Manhattan Project the Development of Term Paper

Nevertheless, the launching of the first atomic bomb on the part of the U.S. was highly criticized, especially because they had found a way to end the war which entailed sacrificing the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Their initiative to build the first atomic bomb was considered by many as the supreme proof of vanity, American exceptionalism at its best in the sense that it embodied the country's belief that it had the responsibility to end international conflict according to its own plans, disregarding international law. In order to understand how the Manhattan Project embodied American Exceptionalism, a short overview of this idea is in order. Exceptionalism represents the notion that America has a special destiny different from that of other nations, an idea that permeates every period of American history. Although it was coined as an attempt to explain the special circumstances behind the birth of this nation by Alexis de Tocqueville in 1831, American exceptionalism has often been criticized as the reason behind actions such as the take over and bloody extermination of Native Americans' land the extermination of Native Americans and takeover of their land; the efforts to expand America's influence in the Middle East and Asia, or the self-assumed role of fighting against communism in the case of the Cold War. (Wikipedia, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism).

Hewlett, Richard G; Anderson, Oscar E. The New World, 1939/1946. Volume 1: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. Pennsylvania State University Press: 1962

Wikipedia. American Exceptionalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism

Wikipedia. The Manhattan Project. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project#Early_U.S._and_U.K._research.....