The San Francisco Nexus in World War II

This book provides a detailed historical account of how people and institutions of San Francisco and the Bay Area during World War II shaped the world we live in today. It discusses the invention of the atomic bomb, the migration of Black Americans to the San Francisco area, and the internment of Japanese Americans. In The San Francisco Nexus in World War II: Freedoms Found, Liberties Lost, and the Atomic Bomb, Meza tells the story of important events in the San Francisco Bay Area that have consequences still felt to date. He traces the invention of the atomic bomb, from a speculative design for a nuclear weapon sketched on a chalkboard at Berkeley by theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer and helped made real by “Big Science” that was pioneered by his friend and colleague, experimental physicist Ernest Lawrence. During this time, Black Americans migrated to San Francisco to escape the Jim Crow South, finding new freedoms, good jobs, and a leader in a singer-turned-welder named Joseph James. Meza shows how James fought for and won an end to segregation in his union, taking a large step toward the civil rights movement. At the same time, Japanese Americans were forced from their homes by a tragically misguided presidential executive order, upheld by the US Supreme Court, illustrating the fragility of liberty in America. These events continue to shape the world today.