Atomic Power

Atomic Power

Atomic power in current days is used as a means of deterrence, an example would be the Cold War. Though it was not at actual war with no direct conflicts the United States and Soviet Union were both massing and stockpiling nuclear weapons. There are two cases of a Nuclear or in this case Atomic bomb being used on another country. If that decision were made today it is almost guaranteed that the country responsible would face a war or worse retaliation with more nuclear weapons.

Albert Einstein did not help directly build the atomic bomb, he was more of the father of the atomic bomb. With his Theory of Relativity he put forth the intriguing point that a large amount of energy could be released from a very small amount of matter. Bombs were not what Einstein had in mind though as he considered himself to be a pacifist. But after Adolf Hitlers rise to power in Germany he no longer fit his position of an absolute pacifist. His greatest role in the building of the atomic bomb was his letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt urging him to build one. Five months before his death he summarized his feelings about his role in the atomic bomb, “I made one great mistake in my life, when I signed the letter to Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made” (1).

Robert Oppenheimer became the director of the laboratory at Los Alamos. This site would be where the Americans developed the Atomic Bomb. He welcomed the chance to support the war effort calling the Manhattan Project “technically sweet”. Almost everyone considered him to be their intellectual superior, they marveled at how he seemed to understand the concept of the project instantly. The scientific panel to the president advised for the sake of international relations that the Soviet Union should be informed of the atomic bomb before it was used on Japan. Nearing the end of his life he displayed mixed feelings on the development and use of the atomic bomb, “I have no remorse about the making of the atomic bomb and Trinity. That was done right. As for ho we used it , I understand why it happened and appreciate with what nobility those men with whom I’d worked made their decision. But I do not have the feeling that it was done right ...our government should have acted with more foresight in telling the world and Japan what the bomb meant”. (2)

Harry Truman gave approval to drop the Bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman staunchly defended the atomic bombings, shortening the war, and saving American lives and even revenge as reasons he gave for using them. He may have used the bombs as a means of retaliation for Japans attack on Pearl Harbor. In defense of using the bombs he mentioned the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the brutality that American Prisoners of War suffered in Japan.

1.Ronald Clark. Einstein: The Life and Times. pg. 752.

2.Lansing Lamont. Day of Trinity, pg. 332-333