This week on the Lectures in History podcast, University of Texas history professor Bruce Hunt,

delves into the development of nuclear weapons during World War II, including the pivotal role played by General Leslie Groves in overseeing the top secret project.

This hour and 15 minute lecture is part of the class

that takes a comprehensive look at the development of nuclear weapons, the U.S. decision to drop

the atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, and the post-war debates over arms control. More

in a moment. This week we are marking Founders Day at C-SPAN.

For 46 years, C-SPAN has been your unfiltered window into American democracy.

Public service access like this is never guaranteed.

As we look ahead, one thing is clear.

It takes all of us.

If you enjoy this C-SPAN podcast, please consider helping to fund a new era of C-SPAN.

Donate at c-h-span.org slash donate.

When FDR authorized the atomic bomb project in the fall of 1941, just before Pearl Harbor,

well, by the spring of 1942,

Vaniever Bush and James Cohnett were pondering

how big this project was going to get.

They were heading up the Office of Scientific Research and Development,

which was an office within the White House,

within the president's office.

And they saw that the project, which they gave the code name S-1, you'll see there's a number

of code names given to the atomic bomb project during the war.

But Conant and Bush saw at that point that it would cost, they thought, maybe $500 million. A lot of money. It turned out to be

...