Robert Oppenheimer and thousands of other intelligent scientists were appointed to work on the development of the world’s first nuclear weapon, that was used to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War Two. Soon after Japan's surrender,Oppenheimer resigned from his position as director of Los Alamos. A week later, Oppenheimer continued his talks with top officials. He walked into President Truman's office to discuss international cooperation, and the goal of stopping the arms race before it began. Truman however, was encouraging the idea of making more atomic bombs. Stunned by Truman's wishes, he was unwilling to use his power of persuasion. He went on to say, “ I have blood on my hands.” Supporting the idea of making
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He was trying to prevent any more conflict from arising. When he arrived in Washington, D.C. , he had a plan to convince Truman about the dangers of increasing the amount of atomic bombs, saying, “Physicists could certainly design more powerful atomic bombs, he argued. But would that necessarily make the country safer? No, because other countries could also build bombs-and there would be no way to ensure that those atomic bombs weren't used on Americans”(214). He had released a world of weapons and his only option was trying to convince the President of the casualties that will be caused and try to stop it before it starts. After Truman declined his wishes,there was no other choice but to back away from the program. He could not support further weapons work in any way. In addition, many of the bomb craters had similar views as Oppenheimer did. “We all felt like the soldiers, we done our duty...and that we deserved to return to the type of work that we had chosen as our life's career, the pursuit of pure science and teaching”(215). Many of the other scientists involved in the program faced struggles with continuing their work throughout the war. Now that the war had ended, they believed they should go back to the main reasons they chose to be scientists. Truman's was planning on involving them in his plan for an
He was trying to prevent any more conflict from arising. When he arrived in Washington, D.C. , he had a plan to convince Truman about the dangers of increasing the amount of atomic bombs, saying, “Physicists could certainly design more powerful atomic bombs, he argued. But would that necessarily make the country safer? No, because other countries could also build bombs-and there would be no way to ensure that those atomic bombs weren't used on Americans”(214). He had released a world of weapons and his only option was trying to convince the President of the casualties that will be caused and try to stop it before it starts. After Truman declined his wishes,there was no other choice but to back away from the program. He could not support further weapons work in any way. In addition, many of the bomb craters had similar views as Oppenheimer did. “We all felt like the soldiers, we done our duty...and that we deserved to return to the type of work that we had chosen as our life's career, the pursuit of pure science and teaching”(215). Many of the other scientists involved in the program faced struggles with continuing their work throughout the war. Now that the war had ended, they believed they should go back to the main reasons they chose to be scientists. Truman's was planning on involving them in his plan for an