*”The real purpose in making the bomb was to subdue the Soviets.” Now it is happening again on a vast scale. WHY? A conversation with acclaimed historian Peter Kuznick, Greg Mello, and community members in Los Alamos, July 22, 2023.
*”General Leslie Groves, when visiting Los Alamos, frequently came to the Chadwicks for dinner and relaxed palaver. During one such conversation Groves said that, of course, the real purpose in making the bomb was to subdue the Soviets.” Joseph Rotblat, “Leaving the Bomb Project,” in Assessing the Nuclear Age: Selections from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Len Ackland and Steven McGuire, eds., 1986.
We had an excellent event in Los Alamos on July 22nd. We are very grateful to the 20 or so of you who drove up “The Hill.” Another 50 or so persons attended virtually. There were four people present from Los Alamos. No media came, either in person or virtually, which is par for the course. Fuller Lodge, unbeknownst to us, has infamously poor internet service; if you tried to attend from afar and couldn’t get into the meeting, please accept our apologies.
In the first half of the meeting, Peter (Kuznick) presented what were in his estimation the top omissions in the current box-office hit “Oppenheimer” film, as he approached the evening’s main historical topic, which was the role played by the ambition to “subdue the Soviets” in the overall conception and management of the Manhattan Project, including of course the Trinity test.
It should be obvious by now to all (but isn’t) that the nuclear bombing of Japan had little or nothing to do with ending the Pacific war, and everything to do with sending a signal to the Soviets. As Peter said, the Soviets understood that signal perfectly. Only, contrary to the hopes of (Jimmy) Byrnes and Truman, the Russians weren’t cowed. They got the signal all right, and the Cold War was on.
Fast forward from then to now: the Russians still aren’t cowed, to the consternation of the neocons, today’s successors to Byrnes and Groves. Instead, Russia, and China also, are “going from strength to strength,” in George Galloway’s words (see “Final Corruption of the American Republic,” George Galloway, Jul 30, 2023, starting at about 7:20; thanks to Steve Starr for passing on this speech last night.)
In the second half of the Fuller Lodge meeting I provided a review of pit production, with a few new bits included. The slides I used are here (and also in the Zoom video).
For those who helped with all this, thank you. Your solidarity means more than we can easily say.