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Originally Posted by Kagen4o4
... that the scientists told them there was a slight (very very small) chance that detonating one of those things could ignite the oxygen in the air causing a chain reaction that could incinerate the earth. to which the american government replied "do it"
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Not quite.
The "atmosphere catching fire" was a speculation raised fairly early on in the development of the bomb by Edward Teller, I believe. They stopped work for a bit, put a team of theoretical physicist to work on the math, and decided that wouldn't happen.
By the time they were ready to go on the Trinity Test (July 16, 1945) that was no longer even a consideration. Even so, Manhattan Project lore states that a press release was prepared announcing the death of several dozen prominent physicists in an industrial accident of some kind.
Seriously, read the book I posted a link to earlier.