Since the advent of atomic energy in 1938 with the initial splitting of the atom in Berlin, debates have raged across all levels of society about the use - or misuse - of the atomic bomb to end World War II. The United States began an urgent investigation of this phenomenon in 1941 by order of President Franklin Roosevelt after prodding from a desperate Britain, besieged by German aerial attacks. With the assumption that the atomic bomb would be utilized against German forces to bring an explicit end to the war, the U.S. and Britain funded the Manhattan Project, a research and development operation designed to weaponize atomic energy. This process was hastened by rumors of similar efforts being undertaken by German scientists and by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, which caused an eruption of American nationalism, bitter resentment towards …show more content…
island-hopping campaign advanced through the Pacific region, the war-weary American population sought a means of ending the war promptly without suffering further casualties. Accordingly, President Truman avidly pursued development of the atomic bomb, which came to fruition on July 16, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, with the world’s first successfully detonated atomic bomb. Immediately following this breakthrough, Truman convened with Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (and his successor, Clement Attlee) at the Potsdam Conference, with his “master card” secured. This meeting resulted in the drafting of the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, which demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan under threat of “prompt and utter destruction.” When Japan disregarded the document and remained unfazed under aerial firebombing attacks, Truman authorized the Enola Gay to drop the atomic bomb Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima, forever changing the face of warfare and immortalizing the date August 6, 1945 in the hearts and minds of not only Japanese citizens, but the rest of the