Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World

Chris Wallace’s Countdown 1945 tells the story of the 116 days between Harry Truman’s installation as president of the United States and the nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The book’s 32 chapters shift between various locations important to the narrative. As the chapters advance, the time gaps between chapters get smaller and smaller until the final chapters tell the story of only days—or mere hours—at a time. While the book features dozens of figures, it concentrates on three main people: President Truman; the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer; and Colonel Tibbets, pilot of the strike plane Enola Gay. Throughout the narrative, the key figures wrestle with both the technicalities of their mission and the ethical dilemmas that surround the use of the atomic bomb.

This study guide uses the e-book edition of Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and 116 Days That Changed the World, published by Avid Reader Press in 2020.

Summary

The narrative opens with Harry Truman’s inauguration as president of the United States following the unexpected death of Franklin D. Roosevelt from heart failure. Truman was sworn in and almost immediately heard about a top-secret war project.