Courtesy of the (U.S. Naval Institute Photo Archive
Today is the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and the first use of an atomic bomb in war, in this case by the United States against Japan. That bomb, and one dropped days later on Nagasaki, brought a swift end to World War II but also ushered in the Cold War and a long proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Houston psychologist Dr. Leslie Schover explores the emotional and ethical weight her family carried during the war and in the decades later in a book slated for release in 2026 called Fission: A Novel of Atomic Heartbreak. Both of her parents were involved in the Manhattan Project, which developed the bombs.
For those like her parents, the scientific achievement was remarkable, but it also raised grave ethical questions. Her father, Donald Schover, was one of 67 people working on the bomb at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee who signed a petition imploring President Harry S. Truman not to use what they had helped to create without first staging a demonstration.
In a conversation with Houston Matters producer Brenda Valdivia, Leslie Schover, who is a contributor to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, talks about the forthcoming novel, the ethical concerns spawned by the atomic age, and the anecdotes from her parents about the Manhattan Project that form the basis of the story.
While the debate about using nuclear weapons on Japan was mixed, Donald Schover shared his concerns with his daughter.
She says her father eventually accepted the government’s claim that bombing Hiroshima prevented massive casualties, but he was angered by the attack on Nagasaki two days later. Knowing it used a plutonium bomb rather than uranium, he suspected the strike was meant to test its performance.
“ I think my father was probably fairly typical in that he thought that bombing Hiroshima wasn’t the best thing to do, but that it had saved lives,” Schover said. “My dad always felt, cynically, that the reason they bombed Nagasaki was to see how the plutonium bomb performed.”
You can hear Leslie Schover’s extended conversation with Brenda Valdivia in the audio above.
Donald Schover, an electronics technician with Dr. Charles Coryell’s group at the University of Chicago, and his wife, Janet Moss, were among the few civilians aware of the atomic bomb mission at the heart of the Manhattan Project. (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Leslie Schover)
Psychologist Leslie Shover surrounded by male colleagues. (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Leslie Schover)
Leslie Schover’s parents in a playful moment during an outing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The average age of those living in the town was under 28 years old. (Photo Credit: Courtesy of Leslie Schover)
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