Considering the time period this took place in, I believe that it was appropriate. It was a time of war and the United States and its allies needed to do something and have a weapon to protect themselves and end the war. Of course if something like that were to go on now when there really isn't a major world war going on, I wouldn't say that it's ethical. But because of the situation, the Manhattan Project was, in my mind, an appropriate step for the United States and the Allies to make.
I would have to say it was indeed ethical.
The U.S. Was fighting Germany as well as Japan, and the people involved on working on the bomb were the Germans and Eastern European Jews, as well as refugees (Robert Oppenheimer was an American scientist who was also Jewish). The idea was in many ways to defeat Hitler and beat him to the bomb they were sure he was working on.
The thing is, though, whether the Manhattan project had happened or not, sooner or later (probably sooner), somebody would have already constructed the bomb. The knowledge was there, but only the resources were required.
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