The Manhattan Project: Dropping The Atomic Bomb

The Manhattan Project started in 1942 was a secret government program used to make atomic bombs (“Manhattan Project”). Leading physicists, including Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, and Leó Szilárd thought that it would be in the U.S.’s best interest to work on this technology (Manhattan Project). Because intelligence led to the conclusion that Germany had begun making their own atomic weapons (“Nagasaki and Hiroshima”). Roosevelt took their advice, and the exploratory committee developed into the Manhattan Project, a top-secret government effort that funneled $2 billion into building an atomic weapon (“Nagasaki and Hiroshima”). The project was managed by Brigadier General Leslie Richard Groves (Manhattan Project). He made it so that throughout the project people only had a small amount of

By the end of the war soviet spies had gathered enough information to make their own bombs (“Manhattan Project”). Germany was the first intended target, but with their surrender on May 8th Japan was seen was the second biggest threat (“Nagasaki and Hiroshima”). After the Japan ignored the Potsdam Declaration, which was the last warning given to Japan before the U.S. would drop the atomic bomb (“The United States Drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki”). The bomb was authorized by Truman in early August. The targets were selected Hiroshima because it was the only city without a POW camp and it was a major industrial center (“Hiroshima and Nagasaki”). Colonel Paul Tibbets piloted his aircraft, the Enola Gay. Once over the city, Tibbets’ crew dropped an atomic bomb (“The United States Drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki”). It was a little after 8am and in a blinding flash half the city was destroyed with over eighty thousand people killed instantly (“The United States Drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and