Full Description
In The San Francisco Nexus in World War II: Freedoms Found, Liberties Lost, and the Atomic Bomb, Meza tells the story of important events in the San Francisco Bay Area that have consequences still felt to date. He traces the invention of the atomic bomb, from a speculative design for a nuclear weapon sketched on a chalkboard at Berkeley by theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer and helped made real by "Big Science" that was pioneered by his friend and colleague, experimental physicist Ernest Lawrence. During this time, Black Americans migrated to San Francisco to escape the Jim Crow South, finding new freedoms, good jobs, and a leader in a singer-turned-welder named Joseph James. Meza shows how James fought for and won an end to segregation in his union, taking a large step toward the civil rights movement. At the same time, Japanese Americans were forced from their homes by a tragically misguided presidential executive order, upheld by the US Supreme Court, illustrating the fragility of liberty in America. These events continue to shape the world today.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: The Crucible by the Bay
Chapter 2: Bridging the New World
Chapter 3: Gold Comes to Berkeley
Chapter 4: Making the Desert Bloom
Chapter 5: A Hit on Treasure Island
Chapter 6: Fission from the Old World
Chapter 7: Panic in California
Chapter 8: Drumbeat to Internment
Chapter 9: Developing the Means
Chapter 10: Sketching the Atomic Bomb
Chapter 11: A National Disgrace
Chapter 12: Nearer to Free: Black Migration to San Francisco
Chapter 13: The Baritone Who Broke the Jim Crow Union
Chapter 14: Out of LeConte and Into Los Alamos
Chapter 15: The World Comes to San Francisco
Chapter 16: Jack Kennedy Present at the Creation
Chapter 17: Trinity and After
Chapter 18: Gold in Peace, Iron in War
Bibliography
About the Author
