DAWN OF THE ATOMIC ERA
(1945)
Events
As the war entered its final phase, the
Manhattan Project became an increasingly important and controversial element in American
strategy. Debate over how to use the bomb began in earnest in early summer of
1945. The Trinity atomic test
of July
16 (right) confirmed that the stakes for this decision were very
high. With a blast equivalent of approximately 21 kilotons of TNT, the test explosion was
greater than had been predicted, and the dispersal of radioactive fallout
following the test made safety
something of a near thing. News
of the success at Trinity reached President Harry S. Truman at the Potsdam
Conference.
Following consultations with his advisers, Truman made the decision
to use the bomb against Japan as soon as the first weapon was
ready. Little Boy, the untested uranium bomb, was dropped first at Hiroshima,
Japan, on August 6, 1945, while the plutonium weapon, Fat Man, followed
three days later at Nagasaki on August
9. Use of the bomb helped bring an end to the war in the Pacific,
with Japan surrendering on August
14. 
The most
destructive war in human history was finally over.
The
Manhattan Project had fulfilled its mission.
To learn more about any of these events associated with the dawn of the
atomic era, choose a web page from the menu below. To conclude your quick overview of the Manhattan Project, jump ahead to the
description of its "Postscript, the
Nuclear Age, 1945-present."
The Manhattan
Project
