Created during WWII to build the first atomic bomb, the project was headed by General Leslie Groves and directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer. Following the successful building of a fission pile in a football stadium in Chicago, the Hanford Atomic Reservation was built, and thousands of scientists were sent to Los Alamos to build the bomb. The secrecy extended beyond wartime, creating a Cold War machine with little exposure to public opinion, and damage to US citizens and environment.