Inside the Vault: Manhattan Project Scientists Predict Nuclear Arms Race
by Gilder Lehrman Institute Staff
“[We] feel a very special responsibility to the people of America because of the role we have had in developing the atomic bomb and because of our special awareness of the possibilities of atomic energy for the advance of civilization or its utter destruction.”
—Preliminary Statement of the Association of Manhattan Project Scientists
Written shortly after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a draft statement by scientists leading atomic development in the United States emphasizes the need to control nuclear weaponry and acknowledge its consequences. The scientists warned of the havoc the weapons could wreak and predicted that a global nuclear arms race would ensue.
On August 7, 2025, our curators discussed the Manhattan Project scientists’ declaration of concern with Cynthia Kelly, president of the Atomic Heritage Foundation.
Download the slides from the presentation here.
FEATURED DOCUMENTS
Preliminary statement of the Association of Manhattan District Scientists, August 1945
USE THE TIMESTAMPS TO JUMP TO THE TOPIC YOU WANT TO VIEW
0:34-2:03: Today’s Document
2:04-5:33: What Was the Manhattan Project?
5:34-8:04: 1933: Hitler Condemns “Jewish Physics”
8:05-11:49: Lise Meitner
11:50-14:21: International Race for Atomic Bomb
14:22-17:49: Einstein's Letter to President Roosevelt
17:50-20:29: Creating the Manhattan Project
20:30-25:46: General Leslie R. Groves
25:47-30:10: Where It Happened
30:11-32:33: John Dunning
32:34-38:25: Manhattan Project Scientists
38:26-39:29: John Dunning’s Farewell
39:30-47:29: Preliminary Statements
47:30-49:07: Draft of Newsletter
49:08-51:23: Recollections of Mildred Goldberg
51:24-55:27: 80 Years Later
55:28-1:05:30: Q&A
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