This section of the script goes into the history of World War II and why Los Alamos was chosen as the site for the development of the atomic bomb. Remember, there was no town, only the Ranch School.

First, let’s talk about what war is. (Let the kids tell you their ideas. Use examples when you talk that are appropriate to their age group – humans have always fought; brothers and sisters fight; open armed conflict; violent opposition; a battle)

Why do wars happen? (Possession. To protect something you have, like land or freedom. Or to get something you want, like land or minerals or a seacoast.)

There have been lots of wars in the past 100 years but two very big ones…what do we call them? (WWI and WWII). These were called world wars because every country in the world was affected. Do any of you know if you grandparents fought in WWII? Or maybe your great-grandparents fought in WWI.

WWII is the war that is so important in Los Alamos history. Does anyone have any idea why we were fighting in WWII? (to keep something – our freedom, and to help our friends, particularly in Europe) Who were our enemies? (Hitler in Germany, Italy and Japan) Who were our allies? (England, China, Russia) The war had been going on for quite a while before we decided to enter the fighting, what happened that made us enter the war? (Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941)

What does all this have to do with Los Alamos? Scientists all over the world had been working on nuclear fission and knew there was a possibility of making a new weapon using this. Scientists who escaped from Hitler’s Germany said that people in Germany were working on such a weapon but no one knew for sure if such a thing could be built or if it would work. The scientists here believed that the U.S. could not take the chance of letting Hitler develop such a weapon first. They persuaded one of the world's best-known scientists, Albert Einstein, to write to President Roosevelt and explain the situation to him so that he would do something to help. The government then decided to build a special town where all the scientists concerned with this could work together. By being together, talking and sharing ideas, the work would go much faster than if they were scattered in different towns across the country. Scientists also came here from Canada and England. And that is how the idea for the town of Los Alamos began.

So the Army began looking for places to build the town. Can you think of why they chose Los Alamos? What kind of a place would you look for? Here’s what the Army wanted:

• A place that already had houses for about 30 scientists – at first they thought that that would be all the people they would need to build the bomb
• A place where the land was already owned by the government or else could be easily bought
• A place where who came and went could be easily controlled and watched
• A place isolated from other towns
• A place with mild winters so that outdoor work could continue year-round
• A place far from the coasts so that there would be little danger of surprise enemy attack

One of the men in charge of the development of the bomb suggested Los Alamos to the Army – do you know who he was? (J. R. Oppenheimer) There were two men in charge of Los Alamos – what was the other man’s name? (General Leslie Groves) Oppenheimer suggested this place because he had a ranch in the Pecos area and knew about the School and loved this area for hiking and riding. The Army also liked the place and so in December of 1942 they sent a letter to A.J. Connell explaining that the School was needed by the Army for the war effort and that the School had 6 weeks in which to move out.

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