Regarding Richard Rhodes's "Why We Should Preserve the Manhattan Project" (May/June 2007 Bulletin), the development of the atomic bomb and the introduction of this new energy source surely must be close to the top of significant events in the 20th century. Perhaps it will even be of millennial importance. Those who read about the Manhattan Project in the future can endlessly debate its importance, good and bad, but who could walk and view the sites without feeling the grandeur--or at least the wonder-- of what men and women can accomplish when united in effort?
The scientists who developed the theories and the applications will be recognized in their fields forever. But it was more ordinary people working together who constructed the isolated sites, gathered the ingredients, and actually built the Bomb. I would compare my feeling in the presence of these sites to my feeling while standing in the fields at Gettysburg, wondering at the direction or misdirection of ordinary people united for a cause.
How will history judge the Manhattan Project? We are in the midst of trying times, but I am optimistic that these sites will be celebrated positively, not lost in the desert as unimportant.
Ralph Gates Park City, Utah
