(H)our History Lesson: Historical Perspectives on the Atomic Bomb created at Los Alamos, Los Alamos County, New Mexico, WWII Heritage City

Photo 3: The Gadget with Norris Bradbury, head of bomb design, in 1945. The Gadget was used in the Trinity test, part of the Manhattan Project.

Los Alamos National Laboratory

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Los Alamos County, New Mexico designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains photographs, a newspaper article, and two poems to compare. Los Alamos County, New Mexico, was a site of development and final testing for the atomic bomb for the Manhattan Project. Selected resources contribute to learners’ understandings of multiple perspectives of the use and impact of the atomic bomb in World War II. There are two optional extensions: one is the firsthand observations of Dr. Fermi at the Trinity test, and a second is reflecting on the story of Sadako Sasaki’s Origami Cranes.
To see more lessons about World War II, visit Teaching with Historic Places.

Objectives:

1. Describe the connections between Los Alamos and the creation, testing, and eventual use, of the atomic bomb and the Manhattan Project.
2. Contrast the viewpoints of individuals involved in the creation and testing of the atomic bomb with those who experienced its devastating effects.

Materials for Students:

1. Photos 1-7 (can be displayed digitally)
2. Readings 1-3 (one secondary, two primary)
3. Recommended: Los Alamos Map by Manhattan Project National Historical Park and Technical Areas Map by Los Alamos Neutron Science Center
4. Extensions: Additional reading; Sadako Sasaki’s Origami Cranes digital media

Getting Started: Essential Question

How did the perspectives of those who were involved in the creation of the atomic bomb compare to the perspectives of those who experienced its devastating impact?

Reading to Connect

Reading 1: Newspaper

Atom Bomb Builder: Oppenheimer Defends Invention; Sees Great Benefits in Power 

News-Pilot (San Pedro, California), Sunday evening, August 17, 1945, p. 3 

By John B. Curtis 

Los Alamos, N. M. (AP)-- Dr. J. R. Oppenheimer, credited by the war department with being chiefly responsible for the atomic bomb, was a ‘little scared of what we had made.’ 

The 41-year-old director of the Los Alamos project where much of the laboratory work on this nation’s new weapon has been done, said it could be made ‘a matter of life or death for the world.’ As a scientist, he has no apologies for having achieved what the war department described as ‘implementation of atomic energy for military purposes.’ 

‘It is fair to say that no scientist would be honestly or conscientiously a scientist if he believed that the advancement of human knowledge were a bad thing,’ Dr. Oppenheimer said in an interview. ‘A scientist cannot hold back progress because of fears of what the world will do with his discoveries.’ 

Great Changes Seen 

The slender, blue-eyed physicist, who longs to get back to his horses on his ranch 50 miles from here, expressed the belief that world changes in the next 20 years as the result of harnessing atomic power will be more marked than those wrought in the score of years following Faraday’s work with electricity.  

“American statesman, if supported by the American people, should be able to use this discovery and bringing together the nations of the world so that the peace which the overwhelming masses of the world's people want may be achieved.  

“We were at war and it was necessary and right for us to make bombs. In peacetime, a small fraction of the effort which has been put forth on this aspect of our project can and will bring about many things of lasting benefit to enrich human life.  

“These peacetime possibilities are secret at the moment. But responsible men in our government are interested in them and are giving them study. 

“If our discovery is widely used politically, it may help to reduce the chances of future war. This is a matter for the statesman, the statesman supported by the peoples of the world,” Dr. Oppenheimer said.  

It is the profound hope of all the persons who contemplate working on peacetime application of atomic power “that the international situation will be such that it will not be necessary to keep their discoveries a secret.” 

Vigilance Holds 

 Although Los Alamos' big secret is out, there has been no relaxation of the vigilance which bars outsiders. Dr. Oppenheimer came to the project’s outside gate for this interview, broken by occasional summonses to a nearby telephone. 

 Slender and of medium height, his blue eyes reflect the great tension under which he has worked. Under his leadership the largest concentration of top scientists ever assembled in one place achieved in two years what under normal conditions would have taken generations. Perfection of the atomic bomb he says, was a job “which could not have been accomplished without co-operation.” 

Reading 2: Poem by John Canaday

Background: Joan Hinton was a physicist at Los Alamos, where she worked on developing nuclear reactors. On July 16, 1945 she and a colleague disobeyed precautions and observed the Trinity test from a hill only about 25 miles from the blast site. The Trinity test, completed at the Trinity Site was when the first atomic device, nicknamed “the Gadget” was detonated.   

"Joan Hinton at Trinity” 

By John Canaday, from Critical Assembly 

The silence lingers longest. Though a new sun 

boils above the desert, lifting tons of dirt and rock-dust miles into the sky,  

the burning earth-plume rises without sound.  

Even the wind, which had been gusting, stills.  

Even the rain that came in quick showers 

through the night. Even the lightning  

striking the Oscura Mountains. 

Even our hearts. Everything stops.  

I sit on the cold sand, holding my breath. 

Note: Shared with permission from Canaday, J. (2017). Critical Assembly: Poems of the Manhattan Project. University of New Mexico Press. 

Reading 3: Poem by Tōge Sankichi

Background: Tōge Sankichi completed his manuscript of poems, Poems of the Atomic Bomb (Genbaku shishū), on May 10, 1952. Sankichi wrote, “Those incidents were of such great magnitude that there is no end to the cries of grief of all those who confront them; the true essence of these incidents is incomprehensible.” The translated poetry collection was translated by Karen Thornber, of University of Chicago.  Shared with permission from the University of Chicago’s Center for East Asian Studies. 

Teacher Tip: The following is an excerpt of the afterword and a poem excerpt. The afterword provides the author’s background and context for the poem. It may be useful for students to read this prior to the poem excerpt. If providing the full poetry collection, read in advance as mature content should be reviewed based on the age and maturity of your students prior to sharing. 

Part 1: Afterword (Excerpt)  

“The atomic bomb was dropped the morning of August 6, 1945, just before I left home for downtown, so I was more than three kilometers from ground zero. I suffered only cuts from shards of glass and several months of radiation sickness. But the people who had been within about a two-kilometer radius of the city’s center were not so fortunate: those who had been inside either died of shock or were buried alive and then consumed by fire and those who had been outside simply disappeared, burned to death, or, escaping with burns, died within a week. People who had been a bit farther away from the epicenter died within several months from either burns or radiation sickness. Those at a slightly greater radius barely survived. Families in the surrounding municipalities all had someone who had been sent by the neighborhood association to help clean-up after the evacuation effort and who never returned. Making the tragedy all the more difficult to bear were such factors as the rumor that Hiroshima would be consumed by fire the night of the fifth, a rumor started by the flyers dropped during an air raid over nearby towns and villages a few days before the bombing, and the mobilization of junior high school students and those in the lower grades of the girls’ schools to help in the evacuation effort. . . .”  

Part 2: Excerpt from the poem “When Will It Be That Day?” 

3. 

 and with the approach of August  

little did you know, 

that the Japanese army was without weapons,  

that on the southern islands and in 

            the jungles  

starving and sick, they’d been torn asunder 

that their fuelless warships lay hidden and motionless on the other side of the 

              Island 

that the entire populace was deluged in a shower of flames  

that the fascists did not even know a way to end the war  

little did you know, that once the Soviet power, which had defeated the Nazis,  

confronted imperial Japan with the information  

that it would not extend the nonaggression pact, 

 the world believed Japan's surrender 

 only a matter of time. 

 little did you know,  

that because the swastika had been torn down 

 and the Red Flag raised quickly in Berlin  

the Soviet entrance planned for three months later 

 was beginning to flutter larger in the skies of history. 

 (they hurried to drop the atomic bomb 

they felt the need to crush Japan to pieces themselves before the arrival of that 

              day  

with a dark and ugly will  

they hurried to drop it  

from the test in New Mexico on July 16  

until the Soviet entry 

 there was so little time!) 

4. 

The night before midnight, the night of the fifth,  

scattered from the sky came the certain rumor that Hiroshima would be  

                consumed 

 the people, running away to the surrounding mountains and watermelon patches  

and staying up all night,  

although frightened by the siren that would not stop 

 breathing a sign of relief when morning came without any bombing, returned to 

 their homes  

and setting off to work, to insignificant jobs, they began to flood the streets of the  

City 

 that morning   August 6, at that hour 

 you sent your father off to the factory  

you packed a lunch for your little brother who had just entered middle school  

after that, sending your little sister off to play 

 like always, at your relatives' place in a separate part of town 

 you locked up the door of your rickety house and set out for your place of work,  

mobilized labor 

 leaving today too to do unfamiliar work and be scolded  

you were silent, halfway there, and hurrying,  

when at some sign you threw yourself down  

a flash hit you directly from behind 

 and when the dust cleared and you regained consciousness  

despite all that had happened, you tried to grope your way toward the factory  

you passed through waves of fleeing people, until you came to this place and sank  

             to the ground  

a judgment of this incident hidden within you  

in that way, meekly, you closed your eyes, 

 of which of your thoughts, young girl  

at that time could you be certain  

how could that earnest mind of yours have grasped the atomic bomb  

those hands, yearning for the future, like small birds fallen to the ground  

their wrists bent, lie outstretched on the ground 

 and those knees 

 as though feeling shame at lying down in such a place  

are brought together and neatly contracted  

only your hair, woven into braids 

 lies disheveled on the asphalt, you knew only war 

 the rainbow of your modest and restrained hopes was also reduced to flames . . .  

By the numbers:

• 13 pounds of weapon-grade plutonium were in the Gadget
• 200 miles: the distance from the Los Alamos Laboratory to New Mexico’s Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity test was conducted
• Radioactive fallout from the Trinity test descended to the northeast in New Mexico over an area about 250 miles long and 200 miles wide.

Quotation to consider:

“On July 16, 1945, the atomic genie burst from its vessel and it lit up the desert sky with a flash of blinding brilliance. The explosion equaled 20,000 tons of TNT. The scientists who observed the world's first nuclear blast reacted with a mixture of awe, relief, solemnity, pride and later, for many, the realization that their 'gadget' might change the world forever-it did."

- Dateline Los Alamos, a Labatory publication, on the Trinity Site test explosion

Photo 5: Plane over Nagasaki, Japan cloud, produced by the atomic bomb.

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Department of Energy.

Student Activities

Questions for Readings 1 and 2, Photos 1 - 4

1. Oppenheimer compares the current work to Faraday's groundbreaking research in electricity. Faraday’s work led to the development of electric generators and transformers, which have become essential to modern technology and power distribution systems. Why may Oppenheimer have compared the work to Faraday?

2. How does Oppenheimer view the role of political leaders and the international community?

3. Why may the poem (Reading 2) focus on the silence and stillness during the intense atomic bomb test? How does it make you think about the moment differently?

Questions for Reading 3, Photos 5 & 6

1. How does the poem depict the haste and urgency behind the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan?
2. How does the poem describe the activities and thoughts of people in Hiroshima on the day the atomic bomb was dropped?

Synthesize

After reading all of the sources and photos, put all the historical perspectives together with the following questions.

1. A “watershed moment” is an idiom that refers to an important event that changes the direction of history. July 16th is referred to in all three readings. How could this date be considered a “watershed moment” in history?
2. In reading 1, Oppenheimer was quoted: “A scientist cannot hold back progress because of fears of what the world will do with his discoveries." Considering your learning from the lessons, do you agree or disagree with this perspective? Why?
3. Answer the essential question using evidence from the texts: “How did the perspectives of those who were involved in the creation of the atomic bomb compare to the perspectives of those who experienced its devastating impact?”

Extension Activities

If time permits, teachers may offer the following optional activities.

Additional Reading: E. Fermi

“My Observations During the Explosion at Trinity on July 16, 1945” by E. Fermi 

Background: The following document by Dr. Fermi was reviewed several times before becoming publicly released and unclassified. The special re-review final determination of unclassified was in July 1981. 

On the morning of the 16th of July, I was stationed at the Base Camp at Trinity in a position about ten miles from the site of the explosion.  

The explosion took place at about 5:30 A.M. I had my face protected by a large board in which a piece of dark welding glass had been inserted. My first impression of the explosion was the very intense flash of light, and heat on the parts of my body that were exposed. Although I did not look directly towards the object, I had the impression that suddenly the countryside became brighter than in full daylight. I subsequently looked in the direction of the explosion through the dark glass and could see something that looked like a conglomeration of flame that promptly started rising. After a few seconds the rising flame lost their brightness and appeared as a huge pillar of smoke with an expanded head like a gigantic mushroom that rose rapidly beyond the clouds probably to a height of the order of 30,000 feet. After reaching its full height, the smoke stayed stationary for a while before the wind started dispersing it.  

About 40 seconds after the explosion the air blast reached us. I tried to estimate its strength by dropping from about six feet small pieces of paper before, during and after the passage of the blast wave. Since at the time, there was no wind I could observe very distinctly and actually measure the displacement of the pieces of paper that were in the process of falling while the blast was passing. The shift was about 2 ½ meters, which, at the time, I estimated to correspond to the blast that would be produced by ten thousand tons of T.N.T.  

Additional Visual Resources 

• "Doctor Atomic" Trail - Nuclear Museum  
• Trinity Site, NM - Nuclear Museum 

Sadako Sasaki’s Origami Cranes

"Two-year old Sadako Sasaki was at home in Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, when the US dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb over her city. Sadako survived the bombing of Hiroshima but passed away ten years later from leukemia. Japanese folklore says that a crane can live for a thousand years, and a person who folds an origami crane for each year of a crane’s life will have their wish granted. Sadako folded 1,300 origami cranes shortly before her death in 1955.” -National Park Service 

• Watch the video about Sadako Sasaki by The Manhattan Project National Historical Park.  

Additional Resources 

•  Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum Peace Database (hpmm-db.jp) 

• Debating the Atomic Bombs - Teachers (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) 

• Symbols of Peace in the Manhattan Project Communities (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) 

This lesson was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, an educator and consultant with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education, funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.