03-01-2011, 08:28 AM
RgrF wrote:
[quote=rankandfile]
[quote=seeing.the.unseeable]
[quote=rankandfile] "This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action. It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder."
Sorry to continue the OT element of this thread, but I can't help but think how ironic it si that Einstein's other achievements are so often overshadowed by his significant and direct contribution to "so base an action."
I understand why he did what he did, and why the U.S. did what it did - my grandfather worked with him on the Manhattan Project - but I also understand his qualified regrets ex post facto.
It's my understanding that Einstein was never cleared to work on the Manhattan Project.
He was responsible for alerting FDR to the German splitting of the uranium atom.
He never spoke directly or privately with FDR so to assert he alerted him is a stretch.
FDR and Einstein
Not a stretch at all.
He wrote him a letter, Aug. 2, 1939.
I have several sources. Here's one:
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Docs/Begin/Einstein.shtml