The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb

Conclusion

The Manhattan Project, its wartime mission completed, gave way to the civilian Atomic Energy Commission. How well the Atomic Energy Commission would be able to manage the nuclear arsenal in a Cold War environment and whether it could successfully develop the peaceful uses of atomic energy, only time would tell. What was clear as the Atomic Energy Commission took over at the beginning of 1947 was that the success of the Manhattan Project had helped cement the bond between basic scientific research and national security. Science had gone to war and contributed mightily to the outcome. The challenge confronting American policy makers in the postwar years was to enlist the forces of science in the battle to defend the peace.

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