Essay: How did the plan to create a nuclear weapon happen?

In early 1939, the world’s scientific community found out that German physicists had discovered how to split a Uranium atom. This event happened during the time in which World War 2 was taking place. Many people were afraid that the Germans would create a weapon capable of complete destruction. Albert Einstein, a scientist who had escaped from Germany, wrote President Roosevelt a letter regarding this concern. The President did not take it seriously at first, but he slowly agreed to proceed with an atomic research plan, in order to protect the U.S. In 1941, America’s plan to create an atomic bomb, was code named “The Manhattan Project.” The project’s base was in Los Alamos, New Mexico. It was such a secret operation, that not even Vice-President Truman knew about it, until he had to take President Roosevelt’s place, upon his death. The atomic bomb’s creation began as a product of a technological race against Germany; the U.S. had to build a successful atomic bomb before the Germans did. At the beginning of the project, Roosevelt and his chief aides had no idea that they would be creating a weapon to end the war.
If nuclear weapons were created by countries other than the United States and Great Britain, the two allied countries stated above would be in danger. Additionally, other countries’ creation of the atomic weapons through heavy hydrogen, which is unlimited, would endanger the United States and Great Britain even more. The bomb would have been created by another power-hungry nation in the mid-twentieth century, had World War 2 not taken place. The United States would not have bothered to create the bomb due to all the difficulties and costs, and the small chance of success.(7) The nation that would’ve created it, would have taken over the world immediately. There is no doubt that the atomic weapon would have been used against Germany, had it been ready much sooner. Around the end of the war, after Germany surrendered, the bomb’s target shifted to Japan. In a secret memorandum in September of 1944, at Hyde Park, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill formalized the shift from Germany to Japan. (3) When they met, they did not suggest that they were a hundred-percent sure it would be used against Japan, if they decided after mature consideration, perhaps it would be used against the Japanese.
Even though the atomic bomb was being created during this time, it was not always the first choice in order to make Japan surrender. The bomb was originally created as a cautionary device. Before deciding on using the nuclear bomb, the United States had three options in order to make Japan surrender. (2) The first option was beating down the Japanese until they could no longer fight, by enlarging attacks on Japanese forces wherever they could be reached- air, land, or sea. The second option was inducement. Inducement would mean forcing the Japanese to agree into submission before they were crushed, if the Soviet Union (when they were informed of the plans), informed Japan how they would be regarded after the defeat. Maybe they would even surrender if they were promised tolerable treatment post-war, meaning that they would be allowed to determine their own future. The third and last option- the most secret way, was through shock. The Japanese might be surprised into surrender when they found out that refusal to surrender would lead them to a complete destruction. (2) Japan’s enemies had an invincible new weapon on the way. The ideas of heads of military organizations like Joint Chiefs of Staff and Top Commanders of the Forces were centered on strategic plans for advancement. The atomic bomb seemed like the most logical and the smartest way to go.
In mid-July of 1945, President Truman was notified about the atomic bomb’s- which he called “the most terrible bomb in history” successful test. (4) As a president’s duty, Harry Truman had to decide for sure whether or not to use the bomb in order to “end” the war. He had 4 options on how to use the bomb- if the United States would use it. Continue the conventional bombing of Japanese home islands, invade Japan, demonstrate the bomb on an unpopulated island, or drop the bomb on an inhabited Japanese City. “Truman and his advisors concluded that only bombing a populated city would make a sufficient impression,” (4).  Any advance warning to evacuate a city would endanger the bomber crews, so Japan would only be asked if they were willing to surrender without conditions, before the attack. On September 30, 1944 on a top secret Memorandum from the Office of Scientific Research and Development, to the Secretary of War coming from V. Bush and J.B. Conant, it said that, “This demonstration of power could be used over enemy territory, or in our own country with subsequent notice to Japan that the materials would be used against Japanese mainland unless surrender was forthcoming.” (1)  This refers to the atomic bomb, and how it would be used. The two scientists were saying that the bombs would be tested visibly in order to show Japan that there would be consequences, and that the United States would not hesitate to use the nuclear weapons in order for them to surrender. The cities to be targeted were chosen carefully. It had to be a city that had suffered little damage from conventional bombing- that way it would be clear the damage came from an atomic bomb. It also had to be a city that was fundamentally devoted to military production. Most importantly, Truman emphasized it should not be a city with traditional cultural significance to Japan, like Kyoto. Truman did not want to destroy Japanese culture in any way; the goal was to destroy Japan’s ability to make war.
Many people believe that the bomb was not dropped with a purpose to make the Japanese surrender,  but to keep the Soviet Union out of Manchuria, and to impress them with the power that the United States now had. People also say that the United States used the bomb to gain political advantage. Responsible officials believed that its impact on diplomacy had to wait for its development, and even for a demonstration of its power. (5) Revisionist accounts of the decision recognize that dropping the bomb was based on both immediate military reasoning regarding Japan, and possible diplomatic advantage concerning the Soviet Union. These two considerations reinforced Truman and his advisors’ inclination to drop the bomb. (5) When joined together, their effect was even more pressuring into the decision. Many responsible officials saw the atomic bomb as a way to control post-war diplomacy. According to Martin J. Sherwin: “The  critics asked the wrong question: it was not whether surrender could have been obtained without using the bomb, but whether a different diplomatic and military course from that followed by the Truman administration would have achieved an earlier surrender.”(6) He also said that the basic assumption of these critics was false. The idea people had that the Americans’ policy should have been based principally on a desire not to use the bomb, seemed as reckless as a policy controlled by a positive desire to use it. Stimson argued that the the primary focus of his attention had been the war, and not the bomb. The part of the Revisionist Accounts that says the bomb was a diplomatic advantage against the Soviet Union, can be argued.
In a memorandum, a written message of diplomacy, from George L. Harrison to Secretary of war on June 26th, 1945, he tries to to say that the Russians should be informed of the bomb before the U.S. tries to do anything with it. That is, if they ever want the Russians to cooperate in the setup of future international controls, which would be created through atomic bomb. At first, the officers and President Truman did not want to tell the Soviet Union until it was necessary, and until the atomic bomb’s tests succeeded. They did not want to show themselves as vulnerable or weak in the eyes of  the Soviet Union. The United States waited until the last minute to expose their planned attacks to Joseph Stalin. On July 24, 1945, Truman told Stalin about the U.S.’ plan to make the Japanese surrender. (1) Stalin was not amused, and many people believed that he had not understood what Truman said, but he did.  Zhukov, a Red Army Officer, pointed out that Stalin took Molotov, a Soviet politician, aside the evening of Truman’s casual conversation, and told him that they needed to discuss the acceleration of their work with their nuclear physicist. (1) Stalin not only knew about the bomb, he was building his own. Truman accelerated the Soviet’s creation of the bomb. American leaders later learned that a Soviet spy named Klaus Fuchs had snuck into the scientists’ inner circle, and that is how Stalin found out about the bomb’s progress. The Soviet bomb being built never lead to anything, and did not interfere with anything during World War 2. On August 6, 1945, the American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped its first bomb on Hiroshima. (4) Before dropping the bomb, the Allies demanded an unconditional surrender to Japan’s leadership, but it was refused. Even though the demand made it clear that their refusal would result in a complete destruction, there was no mention of any new weapons of mass destruction- the atomic bomb. Two days later, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and on August 9, the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Eighty-thousand Japanese citizens died. The Japanese officially surrendered on August 14, 1945.Truman stated that his decision to drop the bomb was purely military. He believed that the bombs saved Japanese lives as well. Letting the war last for longer was not an option for him. (8)
According to General Leslie R. Groves, there are five reasons why the Manhattan Project was successful: (7) The projects’ creators had a clearly defined and specific objective. Each part of the project had a specific task and the sum of their parts resulted in the accomplishment of the overall mission. There was positive and unquestioned direction of the project at all levels. Also, the project made maximum use of already existing facilities, agencies, and services including governmental, industrial, and academic. The project was completely backed up by the government and it had complete potential of American science, industry, and engineering. Most importantly, it had workers full of determination.
The plan to create a nuclear weapon all began because of a concern that another country would create it first, and take over the world. During the time that Albert Einstein warned the U.S. government about the bomb, the U.S. had not joined the war yet, so they were not trying to make anyone surrender. The bomb’s creation started out with the purpose of owning and creating a weapon before any other country, but not to use it. After the United States joined the war, when Japan showed them they were not going to give up easily, the U.S. began to change its opinion on whether they should just have the weapon as a display when it was done, or if they should make use of it in order to protect the United States and the Allied powers during the war. The United States’ purpose for bombing Japan, changed over time. Both points of view are correct, except for the fact that they each had their own period in which they were correct. The United States did want to show themselves as invincible while using the bomb, but right before the war was over, they did need a way to win the war, and to make Japan surrender- which they were proving was not going to happen any time soon, over a small attack, as well. The United States may have had different motives in order to drop the atomic weapons in Japan, but the bottom line is that they ended the second World War, and showed other countries that they were not going to be messed around with. Whether they wanted to drop the bomb as a show of power, or as a defeat, they accomplished both.