surrender, or attempt to save the lives of many American soldiers and citizens by dropping the atomic bombs onto two major cities in Japan (Praino, 2015). By choosing the latter, an estimated 225,000 Japanese lives were lost (Perkins, 2016) and the ethical merits of Truman’s decision are still questioned today while some views remain confident in the choice.

Even before the outbreak of War, the United States was concerned with a fascist regime in Europe researching in nuclear weapons. In retaliation, the United States began to fund an atomic weapon development program which became known as “The Manhattan Project” led by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Over the next several years, the Manhattan project started obtaining key materials such as Uranium-235 and Plutonium and testing prototypes until they reached a working model (Coroner).

The first atomic bomb that Japan was to get a glimpse of was on August 6th, 1945, during World War II in the city of Hiroshima. The explosion annihilated 90 percent of the city; without hesitation killed 80,000 people. More than tens of thousands of people would have eventually died due to radiation exposure. Within three days of the attack, a second B-29 dropped another A-bomb in another location known as Nagasaki, killing an estimation of 40,000 people. Hirohito, Japan’s emperor announced his country’s unequivocal surrender in WWII in a radio address on August 15th, in allude to the calamitous power of “a new and most cruel bomb.” President Truman had to make one of hardest pre arrangements that he had ever faced. Truman based this decision off of the results of to justify the cost of the Manhattan project, in response of

July 16, 1939 began as a rather ordinary day for Einstein. Two former students, now colleagues came to visit. Through this visit Einstein learned that nuclear fission was not simply theoretically possible, but a reality. He immediately recognized the repercussions; both good and evil. He realized that if he did nothing, Germany (Hitler) would be able not only to build an atomic bomb, but also to monopolize all known all sources of the precursor materials. Thus, to do nothing, would be to aid the Nazis. To write a letter, use his influence, to make sure the United States would have access to uranium (from Belgium), he was encouraging the development of a device whose sole purpose would be a weapon more devastating than any other ever imagined.

It was December 7, 1942 a beautiful mourning in Pearl Harbor. When out of the blue, hundreds of Japanese planes bomb and either sunk or severely damaged eight battle ships and at least thirteen other naval ships that were docked on the shore. This spark is what involved the United States the forest fire known as World War II. My paper is not on the war itself, but is on the atomic bomb, and what was known as the Manhattan project. In my report I will talk about the many reasons, the atomic bomb had to be created and used.

U.S. intelligence operatives reported that scientists working for Adolf Hitler were already working on a nuclear weapon.

Einstein sent a letter to the president begging the development of an atomic research program later on in the year. Roosevelt didn’t see as to why or why not they should do that but continued to proceed with the project anyway. In 1941

The Manhattan Project started during World War II in 1940. The war was between the two opposite military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many new weapons were manufactured during this war era. Two of these weapons happen to be “Little Boy” and “Fat Man.” These two weapons are nuclear atomic bombs, and they also ended World War II. The Manhattan Project was responsible in manufacturing these weapons. Therefore, the United States (U.S.) benefited from the Manhattan Project by using its weapons against Japan and dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan’s country which caused great destruction and gave them no choice but to surrender.

During World War II, the Americans fought a two-front war, with pressure from both Japan and Germany. The United States, aware that Germany was threatening to build an atomic weapon, created a secret project to develop the technology first. Under the codename, the Manhattan Project, leading scientists carried out top secret research on fission and the technology needed to create the first atomic bomb. The immediate impact of the Manhattan Project was the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan, ending the war in the Pacific. However, more important influences of this project can be seen following the detonation of the first bombs. The emergence of the United States as a world superpower following World War II, the tensions derived from the

During the war, the US feared that Germany would try to create and use nuclear weapons against them, thus The Manhattan Project was created. A research and development program that successfully made the first nuclear weapons. The first atomic bomb was tested in an isolated area in New Mexico. When the bomb exploded it created a massive mushroom shaped cloud with shock waves that could be felt for miles. In the morning hours of July 16, 1945, It was obvious, for the first time in history, we had possessed a weapon so powerful

Starting in 1942, the United States Army, working with the American Government, created a top secret program named the Manhattan project. In present day 2015 it is still unclear if there was a specific motif that drove to the creation of the bomb. Nevertheless it can be speculated that the attacks on Pearl Harbor are largely attributed its creation. In essence, the Bomb (later named fat boy) had the capabilities to destroy an entire city and was only going to be used when completely necessary. Promptly enough, a conference was held in July of 1945 in Cecilienhof, Germany called the Potsdam Conference. The meeting involved the leaders of “The Three Powers” of USSR, Britain, and The United States who negotiated a “terms and conditions-like”

Through the efforts of the “Manhattan Project” and the scientists within it, several nuclear bombs were created. Two of which, “Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” ended up being dropped on Japan. “Little Boy,” the only uranium bomb created was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 (Batchelder 99-105). “Fat Man,” the second nuclear bomb ever used in warfare, detonated above Nagasaki on August 11, 1945 (Batchelder 95-105). The leaders of the United States, decided that dropping the newly developed atomic bombs on Japan was the smartest action they could take at the time, given the current situation that the United States and the world was in. Dropping the bombs on Japan was mainly motivated by the belief that human lives could be saved. A massive invasion of the Japanese mainland was the only other option if no bombs were going to be dropped. The fact that the Japanese main army of approximately two million had never before been defeated on top of the Japanese terrain which was much better suited for guerrilla warfare than the mechanical ways of the U.S. put estimated American deaths alone well over the deaths at Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined (Batchelder 114-118).

Hirohito announced his country’s unconditional surrender in World War II in a radio address on August 15. Even before the outbreak of war in 1939, a group of American scientists–many of them refugees from fascist regimes in Europe–became concerned with nuclear weapons research being conducted in Nazi Germany. In 1940, the U.S. government began funding