Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard leaves Europe, eventually arriving in the United States. With the help of Einstein, he persuades the government to build an atomic bomb. The project is given to no-nonsense Gen. Leslie Groves who selects physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to head the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, where the bomb is built. As World War II draws to a close, Szilard has second thoughts about atomic weapons, and policy makers debate how and when to use the bomb.

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Brian Dennehy
Gen. Leslie Groves

David Strathairn
J. Robert Oppenheimer

Michael Tucker
Leo Szilard

Hume Cronyn
James F. Byrnes

Richard Dysart
President Harry S. Truman

Hal Holbrook
Gen. George Marshall

Barnard Hughes
Henry Stimson

John McMartin
Dr. Arthur Compton

David Ogden Stiers
Franklin D. Roosevelt