Since the start of World War II, America had been in a race with Germany and the Soviet Union to build the first atomic bomb. On August 2nd 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt promoting the study and invention of an atomic bomb, and, in 1941, Roosevelt initiated the Atomic Bomb Project in hopes to win the nuclear race which would give the United States more leverage against non-allies. Also known as the "Groves Project," due to the fact that General Leslie Groves was the project leader; or the more popular name, the "Manhattan Project," it was decided to keep efforts in making the bomb a secret from most cabinet members, all of the United States Congre

The atomic bomb was ultimately used against Japan, but it was built as a response to a German threat. In late 1938, German scientists discovered how to split the uranium atom, releasing nuclear energy. When physicists in the United States learned of this discovery, many feared that Hitler might acquire a frightening new weapon: an atomic bomb. Refugees from the Nazis, most notably the Hungarian physicists Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner, feared this possibility so much that they began the search for a way to warn Western governments.

" 'I have often been asked,' Otto Frisch wrote many years afterward of the moment he understood that a bomb might be possible after all, before he and Peierls carried the news to Mark Oliphant, 'why I didn't abandon the project there and then, saying nothing to anybody. Why start on a project which, if it was successful, would end with the production of a weapon of unparalleled violence, a weapon of mass destruction such as the world had never seen? The answer was very simple. We were at war, and the idea was reasonably obvious; very probably some German scientists had had the same idea and were working on it.'" (Rhodes 325). The action of dropping the atomic bomb was morally justifiable, and under no circumstances can we question the intentional death of hundreds of thousands of people, who, in fact, were our enemy.

It was generally phrased by Americans that the atomic bomb was needed to "impress the world," especially the Soviets. Once the bomb had been developed, the United States no longer needed Soviet support in the war against Japan, so America used the bomb as a power-play against the USSR with intentions of intimidation. The Soviet Union had already gained European land through secret agreements at the Yalta Conference held from February 4, until February 11, 1945. Attendees of the meeting, the Big Three leaders, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin intended to discuss what the war policy would be after the surrender of the Germans. They completed the plans for the four-power military occupation of Germany. In addition to discussion of German surrender, President Roosevelt obtained a promise from Stalin to enter the war against Japan ninety days after the surrender of Germany in return for United States support of Soviet acquisition of territories lost in the Russo-Japanese; as well as Soviet war dominance on Outer Mongolia and Manchuria. The Soviets also received eastern Poland, the southern half of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. Both Britain and the Untied States were criticized as being excessively generous to the USSR, but the concessions were made at a time when Eastern conflict was expected to continue many months after Germany's defeat, and the United States still needed Soviet, allied support. This was also done to keep the Soviet Union happy and trustful ("Decision"), because the United States "did not want to create a nuclear arms race" (Rhodes 527-528), with the Soviets. Just because the Soviets did not actually have the actually weapon in their hands, they had limited information and could get jealous and start their own project for building an atomic bomb. Also, "If the Russians did not trust us in time of war when we were their allies and when we were standing by their side protecting their homeland as they were under invasion, what reason do we have to believe that they would be our friends in time of peace when they were in no particular danger?" ("Decision"). "The technology of war was already being hailed as the symbol of peace, and it was becoming increasingly clear that instead of promoting American postwar aims, wartime atomic energy policies had made them more difficult to achieve" (Sherwin 238). A second conference, the Potsdam Conference was held from July 17, until August 2, 1945, to converse about postwar procedures. Truman, Roosevelt's successor, Churchill and Stalin agreed upon German disarmament, de-Nazification, and demilit

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Approximate Word count = 2961
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)