This
letter was very interesting to me for a variety of reasons. First of all, it provides a contradiction to
the letter from Philip B. Fleming, which is important if we are to see the two
sides of the beginning of the atomic age.
The atomic age is the aftermath of Hiroshima.
Another
thing about the letter is how it has a surprising amount of ethnocentric
language. The Department is bashing
Russian intelligence and ingenuity, while at the same time claiming that the
United States produces the greatest machines on the world. It is a unique look into the casual disregard
of the ability of the Soviet Union to compete on an international scale.
Another
little thing is that this is a letter that, in its day, would have been nigh
impossible to read (unless you were a high-ranking government official). This gives it a certain amount of intrigue
and feeling of importance. Maybe that’s
just for personal reasons.
Why I Chose
Letter to the President from Philip B.
Fleming concerning peacetime development of Atomic Energy
This letter provides a strict
juxtaposition to the previous letter.
That is the main reason it was chosen as a Primary Source and to my
reasoning it seems to be more logical.
Perhaps if the president had followed General Fleming’s advice, the Cold
War could have been avoided (perhaps not).
The wisdom in trying to placate the Russian bear cannot be denied either
way (unfortunately, our government has long held a policy that force is the
only thing Russia understands).
The main flaw in the logic is
another reason why I chose to use this document as a Primary Source (for the
sake of irony). Fleming believes that it
is only a matter of time until the Soviet Union obtains nuclear secrets and
tells the President that they should give the Soviets our atomic secrets,
making the United States, Great Britain and the USSR the only nations to hold
nuclear secrets. He believes that because
the three largest world powers hold secrets of the atom, the rest of the world
will be held off. Here’s the inherent
flaw: how could we keep nuclear secrets from China, Japan, and Germany forever
when we couldn’t with Russia? If
Fleming’s goals had been realized, history may have recorded a totally
different Cold War.
Fleming’s dismissal of Asia being
able to house a nuclear power suggests a jingoistic stance much like in the
letter from the Dept. of Agriculture.
Why I Chose
[The] White House press release announcing
the bombing of Hiroshima
This was the first document I sought
out and for obvious enough reasons.
Within this press release, one finds the official stance of the White
House (in 1945) on the atomic bomb. The
stance of the Truman Administration is that the bomb was developed out of
necessity, as an “if we hadn’t, someone else would have” type of argument,
making the bomb not something which was developed with the sole intent of
killing vast amounts of people, but an eventuality of American ingenuity.
The document also explained what
exactly had happened to end the war, and began to press upon the public the
tremendous power that had been unleashed.
The carefully chosen language used within sidesteps mentioning the vast
amount of civilians that were killed in the city.
Another function of the letter, and
a reason why I chose it, is it gives a vague future outlook for peacetime use
of atomic energy. This could be used to
compare what was projected with what has actually become of atomic energy.
Why I Chose
Letter from Albert Einstein to FDR
concerning the possibility of nuclear bombs
This
letter from the renowned scientist Albert Einstein to President FDR may be the
reason that the government provided financial backing to likes of Szilard and
Fermi. It suggests that FDR should pull
some strings and make is so that the aforementioned scientists can work away
with some assistance and without worrying about funds. The successful development of a way to
harness atomic energy could (and did) set America up as “the” world
leader. It is essential to include this
letter if we are to understand the phases that the development of the bomb
underwent.
Why I Chose
Leaflets Dropped on Cities
in Japan
This document seems to me
essential. When I first saw that I could
use the actual text (translated anyway) I knew that I had to have it. It is a very factual account of what was to
happen. It states simply that the United
States is in possession of a hell of a bomb, and it may or may not be used on
any given city. To think that someone in
Nagasaki might have read it only hours before the second atomic bomb dropped is
mind-boggling to me.
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