In 1939 Albert Einstein sent a letter to US President Franklin Roosevelt proposing the creation of a nuclear bomb.

Roosevelt agreed and the highly secretive government project to build a nuclear bomb became known as the Manhattan Project. The project required the utmost secrecy from the government and the employees involved as any leak of information could be dangerous to the project and international relations (http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/timeline/manhattan.html). The secrecy of the Manhattan Project was of such priority to the government that it built three facilities in three different places where it could be worked on. The main site was Los Alamos, New Mexico. The facility was not on any map, had no post office, and no publicity. It was at this main location the General Leslie Groves oversaw the project and scientists who worked on the development of the weapons (http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/technical/factsheets/secrecy.html). The other sites were located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. These two towns were founded by the government in the 1940s for the Manhattan Project. The people living in the rural areas where these towns were created were forced to leave and find a new place to live. Even with this dislocation of people the government was able maintain the secrecy of the project (http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/technical/factsheets/secrecy.html). To maintain secrecy General Groves instituted a policy of militarized bureaucracy. This when the government restricts access to information, censors documents, and develops a secret language. Groves also enacted a policy of compartmentalization. Compartmentalization is when the information from different aspects of the project is separated so you only know the information about the part you are working on and nothing else. General Groves said, The compartmentalization of knowledge, to me, was the very heart of security. My rule was simple and not capable of misinterpretation - each man should know everything he needed to know and do his job and nothing else (http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org/technical/factsheets/secrecy.html)." Espionage was also a huge concern of General Groves and the US government. However the greatest threat of espionage was not from US enemies but its ally the Soviet Union (http://www.atomicheritage.org/index.php/component/content/31.html?task=view). The most famous case of espionage involving the Manhattan Project was that of Julius and Ethel

Rosenberg. In 1949 the FBI was alerted that the detailed construction of the nuclear bomb was stolen and sold to the Soviet Union. The investigation turned up several suspects all of whom confessed that they were working under the direction of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. One of the main men involved was David Greenglass an enlisted man in the US Army. Greenglass enlisted in the Army at the direction of the Soviet Union where he was a spy assigned to the Los Alamos plant in New Mexico. Julius and Ethel were arrested, tried, and executed on charges of espionage for selling US secrets to the Soviets (http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famouscases/the-atom-spy-case). On August 6, 1945 the atomic bomb nicknamed Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. This was the first atomic bomb ever dropped. Over 60% of Hiroshima was leveled and 70,000 people died immediately. Three days later Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. Both bombs were dropped under the direction of US President Harry Truman (http://www.trumanlibrary.org/teacher/abomb.htm). The bombing was a good idea because they bombed us first at Pearl Harbor, it was the fastest end to the war, and the atomic bombs would cripple any chance of retaliation. Truman dropped the Little Boy and Fat Man on the Japanese in retaliation for Pearl Harbor. In a press release from Truman on August 6, 1945 he said, The Japanese began the war from the air at Pearl Harbor. They have been repaid many fold. And the end is not yet (http://americanhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/presshiroshima.htm). Sending a message and punishing the Japanese was needed so Truman used the atomic bomb. Its results were horrendous and cause mass casualties (http://www.trumanlibrary.org/teacher/abomb.htm). The atomic bomb was the ultimate pay back. Another reason to drop Little Boy and Fat Man is because they would be the fastest end to the war. The other alternatives to the atomic bomb were an invasion of Japan in November 1945, a Soviet invasion, a peace talk etc. In his autobiography Truman estimated that an invasion of Japan could cost the military up to 500,000 lives. If Okinawa was any indication it showed that the Japanese would not go down without a fight, and an invasion could be very time consuming and financially costly (http://www.umich.edu/~historyj/pages_folder/articles/Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki.pdf). The Soviets had an invasion planned for later in 1945. The US also called for an unconditional surrender at the Potsdam Conference threatening complete destruction and utter devastation of

the Japanese home land (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/modernhist/atomicbomb.html). These threats were not taken seriously. The other alternatives the atomic bomb also appeared to prolong the war. By not dropping the atomic bomb it would have shown the Manhattan Project to be a complete waste of time, money, and resources (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/japan/japanworkbook/modernhist/atomicbomb.html). Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan because it was the only sure way to prevent them from retaliation. The atomic would without doubt cripple Japan and its infrastructure. Harry Truman said, We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city (http://americanhistory.about.com/od/worldwarii/a/presshiroshima.htm). Truman was clearly very serious and not fooling around because he did not want to risk retaliation or another Pearl Harbor. The United States is the largest nuclear power in the world. It is closely followed by the United Kingdom, Russia, North Korea, and China (in no particular order). Iran has been stepping up its enrichment of uranium. Many believe this is an effort to develop a nuclear weapon sometime in the near future (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/world/03/nuclear_powers/html/iran.stm). States has 6,390 nuclear weapons ready for action and 10,640 stockpiled away (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/world/03/nuclear_powers/html/us.stm). Nuclear weapons are a hot button issue. One of the governments fears is that if Iran develops a nuclear missile it may end up in the wrong hands or it could be used against our allies in Israel. On January 11 of this year one of Irans top nuclear scientists was killed in a car bombing in Tehran. He is the fourth Iranian nuclear scientist to be killed in the last two year. The US and Israel were immediately blamed by the Iranian government for the killing. The US has denied any involvement in the killing (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iranian-scientist-killed-intehran-bomb-attack/2012/01/11/gIQAT1V7pP_story.html). The United States is stable the nuclear world however our enemies in Iran and North Korea are to fear. President Obama has been working to make sure nuclear weapons do not end up in the wrong hands however a recent study shows some countries have no idea how to protect their weapons. Overall the nuclear world is unstable because some countries do not protect their weapons and often use them to The United

threat other countries. One wrong step could prove very dangerous (http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0112/North-Korea-ranks-last-fornuclear-weapons-security). The future of nuclear looks grim. Countries like Iran appear to be developing their nuclear programs to threaten enemies like Israel (http://news.antiwar.com/2010/08/25/israelipresident-iran-threatens-to-use-nuclear-weapons/). Many believe that if Iran develops a nuclear weapon it will be a danger to the world. It is believed that Iran would act to fast and recklessly if it had nuclear weapons. North Korea with nuclear weapons would also be very dangerous (http://www.adl.org/main_International_Affairs/iranian_threat_faq.htm). North Korea today said it would use nuclear weapons in a "merciless offensive" if provoked (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-would-use-nuclear-weapons-in-amerciless-offensive-1700590.html). This is very scary because any conflict at any time could set off one country and you would see a domino effect in which all countries would use their nuclear weapons.