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...
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