Why would the heads of the Manhattan Project have been imprisoned in the event of its failure?
Upvote:8
It was a figure of speech.
What Stimson was saying that if the Manhattan Project had been a $2 billion "dud," most people would have considered that "criminal."
And looking for scapegoats to blame, such as himself and General Groves. "Incarceration" was probably putting too strongly, but they would likely have been "pilloried" by public opinion.
Upvote:10
It is a mere reflection of the lingering doubts still retained by these non-scientific personnel about the veracity of the science; that somehow the scientists had pulled a fast one on everybody and it was all a big joke. If that had happened there would no doubt have been charges of fraud, and possibly treason.
No scientist working on the project had the least doubt about the science, as witness the memoirs of Richard Feynman: Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman
Note that scaling by the Consumer Price Index values for 2014 (700) and 1945(54) converts that $2B (1945 $) into roughly $26B (2014 $).
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