Oppenheimer’s Initial Stance on the Atomic Bomb
World War II clouded Oppenheimer’s successful objective to develop an atomic bomb. The war was hurting his family in Europe, and fractured the scientific community. Making the decision to actually drop the bomb on Japan was fraught with conflict.
In Nolan’s movie, the conflict before the decision-makers (including Oppenheimer, as leader of the Los Alamos science team) was summarized into a few options, including simply doing a demonstration of the bomb’s capability, giving the population of target cities warning ahead of the bomb drop, or bombing only military targets rather than communities teeming with civilians. Oppenheimer was among those that felt Japan would surrender only after they experienced the mass devastation and terror of the bomb. He felt they had to see the destruction it can wreak on a whole city in one drop, and nothing less.
