The enormous effort-called the Manhattan Project-that produced the world's first atomic bomb was supposed to be the best kept secret of World War II. And the Project's Los Alamos, New Mexico site where the bomb was perfected was supposed to have the tightest security of the project's other 37 installations across the United States. Even the vice president, Harry S. Truman, was kept in the dark initially until fate propelled him into the fray. But...