Two of the most important events of the 20th Century took place on July 16. The most recent happened in 1969, when the Apollo 11 launched. Four days later, Americans were transfixed at the sight — on live television! — of man walking on the moon. The space program has changed our lives in many ways.
The other event took place 24 years earlier. It was on July 16, 1945, that the first atomic bomb was detonated near Alamogordo, N.M. President Harry Truman was in Potsdam, East Germany, at the time. He was sent a telegram announcing the news which read: “DOCTOR…MOST ENTHUSIASTIC AND CONFIDENT THAT THE LITTLE BOY IS AS HUSKY AS HIS BIG BROTHER…I COULD HAVE HEARD HIS SCREAMS FROM HERE….”
Which was the more momentous event: our conquest of space or our discovery of nuclear power? Which brought more benefits to mankind? The experts have been arguing about it ever since they happened.