this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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No, there is no Area 51. Damn. (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by DevCat@lemmy.world to c/politicalhumor@lemmy.ml
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[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It was one of the most important and costly projects of the war, 12 days is a lifetime during a war quite literally. That's also ignoring the fact that the vice president was kept in the dark until after FDR died and Truman took office.

[–] diverging@lemmy.ml 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That was the full briefing and Truman had been told about it earlier. And him not being told while he was vice president is irrelevant to information being withheld from a president.

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's dated April 24.

It's not, the administration by in large knew FDR was dying and would likely die before leaving office. Truman effectively was a president in waiting rather than a vice president.

[–] diverging@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

"I mentioned it to you shortly after you took office ..."

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes that he needed to speak about something important. Draw your own implication but it doesn't actually say what your implying it says.

[–] diverging@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The night Truman was sworn in as Roosevelt’s successor he noted in his diary that Stimson told him the U.S. was “perfecting an explosive great enough to destroy the whole world.”

And if you wanted to know what Truman thought of not being told as vice president. (from the same link)

On June 17, Truman received a phone call from Stimson, who told him that the Pasco plant was “part of a very important secret development.” Fortunately, Stimson did not need to explain further: Truman, a veteran and a patriot, understood immediately that he was treading on dangerous ground. Before Stimson could continue, Truman assured the secretary “you won t have to say another word to me. Whenever you say that [something is highly secret] to me that’s all I want to hear. If [the plant] is for a specific purpose and you think it’s all right, that’s all I need to know.” Stimson replied that the purpose was not only secret, but “unique.”

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yes there was a very ambiguous statement about a secret project, that's not the same as being read in.

What he was told about could have been a large conventional bomb like the grand slam, tallboy, or firebats which were also secret at the time, there's a pretty big difference between them. I imagine there was probably quite a bit of hyperbole from secret project directors just as there is today so that's not a super great metric to judge things on.

You failed to quote the July 25th 1945 entry when he wrote about what he was actually told and shown which is as far as I'm aware the first definitive proof he knew exactly what it was.

[–] diverging@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You failed to quote the July 25th 1945 entry

That's Truman's reaction to the trinity test and is irrelevant to when he was told about the research. Obviously he had a different reaction to the actual bomb compared to a hypothetical bomb, but I would think that would be expected.

[–] Madison420@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Yes the first mention of atomics and the first verified point he knew the full scale of the program, I just said this.