From the Congo to Hiroshima: The colonial propaganda that powered the Manhattan Project

In this excerpt from “Tales of Militant Chemistry,” Alice Lovejoy exposes how the need for uranium during WWII led the Allied governments to turn a blind eye to colonial exploitation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Uranium’s sudden wartime value transformed it from a byproduct into a strategic resource, driving the United States to secure as much Congolese ore as it could.

• The Belgian Congo’s vast mineral wealth was extracted through brutal colonial labor systems, with Congolese miners exposed to extreme radiation and exploitation.

• To maintain control over its colony, Belgium launched a transatlantic propaganda campaign portraying imperial exploitation as modern progress, masking the violence that drove the resource extraction.