“If I am not mistaken, I believe Szilard’s view was colored by the prospect of using the bomb against Japan. He had not voiced an objection to using it against Germany. Only after Germany surrendered did he become anti-nuclear.”
Haven’t learned enough about Leo Szilard to be sure, but I will gladly defer to okie01 on this. A passionate man and a standout among the leading scientists of his day, it would be very much in character for Dr Sz to have taken just such a stance.
Albert Einstein became a darling of anti-nuke movements and world-government activists thanks to a number of pithy remarks about the purported hopelessness of military measures, and what was perceived by the average citizen as ever-escalating levels of violence. But after more details were made public postwar, he ventured the opinion that the German nation should be dissolved. Or so I read in Walter Isaacson’s 2007 biography of Dr E.
My recollection is from The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes -- a thoroughly informative and entertaining work. Leo Szilard was certainly a leading character among the scientific cadre and seemed to be the source of constant insights about how to make the damn thing work.
An altogether fascinating man.