The race to develop the atomic bomb had begun around the 1940's. World War II was still taking place, and its creation would change the game of war forever. Whoever could create it first would have the power to threaten to destroy entire regions and roll over their enemies. The information that was found during research was vital, and worth so much. Spies at the time were playing a very dangerous game because of the seriousness of the information they were giving away. A few were arrested and put in jail for years, one of them being Klaus Fuchs, a Russian spy who was arguably the most damaging during the development of the Atomic Bomb in Britain and the United States.…
The bomb allowed us to “not only to defeat Japan but bully Russia into cooperation”(Stimson 41). It gave us the power to control other nations during the war. If this power fell into hand of any other nations such as Germany, the result could be terrifying. Not letting Germany beat us to having an atomic bomb because it is “vital that [the U.S.] should be the first to bring the atomic bomb to the battlefield” because of how dangerous Germany is. If Germany gained power of the atomic bomb, they could kill more people than the Holocaust already…
The first supporting quote by Szialrd is, “We feel, however, that such an attack on Japan could not be justified in the present circumstances. We believe that the United States ought not to resort to the use of atomic bombs in the present phase of the war, at least not unless the terms which will be imposed upon Japan after the war are publicly announced and subsequently Japan is given an opportunity to surrender” (Szilard, 1945). Szilard believes that it is too early in the war to resort to atomic weaponry. He feels that the use of atomic bombs to end the war will be catastrophic because he feels that the United States have not exhausted all of their options. This will not be the actions of a world leader to bomb Japan before giving them the option to surrender first. In war time there are many alternative methods other than the use of atomic power to destroy cities. Methods like negotiation, coming to an agreement , or peace treaties can be used to prevent enormous numbers of casualties.…
The atomic bomb was the start of greater technology in wars. Many people were trying to make them and get their hands on them, including Hitler. Before the atomic bomb, countries were killing using conventional bombs, which killed people but weren’t as effective. Now, atomic bombs are used a lot in wars and there seems to…
The United States motive for pursuing nuclear proliferation is one of the cornerstones of American history and American foreign policy. The initial interest in building a nuclear weapon was in response to Nazi Germany scientists successfully developing fission in 1939 in Berlin1. After successful experiments by American scientists, and the possibility of uranium being transferable to a bomb, Albert Einstein, through Alexander Sachs delivered a note to President Roosevelt2 . In his letter Einstein outlined that Germany had halted the sale of Uranium outside of Czechoslovakia, clearly signaling that Germany had at least a general understanding of the fact that a series of American scientists had been repeating German fission experiments. This makes it clear that the initial decision for the US to develop nuclear weapons was exclusively within the parameters of the security motive.…
As World War II was coming to an end during 1945, the creation of one of the most destructive weapons known to humanity occurred within the United States. This weapon, known as “the atomic bomb,” was used on the two Japanese cities: Hiroshima and Nagasaki, resulting in a death toll unprecedented by any military weapon used before and an immediate, unconditional surrender. Some historians believe President Truman decided to drop the atomic bomb in order to intimidate the Soviet Union whereas others believe it was a strictly military measure designed to force Japan’s unconditional surrender. In the Report of a Scientific Panel of nuclear physicists, some scientific colleagues believed the atomic bomb was a “purely technical demonstration” to induce surrender. Other scientists believed that the use of the atomic bomb will improve international prospects in that they are more concerned with the prevention of war than with the elimination of this special weapon (Doc G). Thus, the United States dropped the atomic bomb to both force Japan’s unconditional surrender and to intimidate the Soviet Union.…
Many Americans argued that the use of the atomic bomb could cause problems with our allies and enemies. If the bomb got in the wrong hands, people would be at danger. This is similar to how Kim Jong-un is consistently threatening the United States with an atomic bomb attack. One could argue that the use of the atomic bomb was a way for the United States to intimidate the Soviet Union, and show how powerful we are. However, it is clear that the United States bombed Hiroshima, to make them…
If some other country was to obtain these weapons and we had none, we would be at their mercy. There are a lot of maniacs out there who have the ability to rise to power and gain support, just like Hitler, Stalin, or Mussolini did. Once these kinds of leaders gain power, they can obtain nuclear weapons. Even though none of them did, they had the power to, and the only reason they didn’t is because they didn’t live in the nuclear age. However, we were still watching these leaders to make sure they weren’t making weapons of mass destruction. This proved to be a waste of time because they never did, but even while we were watching them, Hitler was still able to create more innovative and useful weapons that he…
The dropping of the atomic bomb was a risky decision that had two very different outcomes. This relates back to when America had the decision during World War 1 to take control of foreign countries, but did not know how they would react. Many people often argue that the dropping of the atomic bomb led to the cold war because America’s atomic monopoly might have gave them an advantage with the soviets. By America taking a risk in dropping the atomic bomb they defeat their enemy, won the war quickly, and saved…
Harry Truman had said, “It seems to be the most terrible thing ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.” The atomic bomb was a weapon for destruction but also for peace. Truman had a conflict between invading Japan or to drop the atomic bomb; which then led to the saving of countless lives and the end of World War II. This paper addresses the background of the atomic bomb, the options America had, and why it was necessary.…
Because of the wartime production boom of the 1940s, many scientific achievements and milestones were reached. Such advancements gave Americans a new range of convenient devices as well as new worries. During World War II, the U.S. monopolized nuclear weapons until 1949 when the U.S.S.R. developed their own devastating atomic weapons. As Nobel Prize- winning chemist Harold C. Urey put it, “There is only one thing worse than one nation having the atomic bomb; That’s two nations having it (Kagan 78).” However, to compete with Russia in the field of nuclear weapons, the U.S. created and detonated…
The U.S. government feared that the Soviet spies might get their hands on the secret information. However, it was only a matter of time that the Soviet Union would “somehow” develop its own atomic bomb… Eventually on August 29th 1949, news was reported that the Soviets have successfully tested an atomic bomb in Kazakhstan. Americans were shocked, furious, and frightened. “When news came that the Soviets tested a bomb, years before it was expected, there were indeed many demagogic calls, in the media and on the stump, to find and severely punish, even execute, the thieves, the traitors” (Cohen 49). The American people did not stop to think once that the Soviet Union could have created the atomic bomb with their own power and technology. Most people just assumed that it was done through a work of spies that sold the secret information for money. Therefore, the government did not waste any time to find the person who was responsible for passing information about the atomic bomb. The growing fear of communism eventually reached its peak and the government was started taking actions to prevent any acts of…
The creation of the bomb was actually started before the war- early 1941, because the president and his generals were wary of Hitler’s movements in Germany- however; it did not proceed with much intensity until December 1941 when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred, which caused the USA to enter into the war. Named “The Manhattan Project”, it was led by J. Robert Oppenheimer, an accomplished physicist, and it united scientists from all over the world, not just Americans. The scientist were working on producing Nuclear Fission, which is spiting atoms to create a chain reaction that produces enormous amounts of heat; therefore rendering it very explosive if combined with the right materials, and hoping to keep their advancements secret, since the main facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico was practically swarming with foreign spies. In fact, nearly every country had a “Manhattan” equivalent- engineers working franticly to be the first to harness the destructive power of the atom. And, on July 16th 1945 at 5:29am, the USA won. At Trinity Test Site, somewhere deep in New Mexico, the world’s first atomic bomb exploded, unleashing a destructive power that was more intense than a raid by 2,000 B-52s( bomber planes). History had been made, and with that explosion, the realization hit people that one man could, in effect, control the whole world, a realization that partially contributed to the Cold War , a state of general distrust and fear(although no actual battles where fought)between the Soviets and the Americans…
Second, It was believed that Nuclear weapons are the symbol of power.Many big countries like China, The United States or Russia. They all have them.And that's going to make other small countries want to have them. So they try every way to make nuclear weapons even, they have to lose a lot of money.…
As a citizen from the U.S.A., I believe that we should not drop the bomb in Japan.The use of the bomb without warning is contrary to the position of the United States as a great humanitarian nation, especially since Japan seems close to surrender.More than 60 of its cities have been destroyed by conventional bombing, the home islands are being blockaded by the American Navy, and the Soviet Union entered the war by attacking Japanese troops in Manchuria. Even general Dwight Eisenhower said that the Japanese are soon to be surrender. A surprise use of the bomb would damage the respect that we have built up in the world community. It is morally wrong and will set a bad precedent in the future. Because such a weapon could lead to a proliferation of similar weapons that would threaten future generations. To use it now would be an international crime.The whole world will just become a nuclear world. We just ended a war with the most infamous Germans to fight for what we believed . If we drop the bomb, isn't it against our beliefs? Remember how France and Britain made the unfair treaty with Germans? A treaty that they believed would end all wars. However as history shows us , this is certainly not true because years later, the Germans rose again and this time brought a bigger war than the previous Great War. This is will certainly alarm us, because what if the Japanese follow in German footsteps and make a bigger war in the future? Not only that, but by dropping the bomb it also means that we see the Japanese as savages instead of humans. The Japanese are already defeated and ready to surrender. If the U.S.A. becomes the first to use this weapon, then we will have adopted the ethical standard of barbarians. Atomic weapons are similar to poison gas – both are barbaric.The U.S.A. should not shock the world with such a weapon.…