The Effect of the Manhattan Project
Brayden Georgeoff
HIST 232: American Republic: 1877 – Present
April 4, 2018
The Manhattan Project was a program to research and develop the world’s first nuclear weapons during the time of WWII. The project took place in the Manhattan, New York hence the name “Manhattan Project”. The Manhattan had a very important effect on WWII and how the war resulted. Through Japanese defeat, the war would be changed because of two fission bombs.
World War Two was the biggest war in American history and shocked the entire world. The war consisted of two sides, the Allie powers and the Axis powers. The allies believed in democracy and non-communism while the Axis powers supported many support many sinister
…show more content…
Although the bomb was dropped in such a small amount of time, many officials argued if the bomb should be dropped. The two sides of the argument consisted many valid points. One side feared that if we didn’t bomb Japan that the Japanese government would eventually send kamikaze pilots to fly into many major cities of the United States. An article entitled Japan: No Surrender in World War Two gives us information on the fear of people during the bombing plane threats. “The other enduring image is that of the kamikaze pilot, ploughing his plane packed with high explosives into an enemy warship”. The other side argued that dropping the bomb would kill many innocent people and some even doubted that the bomb would work if it was dropped. President Harry S. Truman would soon decide to let the bomb drop on Japan. There were many reason for the decision to drop the bomb. The first reason President Truman made the decision was because of the fear for our own country. He thought that many civilian casualties would take place if we didn’t attack the Japanese first. The second reason on why Truman would decide to use the atomic bomb was on domestic policies. The government spent billions of dollars on the research and wanted to quiet the critics by justifying its cost. The last reason for the drop was to strike fear into many other countries. The thought behind this justification was that the USSR would be feared by the bombs dropped in Japan and not challenge the United States with any attacks. Other countries would think twice about trying to attack the United States.The next decision Truman would face is where he would drop the bombs. The locations selected were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The locations of the bomb dropping were based on population and the manufacturing of war goods for Japans. The first target was Hiroshima. At 8:15 in the morning the first bomb, code name “Little Boy”, was parachuted