Whether to Build Einstein sends letter to FDR, 1939 Manhattan Project, under direction J. Robert Oppenheimer born; included Fermi, Bohr 100,000 workers.

Whether to Build• Einstein sends letter to

FDR, 1939• Manhattan Project,

under direction J. Robert Oppenheimer born; included Fermi, Bohr

• 100,000 workers in facilities in Hanford WA, Oak Ridge TN, Alamagordo NM

• Successful test: July 16, 1945

• The fireball was so bright, a blind girl in a car several miles away saw the flash.

• The mushroom cloud rose 8 miles into sky; scientists 7 miles away were knocked down by the force, and it shattered windows 125 miles away.

• The blast left 1200 foot wide crater

Whether to Drop

• Would shorten the war• Would save the lives of

thousands of American soldiers who were predicted to die in an invasion of Japan

• Would save the lives of millions of Japanese who would die in the event of an invasion of Japan

• Warning message to the Soviet Union

• Would kill tens of thousands of civilians

• Unknown effects• Releases the atomic

bomb genie• The Japanese were

already defeated, and the bomb was literally “overkill”

Whether to Drop

• Truman is informed of Manhattan Project upon FDR’s death.

• Informed of successful test at Potsdam, June 1945.

• August 6th, the Enola Gay drops “Little Boy” on Hiroshima at 1900 feet above city. 100,000 Deaths

• August 9, “Fat Man” dropped on Nagasaki. 70,000 deaths

• USSR invaded Manchuria the same day; Japan surrendered 5 days later.

• People at center of explosion vaporized (temp of 100 Million degrees), more die of fatal burns and months later of radiation poisoning

Truman

“We have used it against those who attacked without warning at Pearl Harbor,

against those who have abandoned the pretense of obeying international laws of warfare. We have used it to shorten the agony of war, in order to save the lives of

thousands and thousands of young Americans.”

Whether Truman Made the Right Decision

• After WWII, Oppenheimer became active in the failed effort to put all nuclear weapons and power under the direction of the United Nations.

• Einstein, a pacifist, regretted ever sending FDR the original letter.

• Today 8 countries are considered in the Nuclear Club: US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea. Israel is thought to have capability. South Africa did but dismantled its arsenal. Iran is currently in process.