---
title: "What did the Einstein-Szilard letter warn President Roosevelt about in 1939?"  
description: "What did the Einstein-Szilard letter warn President Roosevelt about in 1939?"  
author: "Cox elliott"  
published: 2018-10-28  
canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/51402/what-did-the-einstein-szilard-letter-warn-president-roosevelt-about-in-1939  
category: "history, politics & society"  
tags: ["usa history"]  
reading_time: 2 minutes  

---

# What did the Einstein-Szilard letter warn President Roosevelt about in 1939?

What did the Einstein-Szilard letter warn [President Roosevelt](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/40968/what-tool-did-president-roosevelt-use-to-dismantle-trusts-and-monopolies-during-the-progressive-era) about in 1939?\
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## Answers

### Answer by Sarda Kumari

## An overview

Einstein had written to inform Roosevelt that recent r**esearch on fission chain reactions utilizing uranium** made it probable that **large amounts of power could be produced by a chain reaction** and that, by harnessing this power, the construction of **'extremely powerful bombs' was conceivable**.

![What did the Einstein-Szilard letter warn President Roosevelt about in 1939?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/8d70d309-120f-44b4-94f9-5a74632c468b/images/5dc9a8b0-bb08-4a5c-adf7-77f4021b155e.jpeg)

Read also: [**who-became-president-after-franklin-roosevelt-died?**](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/51400/who-became-president-after-franklin-roosevelt-died)

## Einstein and the German government

Einstein believed the German government was **actively supporting research in this area** and urged the United States government to do likewise. Sachs read from a cover letter he had prepared and briefed Roosevelt on the main points contained in Einstein's letter.

Initially, **the President was noncommittal and expressed concern** over locating the necessary funds, but at a second meeting over breakfast the next morning Roosevelt became convinced of the **value of exploring atomic energy.**

Einstein drafted his famous letter with the help of the **Hungarian émigré physicist Leo Szilard,** one of a number of **European scientists** who had fled to the United States in the 1930s **to escape Nazi and Fascist repression**. Szilard was among the most vocal of those advocating a program to develop bombs based on recent findings in nuclear physics and chemistry.

![What did the Einstein-Szilard letter warn President Roosevelt about in 1939?](https://answers.mindstick.com/questionanswer/8d70d309-120f-44b4-94f9-5a74632c468b/images/9b4d9da0-cf2c-4f5e-acd7-56cd6cb3070e.jpeg)\

Read also: [**who-made-the-final-decision-to-use-the-atomic-bomb-against-japan?**](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/41322/who-made-the-final-decision-to-use-the-atomic-bomb-against-japan)

## President Roosevelt's inaction

Those like **Szilard and fellow Hungaria**n refugee physicists **Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner** regarded it as their responsibility to alert Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb and **to warn that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon.**

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But Roosevelt, **preoccupied with events in Europe**, took over two months to meet with Sachs after receiving Einstein's letter. Szilard and his colleagues interpreted **Roosevelt's inaction as unwelcome evidence** that the **President did not take the threat of nuclear warfare seriously**.

Read also: [**on-what-date-did-the-japanese-bomb-pearl-harbor?**](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/39882/on-what-date-did-the-japanese-bomb-pearl-harbor)


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