the atomic bomb
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The Atomic Bomb. United States believed Hitler was developing an Atomic bomb . Manhattan Project. U.S. program to develop an Atomic Weapon Chief Scientist Robert P. Oppenheimer President Truman didn’t learn about program until he became President - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Atomic Bomb
• United States believed Hitler was developing an Atomic bomb
Manhattan Project
• U.S. program to develop an Atomic Weapon
• Chief Scientist Robert P. Oppenheimer • President Truman didn’t learn about
program until he became President• 1st Atomic bomb was tested on July 16th
1945
The Manhattan Project cont…
• U.S. feared that an invasion of Japan would result in 200,000 American casualties – and perhaps 1-2 million Japanese casualties
• U.S. considers using an “Atomic Bomb” to end the war quickly
• Bomb had been developed as part of the “Manhattan Project” – beginning in 1942
How to use the Atomic Bomb
1. Drop a bomb on and island in the Pacific to scare the Japanese into surrendering
2. Drop the Atomic bomb on Japanese cities
United States Warns Japan
• Truman told Japan they could expect a “Rain of ruin from the air”
No response from Japan
Fat Man & Little Boy
Targets
• Hiroshima: 365,000 People• Bombed dropped on August 6th , 1945 at
8:16am• Enola Gay
Atomic Cloud Over Hiroshima
Hiroshima
• Ground temp: 7,000 degrees • Winds: 980mph• Buildings destroyed: 62,000• Killed immediately: 70,000• Dead by end of 1945: 140,000• Area of total vaporization from the atomic
bomb blast measured one half mile in diameter
Before and After
Nagasaki
• 200,000 residents• Dropped on August 9th, 1945
Nagasaki
• 40,000 died on day of the attack
Use the Bomb Not Use the Bomb
• Battle of Okinawa showed how determined Japan was to continue fighting
• Japanese had strong personal honor; many followed Samurai Code
• Invasion would mean 500,000 to 1,000,000 U.S. Deaths and maybe 2 – 4 million Japanese
• Intentionally targeting civilians was considered a war crime
• 110,000 civilians killed in the two bombings – 200,000 dead when Radiation poisoning deaths are added
• Truman was ‘out of the loop’ as Vice President – didn’t know destructiveness of bomb?
• Japan surrenders on September 2, 1945• Long term effects of radiation caused
cancer