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FDR authorizes the Manhattan Engineering District for the purpose of creating an atomic bomb. This would later be called the 'Manhattan Project'.
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Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and the United States enters World War II.
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Colonel Leslie Groves is placed in charge of the Manhattan Project. J. Robert Oppenheimer becomes the Project's Scientific Director.
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Japan becomes the primary target for any future atomic bomb according to the Military Policy Committee of the Manhattan Project.
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The world's first atomic detonation takes place in the 'Trinity Test' at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
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President Truman orders atomic bombs to be used.
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Potsdam Declaration is rejected by Japan.
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Carried by a plane named Enola Gay, Little Boy, a uranium bomb, is detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. It kills between 90,000 and 100,000 people immediately. Harry Truman's Press Release.
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The second atomic bomb to hit Japan, Fat Man, was scheduled to be dropped at Kokura. However, because of poor weather the target was moved to Nagasaki.
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Japan announces its formal surrender. This event was an important move in the Cold War because it immediatly ended the war with Japan and provided for the United States victory and revenge against Japan.
