Engineer District accordingly arranged the Crossroads test at Bikini
atoll.
‘Two bombs were detonated near a "fleet" consisting of captured
German and Japanese warships, a variety of other surface vessels, and
submarines.
For a public conditioned to equate the atamic bombs with
the devastation of entire cities, the comparatively few ships sunk or
damaged were a let-down.
“need
Afterwards,
to hold the Crossroads
test
some congressmen questioned the
at ali.4
A coordinated plan for
developing atomic weapons and investigating their effects would have to
wait until the new Catmission could organize.
The New Commission and the Cold War
The Atomic Energy Cammission officially assumed its duties on
Jamuary 1, 1947.
weapon
The Commission delegated responsibility for nuclear
development
to the
division
of
military
application.
The
division established programs for the research, development, and production of nuclear weapons, and interpreted military requirements for
the production of atomic bambs to the Commission.>
International events soon lent urgency to the weapon program.
Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union had split the
Grané Alliance of World War II and had begun the Cold War.
The Car
_ Mmunist guerillas under Mao Tse-Tung then brought China into the Scviet
orbit.
Simultaneously Cammmist guerrillas threatened to engult Greece
and perhaps the whole eastern Mediterranean.
A coup in February 1948
installed a Communist govermment in Czechoslovakia, and a few months
later the Soviets shut off the land routes to Berlin.
President Tran
equated Stalin with Hitler and determined to stand up to the Cammrst
threats.