Writing Resources
However most people don t actually know where and how it all began The Manhattan Project was an American nuclear program that led to the first testing of nuclear weapons and the bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki The project took place in World War 2 and spared countless American lives employing 130 000 people and costing 2 billion dollars The Manhattan Project s roots started after Albert Einstein mailed a letter to President Roosevelt in 1939 warning him of the German nuclear program In his letter he stated 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 Although President Roosevelt didn t think it was necessary at the time he agreed to proceed Roosevelt set up the Advisory Committee on Uranium a team that contained both scientists and high ranking military officials whose goals were to research uranium s role in weapons of mass destruction The Advisory Committee on Uranium was renamed to the National Defense Research Committee in 1940 and was finally named as the Office of Scientific Research and Development in 1941 Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the United States of America would declare war on the Empire of Japan on December 8 1941 and as a response to this Italy and Nazi Germany would declare war on the United States of America
