Transcript FDR and the Manhattan Project: Dilemmas and Opportunities

The Manhattan Project and
Executive Order 9066: FDR
During World War II
Vincent Bucci
Hamilton-Wenham Regional H.S.
The Manhattan Project (19421945)
Trinity Test (July 16, 1945)
Almagordo, NM
Scientific Context of Manhattan
Project: 1932-1939 in Europe
•
James Chadwick
Enrico Fermi
•
•
•
Fritz Strassman,
Lise Meitner, and
Otto Hahn
1932: Chadwick (English)
discovers the neutron
1938: Fermi (Italian) discovers that
using neutrons to bombard uranium
atoms produces a new radioactive
element
1939: Hahn and Strassman
(German) recognize the new
element as barium
1939: Meitner (Austrian) explains
that the uranium nucleus absorbs
the neutron and splits into 2 parts
(nuclear fission)
What Happens During Nuclear
Fission?
1. Uranium nucleus is split by a neutron
2. Two elements of smaller mass are created
(Barium and Krypton)
3. Energy is released
4. Neutrons are released
The Chain Reaction
In order for nuclear energy to
be used in a practical way, the
new neutrons released during
fission need to be able to split
other atoms, creating a
sustained chain reaction
Leo Szilard
Szilard (Hungarian) understood
the theoretical potential for a
nuclear chain reaction in 1933,
even before fission had actually
been accomplished
Einstein’s Letter to FDR:
Warning and Opportunity
(August, 1939)
Main Points of Einstein’s Letter:
Albert Einstein
1. A chain reaction in a mass of uranium is
possible
2. This chain reaction could be used to
construct bombs
3. A single bomb of this type could destroy
a whole port and some of the
surrounding territory
4. The government should consider
establishing a permanent relationship
with the scientists in the U.S. who are
working on chain reactions
5. Germany has stopped the sale of uranium
from Czechoslovakia, which might
indicate it is planning on working on
an atomic bomb project
FDR’s Response: An Opportunity
Seized
1.
2.
3.
S-1 Uranium Committee
4.
Forms the”Advisory Committee
on Uranium”, which was
eventually superceded by the S-1
Uranium Committee
Allocates $6000 for Fermi (now
in the U.S.) to conduct
experiments at the University of
Chicago
Begins to move nuclear research
funding away from the
universities and to the Federal
Government---Paves the way for
the Manhattan Project
Allocates substantial federal
funding for atomic research after
the defeat of France (June, 1940)
Atomic Research In Nazi
Germany: A Dilemma
From Goebbels Diary (Spring,
1942)
Joseph Goebbels
German Propaganda Minister
“ Research in the realm of atomic
destruction has proceeded to the
point where its results may
possibly be made use of in the
conduct of this war… Modern
techniques places in the hands
of human beings means of
destruction that are simply
incredible. German science is at
its peak in this matter.”
The Situation in England: A
Dilemma
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill
Churchill and FDR meet in Hyde park, NY
(June, 1942)
• Main reason for meeting is to discuss
whether to open up a second front in
western Europe before the end of the
year
• Churchill informs FDR of the British
project to create an atomic bomb (code
named “Tube Alloys”)
• Churchill informs FDR of what he
knows about German progress in trying
to create an atomic bomb
• Churchill encourages the US and
England to work together, pool
information, and share results in an
effort to create the atomic bomb before
the Germans
• Churchill informs FDR that it is too
risky for England to continue atomic
research on the scale necessary due to
severe German bombing.
Responding to the Dilemmas:
The Manhattan Project
Housing facilities in Los Alamos, NM
Uranium enrichment site in Oak Ridge, TN
• Top secret project begins in
August, 1942
• Work takes place in over 30
different secret locations
• Main weapons research lab is in
Los Alamos, NM
• Directed by army engineer
General Leslie Groves
• Head Scientist is J. Robert
Oppenheimer
• Costs $2 billion ($24 billion in
2008 dollars)
• Employs 120,000 people
Oppression in Europe: Taking
Advantage of an Opportunity
Some of the most important scientists who worked on the Manhattan
Project had come to the U.S. to escape oppression in Europe
Frisch
Teller
Enrico Fermi: married to a Jewish woman and left Fascist Italy in
1938
Otto Frisch: (Lise Meitner’s nephew and co-worker) left Nazi
Germany in 1943 because he was Jewish
Edward Teller: a Jewish scientist from Hungary who was studying in
Germany, who left Europe in 1933
Fermi
Results of the Manhattan Project
Plutonium Bomb
Two types of atomic bombs:
A. Two Plutonium bombs
a. one tested in NM (July, 1945)
b. one dropped on Nagasaki, Japan
(August, 1945)
B. One Uranium bomb
a. dropped on Hiroshima, ,Japan
(August, 1945)
Japan agreed to unconditional
surrender 6 days after the atomic
bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
Uranium Bomb
Japanese Internment (1942-1945)
Long Term Causes
Economic Competition
Japanese owned 1% of land in
California, but produced 40%
of California crop
Japanese Farmers, 1910
Racism
1905: No marriage between
Caucasians and Japanese
1906: Japanese must attend segregated
schools in San Francisco’s
Chinatown neighborhood
A school in San Francisco’s Chinatown, 1910
Immediate Cause: Pearl Harbor
(December, 1941)
Japanese-Americans accused of:
Shore-to-shore signaling and
other forms of sabotage
Never any evidence brought
forth to confirm these
accusations
Pearl Harbor
General John DeWitt
General John DeWitt, Army’s West
Coast Commander: “the very fact
that no sabotage has taken place is
a disturbing and confirming
indication that such action will be
taken”
Executive 9066 (February, 1942)
Map of Exclusion Areas
• Required the forced
removal of all all people
of Japanese descent from
any area designated a
military zone
• All of California, western
Oregon and Washington,
and southern Arizona were
military zones
• Approximately 110,000
Japanese-Americans were
forced to leave their
homes in these areas
The Bill of Rights: A Dilemma
Article V
“No person shall be deprived of
life, liberty, or property without
due process of law”
Over 75% of Japanese-Americans
forced to leave their homes
under Executive Order 9066
were American citizens by birth
(Nisei)
Lack of Japanese-American
Political Power: A Dilemma
Japanese Americans lacked political
organization because:
1.
Issei (1st generation) could not
vote or become citizens
2.
Nisei (2nd generation) were
citizens, but they were mostly
still in school and too young to
vote or organize
Result= Lack of ability for JapaneseAmericans to pressure the
government politically
Attorney General Francis Biddle:
An Opportunity Ignored
• Biddle was the only important
advisor to Roosevelt who spoke
out against Executive Order
9066
• He had become AG the
previous September.
• His view held little influence on
Roosevelt because he hadn’t
held his Cabinet position for
very long
“I do not think FDR was much concerned with the gravity or implications of this step”. Francis Biddle
The Evacuation Process
Step One: Evacuees had to abandon or quickly sell their homes,
businesses, farms and other possessions.
They could only take with them what they could carry
Step Two: Evacuees were sent to hastily
constructed temporary assembly centers
at racetracks and athletic fields
Step Three: Evacuees were went to permanent
camps in the interior of the U.S. when they were built.
Ten camps were built to hold the roughly
110,000 Japanese-Americans forced
to leave their homes.
Eleanor Roosevelt’s Report: An
Opportunity
• 1943: Eleanor Roosevelt visits
Gila River Relocation Camp in
Arizona
• Her report emphasizes:
A. Lack of freedom
B. Breakdown of Family
Structure
C. Low morale
D. Need to end the exclusion
order and allow Japanese to
return to their homes
Eleanor Roosevelt at Gila River Relocation Camp, April 1943
FDR’s Response: A Partial
Opportunity
FDR’s response to Eleanor’s report:
1. Find troublemakers in the camps and
move them to a separate camp.
This would clear the way to
release the other evacuees
2. Issue work permits which allowed
some evacuees to leave the
camps
3. Allow Nisei to enlist in the army.
33,000 eventually served in the
U.S. Army
1/3 of the evacuees were able to leave
the camps through these 2
programs by the end of 1943.
“Normal life is hardly possible under any form of detention” FDR (1943)
1944: A Missed Opportunity
FDR pressured to close the camps in
June, 1944 due to:
1. Contributions made by JapaneseAmerican soldiers to the war effort
2. Diminished military threat
Election of 1944
Because of a fear of how the public
will react to the closing of the
camps, he refused to issue the order
until after the election in November
December 18: The War Relocation
authority announces that all camps
will be closed by the end of 1945.
FDR:Dilemmas and
Opportunities (1942-1945)
Manhattan Project
Dilemmas
1. German research on atomic weapons
2. Disruption of research on atomic
weapons in England due to German
bombing raids
3. How to keep the Manhattan Project
secret
Opportunities
1. Progress in nuclear research within
the scientific community
2. Einstein’s letter
3. Allocation of government funding for
nuclear research beginning with the
Advisory Committee on Uranium
4. The oppression in Nazi Germany and
Fascist italy which ledmany prominent
nuclear scientists to come to the United
States
Japanese Internment
Dilemmas
1.
Anti-Japanese public opinion
2.
Potential violation of 5th amendment
rights of Nisei
3.
Lack of evidence to support claims
that Japanese-Americans were a
threat to national security
4.
Lack of political power of JapaneseAmericans
Opportunities
1. Criticism of Attorney General Francis
Biddle
2. Eleanor Roosevelt’s report from Gila
River Relocation Camp
3. Change in military situation in 1944