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Albert Einstein’s most powerful public reflection on the atomic bomb and his role in its creation failed to auction on this week. According to its Bonhams lot listing, the archival document was appraised for $100,000—$150,000. Prominent Japanese magazine Kaizō published the five-paragraph typewritten letter in 1953, marking one of the few times the famed physicist openly discussed nuclear weaponry’s cataclysmic power and how he saw himself in the new Atomic Age.
Einstein never worked directly on developing the world’s first atomic bomb for the United States, but its shadow loomed over his life’s work. The technology created to harness nuclear fission is largely indebted to his revolutionary breakthroughs in the world of physics, and Einstein knew winning World War II required beating Nazi Germany in the race to build a nuclear weapon. This sense of urgency culminated in a 1939 letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt written by fellow physicist Leo Szilard and signed by Einstein.
“Certain aspects of the situation which has arisen seem to call for watchfulness and, if necessary, quick action on the part of the Administration,” Einstein famously explained to FDR. “I believe therefore that it is my duty to bring to your attention the following facts and recommendations.”
The ensuing information and suggestions helped convince the president to approve the nuclear program—the powers and horrors of which were demonstrated six years later at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
One major exception
The tragic consequences ultimately haunted Einstein for the rest of his life. In 1946, Time published a cover depicting him in front of a mushroom cloud labelled “E=MC².” The following year, Newsweek labeled him the “Godfather of the Atomic Age.” Einstein, meanwhile, repeatedly distanced himself from his part in the bomb’s development. But even so, the physicist generally refrained from going into much detail about his feelings on the issue.
There was one major exception. In 1952, Kaizō’s editor Katsu Hara sent a series of questions to Einstein about his part in the atom bomb’s birth. Hara’s motivation potentially stemmed from knowing Einstein’s longstanding appreciation of both Japan and Kaizō, ever since the magazine’s publisher invited him for a series of lectures in 1922. But this relationship didn’t stop Hara from getting to the point.
“Why did you co-operate with the production of the atomic bomb although you were aware of its tremendous destructive power?” the editor’s letter to the scientist pointedly concluded.
The following year, the Allied Powers’ Civil Censorship Detachment lifted its ban on showing images from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, allowing the world its first glimpses of the terrifying aftermath. This, coupled with Einstein’s relationship with the country, possibly helped push him to give his only known public rumination on the topic.
The letter
Einstein opened his response by repeating his belief that he contributed very little to the overall development of a nuclear weapon, but knew of its grave ramifications from the very beginning:
My participation in the production of the atombomb [sic] consisted in a single act: I signed a letter to President Roosevelt. This letter stressed the necessity of large scale experimentation to ascertain the possibility of producing an atom bomb.
I was well aware of the dreadful danger for all mankind, if these experiments would succeed. But the probability that the Germans might work on that very problem with good chance of success prompted me to take that step. I did not see any other way out, although I always was a convinced pacifist. To kill in war time, it seems to me, is in no ways better than common murder.
Einstein also voiced his frustration with society’s seemingly constant compulsion to “prepare for war.”
“They feel moreover compelled to prepare for the most abominable means, in order not to be left behind in the general armaments race,” he wrote. “Such a procedure leads inevitable to war, which, in turn, under today’s conditions, spells universal destruction.”
The letter closes with Einstein’s admiration of Mahatma Gandhi, who was assassinated just four years earlier after leading India to its independence from British colonial rule.
“Gandhi, the greatest political genius of our time has shown the way… a living example that man’s will, sustained by an indomitable conviction is stronger than apparently invincible material power,” concluded Einstein.
One great mistake
Although Einstein’s letter in Kaizō marks his most detailed public thoughts on nuclear power, he continued to discuss the matter privately. This included a six-letter correspondence with the Japanese philosopher Seiei Shinohara that further explored his beliefs as a “convinced pacifist.”
“While I am a convinced pacifist, there are circumstances in which I believe the use of force is appropriate—namely in the face of an enemy unconditionally bent on destroying me and my people,” he told Shinohara.
Across both his public and private lives, however, Einstein seemed to never forgive his “single act” in 1939.
“I made one great mistake in my life when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made…” he wrote in his diary in November 1954, less than a year before he died.
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