The Manhattan Project “Since Auschwitz, we know what man is capable of. And since Hiroshima, we know what is at stake,” ("Viktor E. Frankl Quotes." BrainyQuote.com). These words, uttered by Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl, encapsulate what many people began to contemplate once the United States became the first and only country to drop an atomic bomb on another foreign nation. The decision to drop the bomb was nothing less than strenuous, and took an immense amount of resources to conduct atomic experiments. The origin of American utilization of the atomic bomb began when members of the scientific community were gathered to form the Manhattan Project, a powerful classified government operation that was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. The Manhattan Project’s research proved that America had the industrial capability to organize and implement a large scale top secret government program, and a definite lead in the nuclear arms race. …show more content…
Initially, the intentions of the Manhattan Project were unanimously justifiable, as the United States had fallen behind dramatically in the research and development of atomic fission (“Nuclear Weapons” Environmental Encyclopedia). In 1939, three German scientists were the first to successfully split an uranium atom (“Manhattan Project” Gale Student Resource in Context). Although they were not relatively close at all to producing any atomic weapons, the Nazi’s had a head start over the rest of the world in welding the most deadly weapon of the century. Consequently, and perhaps out of fear, Dr. Albert Einstein informed President Roosevelt of the German progress. Einstein was accompanied by Leo Szilard, another Italian physicist, and