• @Madison420
    link
    76 months ago

    It was one of the most important and costly projects of the war, 12 days is a lifetime during a war quite literally. That’s also ignoring the fact that the vice president was kept in the dark until after FDR died and Truman took office.

      • @Madison420
        link
        56 months ago

        That’s dated April 24.

        It’s not, the administration by in large knew FDR was dying and would likely die before leaving office. Truman effectively was a president in waiting rather than a vice president.

          • @Madison420
            link
            16 months ago

            Yes that he needed to speak about something important. Draw your own implication but it doesn’t actually say what your implying it says.

            • @[email protected]
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              fedilink
              26 months ago

              The night Truman was sworn in as Roosevelt’s successor he noted in his diary that Stimson told him the U.S. was “perfecting an explosive great enough to destroy the whole world.”

              And if you wanted to know what Truman thought of not being told as vice president. (from the same link)

              On June 17, Truman received a phone call from Stimson, who told him that the Pasco plant was “part of a very important secret development.” Fortunately, Stimson did not need to explain further: Truman, a veteran and a patriot, understood immediately that he was treading on dangerous ground. Before Stimson could continue, Truman assured the secretary “you won t have to say another word to me. Whenever you say that [something is highly secret] to me that’s all I want to hear. If [the plant] is for a specific purpose and you think it’s all right, that’s all I need to know.” Stimson replied that the purpose was not only secret, but “unique.”

              • @Madison420
                link
                16 months ago

                Yes there was a very ambiguous statement about a secret project, that’s not the same as being read in.

                What he was told about could have been a large conventional bomb like the grand slam, tallboy, or firebats which were also secret at the time, there’s a pretty big difference between them. I imagine there was probably quite a bit of hyperbole from secret project directors just as there is today so that’s not a super great metric to judge things on.

                You failed to quote the July 25th 1945 entry when he wrote about what he was actually told and shown which is as far as I’m aware the first definitive proof he knew exactly what it was.

                • @[email protected]
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                  fedilink
                  26 months ago

                  You failed to quote the July 25th 1945 entry

                  That’s Truman’s reaction to the trinity test and is irrelevant to when he was told about the research. Obviously he had a different reaction to the actual bomb compared to a hypothetical bomb, but I would think that would be expected.

                  • @Madison420
                    link
                    16 months ago

                    Yes the first mention of atomics and the first verified point he knew the full scale of the program, I just said this.