Decision To Fund The Atomic Bomb :: essays research papers

"No man-make phenomenon of such tremendous power had perpetually occurred before. The lighting effects beggareddescription. The whole country was lighted by a searing lightwith the intensity many times greater than that of the middaysun. It was golden, purple, violet, gray, and blue..."( Groueff355). The words of brigadier general General Thomas F. Farrelldescribe the onset of the atomic age, which began on July16, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This was the site ofthe first large-scale atomic test, which utilized the tool of ravaging that would soon decimate the populations ofHiroshima and Nagasaki less than a month afterwards. Thistest consummated the years spent developing the bomb, andwas the end result of the efforts of nuclear scientists whoconstructed it, and those of President Franklin DelanoRoosevelt, who made the decision to fund the so-calledManhattan Project.In a letter dated August 2nd, 1939, Albert Einstein firstinformed President Roosevelt of the research th at had beendone by Enrico Fermi and social lion Szilard with unstableUranium which could generate large amounts of power andenergy (Einstein1 PSF Safe Files). Einstein also includedanother possible determination for the uranium- the construction ofextremely powerful bombs, which were capable ofdestroying a seaport and the surrounding territory. Thisinformation may have come precisely at the right time, for inOctober of 1938 Roosevelt asked Congress for a $300million military appropriation, and in November instructedthe Army Air Corps to plan for an annual production oftwenty thousand planes. Later, in 1939, Roosevelt called foractions against "aggressor nations," and in the same yearsubmitted to Congress a $1.3 billion defense budget (Boyer861). In an accompanying memorandum that was sent withthe Einstein letter, scientist Leo Szilard explained thetechnical science of nuclear fission and stressing theimportance of chain reactions (Walls 1 PFS Safe Files).Both documents, th e Einstein letter and the Szilardmemorandum, were to be delivered by Alexander Sachs, an consultant to Roosevelts New Deal since 1933 who wouldknow how to approach Roosevelt and the government(Lanouette 200). It was not until mid-October 1939 thatSachs wangled an invitation to get in to see the Presidentover breakfast (Burns 250). Though Roosevelt nominate thedocuments interesting, he seemed hesitant about committinggovernment funds to such speculative research. But afterSachs reminded him of Napoleons skepticism of RobertFultons idea of a steamship, Roosevelt agreed to proceed.Regarding the steamship issue, Sachs went on to comment,"This is an example of how England was saved by theshortsightedness of an adversary," this insight madeRoosevelt greatly consider the creation of the bomb.President Roosevelt authorized a study, but the decision to