Letter To Leslie Groves For Dropping Of The Atomic Bomb

June 7 2023
Dear Future Reader,

At the time I thought I had made the right choice. I wanted to help the Jews. I wanted to stop Hitler. As a scientist, this was the only way that I knew how to help.
When I first attended a meeting of the Uranium committee I knew that I’d found my role in what was going to become a global showdown “I spent some time in preliminary calculations about the construction and performance of atomic bombs, and became increasingly excited about the prospects” (Sheinkin 31). Then when the leader for the project was being chosen, I wanted the job. It took a lot of effort but I knew I was right for the job and so did Leslie Groves, the man in charge of the atomic bomb project. So after I finally got security clearance,

My first words after seeing that the bomb tested were, “It worked” (Sheinkin 183) but after seeing what the bomb had done to Hiroshima I couldn’t believe I had been responsible for destroying so many innocent lives. I didn’t even know how absolutely terrible it was. I realized that the bomb I had created could be the end of the world. I, “Oppenheimer thought of a line from the ancient Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad-Gita, a dramatic moment in which the god Vishnu declares: ‘Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds’”(Sheinkin 185). My view was that this bomb was something so powerful that it could destroy the world, and because I had built it, I was the destroyer. I wasn’t the only one with this feeling, a feeling of pride but also

The hydrogen bomb. It was likely possible that this could be created; nevertheless, I did not find it morally right to support the creation of this bomb. I wrote on behalf of other scientists at the meeting, “We believed a super bomb should never be produced” (Sheinkin 231). Truman still did not agree, he wanted the bomb to be built because he could not see any other way of winning the Cold War. As I continued to speak out against the new H bomb, I continued to be criticized by the government. Eventually I was put on an unfair trial and I was robbed of my security clearance. It broke my heart. I still loved America and I didn’t want to leave, but I did not love what I had done with my life. I continued to work but I also had to live with regret for the rest of my life. I advise you not to go down the same path I did. Do what you love but think if the consequences are worth the reward. And always stand up for what you believe