Gamboa 1
Matt Gamboa
Mr. Green
American History
16 May 2016
History Term Paper
On August 6th and August 9th 1945, the whole world would change forever when the United States dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. These nuclear weapons affected the earth 's environment. It also negatively affected people 's health around the world. In addition it significantly affected how dangerous the Cold War could have been. How did President Truman 's decision to drop nuclear weapons impact the world going forward?
In late 1941, the United States government started to try and create an atomic bomb and called this attempt The Manhattan Project. This project started off small at first only involving research at 3 universities: …show more content…
When the cloud returned to earth it created a half-mile wide crater transforming sand into glass. A false cover-up story was quickly released, clarifying that a enormous ammunition dump had just exploded in the desert. Soon word reached President Truman in Potsdam, Germany that the project was successful. The world had finally entered the nuclear age. In Japan after the detonation, sea salt was contaminated. Contaminated seawater contained radioactive fish. It was also documented that Japanese boats caught contaminated fish that could not been eaten by humans. Nuclear weapons also had an effect on wildlife. It caused genetic disorders and cancer.
Nuclear weapons had entirely effected the environment after the two bombs were dropped in Japan. Until the end of the Cold War, the environmental and public health costs of U.S. nuclear weapons generally received little consideration and finance. This was partly because they were lacking organized efforts proceeding to address all of the issues. But it was also because few government officials felt comfortable raising concerns about real and possible hazards posed by the manufacture and testing of nuclear arms at a time when those weapons were still …show more content…
Many were terrified of where the Cold War was going with the certainty that the more nuclear weapons countries had, the more powerful your country was. Both the United States and Russia enormously built up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a much more dangerous place. USA manufactured a bomber plane known as the B 52 that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a nuclear payload. Such an expansion required massive financial aid from the government something which The United States could afford to do and which Russia could not. Russia focused on constructing superior bombs a far more cost effective method. According to http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk “In October 1957, the world was introduced to the fear of a missile attack when Sputnik was launched. This was to lead to ICBM’s: Intercontinental ballistic missiles. As a result, The United States built the Defense and Early Warning system (DEW) line around the Arctic.” Around the 1960’s, the Russians put their money into constructing more missiles regardless of quality while America built fewer but better quality missiles. By 1961, there were more than enough bombs to abolish the world. Regardless of this, great prominence was put on the new weapon systems,
Matt Gamboa
Mr. Green
American History
16 May 2016
History Term Paper
On August 6th and August 9th 1945, the whole world would change forever when the United States dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. These nuclear weapons affected the earth 's environment. It also negatively affected people 's health around the world. In addition it significantly affected how dangerous the Cold War could have been. How did President Truman 's decision to drop nuclear weapons impact the world going forward?
In late 1941, the United States government started to try and create an atomic bomb and called this attempt The Manhattan Project. This project started off small at first only involving research at 3 universities: …show more content…
When the cloud returned to earth it created a half-mile wide crater transforming sand into glass. A false cover-up story was quickly released, clarifying that a enormous ammunition dump had just exploded in the desert. Soon word reached President Truman in Potsdam, Germany that the project was successful. The world had finally entered the nuclear age. In Japan after the detonation, sea salt was contaminated. Contaminated seawater contained radioactive fish. It was also documented that Japanese boats caught contaminated fish that could not been eaten by humans. Nuclear weapons also had an effect on wildlife. It caused genetic disorders and cancer.
Nuclear weapons had entirely effected the environment after the two bombs were dropped in Japan. Until the end of the Cold War, the environmental and public health costs of U.S. nuclear weapons generally received little consideration and finance. This was partly because they were lacking organized efforts proceeding to address all of the issues. But it was also because few government officials felt comfortable raising concerns about real and possible hazards posed by the manufacture and testing of nuclear arms at a time when those weapons were still …show more content…
Many were terrified of where the Cold War was going with the certainty that the more nuclear weapons countries had, the more powerful your country was. Both the United States and Russia enormously built up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a much more dangerous place. USA manufactured a bomber plane known as the B 52 that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a nuclear payload. Such an expansion required massive financial aid from the government something which The United States could afford to do and which Russia could not. Russia focused on constructing superior bombs a far more cost effective method. According to http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk “In October 1957, the world was introduced to the fear of a missile attack when Sputnik was launched. This was to lead to ICBM’s: Intercontinental ballistic missiles. As a result, The United States built the Defense and Early Warning system (DEW) line around the Arctic.” Around the 1960’s, the Russians put their money into constructing more missiles regardless of quality while America built fewer but better quality missiles. By 1961, there were more than enough bombs to abolish the world. Regardless of this, great prominence was put on the new weapon systems,