Seizing the Light, 3rd Edition

CHAPTER FIFTEEN The Atomic Age

 

 

 

NEW LIGHT/FRESH METHODS

The 1945 decision by President Harry S. Truman (1884–1972) to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended World War II and began the Atomic Age. Despite the forming of the United Nations Charter (1945), world peace proved elusive. Initial postwar exhilaration rapidly gave way to apprehension and tension as the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic weapon in 1949. Americans realized that “the bomb” could now be used against them. As test blasts escalated, the arms race of the Cold War commenced. The physical and psychological fallout from these scientific events altered the American transcendental belief in nature. The incredible economic benefits scientists ...