| Altre tabs | The United States had been the sole possessor of atomic weapons since 1945, but the Soviet Union was rapidly developing its own bomb (successfully tested in August 1949, just three months after Einstein’s speech).
He was the menace of mass destruction’s greatest opponent. He saw the fire he helped start, and he spent the rest of his life trying to build a bucket brigade in a hurricane of fear. The United States had been the sole possessor
Einstein’s journey to this speech began in 1939 with a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, warning that Nazi Germany might develop an atomic bomb. This letter helped trigger the Manhattan Project. However, after witnessing the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Einstein felt a profound sense of "guilt and responsibility" for the destruction his scientific theories had helped unleash. The Speech: November 11, 1947 Einstein’s journey to this speech began in 1939