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English 102 Critical Evaluation Essay: A Petition to the President of the United States The atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan in 1945 were not seen as a logical reaction to the war by everyone. Leo Szilard was a Hungarian physicist that was the first to conceive of the mechanics of the atomic bomb, and how it worked. He was fighting the use of these bombs on Japan, and trying to urge the President to reconsider the idea. Although he lost the argument over whether to use the bombs, his argument was valid based on the devastation that was caused by the atomic bombs in Japan. Given the results of the devastation in Japan, his side of the argument is unmistakably seen.
One great contribution the Szilard had towards the construction of the A-bomb was his creation of the first controlled nuclear chain reaction . Leo Szilard started questioning the need to use the A-bomb as the war with Germany was ending. His sole reason for creating the A-bomb was his fear of Germany doing it first. He didn’t want Germany to make one before America had one for self-defense. Szilard made up a meeting with President Roosevelt to express his thoughts about the dangers of this bomb. President Roosevelt died before he could talk about the dangers of the bomb without international control agreements in place. President Truman took over after the death of Roosevelt. The previous meeting was changed to a later date, which instead happened with James Byrnes. Byrnes was opposed to Szilard’s views on the A-bomb . This may be the reason President Truman decided on using the bombs. Leo Szilard was the main author of the Franck Report, which warned of the impact nuclear weapons could have on the current war, and what was to come in the aftermath, if used. He wrote a petition to the president of the United States urging more thought into the use of the atomic bomb on Japan. The petition states that at that point in the war, the use of the A-bomb was



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