the effects of the atom bomb essays

the effects of the atom bomb essays On August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb ever was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan, killing about 70,000 people, wounding about 70,000 and destroying about five square miles of the city. The atomic bomb was the result of the manhattan project, an enormous undertaking by the U.S. government to exploit the fission process for military purposes, by way of a bomb with incredible destructive powers. The project was given the "green light" by President Roosevelt after he received a letter from Albert Einstein describing what could be accomplished with the Manhattan project, it took the combined efforts of some of the worlds top scientists to convince Einstein to write the letters and the knowledge that Germany was trying to build their own atomic bombs. The atomic bomb affected the world by ending the war, changing the way we fight wars and affecting the way people live their everyday lives. By the time the Manhattan project was complete the war was nearly over in Europe, so President Harry Truman decided that the bomb should be dropped on Japan. This was for three reasons, the Japanese would not give up the fight easily and Truman did not want any more Americans to die, the project was of too great a cost, nearly two billion dollars, for the American government not to use it and the American citizens held resentment against the Japanese for Pearl Harbor and the treatment of American prisoners. So on August 6, 1945, a B-29 bomber named the Enola Gay dropped a 9,000 pound bomb, called little boy, on Hiroshima, Japan. Little Boy detonated 1,900 feet above the city, immediately it killed about 70,000 and left 70,000 injured, but the full effects of the blast could be felt for years with people dying from radiation sickness, some people also developed genetic problems which resulted in having malformed babies or being sterile. After the initial attack Truman warned the Jap anese that they must surrender or the U.S. would bomb other sit...