The Manhattan Project

• 1939 Albert Einstein writes FDR about “extremely powerful bombs of a new type”

• Scientists, researchers, & military personal work on the top secret project all across America, UK, Canada

• 1st bomb tested in New Mexico where the blast could be seen 180 miles away!

The Manhattan Project

• Spent over $2 Billion!• Kept secret even from Vice

President Truman• Researchers feared that

their German counterparts were much closer to developing a bomb

• US worked with British scientists but kept quiet about the project with their Russian Allies

President Roosevelt’s Death

• President Roosevelt didn’t live to see the end of the War in Europe or the Pacific

• On April 12, 1945 Roosevelt had a stroke that took his life

• Vice President Truman was sworn in as the 33rd President

• President Truman was a World War I veteran

4

APRIL 12TH 1945, VICE PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN TAKES THE OATH TO BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE

UNITED STATES

TO SAVE LIVES AND END THE WAR QUICKLY PRESIDENT

TRUMAN GAVE THE ORDER TO

USE THE ATOMIC BOMB ON JAPAN

Considerations

• Unconditional Surrender! • Save American lives• Advantage over Soviets in

shaping the postwar world

• Costs involved• Quick End to the War in

the Pacific

Voices of Opposition

• Scientists petition President Truman

• Some Allied Commanders felt Japan was ready to surrender

• Invasion was planned and staging area prepared

• Must give some warning to Japan

MODEL OF “LITTLE BOY” ATOMIC BOMB

THE CREW OF THE ENOLA GAY, PLANE THAT DROPPED THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB

ON JAPAN

ENOLA GAY, PLANE THAT DROPPED THE BOMB

THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB WAS DROPPED

ON THE CITY OF HIROSHIMA

AUGUST 6TH, 1945, 70,000 KILLED AND EVEN MORE

WOUNDED

Hiroshima April 1945before bomb dropped

Hiroshima August 11, 19455 days after bomb dropped

A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki

and the Japanese surrendered

AUGUST 9TH, 1945

40,000 KILLED

FOREIGN MINISTER SHIGEMITSU SIGNS JAPANESE SURRENDER DOCUMENT

The Devastation

• Near the blast sites were guaranteed death and destruction

• Atomic Bombs were so destructive that they could not be considered a strategic weapon.

• Destroyed military and civilian livelihood

"The Most Terrible Weapon Ever Known in Human History"

President Truman

Casualties

• Between Nagasaki and Hiroshima over 200,000 - 350,000 people died from injuries and radiation poisoning

• Estimated that the atomic bomb saved lives for both Japan and US from a bloody invasion

• Estimated number of deaths if United States attacked mainland Japan…over 1 million

V-J Day September 2, 1945“Victory in Japan”

“today the guns are silent”

24

HIDEKI TOJO, FORMER JAPANESE PREMIER AND WAR MINISTER, TAKES

THE STAND DURING THE JAPANESE WAR CRIMES TRIALS. HE WAS FOUND GUILTY

OF WAR CRIMES AND HANGED.

VJ DAY, AUGUST 14, 1945 WORLD WAR II ENDS