Essay On Atomic Race Destruction

Atomic Race to Destruction

In the 1940’s the race for atomic weaponry showed incredible ingenuity and communication abilities between different groups of professionals in a variety of fields (trumans speech). The ability to harness the amount of energy an atomic weapon holds and target it at a specific location is nothing short of miraculous. When it comes to the discovery of nuclear power, it is amazing how powerful it can be. As it’s been said, with great power, comes great responsibility. The dropping of the atom bombs on Japan was not justified in that Japan was nearing surrendering the war before the drop, it was ethically and morally wrong, and the same conclusion could be made with the current standoff with North Korea in that innocent lives would be lost.

I. Atomic Weapons Context

The atomic arms race could be said to be started on December 2, 1942. It began on an “empty playing field under University of Chicago Stadium (pitt.edu)”. It was at this location that the original “controlled nuclear reactor” was created (pitt.edu). It was made by Fermi and Leo Szilard. Who would eventually oppose the use of atomic bombs on Japan.

The United States was not willing to “risk wasting” one of the two bombs that had been made on an area with hardly any people (old.seattletimes). The United States government by the end of the Manhattan Project had spent around two billion dollars (old.seattletimes). Though the dropping of the bombs, or even one, in a less populated area would have had the same effect on Japan’s surrender. It also would have ended in far fewer casualties. Other nations, including the Soviet Union, would have seen the demolished area and known the destruction that even one atomic bomb could bring to a populated area. This would have shown the power that the United States wielded without the morality