Something To Read About

 Before World War II, there was no atomic weapons program in the United States. This event only happened in 1942 when the Manhatten Project was initiated. The project was started in fear that the Germans would develop the bomb first since they had already had the technology on how to build the bomb. As it turns out, the Germans never attempted to build an atomic bomb.

The first atomic bomb, named Trinity, was tested on July16th 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Nobody was entirely sure what would happen when the bomb was exploded, some even feared world destruction. Shortly after Trinity was tested, bombs were dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. The two blasts killed almost 100,000 people and thousands more from radiation sickness and related cancers.

The United States continued tests, but the majority of tests were from November 1958 through September 1961. The first thermonuclear test was conducted in 1952 and code named ‘Ivy Mike’. The bomb swept the island clean of anything that was on it. The largest thermonuclear explosion was the one named ‘Castle Bravo’. 

Many of the various projects taking place after World War II were to test the effects of atomic bombs. Nuclear Fallout was always a concern due to the fact it could possibly spread to people around the world. The Partial Test Ban Treaty was established in 1963 to help stop the occurence of nuclear fallout. This decreased the number of tests significantly. The last known nuclear test done by the United States was in 1992 and occured in Nevada, where the majority of the tests were done, approximately 911. 

 There were extensive tests done with nuclear weapons, but whetger or not they were worthwhile is a good question. The United States spent $14,000,000,000 on launch pads, silos, and facilities between 1957 and 1964. This cost does not include the actual bombs or man power needed to run these types of operations. While I believe it is a good idea to know what atomic bombs are capable of, including damage they can cause to the atmosphere, I don’t think there needed to be as many tests as there were. Atomic bombs have the capability to destroy anything that comes in contact with them, but would the United States or anyone want to use those as a sort of normal warfare tactic. Atomic bombs do not have very much use for common and a somewhat civilized means of war. War is not good in the first place any way someone looks at it, but does making using a nuclear bomb make it any better?