From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   QUORA: WHY DIDN'T FDR INFORM HIS VP, HARRY TRUMAN, OF THE MANHATTAN PROJECT?   
   ---answered by Jon Mixon, Semi-pro historian. Updated May 8   
   Several reasons, including:   
      
   1. He didn’t pick him - Basically Roosevelt’s choice was his racist pal,   
   Jimmy Byrnes from South Carolina or, failing him, his current VP, Henry   
   Wallace to remain in place. The Northern Democrats didn’t like Byrnes, they   
   also had their fill of    
   Wallace and so Harry Truman was brought forth. Truman wasn’t â   
   œRoosevelt’s guyâ€� so he kept him in the dark about a number of issues.   
      
   2. Roosevelt didn’t trust Truman - As was shown a few short years later,   
   Truman was beholding to party bosses in Kansas City and Roosevelt was well   
   aware of that fact. Also since he didn’t choose him, he never felt that he   
   could completely trust him.   
      
   3. Roosevelt woefully underestimated how quickly his health was failing -   
   Roosevelt didn’t follow the minimal advice that he was receiving from his   
   personal physician who really wasn’t a very good doctor anyway. He continued   
   smoke, drink, and eat    
   poorly, in addition to failing to moderate his stress. As can be seen in   
   photos of him at Yalta February of 1945, he was very ill and he doesn’t seem   
   to have recognized that reality. He was dead less than two months later and   
   before he could inform    
   Truman of Manhattan.   
      
   4. He routinely kept secrets from his new VP - Truman had to find out about   
   Enigma (the cracking of the German military codes), Magic (The cracking of   
   Japan’s military and diplomatic codes) and assorted other classified matters   
   involving the    
   progression of the war. Basically Roosevelt seems to have believed that he   
   would survive until the end of the war and that Truman would never be in a   
   position TO know any of those things until afterward, if at all.   
      
   5. Roosevelt’s illnesses seem to affect his judgment - As noted by several   
   parties at the Yalta Conference Roosevelt seemed to be tired, listless, and   
   frankly not “on his gameâ€�. It’s unlikely that this behavior was solely   
   limited to the    
   conference and it seems probable that he was barely functioning when he   
   returned to the White House. A strong case might be made that he didn’t even   
   consider telling Truman because due to his poor health he didn’t even think   
   about it.   
      
   Anyway, Truman found about Manhattan and unfortunately due to Japan’s   
   decision to ignore the Potsdam declaration presented to it, decided to use it   
   in August of 1945.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)