nope..just a school of thought.
if it wasn't for szilard's letter..the manhattan project may not have come to being..einstein signed the letter szilard wrote and it was his fame that got roosevelt to listen.---and his letter kickstarted the construction of the bomb..and it was szilard who conceived the nuclear chain reaction...there parts in the creation of the atomic bomb should not be understated..
who is playing semantics with anyone's words...lemay didn't want to use the bomb because he didn't thing we needed it because we were able to decimate japan conventionally not because of some moral pang in his head...eisenhower was commanding the armies in europe--he didn't have much say in the decision---if anyone had an obvious chance to change truman's mind it was chief of staff marshall---and he said it wasn't a military decision but a political decision which later gave birth to the revisionist school of thought that the bomb was not used to save american lives but as a political bargaining chip to use against the soviets.
I never offered the argument that LeMay's thinking was influenced by any moral code. The revisionist school of thought you state is interesting but it is not part of my pointing out that the decision to use nuclear bombs in Japan was not shared by the time's leading military men. It certainly does beg the question that if the atomic bombs were not needed to destroy our enemy or compel surrender, why were they dropped? But I don't assert that.
Here is the letter Einstein wrote:
F.D. Roosevelt
President of the United States
White House
Washington, D.C.
Sir:
Some recent work by E. Fermi and L. Szilard, which has been communicated to me in manuscript, leads me to expect that the element uranium may be turned into a new and important source of energy in the immediate future. Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration. I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations.
In the course of the last four months it has been made probable through the work of Joliot in France as well as Fermi and Szilard in America--that it may be possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium, by which vast amounts of power and large quantities of new radium-like elements would be generated. Now it appears almost certain that this could be achieved in the immediate future.
This new phenomenon would also lead to the construction of bombs, and it is conceivable--though much less certain--that extremely powerful bombs of this type may thus be constructed. A single bomb of this type, carried by boat and exploded in a port, might very well destroy the whole port together with some of the surrounding territory. However, such bombs might very well prove too heavy for transportion by air.
The United States has only very poor ores of uranium in moderate quantities. There is some good ore in Canada and former Czechoslovakia, while the most important source of uranium is in the Belgian Congo.
In view of this situation you may think it desirable to have some permanent contact maintained between the Administration and the group of physicists working on chain reactions in America. One possible way of achieving this might be for you to entrust the task with a person who has your confidence and who could perhaps serve in an unofficial capacity. His task might comprise the following:
a) to approach Government Departments, keep them informed of the further development, and put forward recommendations for Government action, giving particular attention to the problem of securing a supply of uranium ore for the United States.
b) to speed up the experimental work, which is at present being carried on within the limits of the budgets of University laboratories, by providing funds, if such funds be required, through his contacts with private persons who are willing to make contributions for this cause, and perhaps also by obtaining co-operation of industrial laboratories which have necessary equipment.
I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines which she has taken over. That she should have taken such early action might perhaps be understood on the ground that the son of the German Under-Secretary of State, von Weizsacker, is attached to the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, where some of the American work on uranium is now being repeated.
Yours very truly,
Albert Einstein
Related Section
Albert Einstein Biography
Related Reading
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Begin/Einstein.shtml
