Discussion Question #1
Why do you think Harry Gold provided sensitive information to the Russians? Could there be spies in Crawford County collecting sensitive information for another country's benefit?
Why do you think Harry Gold provided sensitive information to the Russians? Could there be spies in Crawford County collecting sensitive information for another country's benefit?
Discussion Question #2
The chapter, “Quiet Fellow,” ends with the following statement: “It was a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life.” What is the meaning of the word haunt as it is used in the previous sentence? Why do you think Sheinkin used this statement at this point in the book? What could he be telling his audience?
Discussion Question #3
On page 113, we learn that twenty-six Norwegian civilians were killed when Knut Haukelid and his commandos sank the ferry carrying the German heavy water. What are your thoughts and feelings about loss of innocent lives during any war?
Discussion Question #4
Why is it important that you understand the different perspectives regarding the use of weapons of mass destruction?
Blog 1 Group 7
ReplyDeleteJaylah, Cameron, Jalyne, and I want to thank you for taking the time to converse with us and to listen and to read our responses to the blog questions.
Question #1
Harry Gold provided sensitive information to the Russians because he wanted to repay Black for everything he did for him in the time of The Great Depression, but as time continued, Gold was roped into the spy life and could no longer escape. In Steve Sheinkin’s book, Bomb: A Race to Build - and Steal - The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, he explicitly stated on pages twenty-four and twenty-five, “ He was thankful to Black for getting him a job and wanted to repay the debt. Also, Gold had what he described as ‘an almost puppy-like eagerness to please.’”. This textual evidence shows that Gold wanted to thank Black in return for what he did and thought that giving Black the information was a harmless way to do so. Sheinkin also explicitly stated on pages twenty-five and twenty-six, “Should Gold ever get the idea of walking away from the Soviets, Fred assured Gold his boss would get an anonymous note all about Gold’s illegal activities.” This piece of textual evidence proves that if Gold ever tried to escape he would lose his job, and he could even lose his freedom. We can infer that if Gold had known that the spy business would get this out of hand, he would have never done it he was pleaser and never wanted to hurt people. In our best judgement, if Gold had known that the information he was giving out could have killed thousands maybe even millions, he would have never let himself get roped in with the Soviets no matter how much he wanted to thank Black. What are your thoughts?
Question #2
There is a chance that spies could be collecting information for the benefit of others. On the website, CrawfordCountyil.com, it explicitly stated that the four following companies are some of the major corporations in Crawford County: Dana Corporation, Lincoln Land, Marathon, and Flying S Inc. Crawford County has many corporations that foreign spies could take information from to better their own country. One example is Flying S Inc. There, employees work on prototypes for planes and drones. These prototypes may hold important information that others may want. If so, people may want this for themselves to use or use against our country. We could guess that spies would be more likely to be in Crawford County because of how normal and unsuspicious our county is since it is a smaller county that is made up of mostly farmers and factory workers. In the end, it is very possible that spies are taking our information or even working in our factories; yes, even with decent security that our companies have, would they even stop spies? Do you think there are spies?
Jaylah, Jalyne, Cameron, and I look forward to your response.
Hi Jaylah, Cameron and Jalyne. I am looking forward to blogging with you on this project.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Harry Gold provided sensitive information to the Russians because it was in his personality to please and he needed to help his family. So in turn he did feel obligated to "repay" Mr. Black for getting him a job. At first it seemed innocent enough but look at how the situation "snowballed" and at that point Harry thought he had no other choice but to continue in what he was doing. We all have choices to make but it is the consequences of those choices that we don't want to deal with that is sometimes what gets us into bigger and more complicated situations. Afterall, Harry was a chemist, did he not realize how the information that he was providing could be used? Something to ponder, at what point do you no longer compromise your beliefs and values once you see where the situation is going?
I agree that there could be spies in Crawford County. We have several industries as you all mentioned above that their information could be of interest to others. Probably would be amazed how many are really out there looking at information. Security measures are in place and taken but as we know nothing is foolproof. However, I do feel that it might be harder to blend in in Crawford County due to the fact that it is smaller and it seems like people know more of what is going on with others.
In the book, Black made it seem to Gold as if the information he wanted was not harmful to the U.S. as well as Soviet citizens. Black characterized the information he wanted from Gold as helpful. Gold did not realize that instead of helping he was causing harm to others until it was too late.
ReplyDeleteThe way the book explains Gold’s intentions leads us to believe that if Gold realized that he was causing harm, he would have stopped. On the other hand, Gold started to sense that what he was doing was wrong and harmful, but the reason Gold agreed to start working with Black was to help his family, so stopping this far in would cause him to get fired, and he could no longer provide for his family like he felt he needed.
We look forward to our next blog.
ReplyDeleteBlog #2 Group 7
The word ‘haunt’ as it is used in the sentence, “It was a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life.” means that Oppenheimer would constantly feel guilty for his actions, as this decision would follow him around for the rest of his life. Sheinkin used this statement in this point of the book to foreshadow upcoming events and to keep us intrigued. Sheinkin is telling his audience to be careful of your decisions and because of Oppenheimer's decision, it could come back and effect him in negative ways. In Steve Sheinkin’s book, Bomb: the Race to Build -and Steal- the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, he explicitly stated on page sixty-five, “Oppenheimer chose not to tell General Groves that he’d been approached by the Soviets.” This textual evidence backs up our claim by proving his decision was not chosen wisely, and he should have told Groves what had happened because if this incident is investigated by the FBI, it would be very suspicious. Sheinkin also stated on page thirty, “Could a citizen be a Communist and a loyal American at the same time? The FBI thought not. So agents watched known Communists like Chevalier, paying special attention to their friends and associates.” This textual evidence also backs up our claim by describing that being associated with a known Communist while either on the brink of war or even in the middle of a war where the Soviet Union is not exactly on your side would not put one in a very profitable position with the FBI. One can infer that Oppenheimer did not make a wise decision by not telling Groves that a Communist confronted him. We can conclude that telling Groves would give Oppenheimer a reputation and bring major trouble, but waiting for Groves and the FBI to find out themselves would be even worse. It would make it seem that Oppenheimer was hiding the fact that he was talking to a Communist about sharing information. What are your thoughts?
We look forward to your reply.
I think that the author's "haunt" statement is a foreshadowing of negative consequences yet to be realized by Dr. Oppenheimer. Dr. Oppenheimer, it seemed, was always under suspicion no matter what he said or did. He was all ready under suspicion by Pachs and knew that would just lead to further questions and a delay in the project and he did not want to jeopardize the progress, so he kept quiet. I think the author put this in at this time to make you think about what one decision can lead to.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response, we look forward to blog #3.
ReplyDeleteBlog #3 Group #7
ReplyDeleteOn page 110 Sheinkin added, “Haukelid relayed the details to British intelligence in London, saying that the job would be tricky and might result in the loss of civilian lives.” Jalyne, Cameron, Jaylah, and I think and feel that taking innocent lives during a time of conflict is necessary, in the sense that if taking a few civilian lives will save more lives in the long run, it is necessary. While we agree that taking civilian life for the greater good is necessary, we also believe that killing civilians could destroy a family. September 11, 2001... it was a day of destruction… a day of remembrance… a day of bravery. We understand that the terrorist group al-Qaeda planned a series of attacks on the U.S. One of the attacks was a hijack of Flight 93. The hijackers were aiming for the White House attempting to take out the most popular and most important building in the U.S. as well as killing the president’s family and everybody else inside the White House. Sometime in the flight the CIVILIANS aboard the plane risked their lives for the greater good and fought to regain control and crashed in a field killing everyone on board. This event caused many families to never be the same again. This event backs up our claim by proving that the loss of civilian lives in a time of conflict is very heartbreaking, but also necessary to keep other lives out of jeopardy. One can guess that if Haukiled and his crew had not stopped the Hydro carrying the heavy water, Hitler may have successfully obtained the A-Bomb before the U.S. resulting in millions of civilian deaths rather than the twenty-six who died in the Hydro incident. In the end, taking civilian lives is devastating, especially for the families, but in most major conflicts, they are a necessary task that could determine whether a couple civilian lives are lost, or possibly millions of civilian lives be taken from the world forever.
What are your thoughts?
Hello Group!
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with you all on this. Great job on explaining your opinion and backing it up. It would be great to never have civilian causalities, but unfortunately, it is simply the reality of war. Think of all the innocent lives that had already been taken by Hitler so for the "greater good" hard decisions and choices were made to prevent many more innocent lives from being taken.
Look forward to the next blog. Keep up the good work.
Susan
Our group thanks you for your response. Yes, it was a sensitive, but necessary, question since we had to think of civilian lives.
ReplyDeleteWe are working on blog 4, and it is massive! We look forward to your thoughts.
Blog #4 Group 7
ReplyDeleteIt is important that we understand the different perspectives regarding the use of weapons of mass destruction because if you make a decision or choose a side, you need to take into account others’ thoughts as well as yours and choose the correct path to take. In the book, Bomb: The Race To Build-And Steal-The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, Sheinkin explains the following four perspectives: scientific, military, political, and those of the Japanese civilians. Again, it is important to understand these perspectives in order to figure out where we stand.
To begin, some scientists like Oppenheimer felt responsible for the tragedy and devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because of this, he believed as well as many other scientists that weapons of mass destruction should not be used. Sheinkin explicitly stated on page 217, “ ‘I feel I have blood on my hands,’ Oppenheimer told Truman.” This textual evidence backs up our claim by proving that Oppenheimer felt that by building this bomb he directly killed hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. We infer that the scientists felt responsible so it is important that we understand the science behind the bombs and their true impact on the human race.
Next is the military perspective. Groves and others with military backgrounds believed that the bomb was a great invention and we, the U.S, needed as many massive bombs as possible. Sheinkin explicitly added on page 214, “In other words, Groves wanted Oppenheimer to get in the lab and make more bombs.” The textual evidence backs up our claim by proving that military men, like Groves, wanted their hands on as many bombs as possible, and in the shortest amount of time. One could guess that the military wanted to intimidate the Soviets into backing out of the arms race. It is important that we understand the military perspective, because it shows that with a military background you think in the sense that power means safety, which lets non-military families see what others think about massive weapons.
Not only does Sheinkin want us to know about the scientific and military perspectives, but he also wants us to know about the political perspective. The politicians believed that they needed to achieve the bomb before the Soviet’s so the voters would not blame the president for losing the race for the bomb. Sheinkin explicitly states on page 232 , “And as always, there was a political angle. If the Soviets obtained the hydrogen bomb first, then American voters might blame the presidents who’d let it happen.” This textual evidence backs up our claim proving that Truman was sure the voters would be displeased if the Soviet Union built a bomb, capable of killing thousands, before them. One could say that Truman was more worried about his job than the future consequences of using this weapon of mass destruction. It is important that we understand political perspectives because whoever is president has an amazing responsibility so when we vote one day, we need to vote for someone who shares our opinions on weapons of mass destruction.
ReplyDeleteMost importantly, Sheinkin wanted us to understand the Japanese civilians perspective on the dropping of the atomic bomb. They were shocked and in complete devastation with what happened when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Sheinkin explicitly states on page 204, “Yoshio Nishina toured Hiroshima on August 8. ‘I decided at a first glance,’ he said ‘that nothing but and atomic bomb could have created such devastation.’” Nishina’s quote backs up our claim by showing that the Japanese were devastated at the amount of destruction caused by one bomb. Sheinkin also adds on page 204, “The moment he stepped of the plane, Arisue was hit with the horrid stench of burning flesh,” This sentence shows the pain and suffering inflicted upon the innocent Japanese civilians. One could assume that the Japanese citizens did not believe that something with such power could ever be dropped onto them. It is important that we understand the Japanese perspective because there are still weapons of mass destruction in today’s society. We need to be aware of the consequences of dropping the atomic bomb. We do not want to be victims like the Japanese civilians.
Overall, Sheinkin wants us to understand that just because you or someone else believes something does not mean that it is the only right answer. What this means to us is that when a decision is to be made, you have to consider all sides of the decision along with the benefits and consequences. We must be educated before making a sound judgement.
I agree with you all on this issue. I believe the different perspectives show us how differently other people feel about the decisions that were made and how that will effect them going forward. As we can see different influences were placed on the groups that drove them to do what they did. The scientists were just trying to create something new, the politicians were trying to stop Hitler and his reign of power and the military were just carrying out the orders they were given. Luckily all working together accomplished the task but as you can see affected each one involved differently. As individuals we each have our own reasons and rationale for making a decision. But before we make a decision, vote or offer an opinion we need to educate ourselves on issues so we aren't just going along with what others are doing or saying, be independent thinkers and make decisions for yourselves but also see the bigger picture in the end. Life is complex, every day we have decisions/choices to make regarding how to make this world a better place some will be on a small scale and some will be on a larger scale.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. It's important for us to think things out and not to follow a leader blindly. We look forward to blog 5.
ReplyDeleteGroup #7 Blog #5
ReplyDeleteThe summary of the conclusion on page 236 means that, yes, the atomic bomb shows what teamwork can do, but, in this case, teamwork made has the capability of making our entire species extinct. In the book, Bomb: The Race To Build -And Steal- The World’s Most Dangerous Weapon, the author, Steve Sheinkin, explicitly stated on page 204, “Of the 76,000 buildings that had stood two days before, 70,000 were completely destroyed. About 70,000 people were dead already. Over 100,000 more would die of wounds, burns, and radiation poisoning.” This textual evidence backs up our claim by proving that the bomb back then was capable of killing hundreds of thousands of people. One can guess that back in WWII technology was nowhere near what it is today and the atomic bomb has been upgraded tremendously. In the end, the summary provided means that the atomic bomb will never disappear, and with the upgrades on the bomb, if one was dropped not only would it affect the humans in the vicinity of the bomb drop, it would also affect humans all over the world… possibly being the end of humanity.
I agree. I also believe Sheinkin was basically saying that while the story is one of great collaboration which demonstrated the determination and genius of the people involved came with consequences and lasting effects that generations would have to deal with from that day on, even though it was a victory and necessity at that given moment in time. This shows us that we are affected by decisions made in the past and present so we need to be proactive and educated in our own thinking and decisions because we don't really know exactly what the potential of those consequences can be. All decisions, no matter how big or small have lasting impacts that we all must live with and deal with. With great power comes great responsibility!!! Use your choices (power) wisely. Jacob, Cameron, Jalyne and Jaylah it has been a pleasure corresponding with you.
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