There are still no clear-cut answers to these questions, decades after the end of the war. There probably never will be. The issues that they raise in the nuclear debate remain too polarizing. The one certainty is that the Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union deeply shaded politics in those decades. There is no debate, however, that the A bomb spurred many technical innovations in energy use that would not have happened without the race to develop the bomb.
There are still no clear-cut answers to these questions, decades after the end of the war. There probably never will be. The issues that they raise in the nuclear debate remain too polarizing. The one certainty is that the Cold War rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union deeply shaded politics in those decades. There is no debate, however, that the A bomb spurred many technical innovations in energy use that would not have happened without the race to develop the bomb.