The Decision to Drop the Bomb

"The New Mexico test of the first atom bomb marked the successful conclusion of the Manhattan Project, the code name for one of the largest scientific and industrial efforts ever undertaken".

I think that this quote is important because it shows just how major the creation of the atomic bomb was for the US. This under cover, secret creation not only changed the world forever, but also gave the US a leg in World War II. Davidson and Lytle show through this chapter just how big of a role government played in creating this weapon and how the balance of power shifted from Roosevelt to his advisers. The reason for the power shift was because of Roosevelt's death. I found it interesting that Truman, his vice president, was even debriefed of the project until after Roosevelt's death. The most interesting thing about this was that the person to debrief him was Stimson, who had worked underneath both Truman and Roosevelt. It seemed odd to me that a vice president would not be briefed by the president, but then again, this project was on a need to know basis, so Roosevelt obviously had a reason for not telling Truman.

"For three years, American, British, and émigré scientists raced against time and what they feared was an insurmountable German lead".

I liked this quote because of the irony. The Germans, who were supposedly beating the Americans at creating this atomic bomb, had actually given up. As I put in my seminar questions, I can't help but wonder if the US would have slowed down and not made as much progress if they would have known about the Germans. I chose this quote because I thought that it showed just how driven the Americans were to win the war. They sought out the nation's best mathematicians and scientists to create this bomb that would end the war for them. The government paired up with the scientific community and the end result was the most destructible weapons on the planet.

I thought this chapter was interesting. I like how the historians applied a model theory to the chapter to explain why everything happened. Since mathematicians and scientists use theories all the time to explain why things happen or happened, I think that it was interesting that Davidson and Lytle used a model theory to explain a the events in a chapter that revolved around science so much.