[cstross]

What Einstein did do for the Atomic Bomb was to co-sign Leo Szilard's letter which got the attention of President Eisenhower and kick-started the Manhattan Project.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein%E2%80%93Szilard_lette...

[chasil]

You mean Roosevelt, not Eisenhower.

[defrost]

It raised a flicker of polite interest that died, from your own link:

    The Advisory Committee on Uranium was the beginning of the US government's effort to develop an atomic bomb, but it did not vigorously pursue the development of a weapon.

What did move the needle, again from your link:

    The Frisch–Peierls memorandum and the British Maud Reports eventually prompted Roosevelt to authorize a full-scale development effort in January 1942.

In essence, the letter from Einstein did not start the Manhatten Project, it was instead the direct efforts and in person meetings of Oliphant:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Oliphant#Manhattan_Projec...

[bee_rider]

Einstein was, of course, a devout pacifist. It must have turned some heads that he argued for a bomb to be made.