A TERRIFYING AMBITION
In 1938, the discovery of nuclear fission, a powerful chain reaction involving the splitting of atoms, fueled the German nuclear arms race and offered an alluring but horrifying goal of new weapons of mass destruction.
THE GERMAN NUCLEAR THREAT
In 1939, the Nazi nuclear threat caused physicists Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi to warn President FDR. Roosevelt reluctantly agreed and launched the Manhattan Project, the code name for the American effort to design and build an atomic bomb.
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Enrico Fermi | NATIONAL ARCHIVES
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Albert Einstein | NATIONAL ARCHIVES
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U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN WORLD WAR II
Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941. In response to the United States' war involvement, President Roosevelt ordered the construction of a nuclear weapon made "in time to influence the outcome of the present war."
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date that will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
— President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941
— President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1941
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
The Manhattan Project began as a scattered effort, but a breakthrough involving a controlled nuclear chain reaction garnered greater governmental trust, and funds were allocated more freely. With new funding, nuclear facilities were built at Hanford, Washington and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, with the main plant at Los Alamos, New Mexico.