“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War II

A physician who worked on the development of the atomic bomb, Philip Morrison summarizes the process that led to the invention of the bomb and the rationale behind how it was used. Regarding the bomb today, Philip says, “End the arms race. It sounds like a slogan, but it happens to be the last best hope” (516).

Marnie and her husband were both engineers enlisted to work on the atomic bomb. She recollects how working on the bomb and the dehumanization of the Japanese embittered her to the reality of the bombings. At the end of her narrative, she mentions that her adult sons do not believe there is a future because of the prospect of nuclear war.

John H. Grove did not regret dropping the bombs on Japan. He says, “I felt that our survival as a nation, as a democracy, was really at stake” (524). Still, he dreads the prospect of nuclear annihilation.