The Hydrogen Bomb

I picked to learn about the hydrogen bomb and how it was viewed by the people at the time it was created for the topic of my project. I was really excited about this topic because I knew that atomic bombs and hydrogen bombs are different but I didn’t know how. I also knew that they were both WMDs and those kinds of things interest me. It was not hard finding information on this subject because as it turns out, many people like me were interested in WMDs too.

(Dr. Teller)

After reading Engineering and Science Monthly, I learned that there was a lot of debating going on between the people about if the hydrogen bomb should be made or not. The majority of the public thought that the creation of this WMD was completely immoral while others thought that it was a strategic way to stop war from occurring. I also found out that when scientists started telling the public what they were creating the people started becoming very frightened because many thought that it would lead to more bad than good. I liked this source because it not only told what was going on at the time but it also tells how the public felt about what was going on.

(Teller's Design)

I wanted to find out how large the explosion of the hydrogen bomb really was so I went to BBC News. What I found out absolutely shocked me. I learned that the hydrogen bomb was supposedly 1,000 times the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during WWII. When they tested the explosion according to the BBC, “One of the atolls has been totally vaporized, disappearing into a gigantic mushroom cloud that spread at least 100 miles wide and dropping back to the sea in the form of radioactive fall-out.” The U.S. created the first hydrogen bomb by using Dr. Teller’s design for the bomb. I liked the website because it was a different countries point of view of what was going on.

(U.S.)

After learning about how much destruction that just one of these bombs could cause, I wanted to find out why the hydrogen bomb was built. I found out the Harry S. Truman was the president at the time that gave the okay to start the creation of the hydrogen bomb. I did some research and found the New York Times newspaper that was printed the day that Truman made his announcement to the public. He says that as president it was his job “to see to it that our country is able to defend itself against any possible aggressor.” I also found out, from a more recent New York Times newspaper, that the U.S. did not immediately start the construction of the hydrogen bomb after WWII. It wasn’t until 1949 when Truman ordered the creation of the hydrogen bomb because the U.S. found out that the Soviets were successful in their attempt to make and detonate an atomic bomb. I enjoyed reading both of these newspapers because one was from the day the hydrogen bomb was detonated and the other was more recent and it was interesting seeing the difference from back then to now.

(Stages of H-Bomb)

After learning all of this information it still wasn’t enough. I wanted to know how on earth one bomb could possibly cause that much destruction. After doing some more research I found out, from a website on Nuclear Weapon Effects, that the explosion had three parts to it. The first part is the blast. It takes up 50% of the energy from the bomb. The second was the thermal radiation, which took up 35% of the energy. The last step was the nuclear radiation using up the last 15%. According to FAS, the last 15% leaves residual nuclear radiation a few minutes after the blast which is the dangerous part of fallout. I liked this website because it was the only website that I found that gave accurate statistics and told what exactly happens from the blast to the final product of the hydrogen bomb being detonated.

After finding out all this information, I wondered if a hydrogen bomb had ever been used before or if it was only tested. I did some research and found out that luckily it had only been tested and never used on anyone before. I wanted to see this for myself so I went onto youtube and found a video of the TSAR testing it out and I was shocked. It was quite the experiencing seeing one of these go off from far away. I have posted the video here and I hope that there will never come a time when this weapon will be necessary to use.

Hyperlinking

Research Project Link

History Contract

The Great Depression

Photographer: Walker Evans

Picture: A tenant on East Sixty-first Street, probably between First and Second avenues.

I chose this picture out of all the others pictures that Evans took because I think that it shows the most about how the Great Depression was. Walker Evan's goal was to capture what people saw everyday in regular neighborhoods during the Great Depression and he did exactly that. From this picture I see a man that, from the way he is dressed, seems to usually be a pretty happy guy that is now "depressed". Instead of being at work in the middle of the day he is sitting in front of a house on the steps all alone and doing nothing. From what we have learned about the Great Depression this picture is right on. It sums up exactly how many people had been during that time and he did it as simply as possible.

Sacco and Vanzetti

(Website)

I picked to do my project on Sacco and Vanzetti!!!!!!! I did not have a hard time finding information on these guys because I found out that, back in the day, they were a pretty big deal. I found out that they were both charged with the murder of a paymaster in Braintree, Massachusetts during the Red Scare from my text book. They also could not speak English so they could not argue their case.

(Website)

After reading The Progressive, I found out that no matter what rank officer someone was they all knew that the verdict was going to be that of guilt for both Sacco and Vanzetti. Reading this made me a little bit mad because I do not think that is very fair at all. I mean these guys couldn’t even speak English and they are being accused of killing someone when there was no real evidence against them at all! The government just needed someone to blame.

(Website)

I wanted to figure out how big of a deal these guys really were and the impact that they had on the people during that time period and how they are affecting our time period. To figure this out I went to an article called Remembering Sacco and Vanzetti. I learned that mass rallies took place in many different cities on the day of the execution. For decades after the tragedy people gathered to mark the date of the execution and recently in 2002 there was a rally for the 75^th anniversary.

(Website)

I found out that the reason that they specifically were accused of the murder was because they were selling Luigi Galleani's Cronaca Sovversiva, which was an anarchist newspaper that advocated the murder. That is completely insane. They did absolutely nothing wrong. All they did was sell a newspaper and because of it they got the death sentence.

(Website)

I did not know who this Luigi Galleani was so I did some research. I learned that Galleani was an influential Italian anarchist of the early 20^th century. He was an accomplished radical orator, strongly charismatic, and inspired countless followers among his Italian comrades. Obviously he inspired two people too many to sell his newspapers...

(Website)

I personally think that this was completely wrong and incredibly immoral. If this was to happen in modern times it would never work. This was completely made up just to find someone to take the blame when it needed to be passed out. I can not believe that this happened in America and it makes me sick just thinking about it.

Done with the Great White Fleet

I'm done!

The Great White Fleet Making Postcards

I got all of my pictures from this website. I got all my information from this website. I am now about to make my Postcards. :)

The Great White Fleet

I read about the Great White Fleet on this website. I learned where the fleet went to and when they went there. I also learned that they left just a few days before Christmas!