DOE/HR-0096

(T195000779)

-
The Manhattan Project: Making the
atomic bomb

Sep 1994

USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and

Administration, Washington, DC (United States)

Reproduced and. Distributed by:

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
P.O. Box62
Oak Ridge, TN 37831
 DOE/HR-0096

THE MANHATTAN PROJECT

I /
MAKING
i

/
\
THE

F.G.Gosling

History Division
Executive Secretariat
Human Resources and Administration
Department of Energy

September 1994 edition

ASTER d e .
 DISCLAIMER
This report was .prepared as an account of work sponsored
by an agency of t h e United States Government. Neither
the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor
any of their employees, make any warranty, express or
implied, or assumes a n y legal liability or responsibility for
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represents that its use would not infringe privately owned
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or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by
t h e United States Government or any agency thereof. The
views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not
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Government or any agency thereof.
 DISCLAIMER

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in electronic image products. Images are
produced from the best available original
document.
Foreword

The Department of Energy Organization Act of

1977 brought together for the first time in one
department most of the Federal Government's energy
programs. With these programs came a score of
organizational entities, each with its own history and
traditions, from a dozen departments and independent
agencies. The History Division has prepared a series
of monographs on The Origins of the Department of
Energy. Each explains the history, goals, and
achievements of a predecessor agency or a major
program of the Department of Energy.
"The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic
Bomb" is a short history of the origins and develop-
ment of the American atomic bomb program during
World War 11. Beginning with the scientific develop-
ments of the pre-war years, the monograph details the
role of United States government in conducting a
secret, nationwide enterprise that took science from
the laboratory and into combat with an entirely new
type of weapon. The monograph concludes with a
discussion of the immediate postwar period, the
debate over the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, and the
founding of the Atomic Energy Commission.
The author wishes to thank Richard G. Hewlett,
Jack M. Holl, and Thomas Cornwell for reviewing
the manuscript and making numerous valuable
suggestions. He also wishes to thank Glenn Seaborg
for a thorough critique that improved the final
product. Others who read and commented on the
manuscript include Roger Anders, Terry Fehner,
Alice Buck, Betsy Scroger, and Sheila Convis.
Finally, the author thanks La Shonda Steward for
research support, Betsy Scroger for a first-class
editing job, and Sheila Convis for project support.

...
111
 I I
Table of Contents

Introduction: The Einstein Letter .............................................................. vii

Part I: Physics Background. 1919-1939 .......................................................... 1

Part 11: Early Government Support ............................................................. 5

Part 111: The Manhattan Engineer District ........................................................ 13

Part IV: The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation ............................................. 19

Part V: The Atomic Bomb and American Strategy ................................................. 45

Part VI: The Manhattan District in Peacetime ..................................................... 55

Manhattan Project Chart ..................................................................... 58

Notes ..................................................................................... 59

SelectBibliography .......................................................................... 61

Manhattan Project Chronology ................................................................ 62

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Introduction based on recent findings in nuclear physics and
chemistry. Those like Szilard and fellow Hungarian
refugee physicists Edward Teller and Eugene Wigner
regarded it as their responsibility to alert Americans
to the possibiliity that German scientists might win
the race to build an atomic bomb and to warn that
Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such
a weapon. But Roosevelt, preoccupied with events in
Europe, took over two months to meet with Sachs
after receiving Einstein's letter. Szilard and his col-
leagues interpreted Roosevelt's inaction as
unwelcome evidence that the President did not take
the threat of nuclear warfare seriously.
Roosevelt wrote Einstein back on October 19,
1939, informing the physicist that he had set up a
committee consisting of Sachs and representatives
from the Army and Navy to study uranium? Events
proved that the President was a man of considerable
action once he had chosen a direction. In fact,
Roosevelt's approval of uranium research in October
1939, based on his belief that the United States could
not take the risk of allowing Hitler to achieve unilat-
eral possession of "extremely powerful bombs,"
was merely the first decision among many that
Introduction: The Einstein Letter ultimately led to the establishment of the only atomic
On October 11, 1939, Alexander Sachs, Wall bomb effort that succeeded in World War II--the
Street economist and longtime friend and unofficial Manhattan Project.
advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, met The British, who made significant theoretical con-
with the President to discuss a letter written by tributions early in the war, did not have the
Albert Einstein the previous August. Einstein had resources to pursue a full-fledged atomic bomb
written to inform Roosevelt that recent research on research program while fighting for their survival.
chain reactions utilizing uranium made it probable Consequently, the British acceded, reluctantly, to
that large amounts of power could be produced by American leadership and sent scientists to every
a chain reaction and that, by harnessing this power, Manhattan Project facility. The Germans, despite
the construction of "extremely powerful bombs..."' Allied fears that were not dispelled until the ALSOS
was conceivable. Einstein believed the German mission in 1944; were little nearer to producing
government was actively supporting research in this atomic weapons at the end of the war than they had
area and urged the United States government to do been at the beginning of the war. German scientists
likewise. Sachs read from a cover letter he had pursued research on fission, but the government's
prepared and briefed Roosevelt on the main points attempts to forge a coherent strategy met with little
contained in Einstein's letter. Initially the President success.4
was noncommittal and expressed concern over The Russians built a program that grew increas-
locating the necessary funds, but at a second ingly active as the war drew to a conclusion, but the
meeting over breakfast the next morning Roosevelt first successful Soviet test was not conducted until
became convinced of the value of exploring atomic 1949. The Japanese mmanaged to build several
energy. cyclotrons by war's end, but the atomic bomb
Einstein drafted his famous letter with the help of research effort could not maintain a high priority in
the Hungarian emigre physicist Leo Szilard, one of the face of increasing scarcities. Only the Americans,
a number of European scientists who had fled to the late entrants into World War I1 and protected by
United States in the 1930s to escape Nazi and oceans on both sides, managed to take the discovery
Fascist repression. Szilard was among the most vocal of fission from the laboratory to the battlefield and
of those advocating a program to develop bombs gain a shortlived atomic monopoly.
Part I: while displaying identical chemical properties. It was
Chadwick's discovery of the neutron in 1932 that
Physics Background, 1919-1939 explained this mystery. Scientists found that the
weight discrepancy between atoms of the same ele-
ment resulted because they contained different
numbers of neutrons. These different classes of
atoms of the same element but with varying
numbers of neutrons were designated isotopes. The
three isotopes of uranium, for instance, all have
ninety-two protons in their nuclei and ninety-two
electrons in orbit. But uranium-238, which accounts
for over ninety-nine percent of natural uranium, has
146 neutrons in its nucleus, compared with 143
neutrons in the rare uranium-235 (.7 percent of
natural uranium) and 142 neutrons in uranium-234,
which is found only in traces in the heavy metal.
The slight difference in atomic weight between the
uranium-235 and uranium-238 isotopes figured
greatly in nuclear physics during the 1930s and
1940s.
The year 1932 produced other notable events in
atomic physics. The Englishman J. D. Cockroft and
the Irishman E. T. S. Walton, working jointly at
The Atomic Solar System the Cavendish Laboratory, were the first to split the
The road to the atomic bomb began in 1919 when atom when they bombarded lithium with protons
the New W a n d e r Ernest Rutherford, working in generated by a particle accelerator and changed the
the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University resulting lithium nucleus into two helium nuclei.
in England, achieved the first artificial transmutation Also in that year, Ernest 0. Lawrence and his col-
of an element when he changed several atoms of leagues M. Stanley Livingston and Milton White
nitrogen into oxygen. At the time of Rutherford's successfully operated the first cyclotron on the
breakthrough, the atom was conceived as a Berkeley campus of the University of California.
miniature solar system, with extremely light
negatively charged particles, called electrons, in orbit
around the much heavier positively charged nucleus. Moonshine
In the process of changing nitrogen into oxygen, Lawrence's cyclotron, the Cockroft-Walton
Rutherford detected a high-energy particle with a machine, and the Van de Graaff electrostatic
positive charge that proved to be a hydrogen generator, developed by Robert J. Van de Graaff at
nucleus. The proton, as this subatomic particle was Princeton University, were particle accelerators
named, joined the electron in the miniature solar designed to bombard the nuclei of various elements
system. Another addition came in 1932 when James to disintegrate atoms. Attempts of the early 193Os,
Chadwick, Rutherford's colleague at Cambridge, however, required huge amounts of energy to split
identified a third particle, the neutron, so-named atoms because the first accelerators used proton
because it had no charge. beams and alpha particles as sources of energy.
By the early 1930s the atom was thought to con- Since protons and alpha particles are positively
sist of a positively charged nucleus, containing both charged, they met substantial resistance from the
protons and neutrons, circled by negatively charged positively charged target nucleus when they attemp-
electrons equal in number to the protons in the ted to penetrate atoms. Even high-speed protons
nucleus. The number of protons determined the ele- and alpha particles scored direct hits on a nucleus
ment's atomic number. Hydrogen, with one proton, only approximately once in a million tries. Most
came first and uranium, with ninety-two protons, simply passed by the target nucleus. Not surprising-
last on the periodic table. This simple scheme ly, Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein, and Niels
became more complicated when chemists discovered Bohr regarded particle bombardment as useful in
that many elements existed at different weights even furthering knowledge of nuclear physics but believed

1
it unlikely to meet public expectations of harnessing nuclei of most elements changed somewhat during
the power of the atom for practical purposes neutron bombardment, uranium nuclei changed
anytime in the near future. In a 1933 interview greatly and broke into two roughly equal pieces.
Rutherford called such expectations “moon~hine.”~ They split and became not the new transuranic
Einstein compared particle bombardment with elements that some thought Fermi had discovered
shooting in the dark at scarce birds, while Bohr, the but radioactive barium isotopes (barium has the
Danish Nobel laureate, agreed that the chances of atomic number 56) and fragments of the uranium
taming atomic energy were remote.6 itself. The substances Fermi had created in his ex-
periments, that is, did more than resemble lighter
From Protons to Neutrons: Fermi elements; they were lighter elements. Importantly,
the products of the Hahn-Strassmann experiment
Rutherford, Einstein, and Bohr proved to be weighed less than that of the original uranium
wrong in this instance, and the proof was not long nucleus, and herein lay the primary significance of
in coming. Beginning in 1934, the Italian physicist their findings. For it followed from Einstein’s equa-
Enrico Fermi began bombarding elements with tion that the loss of mass resulting from the splitting
neutrons instead of protons, theorizing that Chad- process must have been converted into energy in the
wick’s uncharged particles could pass into the form of kinetic energy that could in turn be con-
nucleus without resistance. Like other scientists at verted into heat. Calculations made by Hahn’s
the time, Fermi paid little attention to the possibility former colleague, Lise Meitner, a refugee from
that matter might disappear during bombardment Nazism then staying in Sweden, and her nephew,
and result in the release of huge amounts of energy Otto Frisch, led to the conclusion that so much
in accordance with Einstein’s formula, E =m$, energy had been released that a previously un-
which stated that mass and energy were equivalent. discovered kind of process was at work. Frisch, bor-
Fermi and his colleagues bombarded sixty-three rowing the term for cell division in biology-binary
stable elements and produced thirty-seven new fission-named the process fission! For his part,
radioactive ones? They also found that carbon and Fermi had produced fission in 1934 but had not
hydrogen proved useful as moderators in slowing recognized it.
the bombarding neutrons and that slow neutrons
produced the best results since neutrons moving
more slowly remained in the vicinity of the nucleus
longer and were therefore more likely to be Chain Reaction
captured. It soon became clear that the process of fission
One element Fermi bombarded with slow discovered by Hahn and Strassmann had another
neutrons was uranium, the heaviest of the known important characteristic besides the immediate
elements. Scientists disagreed over what Fermi had release of enormous amounts of energy. This was
produced in this transmutation. Some thought that the emission of neutrons. The energy released when
the resulting substances were new “transuranic” fission occurred in uranium caused several neutrons
elements, while others noted that the chemical pro- to “boil off’’ the two main fragments as they flew
perties of the substances resembled those of lighter apart. Given the right set of circumstances, perhaps
elements. Fermi was himself uncertain. For the next these secondary neutrons might collide with other
several years, attempts to identify these substances atoms and release more neutrons, in turn smashing
dominated the research agenda in the international into other atoms and, at the same time, continuous-
scientific community, with the answer coming out of ly emitting energy. Beginning with a single uranium
Nazi Germany just before Christmas 1938. nucleus, fission could not only produce substantial
amounts of energy but could also lead to a reaction
creating ever-increasing amounts of energy. The
The Discovery of Fission: possibility of such a “chain reaction” completely
Hahn and Strmsmann altered the prospects for releasing the energy stored
The radiochemists Otto Hahn and Fritz in the nucleus. A controlled self-sustaining reaction
Strassmann were bombarding elements with could make it possible to generate a large amount of
neutrons in their Berlin laboratory when they made energy for heat and power, while an unchecked
an unexpected discovery. They found that while the reaction could create an explosion of huge force.

2
 Physics Background, l9l9-l939

_..-

U-235

I
Uranium235 Fission Chain Reaction. Department of Energy.

Fission Comes to America: 1939 replaced individualism in laboratory research. No

News of the Hahn-Strassmann experiments and one epitomized the “can do” attitude of American
the Meitner-Frisch calculations spread rapidly. physicists better than Ernest 0. Lawrence, whose in-
Meitner and Frisch communicated their results to genuity and drive made the Berkeley Radiation
Niels Bohr, who was in Copenhagen preparing to Laboratory the unofficial capital of nuclear physics
depart for the United States via Sweden and in the United States. Lawrence staked his claim to
England. Bohr confirmed the validity of the findings American leadership when he built his first particle
while sailing to New York City, arriving on accelerator, the cyclotron, in 1930. Van de Graaff
January 16, 1939. Ten days later Bohr, accom- followed with his generator in 1931, and from then
panied by Fermi, communicated the latest on Americans led the way in producing equipment
developments to some European emigre scientists for nuclear physics and high-energy physics research
who had preceded him to this country and to later.
members of the American scientific community at
the opening session of a conference on theoretical Early American Work on Fission
physics in Washington, D.C. American scientists became active participants in
American physicists quickly grasped the impor- attempts to confirm and extend Hahn’s and
tance of Bohr’s message, having by the 1930s Strassmann’s results, which dominated nuclear
developed into an accomplished scientific communi- physics in 1939. Bohr and John A. Wheeler advanc-
ty. While involved in important theoretical work, ed the theory of fission in important theoretical
Americans made their most significant contributions work done at Princeton University, while Fermi and
in experimental physics, where teamwork had Szilard collaborated with Walter H. Zinn and

3
Herbert L. Anderson at Columbia University in in- uranium-238 and concentrated into a critical mass, a
vestigating the possibility of producing a nuclear process that posed serious problems. Fermi con-
chain reaction. Given that uranium emitted neutrons tinued to try to achieve a chain reaction using large
(usually two) when it fissioned, the question became amounts of natural uranium in a pile formation.
whether or not a chain reaction in uranium was Dunning’s and Nier’s demonstration promised
possible, and, if so, in which of the three isotopes nuclear power but not necessarily a bomb. It was
of the rare metal it was most likely to occur. By already known that a bomb would require fission by
March 1940 John R. Dunning and his colleagues at fast neutrons; a chain reaction using slow neutrons
Columbia University, collaborating with Alfred Nier might not proceed very far before the metal would
of the University of Minnesota, had demonstrated blow itself apart, causing little, if any, damage.
conclusively that uranium-235, present in only 1 in Uranium-238 fissioned with fast neutrons but could
140 parts of natural uranium, was the isotope that not sustain a chain reaction because it required
fissioned with slow neutrons, not the more abundant neutrons with higher energy. The crucial question
uranium-238 as Fermi had guessed. This finding was was whether uranium-235 could fission with fast
important, for it meant that a chain reaction using neutrons in a chain-reacting manner, but without
the slightly lighter uranium-235 was possible, but enriched samples of uranium-235, scientists could
only if the isotope could be separated from the not perform the necessary experiments.

4
Part II: The Uranium Committee
President Roosevelt responded to the call for
Early Government Support government support of uranium research quickly but
cautiously. Ke appointed Lyman J. Briggs, director
of the National Bureau of Standards, head of the
Advisory Committee on Uranium, which met for
the first time on October 21, 1939. The committee,
including both civilian and military representation,
was to coordinate its activities with Sachs and look
into the current state of research on uranium to
recommend an appropriate role for the federal
government. In early 1940 the Uranium Committee
recommended that the government fund limited
research on isotope separation as well as Fermi’s
and Szilard’s work on chain reactions at Columbia.

ENRICHED Isotope Separation

PRODUCT
Scientists had concluded that enriched samples of
uranium-235 were necessary for further research and
that the isotope might serve as a fuel source for an
explosive device; thus, finding the most effective
method of isotope separation was a high priority.
Since uranium-235 and uranium-238 were chemically
identical, they could not be separated by chemical

r- means. And with their masses differing by less than

one percent, separation by physical means would be
extremely difficult and expensive. Nonetheless, scien-
iNRlCHlNG tists pressed forward on several complicated techni-
SECTION
ques of physical separation, all based on the small
difference in atomic weight between the uranium
isotopes.

The Electromagnetic Method

The electromagnetic method, pioneered by
Alfred 0. Nier of the University of Minnesota, used
FEED + a mass spectrometer, or spectrograph, to send a
stream of charged particles through a magnetic field.
Atoms of the lighter isotope would be deflected
more by the magnetic field than those of the heavier
STRIPPING isotope, resulting in two streams that could then be
SECTION collected in different receivers. The electromagnetic
method as it existed in 1940, however, would have
taken far too long to separate quantities sufficient to
be useful in the current war. In fact, twenty-seven
thousand years would have been required for a
$. single spectrometer to separate one gram of
DEPLETEC
MATERIAL uranium-~5.~
Schematic Diagram of Flow of Process Gas in Gaseous Gaseous Diffusion
Diffusion Cascade. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and
Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939-1946 Volume I Gaseous diffusion appeared more promising.
of A Hktory of the United States Atomic Energy Commkion Based on the well-known principle that molecules of
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2). a lighter isotope would pass through a porous bar-

5
rier more readily than molecules of a heavier one, of uranium oxide. This recommendation led to the
this approach proposed to produce by myriad first outlay of government funds-$6,000 in
repetitions a gas increasingly rich in uranium-235 as February 1940-and reflected the importance attach-
the heavier uranium-238 was separated out in a ed to the Fermi-Szilard pile experiments already
system of cascades. Theoretically, this process could underway at Columbia University. Building upon
achieve high concentrations of uranium-235 but, like the work performed in 1934 demonstrating the value
the electromagnetic method, would be extremely of moderators in producing slow neutrons, Fermi
costly. British researchers led the way on gaseous thought that a mixture of the right moderator and
diffusion, with John R. Dunning and his colleagues natural uranium could produce a self-sustaining
at Columbia University joining the effort in late chain reaction. Fermi and Szilard increasingly
1940. focused their attention on carbon in the form of
graphite. Perhaps graphite could slow down, or
Centrifuge moderate, the neutrons coming from the fission
reaction, increasing the probability of their causing
Many scientists initially thought the best hope for additional fissions in sustaining the chain reaction. A
isotope separation was the high-speed centrifuge, a pile containing a large amount of natural uranium
device based on the same principle as the cream could then produce enough secondary neutrons to
separator. Centrifugal force in a cylinder spinning keep a reaction going.
rapidly on its vertical axis would separate a gaseous
mixture of two isotopes since the lighter isotope There was, however, a large theoretical gap
would be less affected by the action and could be between building a self-generating pile and building
drawn off at the center and top of the cylinder. A a bomb. Although the pile envisioned by Fermi and
cascade system composed of hundreds, perhaps Szilard could produce large amounts of power and
might have military applications (powering naval
thousands, of centrifuges could produce a rich mix-
vessels, for instance), it would be too big for a
ture. This method, being pursued primarily by
bomb. It would take separation of uranium-235 or
Jesse W. Beams at the University of Virginia, receiv-
substantial enrichment of natural uranium with
ed much of the early isotope separation funding!’
uranium-235 to create a fast-neutron reaction on a
small enough scale to build a usable bomb. While
Liquid Thermal Diffusion certain of the chances of success in his graphite
The Uranium Committee briefly demonstrated an power pile, Fermi, in 1939, thought that there was
interest in a fourth enrichment process during 1940, “little likelihood of an atomic bomb, little proof
only to conclude that it would not be worth pursu- that we were not pursuing a chimera.”’*
ing. This process, liquid thermal diffusion, was
being investigated by Philip Abelson at the Carnegie The National Defense Research
Institution. Into the space between two concentric Committee
vertical pipes Abelson placed pressurized liquid Shortly after World War I1 began with the Ger-
uranium hexafluoride. With the outer wall cooled by man invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939,
a circulating water jacket and the inner heated by Vannevar Bush, president of the Carnegie Founda-
high-pressure steam, the lighter isotope tended to tion, became convinced of the need for the govern-
concentrate near the hot wall and the heavier near ment to marshall the forces of science for a war that
the cold. Convection would in time carry the lighter would inevitably involve the United States. He
isotope to the top of the column. Taller columns sounded out other science administrators in the
would produce more separation. Like other enrich- nation’s capital and agreed to act as point man in
ment methods, liquid thermal diffusion was at an convincing the Roosevelt administration to set up a
early stage of developmentJ1 national science organization. Bush struck an
alliance with Roosevelt’s closest advisor, Harry
Hopkins, and after clearing his project with the
Limited Government Funding: 1940 armed forces and science agencies, met with the
The Uranium Committee’s first report, issued on President and Hopkins. With the imminent fall of
November 1, 1939, recommended that, despite the France undoubtedly on Roosevelt’s mind, it took
uncertainty of success, the government should im- less than ten minutes for Bush to obtain the Presi-
mediately obtain four tons of graphite and fifty tons dent’s approval and move into action.13

6
 Early Government Support I

Roosevelt approved in June 1940 the establish- scientists funded primarily by private foundations.
ment of a voice for the scientific community within While the federal government began supporting
the executive branch. The National Defense uranium research in 1940, the pace appeared too
Research Committee, with Bush at its head, leisurely to the scientific community and failed to
reorganized the Uranium Committee into a scientific convince scientists that their work was of high
body and eliminated military membership. Not priority. Certainly few were more inclined to this
dependent on the military for funds, as the Uranium view than Ernest 0. Lawrence, director of the
Committee had been, the National Defense Research Radiation Laboratory at the University of California
Committee would have more influence and more in Berkeley. Lawrence was among those who
direct access to money for nuclear research. In the thought that it was merely a matter of time before
interest of security, Bush barred foreign-born scien- the United States was drawn into World War 11,
tists from committee membership and blocked the and he wanted the government to mobilize its scien-
further publication of articles on uranium research. tific forces as rapidly as possible.
Retaining programmatic responsibilities for uranium Specifically what Lawrence had on his mind in
research in the new organizational setup (among the early 1941 were experiments t k g place in his own
National Defense Research Committee's early laboratory using samples produced in the cyclotron.
priorities were studies on radar, proximity fuzes, and Studies on uranium fission fragments by Edwin M.
anti-submarine warfare), the Uranium Committee McMillan and Philip H. Abelson led to the chemical
recommended that isotope separation methods and identification of element 93, neptunium, while
the chain reaction work continue to receive funding research by Glenn T. Seaborg revealed that an
for the remainder of 1940. Bush approved the plan isotope of neptunium decayed to yet another tran-
and allocated the funds. suranium (man-made) element. In February,
Seaborg identified this as element 94, which he later
A Push From Lawrence named plutonium. By May he had proven that
During 1939 and 1940 most of the work done on plutonium-239 was 1.7 times as likely as
isotope separation and the chain reaction pile was uranium-235 to fission. This finding made the
performed in university laboratories by academic Fermi-Szilard experiment more important than ever

First Mass Spectrograph Components in 37-Inch Cyclotron Tank. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The
New World, 1939-1946, Volume I of A Hktoty of the United States Atomic Energv Commicsion (University Park: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1%2).

7
Part E

as it suggested the possibility of producing large Program Review: Summer 1941

amounts of the fissionable plutonium in a uranium Bush and Lawrence met in New York City.
pile using plentiful uranium-238 and then separating Though he continued to support the Uranium Com-
it chemically. Surely this would be less expensive mittee, Bush recognized that Lawrence’s assessment
and simpler than building isotope-separation plants. was not far off the mark. Bush shrewdly decided to
Lawrence, demonstrating his characteristic energy appoint Lawrence as an advisor to Briggs-a move
and impatience, launched a campaign to speed up that quickly resulted in funding for plutonium work
uranium research. He began by proposing to con- at Berkeley and for Nier’s mass spectrograph at
vert his smaller cyclotron into a spectrograph to pro- Minnesota-and also asked the National Academy
duce uranium-235. Since both the cyclotron and the of Sciences to review the uranium research program.
spectrograph used a vacuum chamber and elec- Headed by Arthur Compton of the University of
tromagnet, this conversion would be relatively un- Chicago and including Lawrence, this committee
complicated. Lawrence then took his case to Karl T. submitted its unanimous report on May 17. Comp-
Compton and Alfred L. Loomis at Harvard Univer- ton’s committee, however, failed to provide the
sity, both doing radar work for the National practical-minded Bush with the evidence he needed
Defense Research Committee and benefiting from that uranium research would pay off in the event
Lawrence’s advice in staffing their laboratories. In- the United States went to war in the near future.
fected by Lawrence’s enthusiasm, Compton for- Compton’s group thought that increased uranium
warded Lawrence’s optimistic assessment on funding could produce radioactive material that
uranium research to Bush, warning that Germany could be dropped on an enemy by 1943, a pile that
was undoubtedly making progress and that Briggs could power naval vessels in three or four years, and
and the Uranium Committee were moving too slow- a bomb of enormous power at an indeterminate
ly. Compton also noted that the British were ahead point, but certainly not before 1945. Compton’s
of their American colleagues, even though, in his report discussed bomb production only in connec-
opinion, they were inferior in both numbers and tion with slow neutrons, a clear indication that
ability. much more scientific work remained to be done

Ernest Lawrence, Arthur Compton, Vannevar Bush, James Conant, Karl Loomis, and Alfred Loomis. Reprinted from Richard G.
Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939-1946, Volume I of A Histoty of the United States Atomic Energy
Commission (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).

8
 Early Government Support

before an explosive device could be det~nated!~ ten kilograms would be large enough to produce an
Bush reconstituted the National Academy of enormous explosion. A bomb this size could be
Sciences committee and instructed it to assess the loaded on existing aircraft and be ready in approx-
recommendations contained in the first report from imately two years.17
an engineering standpoint. On July 11 the second Americans had been in touch with the MAUD
committee endorsed the first report and supported Committee since fall 1940, but it was the July 1941
continuation of isotope separation work and pile MAUD report that helped the American bomb ef-
research for scientific reasons, though it admitted fort turn the comer. Here were specific plans for
that it could promise no immediate applications. producing a bomb, produced by a distinguished
The second report, like the first, was a disappointing group of scientists with high credibility in the United
States, not only with Bush and Conant but with the
document from Bush’s point of view.15
President!’ The MAUD report dismissed plutonium
production, thermal diffusion, the electromagnetic
The Office of Scientific Research and method, and the centrifuge and called for gaseous
Development diffusion of uranium-235 on a massive scale. The
By the time Bush received the second National British believed that uranium research could lead to
Academy of Sciences report, he had assumed the the production of a bomb in time to effect the out-
position of director of the Office of Scientific come of the war. While the MAUD report provided
Research and Development. Established by an ex- encouragement to Americans advocating a more ex-
ecutive order on June 28, 1941-six days after Ger- tensive uranium research program, it also served as
man troops invaded the Soviet Union-the Office of a sobering reminder that fission had been discovered
Scientific Research and Development strengthened in Nazi Germany almost three years earlier and that
the scientific presence in the federal government. since spring 1940 a large part of the Kaiser Wilhelm
Bush, who had lobbied hard for the new setup, now Institute in Berlin had been set aside for uranium
reported directly to the President and could invoke research.
the prestige of the White House in his dealings with Bush and Conant immediately went to work.
other federal agencies. The National Defense After strengthening the Uranium Committee, par-
Research Committee, now headed by James B. Co- ticularly with the addition of Fermi as head of
nant, president of Harvard University, became an theoretical studies and Harold C. Urey as head of
advisory body responsible for making research and isotope separation and heavy water research (heavy
development recommendations to the Office of water was highly regarded as a moderator), Bush
Scientific Research and Development. The Uranium asked yet another reconstituted National Academy
Committee became the Office of Scientific Research of Sciences committee to evaluate the uranium pro-
and Development Section on Uranium and was gram. This time he gave Compton specific instruc-
codenamed S-1 (Section One of the Office of Scien- tions to address technical questions of critical mass
tific Research and Development). and destructive capability, partially to verify the
MAUD results.

Turning the Corner: The MAUD Report

Bush’s disappointment with the July 11 National Bush Reports to Roosevelt
Academy of Sciences report did not last long. Without waiting for Compton’s committee to
Several days later he and Conant received a copy of finish its work, Bush went to see the President. On
a draft report forwarded from the National Defense October 9 Bush met with Roosevelt and Vice
Research Committee liaison office in London. The President Henry A. Wallace (briefed on uranium
report, prepared by a group codenamed the MAUD research in July). Bush summarized the British
Committee and set up by the British in spring 1940 findings, discussed cost and duration of a bomb
to study the possibility of developing a nuclear project, and emphasized the uncertainty of the situa-
weapon, maintained that a sufficiently purified tion. He also received the President’s permission to
critical mass of uranium-235 could fission even with explore construction needs with the Army. Roosevelt
fast neutrons!6 Building upon theoretical work on instructed him to move as quickly as possible but
atomic bombs performed by refugee physicists not to go beyond research and development. Bash,
Rudolf Peierls and Otto Frisch in 1940 and 1941, then, was to find out if a bomb could be built and
the MAUD report estimated that a critical mass of at what cost but not to proceed to the production

9
stage without further presidential authorization. December 16 put the seal of approval on these ar-
Roosevelt indicated that he could find a way to rangements. Two days later the S-1 Committee gave
finance the project and asked Bush to draft a letter Lawrence $4OO,OOO to continue his electromagnetic
so that the British government could be approached work.
“at the With the United States now at war and with the
Compton reported back on November 6, just one fear that the American bomb effort was behind
month and a day before the Japanese attack on Nazi Germany’s, a sense of urgency permeated the
Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought the federal government’s science enterprise. Even as
United States into World War I1 (Germany and Bush tried to fine-tune the organizational apparatus,
Italy declared war on the United States three days new scientific information poured in from
later). Compton’s committee concluded that a laboratories to be analyzed and incorporated into
critical mass of between two and 100 kilograms of planning for the upcoming design and construction
uranium-235 would produce a powerful fission stage. By spring 1942, as American naval forces
bomb and that for $50-100 million isotope separa- slowed the Japanese advance in the Pacific with an
tion in sufficient quantities could be accomplished. April victory in the battle of the Coral Sea, the
Although the Americans were less optimistic than situation had changed from one of too little money
the British, they confirmed the basic conclusions of and no deadlines to one of a clear goal, plenty of
the MAUD committee and convinced Bush to for- money, but too little time. The race for the bomb
ward their findings to Roosevelt under a cover letter was on.
on November 27. Roosevelt did not respond until
January 19, 1942; when he did, it was as com-
mander in chief of a nation at war. The President’s Continuing Efforts on Isotope Separation
handwritten note read, “V. B. OK-returned-I During the first half of 1942 several routes to a
think you had best keep this in your own safe bomb were explored. At Columbia, Urey worked on
FDR.”’~ the gaseous diffusion and centrifuge systems for
isotope separation in the codenamed S A M
(Substitiite or Special Alloy Metals) Laboratory. At
Moving Into Action Berkeley, Lawrence continued his investigations on
By the time Roosevelt responded, Bush had set electromagnetic separation using the mass spec-
the wheels in motion. He put Eger V. Murphree, a trograph he had converted from his thirty-seven-inch
chemical engineer with the Standard Oil Company, cyclotron. Compton patched together facilities at the
in charge of a group reponsible for overseeing University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory for
engineering studies and supervising pilot plant con- pile experiments aimed at producing plutonium.
struction and any laboratory-scale investigations. Meanwhile Murphree’s group hurriedly studied ways
And he appointed Urey, Lawrence, and Compton to move from laboratory experiments to production
as program chiefs. Urey headed up work including facilities.
diffusion and centrifuge methods and heavy-water Research on uranium required uranium ore, and
studies. Lawrence took electromagnetic and obtaining sufficient supplies was the responsibility of
plutonium responsibilities, and Compton ran chain Murphree and his group. Fortunately, enough ore
reaction and weapon theory programs. Bush’s was on hand to meet the projected need of 150 tons
responsibility was to coordinate engineering and through mid-1944. Twelve hundred tons of high-
scientific efforts and make final decisions on recom- grade ore were stored on Staten Island, and
mendations for construction contracts. In accor- Murphree made arrangements to obtain additional
dance with the instructions he received from supplies from Canada and the Colorado Plateau,
Roosevelt, Bush removed all uranium work from the only American source. Uranium in the form of
the National Defense Research Committee. From hexafluoride was also needed as feed material for
this point forward, broad policy decisions relating to the centrifuge and the gaseous and thermal diffusion
uranium were primarily the responsibility of the Top processes. Abelson, who had moved from the
Policy Group, composed of Bush, Conant, Vice Carnegie Institution to the Naval Research
President Wallace, Secretary of War Henry L. Stim- Laboratory, was producing small quantities, and
son, and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.” Murphree made arrangements with E. I. du Pont de
A high-level conference convened by Wallace on Nemours and Company and the Harshaw Chemical

10
 !’

Early Government Support 1

Company of Cleveland to produce hexafluoride on available supply was a small amount that the British
a scale sufficient to keep the vital isotope separation had smuggled out of France. In a decision typical of
research going. the new climate of urgency, Compton decided to
Lawrence was so successful in producing enriched forge ahead with graphite, a decision made easier by
samples of uranium-235 electromagnetically with his Fermi’s increasingly satisfactory results at Columbia
converted cyclotron that Bush sent a special progress and Allison’s even better results in Chicago. In light
report to Roosevelt on March 9, 1942. Bush told the of recent calculations that cast doubt on the MAUD
President that Lawrence’s work might lead to a report’s negative assessment of plutonium produc-
short cut to the bomb, especially in light of new tion, Compton hoped that Allison’s pile would pro-
calculations indicating that the critical mass required vide plutonium that could be used as material for a
might well be smaller than previously predicted. weapon.
Bush also emphasized that the efficiency of the By May 1942 Bush decided that production plan-
weapon would probably be greater than earlier ning could wait no longer, and he instructed Conant
estimated and expressed more confidence that it to meet with the S-1 section leaders and make
could be detonated successfully. Bush thought that recommendations on all approaches to the bomb,
if matters were expedited a bomb was possible in regardless of cost. Analyzing the status of the four
1944. Two days later the President responded: “I methods of isotope separation then under considera-
think the whole thing should be pushed not only in tion-gaseous diffusion, centrifuge, electromagnetic,
regard to development, but also with due regard to and pile-the committee decided on May 23 to
time. This is very much of the essence.”22 recommend that all be pushed as fast as possible.
In the meantime, however, isotope separation This decision reflected the inability of the committee
studies at Columbia quickly confronted serious to distinguish a clear front-runner and its consequent
engineering difficulties. Not only were the specifica- unwillingness to abandon any method. With funds
tions for the centrifuge demanding, but, depending readily available and the outcome of the war con-
upon rotor size, it was estimated that it would re- ceivably hanging in the balance, the S-1 leadership
quire tens of thousands of centrifuges to produce recommended that all four methods proceed to the
enough uranium-235 to be of value. Gaseous diffu- pilot plant stage and to full production planning.
sion immediately ran into trouble as well. Fabrica-
tion of an effective barrier to separate the uranium
isotopes seemed so difficult as to relegate gaseous Enter the Army
diffusion to a lower priority (the barrier had to be a The decision to proceed with production planning
corrosion-resistant membrane containing millions of led directly to the involvement of the Army,
submicroscopic holes per square inch). Both separa- specifically the Corps of Engineers. Roosevelt had
tion methods demanded the design and construction approved Army involvement on October 9, 1941,
of new technologies and required that parts, many and Bush had arranged for Army participation at
of them never before produced, be finished to S-1 meetings beginning in March 1942. The need for
tolerances not previously imposed on American security suggested placing the S-1 program within
industry. one of the armed forces, and the construction exper-
In Chicago, Compton decided to combine all pile tise of the Corps of Engineers made it the logical
research by stages. Initially he funded Fermi’s pile at choice to build the production facilities envisioned in
Columbia and the theoretical work of Eugene the Conant report of May 23.
Wigner at Princeton and J. Robert Oppenheimer at By orchestrating some delicate negotiations
Berkeley. He appointed Szilard head of materials ac- between the Office of Scientific Research and
quisition and arranged for Seaborg to move his Development and the Army, Bush was able to
plutonium work from Berkeley to Chicago in April transfer the responsibility for process development,
1942. Compton secured space wherever he could materials procurement, engineering design, and site
find it, including a racket court under the west selection to the Corps of Engineers and to earmark
grandstand at Stags Field, where Samuel K. Allison approximately sixty percent of the proposed 1943
began building a graphite and uranium pile. budget, or $54 million, for these functions. An
Although it was recognized that heavy water would Army officer would be in overall command of the
provide a moderator superior to graphite, the only entire project. This new arrangement left S-1, with a

11
budget of approximately $30 million, in charge of developments that might influence engineering con-
only university research and pilot plant studies. Ad- siderations or plant design?3 With this reorganiza-
ditional reorganization created an s-1Executive tion in place, the nature of the American atomic
Committee, composed of Conant, Brigs, Compton, bomb effort changed from one dominated by
Lawrence, Murphree, and Urey. This group would research scientists to one in which scientists played a
oversee all Office of Scientific Research and supporting role in the construction enterprise run by
Development work and keep abreast of technical the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

12
Part III: Reorganization of the Manhattan
Engineer District:
The Manhattan Engineer Groves and the Military Policy
District Committee
Decisions made in September provided ad-
ministrative clarity and renewed the project’s sense
of urgency. Bush and the Army agreed that an of-
ficer other than Marshall should be given the assign-
ment of overseeing the entire atomic project, which
by now was referred to as the Manhattan Project.
On September 17, the Army appointed Colonel
Leslie R. Groves (promoted to Brigadier General six
days later) to head the effort. Groves was an
engineer with impressive credentials, including
building of the Pentagon, and, most importantly,
had strong administrative abilities. Within two days
Groves acted to obtain the Tennessee site and
secured a higher priority rating for project materials.
In addition, Groves moved the Manhattan Engineer
District headquarters from New York to
Washington. He quickly recognized the talents of

Initial Problems
Summer 1942-during which the American island-
hopping campaign in the Pacific began at
Guadalcanal-proved to be a troublesome one for
the fledgling bomb project. Colonel James C. Mar-
shall received the assignment of directing the
Laboratory for the Development of Substitute
Metals, or DSM. Marshall immediately moved from
Syracuse to New York City, where he set up the
Manhattan Engineer District, established by general
order on August 13. Marshall, like most other Army
officers, knew nothing of nuclear physics. Further-
more, Marshall and his Army superiors were dispos-
ed to move cautiously. In one case, for instance,
Marshall delayed purchase of an excellent produc-
tion site in Tennessee pending further study, while
the scientists who had been involved in the project
from the start were pressing for immediate purchase.
While Bush had carefully managed the transition to
Army control, there was not yet a mechanism to ar-
bitrate disagreements between S-1 and the military.
The resulting lack of coordination complicated at-
tempts to gain a higher priority for scarce materials General Leslie R. Groves. Reprinted from Vincent C. Jones,
and boded ill for the future of the entire bomb Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb (Washington,
project. D.C.: US. Government Printing Office, 1985).
I Partrn I

Marshall’s deputy, Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols, and Throughout the summer and fall, Lawrence refined
arranged for Nichols to work as his chief aide and his new 184-inch magnet and huge cyclotron to pro-
troubleshooter throughout the war. duce calutrons, as the tanks were called in honor of
Bush, with the help and authority of Secretary of the University of California, capable of reliable
War Henry L. Stimson, set up the Military Policy beam resolution and containing improved collectors
Committee, including one representative each from for trapping the enriched uranium-235. The S-1 Ex-
the Army, the Navy, and the Office of Scientific ecutive Committee visited Berkeley on September 13
Research and Development. Bush hoped that scien- and subsequently recommended building both a
tists would have better access to decision making in pilot plant and a large section of a full-scale plant in
the new structure than they had enjoyed when DSM Tennessee.
and S-1 operated as parallel but separate units. With The centrifuge being developed by Jesse Beams at
Groves in overall command (Marshall remained as the University of Virginia was the big loser in the
District Engineer, where his cautious nature proved November meetings. Westinghouse had been unable
useful in later decision making) and the Military to overcome problems with its model centrifuge.
Policy Committee in place (the Top Policy Group Parts failed with discouraging regularity due to
retained broad policy authority), Bush felt that early severe vibrations during trial runs; consequently, a
organizational deficiencies had been remedied.’4 pilot plant and subsequent production stages ap-
During summer and fall 1942 technical and peared impractical in the near future. Conant had
administrative difficulties were still severe. Each of already concluded that the centrifuge was likely to
the four isotope separation processes remained be dropped when he reported to Bush on October 26.
under consideration, but a full-scale commitment to The meetings of November 12 and 14 confirmed
all four posed serious problems even with the pro- his analysis.
ject’s high priority. When Groves took command in Gaseous diffusion held some promise and remain-
midSeptember, he made it clear that by late 1942 ed a live option, although the Dunning group at
decisions would be made as to which process or Columbia had not yet produced any uranium-235 by
processes promised to produce a bomb in the the November meetings. The major problem con-
shortest amount of time. The exigencies of war, tinued to be the barrier; nickel was the leading can-
Groves held, required scientists to move from didate for barrier material, but there was serious
laboratory research to development and production doubt as to whether a reliable nickel barrier could
in record time. Though traditional scientific caution be ready in sufficient quantity by the end of the
might be short-circuited in the process, there was no War.
alternative if a bomb was to be built in time to be
used in the current conflict. As everyone involved in While the centrifuge was cancelled and gaseous
the Manhattan Project soon learned, Groves never diffusion received mixed reviews, optimism prevailed
lost sight of this goal and made all his decisions among the pile proponents at the Metallurgical
accordingly. Laboratory in Chicago. Shortages of uranium and
graphite delayed construction of the Stagg Field
pile-CP-1 (Chicago Pile Number One)-but this
Isotope Separation Methods: Fall 1942 frustration was tempered by calculations indicating
Groves made good on his timetable when he that a completed pile would produce a chain reac-
scheduled a meeting of the Military Policy Commit- tion. With Fermi’s move to Chicago in April, all
tee on November 12 and a meeting of the S-1 Ex- pile research was now being conducted at the
ecutive Committee on November 14. The scientists Metallurgical Laboratory as Compton had planned,
at each of the institutions doing isotope separation and Fermi and his team anticipated a successful ex-
research knew these meetings would determine the periment by the end of the year. Further optimism
separation method to be used in the bomb project; stemmed from Seaborg’s inventive work with
therefore, the keen competition among the institu- plutonium, particularly his investigations on
tions added to the sense of urgency created by the plutonium’s oxidation states that seemed to provide
war. Berkeley remained a hotbed of activity as a way to separate plutonium from the irradiated
Lawrence and his staff pushed the electromagnetic uranium to be produced in the pile. In August
method into the lead. The S-1 Executive Committee Seaborg’s team produced a microscopic sample of
even toyed with the idea of placing all its money on pure plutonium, a major chemical achievement and
Lawrence but was dissuaded by Conant. one fully justifying further work on the pile. The

14
I The Manhattan Engineer District !,

only cloud in the Chicago sky was the scientists’ Laboratory in Chicago. Despite inconsistent ex-
disappointment when they learned that construction perimental results, the consensus emerging at
and operation of the production facilities, now to be Berkeley was that approximately twice as much fis-
built near the Clinch River in Tennessee at Site X, sionable material would be required for a bomb
would be turned over to a private fm. An ex- than had been estimated six months earlier. This
perimental pile would be built in the Argonne Forest was disturbing, especially in light of the military’s
Preserve just outside Chicago, but the Metallurgical view that it would take more than one bomb to win
Laboratory scientists would have to cede their claim the war. The goal of mass-producing fissionable
to pile technology to an organization experienced material, which still appeared questionable in late
enough to take the process into construction and 1942, seemed even more unrealistic given Op-
operation. penheimer’s estimates. Oppenheimer did report, with
some enthusiasm, that fusion explosions using
The Luminaries Report From Berkeley deuterium (heavy hydrogen) might be possible. The
While each of the four processes fought to possibility of thermonuclear (fusion) bombs
generated some optimism since deuterium supplies,
demonstrate its “workability” during summer and
while not abundant, were certainly larger and more
fall 1942, equally important theoretical studies easily supplemented than were those of uranium and
were being conducted that greatly influenced the plutonium. S-1 immediately authorized basic
decisions made in November. Robert Oppenheimer research on other light elements.
headed the work of a group of theoretical physicists
he called the luminaries, which included Felix Bloch,
Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, and Robert Serber, Input From DuPont
while John H. Manley assisted him by coordinating Final input for the November meetings of the
nationwide fission research and instrument and Military Policy Committee and the S-1 Executive
measurement studies from the Metallurgical Committee came from DuPont. One of the first
things Groves did when he took over in September
was to begin courting DuPont, hoping that the giant
chemical fm would undertake construction and
operation of the plutonium separation plant to be
built in Tennessee. He appealed to patriotism, infor-
ming the company that the bomb project had high
priority with the President and maintaining that a
successful effort could affect the outcome of the
war. DuPont managers resisted but did not refuse
the task, and in the process they provided an objec-
tive appraisal of the pile project. Noting that it was
not even known if the chain reaction would work,
DuPont stated that under the best of circumstances
plutonium could be mass-produced by 1945, and it
emphasized that it thought the chances of this hap-
pening were low. This appraisal did not discourage
Groves, who was confident that DuPont would take
the assignment if offered.

Time for Decisions

The Military Policy Committee met on Novem-
ber 12, 1942, and its decisions were ratified by the
S-1 Executive Committee two days later. The Military
Policy Committee, acting on Groves’s and Conant’s
recommendations, cancelled the centrifuge project.
J. Robert Oppenheher. Reprinted by permission of the Gaseous diffusion, the pile, and the electromagnetic
J. Robert Oppenheher Memorial Committee. method were to proceed directly to full-scale,

15
eliminating the pilot plant stage. The S-1 Executive at a power level of one-half watt (increased to 200
Committee approved these recommendations and watts ten days later)?5 As Compton reported to Co-
agreed that the gaseous diffusion facility was of nant, “the Italian navigator has just landed in the
lower priority than either the pile or the elec- new world.” To Conant’s question, “Were the
tromagnetic plant but ahead of a second pile. The natives friendly?” Compton answered, “Everyone
scientific committee also asked DuPont to look into landed safe and happy.”26 Significant as this mo-
methods for increasing American supplies of heavy ment was in the history of physics, it came after the
water in case it was needed to serve as a moderator Lewis committee had endorsed moving to the pilot
for one of the new piles. stage and one day after Groves had instructed Du-
Pont to move into design and construction on
A Brief Scare December 1.27
Anxious as he was to get moving, Groves decided
to make one final quality control check before ac- No Turning Back: Final Decisions and
ting of the decisions of November 12 and 14. This Presidential Approval
decision seemed imperative after a brief scare sur- The S-1 Executive Committee met to consider the
rounding the pile project. While Fermi’s calculations Lewis report on December 9, 1942, just weeks after
provided reasonable assurance against such a Allied troops landed in North Africa. Most of the
possibility, the vision of a chain reaction running morning session was spent evaluating the controver-
wild in heavily-populated Chicago arose when the sial recommendation that only a small electro-
S-1 Executive Committee found that Compton was magnetic plant be built. Lewis and his colleagues
building the experimental pile at Stagg Field, a deci- based their recommendation on the belief that
sion he had made without informing either the com- Lawrence could not produce enough uranium-235 to
mittee or Groves. In addition, information from be of military significance. But since the calutron
British scientists raised serious questions about the could provide enriched samples quickly, the commit-
feasibility of deriving plutonium from the pile. It tee supported the construction of a small elec-
took several days for Groves and a committee of tromagnetic plant. Conant disagreed with the Lewis
scientists including Lawrence and Oppenheimer to committee’s assessment, believing that uranium had
satisfy themselves that the pile experiment posed lit- more weapon potential than plutonium. And since
tle danger, was justified by sound theory, and would he knew that gaseous diffusion could not provide
in all probability produce plutonium as predicted. any enriched uranium until the gaseous diffusion
plant was in full operation, he supported the one
method that might, if all went well, produce enough
One Last Look: The Lewis Committee uranium to build a bomb in 1944. During the after-
On November 18, Groves appointed Warren K. noon, the S-1 Executive Committee went over a
Lewis of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology draft Groves had prepared for Bush to send to the
to head a final review committee, comprised of President. It supported the Lewis committee’s report
himself and three DuPont representatives. During except that it recommended skipping the pilot plant
the next two weeks, the committee traveled from stage for the pile. After Conant and the Lewis com-
New York to Chicago to Berkeley and back again mittee met on December 10 and reached a com-
through Chicago. It endorsed the work on gaseous promise on the electromagnetic method, Groves’s
diffusion at Columbia, though it made some draft was amended and forwarded to Bush?*
organizational recommendations; in fact, the Lewis On December 28, 1942, President Roosevelt ap-
committee elevated gaseous diffusion to first priority proved the establishment of what ultimately became
and expressed reservations about the electromagnetic a government investment in excess of $2 billion, $.5
program despite an impassioned presentation by billion of which was itemized in Bush’s report sub-
Lawrence in Berkeley. Upon returning to Chicago, mitted on December 16. The Manhattan Project was
Crawford H. Greenewalt, a member of the Lewis authorized to build full-scale gaseous diffusion and
committee, was present at Stagg Field when, at 3:20 plutonium plants and the compromise electro-
p.m. on December 2, 1942, Fermi’s massive lattice magnetic plant, as well as heavy water production
pile of 400 tons of graphite, six tons of uranium facilities. In his report, Bush reaffirmed his belief
metal, and fifty tons of uranium oxide achieved the that bombs possibly could be produced during the
first self-sustaining chain reaction, operating initially first half of 1945 but cautioned that an earlier

16
 The Manhattan Engineer District
I
delivery was unlikely. No schedule could guarantee Bush's November 9, 1941, report on January 19,
that the United States would overtake Germany in 1942. At that time, there was a science organization
the race for the bomb, but by the beginning of 1943 at the highest level of the federal government and a
the Manhattan Project had the complete support of Top Policy Group with direct access to the Presi-
President Roosevelt and the military leadership, the dent. Funds were authorized, and the participation
services of some of the nation's most distinguished of the Corps of Engineers had. been approved in
scientists, and a sense of urgency driven by fear. principle. In addition, the country was at war and
Much had been achieved in the year between Pearl its scientific leadership-as well as its President-had
Harbor and the end of 1942. the belief, born of the MAUD report, that the pro-
No single decision created the American atomic ject could result in a significant contribution to the
bomb project. Roosevelt's December 28 decision war effort. Roosevelt's approval of $500 million in
was inevitable in light of numerous earlier ones that, late December 1942 was a step that followed directly
in incremental fashion, committed the United States from the commitments made in January of that year
to pursuing atomic weapons. In fact, the essential and stemmed logically from the President's earliest
pieces were in place when Roosevelt approved tentative decisions in late 1939.

17
Part IV: running the bomb project. Secrecy in the Manhattan
Project was so complete that many people working
The Manhattan Engineer for the organization did not know what they were
working on until they heard about the bombing of
District in Operation Hiroshima on the radio. The need for haste clarified
priorities and shaped decision making. Unfinished
research on three separate, unproven processes had
to be used to freeze design plans for production
facilities, even though it was recognized that later
findings inevitably would dictate changes. The pilot
plant stage was eliminated entirely, violating all
manufacturing practices and leading to intermittent
shutdowns and endless troubleshooting during trial
runs in production facilities. The inherent problems
of collapsing the stages between the laboratory and
full production created an emotionally charged at-
mosphere with optimism and despair alternating
with confusing frequency.
Despite Bush's assertion that a bomb could prob-
ably be produced by 1945, he and the other prin-
cipals associated with the project recognized the
magnitude of the task before them. For any large
The Manhattan Project organization to take laboratory research into design,
construction, operation, and product delivery in
In many ways the Manhattan Engineer District two-and-a-half years (from early 1943 to Hiroshima)
operated like any other large construction company. would be a major industrial achievement. Whether
It purchased and prepared sites, let contracts, hired the Manhattan Project would be able to produce
personnel and subcontractors, built and maintained bombs in time to affect the current conflict was an
housing and service facilities, placed orders for open question as 1943 began. (Obvious though it
materials, developed administrative and accounting seems in retrospect, it must be remembered that no
procedures, and established communications net- one at the time knew that the war would end in
works. By the end of the war Groves and his staff 1945 or who the remaining contestants would be if
had spent approximately $2.2 billion on production and when the atomic bomb was ready for use).
facilities and towns built in the states of Tennessee,
Washington, and New Mexico, as well as on
research in university laboratories from Columbia to Clinton Engineer Works (Oak Ridge)
Berkeley. What made the Manhattan Project unlike By the time President Roosevelt authorized the
other companies performing similar functions was Manhattan Project on December 28, 1942, work on
that, because of the necessity of moving quickly, it the east Tennessee site where the first production
invested hundreds of millions of dollars in unproven facilities were to be built was already underway. The
and hitherto unknown processes and did so entirely final quarter of 1942 saw the acquisition of the
in secret. Speed and secrecy were the watchwords of roughly ninety-square-mile parcel (59,000 acres) in
the Manhattan Project. the ridges just west of Knoxville, the removal of the
Secrecy proved to be a blessing in disguise. relatively few families on the marginal farmland,
Although it dictated remote site locations, required and extensive site preparation to provide the
subterfuge in obtaining labor and supplies, and serv- transportation, communications, and utility needs of
ed as a constant irritant to the academic scientists on the town and production plants that would occupy
the project, it had one overwhelming advantage: the previously underdeveloped area. Original plans
Secrecy made it possible to make decisions with little called for the Clinton Engineer Works, as the
regard for normal peacetime political considerations. military reservation was named, to house approx-
Groves knew that as long as he had the backing of imately 13,000 people in prefabricated housing,
the White House money would be available and he trailers, and wood dormitories. By the time the
could devote his considerable energies entirely to Manhattan Engineer District headquarters were
moved from Washington to Tennessee in the sum- X-10 area, which contained the experimental
mer of 1943 (Groves kept the M a n h a t h Project’s plutonium pile and separation facilities, and K-25,
office in Washington and placed Nichols in com- site of the gaseous diffusion plant and later the S-50
mand in Tennessee), estimates for the town of Oak thermal diffusion plant. Y-12 and X-10 were begun
Ridge had been revised upward to 4045,000 people. slightly earlier in 1943 than was K-25, but all three
(The name Oak Ridge did not come into usage until were well along by the end of the year.
after World War I1 but will be used here to avoid
confusion). At the end of the war, Oak Ridge was The Y-12 Electromagnetic Plant: Final
the fifth largest town in Tennessee, and the Clinton
Engineer Works was consuming one-seventh of all Decisions
the power being produced in the nation.29 While the Although the Lewis report had placed gaseous
Army and its contractors tried to keep up with the diffusion ahead of the electromagnetic approach,
rapid influx of workers and their families, services many were still betting in early 1943 that Lawrence
always lagged behind demand, though morale re- and his mass spectrograph would eventually
mained high in the atomic boomtown. predominate. Lawrence and his laboratory of
The three production facility sites were located in mechanics at Berkeley continued to experiment with
valleys away from the town. This provided security the giant 184-inch magnet, trying to reach a consen-
and containment in case of explosions. The Y-12 sus on which shims, sources, and collectors to incor-
area, home of the electromagnetic plant, was closest porate into Y-12 design for the Oak Ridge plant.
to Oak Ridge, being but one ridge away to the Research on magnet size and placement and beam
south. Farther to the south and west lay both the resolution eventually led to a racetrack configuration

CLINTON ENGINEER WORKS

Tennessee
1943 - 1945
Contour interval in feet

0 5
I I I I I I
MILES

Clinton Engineer Works. Reprinted from Vincent C. Jones, Manhattan: m e Army and the Atomic Bomb (Washington, D.C.: U.S.
Government Printing Office,1985).

20
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation 1
of two magnets with forty-eight gaps containing two pany, the Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company,
vacuum tanks each per building, with ten buildings and the Chapman Valve Manufacturing Company.
being necessary to provide the 2,000 sources and General Electric agreed to provide electrical
collectors needed to separate 100 grams of equipment.
uranium-235 daily. It was hoped that improvements On January 14, after a day of presentations and a
in calutron design, or placing multiple sources and demonstration of the experimental tanks in the
collectors in each tank, might increase efficiency and cyclotron building, Groves stunned the Y-12 con-
reduce the number of tanks and buildings required, tractors by insisting that the first racetrack of ninety-
but experimental results were inconclusive even as six tanks be in operation by July 1 and that 500
Stone & Webster of Boston, the Y-12 contractor at tanks be delivered by year’s end. Given that each
Oak Ridge, prepared to break ground. racetrack was 122 feet long, 77 feet wide and 15 feet
At a meeting of Groves, Lawrence, and John R. high; that the completed plant was to be the size of
Lotz of Stone & Webster in Berkeley late in three two-story buildings; that tank design was still
December 1942, Y-12 plans took shape. It was in flux; and that chemical extraction facilities also
agreed that Stone & Webster would take over design would have to be built, Groves’s demands were little
and construction of a 5Wtank facility, while less than shocking. Nonetheless, Groves maintained
Lawrence’s laboratory would play a supporting role that his schedule could be met?O
by supplying experimental data. By the time another For the next two months Lawrence, the contrac-
summit conference on Y-12 took place in Berkeley tors, and the Army negotiated over the final design.
on January 13 and 14, Groves had persuaded the While all involved could see possible improvements,
Tennessee Eastman Corporation to sign on as plant there simply was not enough time to incorporate
operator and arranged for various parts of the elec- every suggested modification. Y-12 design was
tromagnetic equipment to be manufactured by the finalized at a March 17 meeting in Boston, with one
Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Com- major modification-the inclusion of a second stage

1-1~1r ~ p l MLCU~LK
~ r Q C LIIIILUII. i,p,iue lvmgnets in Left Foreground. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and CJSA E. rUIuC;lauII, JI.,
The New World, 1939-1NG Volume I of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commision (University Park: Pennsylvania
State University Press, 1%2).
21
I
i PartIv: 7
of the electromagnetic process. The purpose of this with special clearances). Huge amounts of material
second stage was to take the enriched uranium-235 had to be obtained (38 million board feet of lumber,
derived from several runs of the first stage and use for instance), and the magnets needed so much cop-
it as the sole feed material for a second stage of per for windings that the Army had to borrow
racetracks containing tanks approximately half the almost 15,000 tons of silver bullion from the United
size of those in the fKst. Groves approved this ar- States Treasury to fabricate into strips and wind on
rangement and work began on both the Alpha to coils as a substitute for ~ o p p e r . ~
Treasury
’ silver
(first-stage) and Beta (second-stage) tracks. was also used to manufacture the busbars that ran
around the toD of the racetracks.
Replacing copper with silver solved the immediate
Construction of Y-12 problem of the magnets and busbars, but persistent
Groundbreaking for the Alpha plant took place shortages of electronic tubes, generators, regulators,
on February 18, 1943. Soon blueprints could not be and other equipment plagued the electromagnetic
produced fast enough to keep up with construction project and posed the most serious threat to
as Stone & Webster labored to meet Groves’s Groves’s deadline. Furthermore, last-minute design
deadline. The Beta facility was actually begun before changes continued to frustrate equipment manufac-
formal authorization. While laborers were ag- turers. Nonetheless, when Lawrence toured with
gressively recruited, there was always a shortage of Y-12 contractors in May 1943, he was impressed by
workers skilled enough to perform jobs according to the scale of operations. Lawrence returned to
the rigid specifications. (A further complication was Berkeley rededicated to the “awful job7, of finishing
that some tasks could be performed only by workers the racetracks on time?*

Y-12 Electromagnetic Plant Under Construction at Clinton. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New
World, 1939-1946, Volume I of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commkion (University Park: Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1%2).

22
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation 1

Design Changes at Y-12 and training operating personnel. Meanwhile Ten-

Lawrence and his colleagues continued to look for nessee Eastman, running behind schedule, raced to
wags to improve the electromagnetic process. complete experimental models so that training and
Lawrence found that hot (high positive voltage) elec- test runs could be performed at Oak Ridge.
trical sources could replace the single cold (ground-
ed) source in future plants, providing more efficient Warning From Los Alamos
use of power, reducing insulator failure, and making But in the midst of encouraging progress in con-
it possible to use multiple rather than single struction and research on the electromagnetic pro-
beams?3 Meanwhile, receiver design evolved quickly cess in July came discouraging news from
enough in spring and summer 1943 to be incor- Oppenheimer's isolated laboratory in Los Alamos,
porated into the Alpha plant. Work at the Radia- New Mexico, set up in spring 1943 to consolidate
tion Laboratory picked up additional speed in work on atomic weapons. Oppenheimer warned that
March with the authorization of the Beta process. three times more fissionable material would be re-
With Alpha technology far from perfected, quired for a bomb than earlier estimates had in-
Lawrence and his staff now had to participate in dicated. Even with satisfactory performance of the
planning for an unanticipated stage of the elec- racetracks, it was possible that they might not pro-
tromagnetic process. duce enough purified uranium-235 in time.
While the scientists in Berkeley studied changes Lawrence responded to this crisis in characteristic
that would be required in the down-sized Beta fashion: He immediately lobbied Groves to incor-
racetracks, engineering work at Oak Ridge prescrib- porate multiple sources into the racetracks under
ed specific design modifications. For a variety of construction and to build more racetracks. Groves
reasons, including simplicity of maintenance, Ten- decided to build the first four as planned but, after
nessee Eastman decided that the Beta plant would receiving favorable reports from both Stone &
consist of a rectangular, rather than oval, arrange- Webster and Tennessee Eastman, allowed a four-
ment of two tracks of thirty-six tanks each. Factor- beam source in the fifth. Convinced that the elec-
ing this configuration into their calculations, tromagnetic process would work and sensing that
Lawrence and his coworkers bent their efforts to estimates from Los Alamos might be revised
developing chemical processing techniques that downward in the future, Groves let Lawrence talk
would minimize the loss of enriched uranium during him into building a new plant-in effect, doubling
Beta production runs. To make certain that Alpha the size of the electromagnetic complex. The new
had enough feed material, Lawrence arranged for facility, Groves reported to the Military Policy Com-
research on an alternate method at Brown Universi- mittee on September 9, would consist of two
ty and expanded efforts at Berkeley. With what was buildings, each with two rectangular racetracks of
left of his time and money in early 1943 Lawrence ninety-six tanks operating with four-beam sources.
built prototypes of Alpha and Beta units for testing
Shakedown at Y-12
During summer and fall 1943 the first elec-
tromagnetic plant began to take shape. The huge
building to house the operating equipment was
readied as manufacturers began delivering everything
from electrical switches to motors, valves, and
tanks. While construction and outfitting proceeded,
almost 5,000 operating and maintenance personnel
were hired and trained. Then, between October and
mid-December, Y-12 paid the price for being a new
technology that had not been put through its paces
in a pilot plant. Vacuum tanks in the frst Alpha
racetrack leaked and shimmied out of line due to
Y-12Beta Racetrack at Clinton. Reprinted from Richard G. magnetic pressure, welds failed, electrical circuits
Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, malfunctioned, and operators made frequent
1939-1946, Volume I of A History of the United States Atomic
Energy Cornmksion (University Park: Pennsylvania State mistakes. Most seriously, the magnet coils shorted
University Press, 1%2). out because of rust and sediment in the cooling oil.

23
PartIv: I
Groves arrived on December 15 and shut the As K-25 stock continued to drop and plutonium
racetrack down. The coils were sent to AUis- prospects remained uncertain, Lawrence lobbied yet
Chalmers with hope that they could be cleaned again for further expansion of Y-12, arguing that it
without being dismantled entirely, while measures provided the only possible avenue to a bomb by
were taken to prevent recurrence of the shorting 1945. His plan was to convert all tanks to multiple
problem. The second Alpha track now bore the beams and to build two more racetracks. By this
weight of the electromagnetic effort. In spite of time even the British had given up on gaseous diffu-
precautions aimed at correcting the electrical and oil- sion and urged acceptance of Lawrence’s plan.
related problems that had shut down the first Time was running out, and an element of
racetrack, the second Alpha fared little better when desperation crept into decisions made at a meeting
it started up in midJanuary 1944. While all tanks on July 4, 1944. Groves met with the Oak Ridge
operated at least for short periods, performance was contractors to consider proposals Lawrence had
sporadic and maintenance could not keep up with prepared after assessing once again the resources
electrical failures and defective parts. Like its and abilities of the Radiation Laboratory. There was
predecessor, Alpha 2 was a maintenance nightmare. to be no change in the completed racetracks; there
Alpha 2 produced about 200 grams of twelve- simply was not enough time. Some improvements
percent uranium-235 by the end of February, were to be made in the racetracks then under con-
enough to send samples to Los Alamos and feed the struction. In the most important decision made at
first Beta unit but not enough to satisfy estimates of the meeting, Lawrence was to throw all he had into
weapon requirements. The first four Alpha tracks a completely new type of calutron that would use a
did not operate together until April, a full four thirty-beam source. Technical support would come
months late. While maintenance improved, output from both Westinghouse and General Electric,
was well under previous expectations. The opening which would cease work on four-beam development.
of the Beta building on March 11 led to further It was a gamble in a high-stakes game, but sticking
disappointment. Beam resolution was so unsatisfac- with the Alpha and Beta racetracks might have been
tory that complete redesign was required. To make an even greater gamble.
matters worse, word spread that the K-25 gaseous
diffusion process was in deep trouble because of its
ongoing barrier crisis. K-25 had been counted upon The K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant
to provide uranium enriched enough to serve as feed
material for Beta. Now it would be producing such Eleven miles southwest of Oak Ridge on the
slight enrichment that the Alpha tracks would have Clinch River was the site of the K-25 gaseous diffu-
to process K-25’s material, requiring extensive sion plant upon which so much hope had rested
redesign and retooling of tanks, doors, and liners, when it was authorized in late 1942. Championed by
particularly in units that would be wired to run as the British and placed fust by the Lewis committee,
hot, rather than as cold, electrical s0urces.3~ gaseous diffusion seemed to be based on sound
theory but had not yet produced samples of enrich-
ed uranium-235.
At Oak Ridge, on a relatively flat area of about
Reworking the Racetracks 5,000 acres, site preparation for the K-25 powerplant
It became clear to Groves that he would have to began in June. Throughout the summer, contractors
find a way for a combination of isotope separation contended with primitive roads as they shipped in
processes to produce enough fissionable material for the materials needed to build what became the
bombs. This meant making changes in the world’s largest steam electric plant. In September
racetracks so that they could process the slightly work began on the cascade building, plans for
enriched material produced by K-25. He then which had changed dramatically since the spring.
concentrated on further expansion of the electro- Now there were to be fifty four-story buildings
magnetic facilities. Lawrence, seconded by Op- (2,000,000 square feet) in a U-shape measuring half
penheimer, believed that four more racetracks a mile by 1,000 feet. Innovative foundation techni-
should be built to accompany the nine already ques were required to avoid setting thousands of
finished or under construction. Groves agreed with concrete piers to support load-bearing walls.
this approach, though he was not sure that the addi- Since it was eleven miles from the headquarters at
tional racetracks could be built in time. Oak Ridge, the K-25 site developed into a satellite

24
I The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation I

K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Plant Under Construction at Clinton.

Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr.,
7’he New World, 1939-1946, Volume I of A Hislory of the
United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).

town. Housing was supplied, as was a full array of K-25 from Opposite End. White Building in Center of Previous
service facilities for the population that reached Picture Discernible at Far End. Reprinted from Richard G.
Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., m e New World,
15,000. Dubbed Happy Valley by the inhabitants, 1939-1946, Volume I of A History of the United States Atomic
the town had housing similar to that in Oak Ridge, Energy Commission (University Park Pennsylvania State
but, like headquarters, it too experienced chronic University Press, 1%2).
shortages. Even with a contractor camp with
facilities for 2,000 employees nearby, half of Happy larger decision to double Y-12 capacity and fit with
Valley’s workers had to commute to the construc- Groves’s new strategy of utilizing a combination of
tion site daily. methods to produce enough fissionable material for
bombs as soon as possible.
There was no doubt in Groves’s mind that
gaseous diffusion still had to be pursued vigorously.
Downgrading K-25 Not only had major resources already been expend-
In late summer 1943 it was decided that K-25 ed on the program, but there was also the possibility
would play a lesser role than originally intended. In- that it might yet prove successful. Y-12 was in trou-
stead of producing fully enriched uranium-235, the ble as 1944 began, and the plutonium pile projects
gaseous diffusion plant would now provide around were just getting underway. A workable barrier
fifty percent enrichment for use as feed material in design might put K-25 ahead in the race for the
Y-12. This would be accomplished by eliminating bomb. Unfortunately, no one had been able to
the more troublesome upper part of the cascade. fabricate barrier of sufficient quality. The only alter-
Even this level of enrichment was not assured since native remaining was to increase production enough
a barrier for the diffusion plant still did not exist. to compensate for the low percentage of barrier that
The decision to downgrade K-25 was part of the met specifications. As Lawrence prepared to throw

25
PartIv: I
everything he had into a thirty-beam source for demonstrated that a thermal diffusion plant could
Y-12, Groves ordered a crash barrier program, hop- be built at Oak Ridge and placed in operation by
ing to prevent K-25 from standing idle as the race early 1945. The steam needed in the convection col-
for the bomb continued. umns was already at hand in the form of the almost
completed K-25 powerplant. It would be a relatively
simple matter to provide steam to the thermal diffu-
Help From the Navy sion plant and produce enriched uranium, while
As problems with both Y-12 and K-25 reached providing electricity for the K-25 plant when it was
crisis proportions in spring and summer 1944, f ~ s h e d Groves
. gave the contractor, H. K.
the Manhattan Project received help from an unex- Ferguson Company of Cleveland, just ninety days
pected source-the United States Navy. President from September 27 to bring a 2,142-column plant
Roosevelt had instructed that the atomic bomb ef- on line (Abelson’s plant contained 100 columns).
fort be an Army program and that the Navy be ex- There was no time to waste as Happy Valley braced
cluded from deliberations. Navy research on atomic itself for a new influx of workers.
power, conducted primarily for submarines, received
no direct aid from Groves, who, in fact, was not The Metallurgical Laboratory
up-to-date on the state of Navy efforts when he One of the most important branches of the far-
received a letter on the subject from Oppenheimer flung Manhattan Project was the Metallurgical
late in April 1944. Laboratory w e t Lab) in Chicago, which was
Oppenheimer informed Groves that Philip counted on to design a production pile for
Abelson’s experiments on thermal diffusion at the plutonium. Here again the job was to design equip-
Philadelphia Naval Yard deserved a closer look. ment for a technology that was not well understood
Abelson was building a plant to produce enriched even in the laboratory. The Fermi pile, important as
uranium to be completed in early July. It might be it was historically, provided little technical guidance
possible, Oppenheimer thought, to help Abelson other than to suggest a lattice arrangement of
complete and expand his plant and use its slightly graphite and uranium. Any pile producing more
enriched product as feed for Y-12 until problems power than the few watts generated in Fermi’s
with K-25 could be resolved. famous experiment would require elaborate controls,
The liquid thermal diffusion process had been radiation shielding, and a cooling system. These
evaluated in 1940 by the Uranium Committee, when engineering features would all contribute to a reduc-
Abelson was at the National Bureau of Standards. tion in neutron multiplication (neutron multiplica-
In 1941 he moved to the Naval Research tion being represented by k);so it was imperative to
Laboratory, where there was more support for his determine which pile design would be safe and con-
work. During summer 1942 Bush and Conant trollable and still have a k high enough to sustain an
received reports about Abelson’s research but con- ongoing reacti0n.3~
cluded that it would take too long for the thermal
diffusion process to make a major contribution to Pile Design
the bomb effort, especially since the electromagnetic A group headed by Compton’s chief engineer,
and pile projects were making satisfactory progress. Thomas V. Moore, began designing the production
After a visit with Abelson in January 1943, Bush pile in June 1942. Moore’s frst goals were to find
encouraged the Navy to increase its support of ther- the best methods of extracting plutonium from the
mal diffusion. A thorough review of Abelson’s pro- irradiated uranium and for cooling the uranium. It
ject early in 1943, however, concluded that thermal quickly became clear that a production pile would
diffusion work should be expanded but should not differ significantly in design from Fermi’s exper-
be considered as a replacement for gaseous diffu- imental reactor, possibly by extending uranium rods
sion, which was better understood theoretically. into and through the graphite next to cooling tubes
Abelson continued his work independently of the and building a radiation and containment shield.
Manhattan Project. He obtained authorization to Although experimental reactors like Fermi’s did not
build a new plant at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, generate enough power to need cooling systems,
where construction began in January 1944. piles built to produce plutonium would operate at
Groves immediately saw the value of Oppen- high power levels and require coolants. The Met
heimer’s suggestion and sent a group to Philadelphia Lab group considered the full range of gases and li-
to visit Abelson’s plant. A quick analysis quids in a search to isolate the substances with the

26
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation 1
best nuclear characteristics, with hydrogen and tion was tailor-made for a man with Groves’s
helium standing out among the gases and temperament. On October 5 Groves exhorted the
water-even with its marginal nuclear properties and Met Lab to decide on pile design within a week.
tendency to corrode uranium-as the best liquid. Even wrong decisions were better than no decisions,
During the summer, Moore and his group began Groves claimed, and since time was more valuable
planning a heliumcooled pilot pile for the Argonne than money, more than one approach should be
Forest Preserve near Chicago, built by Stone & pursued if no single design stood out. While Groves
Webster, and on September 25 they reported to did not mandate a specific decision, his imposed
Compton. The proposal was for a W t o n cube of deadline forced the Met Lab scientists to reach a
graphite to be pierced by 376 vertical columns con- consensus.
taining twenty-two cartridges of uranium and Compton decided on compromise. Fermi would
graphite. Cooling would be provided by circulating study the fundamentals of pile operation on a small
helium from top to bottom through the pile. A wall experimental unit to be completed and in operation
of graphite surrounding the reactor would provide by the end of the year. Hopefully he could deter-
radiation containment, while a series of spherical mine the precise value of k and make a significant
segments that gave the design the nickname Mae advance in pile engineering possible. An intermediate
West would make up the outer shell. pile with external cooling would be built at Argonne
By the time Compton received Moore’s report, he and operated until June 1, 1943, when it would be
had two other pile designs to consider. One was a taken down for plutonium extraction. The helium-
water-cooled model developed by Eugene Wigner cooled Mae West, designed to produce 100 grams of
and Gale Young, a former colleague of Compton’s. plutonium a day, would be built and operating by
Wigner and Young proposed a twelve-foot by March 1944. Studies on liquidcooled reactors would
twenty-five-foot cylinder of graphite with pipes of continue, including Szilard’s work on liquid metals.
uranium extending from a water tank above,
through the cylinder, and into a second water tank
underneath. Coolant would circulate continuously Seaborg and Plutonium Chemistry
through the system, and corrosion would be While the Met Lab labored to make headway on
minimized by coating interior surfaces or lining the pile design, Seaborg and his coworkers tried to gain
uranium pipes. enough information about transuranium chemistry
A second alternative to Mae West was more dar- to insure that plutonium produced could be suc-
ing. Szilard thought that liquid metal would be such cessfully extracted from the irradiated uranium.
an efficient coolant that, in combination with an Using lanthanum fluoride as a carrier, Seaborg
electromagnetic pump having no moving parts isolated a weighable sample of plutonium in August
(adapted from a design he and Einstein had 1942. At the same time, Isadore Perlman and
created), it would be possible to achieve high power William J. Knox explored the peroxide method of
levels in a considerably smaller pile. Szilard had separation; John E. Willard studied various
trouble obtaining supplies for his experiment, materials to determine which best adsorbed
primarily because bismuth, the metal he preferred as plutonium;36 Theodore T. Magel and Daniel K.
the coolant, was rare. Koshland, Jr., researched solvent-extraction pro-
cesses; and Harrison s. Brown and Orville F. Hill
Groves Steps In performed experiments into volatility reactions.
October 1942 found Groves in Chicago ready to Basic research on plutonium’s chemistry continued
force a showdown on pile design. Szilard was noisily as did work on radiation and fission products.
complaining that decisions had to be made so that Seaborg’s discovery and subsequent isolation of
design could move to procurement and construction. plutonium were major events in the history of
Compton’s delay reflected uncertainty of the chemistry, but, like Fermi’s achievement, it remain-
superiority of the helium pile and awareness that, ed to be seen whether they could be translated into
engineering studies could not be definitive until the a production process useful to the bomb effort. In
precise value of k had been established. Some scien- fact, Seaborg’s challenge seemed even more daunt-
tists at the Met Lab urged that a full production pile ing, for while piles had to be scaled up ten to twen-
be built immediately, while others advocated a ty times, a separation plant for plutonium would
multi-step process, perhaps beginning with an exter- involve a scale-up of the laboratory experiment on
nally cooled reactor proposed by Fermi. The situa- the order of a billion-fold.

27
i Part n7: I

Collaboration with DuPont’s Charles M. Cooper time to throw its full weight into the Oak Ridge
and his staff on plutonium separation facilities project.
began even before Seaborg succeeded in isolating a Moving the pilot plutonium plant to Oak Ridge
sample of plutonium. Seaborg was reluctant to drop left too little room for the full-scale production
any of the approaches then under consideration, and plant at the X-10 site and also left too little
Cooper agreed. The two decided to pursue all four generating power for yet another major facility. Fur-
methods of plutonium separation but put first thermore, the site was uncomfortably close to Knox-
priority on the lanthanum fluoride process Seaborg ville should a catastrophe occur. Thus the search for
had already developed. Cooper’s staff ran into pro- an alternate location for the full-scale plutonium
blems with the lanthanum fluoride method in late facility began soon after DuPont joined the produc-
1942, but by then Seaborg had become interested in tion team. Compton’s scientists needed an area of
phosphate carriers. Work led by Stanley G. Thomp- approximately 225 square miles. Three or four piles
son found that bismuth phosphate retained over and one or two chemical separation complexes
ninety-eight percent plutonium in a precipitate. With would be at least a mile apart for security purposes,
bismuth phosphate as a backup for the lanthanum while nothing would be allowed within four miles of
fluoride, Cooper moved ahead on a semiworks near the separation complexes for fear of radioactive ac-
S t a g Field. cidents. Towns, highways, rail lines, and laboratories
would be several miles further away.
DuPont Joins the Team
Compton’s original plans to build the experimen- Hanford
tal pile and chemical separation plant on the Univer- December 16, 1942, found Colonel Franklin T.
sity of Chicago campus changed during fall Matthias of Groves’s staff and two DuPont
1942. The S-1 Executive Committee concurred that engineers headed for the Pacific Northwest and
it would be safer to put Fermi’s pile in Argonne and southern California to investigate possible produc-
build the pilot plant and separation facilities in Oak tion sites. Of the possible sites available, none had a
Ridge than to place these experiments in a populous better combination of isolation, long construction
area. On October 3 DuPont agreed to design and season, and abundant water for hydroelectric power
build the chemical separation plant. Groves tried to than those found along the Columbia and Colorado
entice further DuPont participation at Oak Ridge by Rivers. After viewing six locations in Washington,
having the fm prepare an appraisal of the pile pro- Oregon, and California, the group agreed that the
ject and by placing three DuPont staff members on area around Hanford, Washington, best met the
the Lewis committee. Because DuPont was sensitive criteria established by the Met Lab scientists and
about its public image (the company was still smart- DuPont engineers. The Grand Coulee and Bon-
ing from charges that it profiteered during World neville Dams offered substantial hydroelectric power,
War I), Groves ultimately obtained the services of while the flat but rocky terrain would provide ex-
the giant chemical company for the sum of one cellent support for the huge plutonium production
dollar over actual costs. In addition, DuPont vowed buildings. The ample site of nearly one-half million
to stay out of the bomb business after the war and acres was far enough inland to meet security re-
offered all patents to the United States government. quirements, while existing transportation facilities
Groves had done well in convincing DuPont to could quickly be improved and labor was readily
join the Manhattan Project. DuPont’s proven ad- available. Pleased with the committee’s unanimous
ministrative structure assured excellent coordination report, Groves accepted its recommendation and
(Crawford Greenewalt was given the responsibility authorized the establishment of the Hanford
of coordinating DuPont and Met Lab planning), Engineer Works, codenamed Site W.
and Groves and Compton welcomed the company’s Now that DuPont would be building the
demand that it be put in full charge of the Oak plutonium production complex in the Northwest,
Ridge plutonium project. DuPont had a strong Compton saw no reason for any pile facilities in
organization and had studied every aspect of the Oak Ridge and proposed to conduct Met Lab
Met Lab’s program thoroughly before accepting the research in either Chicago or Argonne. DuPont, on
assignment. While deeply involved in the overall war the other hand, continued to support a semiworks at
effort, DuPont expected to be able to divert person- Oak Ridge and asked the Met Lab scientists to
nel and other resources from explosives work in operate it. Compton demurred on the grounds that

28
I The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation -1
he did not have sufficient technical staff, but he was simply did not have sufficient expertise to operate
also reluctant because his scientists complained that the semiworks on its own. The University of
their laboratory was becoming little more than a Chicago administration supported Compton’s deci-
subsidiary of DuPont. In the end, Compton knew sion in early March.
the Met Lab would have to support DuPont, which

Hanford Engineer Works. Reprinted from Vincent C. Jones, Manhattan: i?zeA m y and the Atomic Bomb
(Washington, D.C.:U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985).

29
Pile Design: Changing Priorities Decision on Pile Design
The fall 1942 planning sessions at the Met Lab led Greenewalt’s initial response to the water-cooled
to the decision to build a second Fermi pile at design was guarded. He worried about pressure pro-
Argonne as soon as his experiments on the first were blems that might lead to boiling water in individual
completed and to proceed on design of the Mae tubes, corrosion of slugs and tubes, and the one-
West heliumcooled unit. When DuPont engineers percent margin of safety for k. But he was even
assessed the Met Lab’s plans in the late fall, they more worried about the proposed heliumcooled
agreed that helium should be given first priority. model. He feared that the compressors would not be
They placed heavy water second and urged an all- ready in time for Hanford, that the shell could not
out effort to produce more of this highly effective be made vacuum-tight, and that the pile would be
moderator. Bismuth and water were ranked third extremely difficult to operate. DuPont engineers
and fourth in DuPont’s analysis. Priorities changed conceded that Greenewalt’s fears were well-
when Fermi’s calculations demonstrated a higher grounded. Late in February, Greenewalt reluctantly
value for k than anyone had anticipated. Met Lab concluded that the Met Lab’s model, while it had its
scientists concluded that a water-cooled pile was problems, was superior to DuPont’s own helium-
now feasible, while DuPont shifted its interest to air cooled design and decided to adopt the water-cooled
cooling. Since a heliumcooled unit shared important approach.
design characteristics with an aircooled one, The Met Lab’s victory in the pile design competi-
Greenewalt thought that an aircooled semiworks at tion came as its status within the Manhattan Project
Oak Ridge would contribute significantly to design- was changing. Still an exciting place intellectually,
ing the full-scale facilities at Hanford. the Met Lab occupied a less central place in the
DuPont established the general specifications for bomb project as Oak Ridge and Hanford rose to
the aircooled semiworks and chemical separation prominence. Fermi continued to work on the Stagg
facilities in early 1943. A massive graphite block, Field pile (CP-l), hoping to determine the exact
protected by several feet of concrete, would contain value of k. Subsequent experiments at the Argonne
hundreds of horizontal channels filled with uranium site using CP-2, built with material from CP-1,
slugs surrounded by cooling air. New slugs would be focused on neutron capture probabilities, control
pushed into the channels on the face of the pile, systems, and instrument reliability. Once the produc-
forcing irradiated ones at the rear to fall into an tion facilities at Oak Ridge and Hanford were
underwater bucket. The buckets of irradiated slugs underway, however, Met Lab research became in-
would undergo radioactive decay for several weeks, creasingly unimportant in the race for the bomb and
then be moved by underground canal into the the scientists found themselves serving primarily as
chemical separation facility where the plutonium consultants for DuPont.
would be extracted with remote control equipment.
Met Lab activities focused on designing a water- Decision on Chemical Extraction
cooled pile for the full-scale plutonium plant. Tak- While the Met Lab physicists chafed under Du-
ing their cue from the DuPont engineers, who utiliz- Pont domination, a smoother and quieter relation-
ed a horizontal design for the air-cooled semiworks, ship existed between the chemists and DuPont.
Met Lab scientists abandoned the vertical arrange- Seaborg and Cooper continued to work well
ment with water tanks, which had posed serious together, and enough progress was made in the
engineering difficulties. Instead they proposed to semiworks for the lanthanum fluoride process in late
place uranium slugs sealed in aluminum cans inside 1942 that DuPont moved into the plant design stage
aluminum tubes. The tubes, laid horizontally and converted the semiworks for the bismuth
through a graphite block, would cool the pile with phosphate method. .DuPont pressed for a decision
water injected into each tube. The pile, containing on plutonium extraction methods in late May.
200 tons of uranium and 1,200 tons of graphite, Greenewalt chose bismuth phosphate, though even
would need 75,000 gallons of water per minute for Seaborg admitted he could find little to distinguish
cooling. between the two. Greenewalt based his decision on

30
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation
I
the corrosiveness of lanthanum fluoride and on In July 1942 Compton set up a health division at
Seaborg’s guarantee that he could extract at least the Met Lab and put Robert S. Stone in charge.
fifty percent of the plutonium using bismuth Stone established emission standards and conducted
phosphate. DuPont began constructing the chemical experiments on radiation hazards, providing valuable
separation pilot plant at Oak Ridge, while Seaborg planning information for the Oak Ridge and Han-
continued refining the bismuth phosphate method. ford facilities.
It was now Cooper’s job to design the pile as well
as the plutonium extraction facilities at Clinton, Construction at Oak Ridge
both complicated engineering tasks made even more DuPont broke ground for the X-10 complex at
difficult by high levels of radiation produced by the Oak Ridge in February 1943. The site would include
process. Not only did Cooper have to oversee the an aircooled experimental pile, a pilot chemical
design and fabrication of parts for yet another new separation plant, and support facilities. Cooper pro-
Manhattan Project technology, he had to do so with duced blueprints for the chemical separation plants
an eye toward planning the Hanford facility. Safety in time for construction to begin in March. A series
was a major consideration because of the hazards of of huge underground concrete cells, the first of
working with plutonium, which was highly radioac- which sat under the pile, extended to one story
tive. Uranium, a much less active element than above ground. Aluminum cans containing uranium
plutonium, posed far fewer safety problems. slugs would drop into the first cell of the chemical

Safety-dR T G r a p h i t e Thermal Column

Lattice 1\

Air-Cooled Pile Built in X-10Area at Clinton. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New WorId,
1939-1946, Volume I of A Hktoty of the United States Atomic Energy Commksion (University Park Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1%2).
separation facility and dissolve and then go through channels fdled with uranium. During the next
the extraction process. The pile building went up several months, Compton gradually raised the power
during the spring and summer, a huge concrete shell level of the pile and increased its plutonium yield.
seven feet thick with hundreds of holes for uranium Chemical separation techniques using the bismuth
slug placement. Slugs were to plutonium piles what phosphate process were so successful that Los
barrier was to gaseous diffusion; that is, an obstacle Alamos received plutonium samples beginning in the
that could shut down the entire process. The spring. Fission studies of these samples at Los
Aluminum Company of American (Alcoa) was the Alamos during summer 1944 heavily influenced
only firm left working on a process to enclose bomb design.
uranium-235 in aluminum sheaths, and it was still
having problems. Initial production provided mixed
results, with many cans failing vacuum tests because Hanford Takes Shape
of faulty welds. Colonel Matthias returned to the Hanford area to
set up a temporary office on February 22, 1943. His
orders were to purchase half a million acres in and
around the Hanford-Pasco-White Bluffs area, a
sparsely populated region where sheep ranching and
farming were the main economic activities. Many of
the area's landowners rejected initial offers on their
land and took the Army to court seeking more ac-
ceptable appraisals. Matthias adopted a strategy of
settling out of court to save time, time being a more
important commodity than money to the Manhattan
Project.
Matthias received his assignment in late March.
The three water-cooled piles, designated by the let-
ters By D, and F, would be built about six miles
apart on the south bank of the Columbia River.
The four chemical separation plants, built in pairs,
would be nearly ten miles south of the piles, while a
facility to produce slugs and perform tests would be
approximately twenty miles southeast of the separa-
tion plants near Richland. Temporary quarters for
construction workers would be put up in Hanford,
while permanent facilities for other personnel would
be located down the road in Richland, safely remov-
ed from the production and separation plants.
During summer 1943, Hanford became the
Manhattan Project's newest atomic boomtown.
Workers Loading Uranium Slug Into Face of Ak-Cooled Pile. Thousands of workers poured into the town, many
Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, of them to leave in discontent. Well situated from a
Jr.. The New World, 1939-1946, Volume I of A Histou of the logistical point of view, Hanford was a sea of tents
United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park: and barracks where workers had little to do and
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).
nowhere to go. DuPont and the Army coordinated
efforts to recruit laborers from all over the country
X-10 in Operation: Fall 1943 for Hanford, but even with a relative labor surplus
The moment everyone had been waiting for came in the Pacific Northwest, shortages plagued the pro-
in late October when DuPont completed construc- ject. Conditions improved significantly during the
tion and tests of the X-10 pile at Clinton Engineer second half of the year, with the addition of recrea-
Works. After thousands of slugs were loaded, the tional facilities, higher pay, and better overall ser-
pile went critical in the early morning of Nov- vices for Hanford's population, which reached
ember 4 and produced plutonium by the end of the 50,000 by summer 1944. Hanford still resembled the
month. Criticality was achieved with only half of the frontier and mining towns once common in the

32
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation

Aerial View of Hanford Community. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939-1946
Volume I of A Histo~yof the United Statu Atomic Energy Commission (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).

west, but the rate of worker turnover dropped destination at one of the two chemical separation
substantially. locations, designated 200-West and 200-East. The T
Groundbreaking for the water-cooling plant for and U plants were located at 200-West, while a
the 100-B pile, the westernmost of the three, took single plant, the B unit, made up the 200-East com-
place on August 27, less than two weeks before plex (the planned fourth chemical separation plant
Italy’s surrender to the Allies on September 8. Work was not built). The Hanford chemical separation
on the pile itself began in February, with the base facilities were massive scaled-up versions of those
and .shield being completed by mid-May. It took at Oak Ridge, each containing separation and con-
another month to place the graphite pile and install centration buildings in addition to ventilation (to
the top shield and two more months to wire and eliminate radioactive and poisonous gases) and waste
pipe the pile and connect it to the various monitor- storage areas. Labor shortages and the lack of final
ing and control devices. blueprints forced DuPont to stop work on the 200
At Hanford, irradiated uranium slugs would drop areas in summer 1943 and concentrate its forces on
into water pools behind the piles and then be moved 100-Bywith the result that 1943 construction pro-
by remote-controlled rail cars to a storage facility gress on chemical separation was limited to digging
five miles away for transportation to their final two huge holes in the ground.37

33
Pile D at Hanford. Pile in Foreground, Water Treatment Plant in Rear. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson,
Jr., The New WorId, 1939-IWG Volume I of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commkion (University Park:
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).

The Chemical Separation Buildings

(Queen Marys)
Both 221T and 221U, the chemical separation
buildings in the 200-West complex, were finished by
December 1944. 221B, their counterpart in 200-East,
was completed in spring 1945. Nicknamed Queen
Marys by the workers who built them, the separa-
tion buildings were awesome canyon-like structures
800 feet long, 65 feet wide, and 80 feet high con-
taining forty process pools. The interior had an eerie
quality as operators behind thick concrete shielding
manipulated remote control equipment by looking
through television monitors and periscopes from an
upper gallery. Even with massive concrete lids on
the process pools, precautions against radiation ex-
posure were necessary and influenced all aspects of
plant design.38
Construction of the chemical concentration
buildings (224-T, -U, and -B) was a less daunting
task because relatively little radioactivity was involv-
ed, and the work was not started until very late
1944. The 200-West units were finished in early Oc- Chemical Separation Plant (Queen Mary) Under Construction at
Hanford. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E.
tober, the East unit in February 1945. In the Queen Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939-1946,Volume I of A
Marys, bismuth phosphate carried the plutonium History of the United States Atomic Energy Commhion
through the long succession of process pools. The (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).

34
I The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation
1:

Completed Queen Mary at Hanford. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1939-1946,
Volume I of A History ofthe United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962).

concentration stage was designed to separate the two Stimson, and General Marshall (the Top Policy
chemicals. The normal relationship between pilot Group). By the time of his appointment in late
plant and' production plant was realized when the September, Groves had orders to set up a committee
Oak Ridge pilot plant reported that bismuth to study military applications of the bomb. Mean-
phosphate was not suitable for the concentration while, sentiment was growing among the Manhattan
process but that Seaborg's original choice, lan- scientists that research on the bomb project needed
thanum fluoride, worked quite well. Hanford, to be better coordinated. Oppenheimer, among
accordingly, incorporated this suggestion into the others, advocated a central facility where theoretical
concentration facilities. The final step in plutonium and experimental work could be conducted accor-
extraction was isolation, performed in a more typical ding to standard scientific protocols. This would
laboratory setting with little radiation present. Here insure accuracy and speed progress. Oppenheimer
Perlman's earlier research on the peroxide method suggested that the bomb laboratory operate secretly
paid off and was applied to produce pure plutonium in an isolated area but allow free exchange of ideas
nitrate. The nitrate would be converted to metal in among the scientists on the staff. Groves accepted
Los Alamos, New Mexico. Oppenheimer's suggestion and began seeking an ap-
propriate location.
Los Alamos The search for a bomb laboratory site quickly
The final link in the Manhattan Project's farflung narrowed to two places in northern New Mexico,
network was the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory Jemez Springs and the Los Alamos Boys Ranch
in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The laboratory that School, locations Oppenheimer knew well since he
designed and fabricated the first atomic bombs, had a ranch nearby in the Pecos Valley of the
codenamed Project Y, began to take shape in spring Sangre de Cristo Mountains. In mid-November, Op-
1942 when Conant suggested to Bush that the Office penheimer, Groves, Edwin M. McMillan, and
of Scientific and Research Development and the Lieutenant Colonel W. H. Dudley visited the two
Army form a committee to study bomb develop- sites and chose Los Alamos. Located on a mesa
ment. Bush agreed and forwarded the recommenda- about thirty miles northwest of Santa Fey Los
tion to Vice President Wallace, Secretary of War Alamos was virtually inaccessible. It would have to

35
Part n7:

be provided with better water and power facilities, buy. By the end of 1942 the district engineer in
but the laboratory community was not expected to Albuquerque had orders to begin construction, and
be very large. The boys’ school occupying the site the University of California had contracted to pro-
was eager to sell, and Groves was equally eager to vide supplies and personnel.

Los Alamos Site. Reprinted from Vincent C. Jones, Manhattan: The A m y and the Atomic Bomb
(Washington,D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985).

36
 -

The ManhattanEngineer District in Operation

Oppenheimer and Groves

Oppenheimer, selected to head the new
laboratory, proved to be an excellent director despite
initial concerns about his administrative inex-
perience, leftist political sympathies, and lack of a
Nobel Prize when several scientists he would be
directing were prizewinners. Groves worked well
with Oppenheimer although the two were fun-
damentally different in temperament. Groves was a
practical-minded military man, brusque and goal-
oriented. His aide, Colonel Nichols, characterized
his heavyset boss as ruthless, egotistical, and confi-
dent, “the biggest S.O.B. I have ever worked for. He
is most demanding. He is most critical. He is always
a driver, never a praiser. He is abrasive and sar-
castic.” Nichols admitted, however, that if he had it
to do over again, he would once again “pick
General Groves [as his boss]” because of his un-
questioned ability?9 Groves demanded that the
Manhattan Project scientists spend all their time on
the bomb and resist the temptation, harmless
enough in peacetime, to follow lines of research that
had no direct applicability to immediate problems.
In constrast to Groves, Oppenheimer was a
philosophical man, attracted to Eastern mysticism
and of a decidedly theoretical inclination and sen-
sitive nature. A chainsmoker given to long working
hours, Oppenheimer appeared almost emaciated.
The Groves-Oppenheimer alliance, though not one
of intimacy, was marked by mutual respect and was Groves and Oppenheimer. Reprinted from Leslie R. Groves,
a major factor in the success of the Manhattan Now It Can Be Told (New York: Harper & Row, 1%2).
Project.
Oppenheimer insisted, with some success, that early plans to operate Los Alamos as a military
scientists at Los Alamos remain as much an laboratory. Oppenheimer accepted Groves’s rationale
academic community as possible, and he proved for this arrangement but soon found that scientists
adept at satisfying the emotional and intellectual objected to working as commissioned officers and
needs of his highly distinguished staff. Hans Bethe, feared that the military chain of command was ill-
head of the theoretical division, remembered that suited to scientific decision making. The issue came
nobody else in that laboratory “. . . even came to a head when Oppenheimer tried to convince
close to him. In his knowledge. There was Robert F. Bacher and Isidor I. Rabi of the
human warmth as well. Everybody certainly Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Radiation
had the impression that Oppenheimer cared Laboratory to join the Los Alamos team. Neither
what each particular person was doing. In talk- thought a military environment was conducive to
ing to someone he made it clear that that per- scientific research. At Oppenheimer’s request, Con-
son’s work was important for the success of ant and Groves wrote a letter explaining that the
the whole pr~ject.”~’ secret weapon-related research had presidential
Oppenheimer had a chance to display his per- authority and was of the utmost national impor-
suasive abilities early when he had to convince scien- tance. The letter promised that the laboratory would
tists, many of them already deeply involved in war- remain civilian through 1943, when it was believed
related research in university laboratories, to join his that the requirements of security would require
new organization. Complicating his task were the militarization of the final stages of the project (in

37
fact, militarization never took place). Oppenheimer the theory. The optimum size of the critical mass re-
would supervise all scientific work, and the military mained to be established, as did the optimum shape.
would maintain the post and provide security. When enough data were gathered to establish op-
timum critical mass, optimum effective mass still
had to be determined. That is, it was not enough
simply to start a chain reaction in a critical mass; it
Recruiting the Staff was necessary to start one in a mass that would
Oppenheimer spent the first three months of 1943 release the greatest possible amount of energy before
tirelessly crisscrossing the country in an attempt to it was destroyed in the explosion.
put together a first-rate staff, an effort that proved In addition to calculations on uranium and
highly successful!’ Even Bacher signed on, though plutonium fission, chain reactions, and critical and
he promised to resign the moment militarization oc- effective masses, work needed to be done on the
curred; Rabi, though he did not move to Los ordnance aspects of the bomb, or “gadget” as it
Alamos, became a valuable consultant. As soon as came to be known. Two subcritical masses of fis-
Oppenheimer arrived at Los Alamos in mid-March, sionable material would have to come together to
recruits began arriving from universities across the form a supercritical mass for an explosion to occur.
United States, including California, Minnesota, Furthermore, they had to come together in a precise
Chicago, Princeton, Stanford, Purdue, Columbia, manner and at high speed. Measures also had to be
Iowa State, and the Massachusetts Institute of taken to insure that the highly unstable subcritical
Technology, while still others came from the Met masses did not predetonate because of
Lab and the National Bureau of Standards. Virtual- spontaneously emitted neutrons or neutrons produc-
ly overnight Los Alamos became an ivory tower ed by alpha particles reacting with lightweight im-
frontier boomtown, as scientists and their families, purities. The chances of predetonation could be
along with nuclear physics equipment, including two reduced by purification of the fissionable material
Van de Graaffs, a Cockroft-Walton accelerator, and and by using a high-speed firing system capable of
a cyclotron, arrived caravan fashion at the Santa Fe achieving velocities of 3,000 feet per second. A con-
railroad station and then made their way up to the ventional artillery method of firing one subcritical
mesa along the single primitive road. It was a most mass into the other was under consideration for
remarkable collection of talent and machinery that uranium-235, but this method would work for
settled this remote outpost of the Manhattan plutonium only if absolute purification of plutonium
Project. could be achieved.
A variation of the explosion method was designed
for uranium. Bomb designers, unable to solve the
Theory and the “Gadget” purification problem, turned to the relatively
The initial spartan environment of “the Hill” unknown implosion method for plutonium. With
(which included box lunches and temporary housing) implosion, symmetrical shockwaves directed inward
was without doubt quite a contrast to the comfor- would compress a subcritical mass of plutonium
table campus settings so familiar to many on the packed in a nickel casing (tamper), releasing
staff. But the laboratory’s work began even as the neutrons and causing a chain reaction.
Corps of Engineers struggled to provide the Always in the background loomed the hydrogen
amenities of civilized life. The properties of uranium bomb, a thermonuclear device considerably more
were reasonably well understood, those of powerful than either a uranium or plutonium device
plutonium less so, and knowledge of fission explo- but one that needed a nuclear fission bomb as a
sions entirely theoretical. That 2.2 secondary detonator. Research on the hydrogen bomb, or
neutrons were produced when uranium-235 fissioned Super, was always a distant second in priority at
was accepted, but while Seaborg’s team had proven Los Alamos, but Oppenheimer concluded that it
in March 1941 that plutonium underwent neutron- was too important to ignore. After considerable
induced fission, it was not known yet if plutonium thought, he gave Teller permission to devote himself
released secondary neutrons during bombardment. to the Super. To make up for Teller’s absence,
The theoretical consensus was that chain reactions Rudolf Peierls, one of a group of British scientists
took place with sufficient speed to produce powerful who reinforced the Los Alamos staff at the begin-
releases of energy and not simply explosions of the ning of 1944, was added to Bethe’s theory group in
critical mass itself, but only experiments could test mid-1944. Another member of the British contingent

38
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Opemtion

was the Soviet agent Klaus Fuchs, who had been the subcritical uranium masses would not have to be
passing nuclear information to the Russians since brought together as quickly as previously thought;
1942 and continued doing so until 1949 when he nor would the uranium have to be as pure. Muzzle
was caught and convicted of espionage (and subse- velocity for the scaleddown artillery piece could be
quently exchanged).42 lower, and the gun could be shorter and lighter.43
Segre’s tests on the first samples of plutonium
demonstrated that plutonium emitted even more
Another Lewis Committee neutrons than uranium due to the spontaneous fis-
The first few months at Los Alamos were oc- sion of plutonium-240. Both theory and experimen-
cupied with briefings on nuclear physics for the tal data now agreed that a bomb using either ele-
technical staff and with planning research priorities ment would detonate if it could be designed and
and organizing the laboratory. Groves called once fabricated into the correct size and shape. But many
again on Warren Lewis to head a committee, this details remained to be worked out, including
time to evaluate the Los Alamos program. The calculations to determine how much uranium-235 or
committee’s recommendations resulted in the coor- plutonium would be needed for an explosive device.
dinated effort envisioned by those who advocated a Bacher’s engineering division patiently generated
unified laboratory for bomb research. Fermi took the essential cross-sectional measurements needed to
control of critical mass experiments and standardiza- calculate critical and efficient mass. (The cross sec-
tion of measurement techniques. Plutonium tion is a measurement that indicates the probability
purification work, begun at the Met Lab, became of a nuclear reaction taking place). The same group
high priority at Los Alamos, and increased attention utilized particle accelerators to produce the large
was paid to metallurgy. The committee also recom- numbers of neutrons needed for its cross-sectional
mended that an engineering division be organized to experiments. Bacher’s group also compiled data that
collaborate with physicists on bomb design and helped identify tamper materials that would most ef-
fabrication. The laboratory was thus organized into fectively push neutrons back to the core and
four divisions: theoretical (Hans A. Bethe); ex- enhance the efficiency of the explosion. Despite Los
perimental physics (Robert F. Bacher); chemistry Alamos’s postwar reputation as a mysterious retreat
and metallurgy (Joseph W. Kennedy); and ordnance where brilliant scientists performed miracles of
(Navy Captain William S. “Deke” Parsons). Like nuclear physics, much of the work that led to the
other Manhattan Project installations, Los Alamos atomic bombs was extremely tedious.
soon began to expand beyond initial expectations. The chemists’ job was to purify the uranium-235
As director, Oppenheimer shouldered burdens and plutonium, reduce them to metals, and process
both large and small, including numerous mundane the tamper material. Only highly purified uranium
matters such as living quarters, mail censorship, and plutonium would be safe from predetonation.
salaries, promotions, and other “quality of life” Fortunately purification standards for uranium were
issues inevitable in an intellectual pressurecooker relatively modest, and the chemical division was able
with few social amenities. Oppenheimer relied on a to focus its effort on the lesser known plutonium
group of advisers to help him keep the “big picture” and make substantial progress on a multi-step
in focus, while a committee made up of Los Alamos precipitation process by summer 1944. The
group leaders provided day-today communications metallurgy division had to turn the purified
between divisions. uranium-235 and plutonium into metal. Here, too,
significant progress was made by summer as the
metallurgists adapted a stationary-bomb technique
initially developed at Iowa State University.
Early Progress Parsons, in charge of ordnance engineering,
Early experiments on both uranium and directed his staff to design two artillery pieces of
plutonium provided welcome results. Uranium emit- relatively standard specifications except for their ex-
ted neutrons in less than a billionth of a second- tremely light barrels-one for a uranium weapon
just enough time, in the world of nuclear physics, and one for a plutonium bomb. The weapons need-
for an efficient explosion. Emilio Segre later provid- ed to achieve high velocities, but they would not
ed an additional cushion with his discovery in have to be durable since they would only be fired
December 1943 that, if cosmic rays were eliminated, once. Here again early efforts centered on the more

39
problematic plutonium weapon, which required a 239 was irradiated for a length of time it was likely
higher velocity due to its higher risk of predetona- to pick up an additional neutron, transforming
tion. Two plutonium guns arrived in March and it into plutonium-240 and increasing the danger
were field-tested successfully. In the same month, of predetonation (the bullet and target in the
two uranium guns were ordered. plutonium weapon would melt before coming
together). Measurements taken at Clinton confirmed
the presence of plutonium-240 in the plutonium pro-
duced in the experimental pile. On July 17 the dif-
ficult decision was made to cease work on the
Early Implosion Work plutonium gun method. Plutonium could be used
Parsons assigned implosion studies a low priority only in an implosion device, but in summer 1944 an
and placed the emphasis on the more familiar ar- implosion weapon looked like a long shot.
tillery method. Consequently, Seth H. Neddermeyer Abandonment of the plutonium gun project
performed his early implosion tests in relative eliminated a shortcut to the bomb. This necessitated
obscurity. Neddemeyer found it difficult to achieve a revision of the estimates of weapon delivery Bush
symmetrical implosions at the low velocities he had had given the President in 1943. The new timetable,
achieved. When the Princeton mathematician John presented to General Marshall by Groves on August7,
von Neumann, a Hungarian refugee, visited Los 1944-two months after the Allied invasion of
Alamos late in 1943, he suggested that high-speed France began at Normandy on June 6-promised
assembly and high velocities would prevent small implosion weapons of uranium or plutonium
predetonation and achieve more symmetrical explo- in the second quarter of 1945 if experiments proved
sions. A relatively small, subcritical mass could be satisfactory. More certain was the delivery of a
placed under so much pressure by a symmetrical im- uranium gun bomb by August 1, 1945, and the
plosion that an efficient detonation would occur. delivery of one or two more by the end of that year.
Less critical material would be required, bombs Marshall and Groves acknowledged that German
could be ready earlier, and extreme purification of surrender might take place by summer 1945, thus
plutonium would be unnecessary. Von Neumann’s making it probable that Japan would be the target
theories excited Oppenheimer, who assigned Par- of any atomic bombs ready at that time.
sons’s deputy, George B. Kistiakowsky, the task of
perfecting implosion techniques. Because Parsons
and Neddemeyer did not get along, it was Question Marks: Summer 1944
Kistiakowsky who worked with the scientists on the It was still unclear if even the August 1 deadline
implosion project. While experiments on implosion could be met. While expenditures reached $100
and explosion continued, Parsons directed much of million per month by mid-1944, the Manhattan Pro-
his effort toward developing bomb hardware, in- ject’s goal of producing weapons for the current war
cluding arming and wiring mechanisms and fuzing was not assured. Operational problems plagued the
devices. Working with the Army Air Force, Par- Y-12 electromagnetic facility just coming on line.
sons’s group developed two bomb models by March The K-25 gaseous diffusion plant threatened to
1944 and began testing them with B-29s. Thin Man, become an expensive white elephant if suitable bar-
named for President Roosevelt, utilized the rier could not be fabricated. And the Hanford piles
plutonium gun design, while Fat Man, named after and separation facilities faced an equally serious
Winston Churchill, was an implosion prototype. threat as not enough of the uranium-containing
(Segre’s lighter, smaller uranium gadget became Lit- slugs to feed the pile were available. Even assuming
tle Boy, Thin Man’s brother). that enough uranium or plutonium could be
delivered by the production facilities built in such
great haste, there was no guarantee that the Los
Alamos laboratory would be able to design and
fabricate weapons in time. Only the most optimistic
Elimination of Thin Man in the Manhattan Project would have predicted, as
Thin Man was eliminated four months later Groves did when he met with Marshall, that a bomb
because of the plutonium-240 contamination pro- or bombs powerful enough to make a difference in
blem. Seaborg had warned that when,plutonium- the current war would be ready by August 1, 1945.
 The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation

Progress at Oak Ridge was producing small amounts of enriched material

During winter 1944-45 there was substantial in the finished racks, and the K-25 gaseous diffusion
progress at Oak Ridge, thanks to improved perfor- plant, complete with barriers, was undergoing final
mance in each of the production facilities and leak tests. By March 1945, Union Carbide had
Nichols's work in coordinating a complicated feed worked out most of the kinks in K-25 and had
schedule that maximized output of enriched uranium started recycling uranium hexafluoride through the
by utilizing the electromagnetic, thermal diffusion, system. S-50 was finished at the same time that the
and gaseous diffusion processes in tandem. Nine Y-12 racetracks were demonstrating increased effi-
Alpha and three Beta racetracks were operational ciency. The Beta calutrons at the electromagnetic
and, while not producing up to design potential, plant were producing weapon-grade uranium-235
were becoming significantly more reliable because of using feed from the modified Alpha racetracks and
maintenance improvements and chemical the small output from the gaseous diffusion and
refinements introduced by Tennessee Eastman. The thermal diffusion facilities. Oak Ridge was now send-
S-50 thermal diffusion plant being built by the H. ing enough enriched uranium-235 to Los Alamos
K. Ferguson Company was almost complete and to meet experimental needs. To increase production,
Groves proposed an additional gaseous diffusion
plant (K-27) for low-level enrichment and a fourth
Beta track for high-level enrichment, both to be
completed by February 1946, in time to contribute
to the war against Japan, which many thought
would not conclude before summer 1946.

Hanford's Role
With the abandonment of the plutonium gun
bomb in July 1944, planning at Hanford became
more complicated. Pile 100-B was almost complete,
as was the first chemical separation plant, while pile
D was at the halfway point. Pile F was not yet
under construction. If implosion devices using
plutonium could be developed at Los Alamos, the
three piles would probably produce enough
plutonium for the weapons required, but as yet no
.- I , - - . - one was sure of the amount needed.

Pile Operation
Excitement mounted at Hanford as the date for
pile start-up approached. Fermi placed the first slug
in pile 100-B on September 13, 1944. Final checks
I
on the pile had been uneventful. The scientists could
only hope they were accurate, since once the pile
was.operational the intense radioactivity would
make maintenance of many components impossible.
Loading slugs and taking measurements took two
weeks. From just after midnight until approximately
3:00 a.m. on September 27, the pile ran without in-
Section of S-50 Liquid Thermal Diffusion Plant at Clinton. cident at a power level higher than any previous
Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr.,
The New World, 1939-1946, Volume I of A Hktory of the chain reaction (though only at a fraction of design
United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park: capacity). The operators were elated, but their ex-
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2). citement turned to astonishment when the power

41
level began falling after three hours. It fell con- delivery.
tinuously until the pile ceased operating entirely on Field tests performed with uranium-235 pro-
the evening of the 28th. By the next morning the totypes in late 1944 eased doubts about the artillery
reaction began again, reached the previous day’s method to be employed in the uranium bomb. It
level, then dropped. was clear that the uranium-235 from Oak Ridge
would be used in a gun-type nuclear device to meet
the August 1 deadline Groves had given General
Xenon Poisoning Marshall and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The
plutonium produced at such expense and effort at
Hanford scientists were at a loss to explain the
Hanford would not fit into wartime planning unless
pile’s failure to maintain a chain reaction. Only the a breakthrough in implosion technology occurred.
foresight of DuPont’s engineers made it possible to At the same time, Los Alamos shifted fkom
resolve the crisis. The cause of the strange research to development and production. Time was
phenomenon proved to be xenon poisoning. Xenon, of the essence, though laboratory research had not
a fission product isotope with a mass of 135, was yet charted a clear path to the final product. Army
produced as the pile operated. It captured neutrons Air Force training could wait no longer, and in
faster than the pile could produce them, causing a September at Wendover Field in western Utah, Col-
gradual shutdown. With shutdown, the xenon onel Paul Tibbets began drilling the 393rd Bombard-
decayed, neutron flow began, and the pile started up ment Squadron, the heart of the 509th Composite
again. Fortuitously, despite the objections of some Wing, in test drops with 5,500-pound orange dum-
scientists who complained of DuPont’s excessive my bombs, nicknamed pumpkins. In June 1945,
caution, the company had installed a large number Tibbets and his command moved to Tinian Island in
of extra tubes. This design feature meant that pile the Marianas, where the Navy SeaBees had built the
100-B could be expanded to reach a power level suf- world’s largest airport to accommodate Boeing’s
ficient to overwhelm the xenon poisoning. Success new B-29 Superfortresses.
was achieved when the first irradiated slugs were
discharged from pile 100-B on Christmas Day, 1944.
The irradiated slugs, after several weeks of storage,
went to the chemical separation and concentration Taking Care of Business
facilities. By the end of January 1945, the highly Personnel shortages, particularly of physicists, and
purified plutonium underwent further concentration supply problems complicated Oppenheimer’s task.
in the completed chemical isolation building, where The procurement system, designed to protect the
remaining impurities were removed successfully. Los secrecy of the Los Alamos project, led to frustrating
Alamos received its first plutonium on February 2.& delays and, when combined with persistent late war
shortages, proved a constant headache. The lack of
contact between the remote laboratory and its sup-
Reorganizing for the Final Push ply sources exacerbated the problem, as did the
Oppenheimer acted quickly to maximize the relative lack of experience the academic scientists
laboratory’s efforts to master implosion. Only if the had with logistical matters.
implosion method could be perfected would the Groves and Conant were determined not to let
plutonium produced at Hanford come into play. mundane problems compromise the bomb effort,
Without either a plutonium gun bomb or implosion and in fall 1944 they made several changes to
weapon, the burden would fall entirely on uranium prevent-this possibility. Conant shipped as many
and the less efficient gun method. Oppenheimer scientists as could be spared from Chicago and Oak
directed a major reorganization of Los Alamos in Ridge to Los Alamos, hired every civilian machinist
July 1944 that prepared the way for the final he could lay his hands on, and arranged for Army
development of an implosion bomb. Robert Bacher enlisted men to supplement the work force (these
took over G Division (for gadget) to experiment GIs were known as SEDs, for Special Engineering
with implosion and design a bomb; George Detachment). Hartley Rowe, an experienced in-
Kistiakowsky led X Division (for explosives) in work dustrial engineer, provided help in easing the transi-
on the explosive components; Hans Bethe continued tion from research to production. Los Alamos also
to head up theoretical studies; and “Deke” Parsons arranged for a rocket research team at the Califor-
now focused on overall bomb construction and nia Institute of Technology to aid in procurement,

42
I The Manhattan Engineer District in Operation !
test fuzes, and contribute to component develop- cess the uranium and plutonium into metals and
ment. These changes kept Los Alamos on track as craft them into the correct shape and size.
weapon design reached its final stages. Plutonium posed by far the greater obstacle. It ex-
isted in different states, depending upon tempera-
ture, and was extremely toxic. Working under in-
tense pressure, the chemists and metallurgists
managed to develop precise techniques for process-
Freezing Weapon Design ing plutonium just before it arrived in quantity
Weapon design for the uranium gun bomb was beginning in May.
frozen in February 1945. Confidence in the weapon As a result of progress at Oak Ridge and
was high enough that a test prior to combat use was metallurgical and chemical refinements on
seen as unnecessary. The design for an implosion plutonium that improved implosion’s chances, the
device was approved in March with a test of the nine months between July 1944 and April 1945 saw
more problematic plutonium weapon scheduled for the American bomb project progress from doubtful
July 4.Oppenheimer shifted the laboratory into high to probable. The August 1 delivery date for the Lit-
gear and assigned Allison, Bacher, and Kistiakowsky tle Boy uranium bomb certainly appeared more like-
to the Cowpuncher Committee to “ride herd” on the ly than it had when Groves briefed Marshall. There
implosion weapon. He placed Kenneth T. Bain- would be no implosion weapons in the first half of
bridge in charge of Project Trinity, a new division 1945 as Groves had hoped, but developments in
to oversee the July test firing. Parsons headed Pro- April boded well for the scheduled summer test of
ject Alberta, known as Project A, which had the the Fat Man plutonium bomb. And recent calcula-
responsibility for preparing and delivering weapons tions provided by Bethe’s theoretical group gave
for combat. hope that the yield for the first weapon would be in
During these critical months much depended upon the vicinity of 5,000 tons of TNT rather than the
the ability of the chemists and metallurgists to pro- 1,000-ton estimate provided in fall 1944.

43
Part V: minute meeting and made it clear that he
understood the relevance of the atomic bomb to up-
The Atomic Bomb and American coming diplomatic and military initiatives.
By the time Truman took office, Japan was near
Strategy defeat. American aircraft were attacking Japanese
cities at will. A single firebomb raid in March killed
nearly 100,000 people and injured over a million in
Tokyo. A second air attack on Tokyo in May killed
83,000. Meanwhile, the United States Navy had cut
the islands' supply lines. But because of the general-
ly accepted view that the Japanese would fight to
the bitter end, a costly invasion of the home islands
seemed likely, though some American policy makers
held that successful combat delivery of one or more
atomic bombs might convince the Japanese that fur-
ther resistance was futile.

The Interim Committee Report

On June 6 Stimson again briefed Truman on S-1.
The briefing summarized the consensus of an
Interim Committee meeting held on May 31. The
Interim Committee was an advisory group on
atomic research composed of Bush, Conant, Comp-
ton, Under Secretary of the Navy Ralph A. Bard, !'

Assistant Secretary of State William L. Clayton, and

future Secretary of State James F. Bymes. Op-
With the Manhattan Project on the brink of suc- penheher, Fermi, Compton, and Lawrence served
cess in spring 1945, the atomic bomb became an in- as scientific advisors (the Scientific Panel), while
creasingly important element in American strategy. Marshall represented the military. A second meeting
A long hoped-for weapon now seemed within reach on June 1 with Walter S. Carpenter of DuPont,
at a time when hard decisions were being made, not James C. White of Tennessee Eastman, George H.
only on ending the war in the Pacific, but also on Bucher of Westinghouse, and James A. Rafferty of
the shape of the postwar international order. Union Carbide provided input from the business
side. The Interim Committee was charged with
recommending the proper use of atomic weapons in
From Roosevelt to Truman wartime and developing a position for the United
On April 12, only weeks before Germany's un- States on postwar atomic policy. The May 31
conditional surrender on May 7, President Roosevelt meeting concluded that the United States should try
died suddenly in Warm Springs, Georgia, bringing to retain superiority of nuclear weapons in case in-
Vice President Harry S. Truman, a veteran of the ternational relations deterioratedP5 Most present at
United States Senate, to the presidency. Truman was the meeting thought that the United States should
not privy to many of the secret war efforts protect its monopoly for the present, though they
Roosevelt had undertaken and had to be briefed ex- conceded that the secrets could not be held long. It
tensively in his first weeks in office. One of these was only a matter of time before another country,
briefings, provided by Secretary of War Stimson on presumably Russia, would be capable of producing
April 25, concerned S-1 (the Manhattan Project). atomic weapons.
Stimson, with Groves present during part of the There was some discussion of free exchange of
meeting, traced the history of the Manhattan Pro- nuclear research for peaceful purposes and the inter-
ject, summarized its status, and detailed the national inspection system that such an exchange
timetable for testing and combat delivery. Truman would require. Lawrence's suggestion that a
asked numerous questions during the forty-five- demonstration of the atomic bomb might possibly

45
j PartV

convince the Japanese to surrender was discussed by using the atomic bomb.
over lunch and rejected. The bomb might be a dud, Indicative of the wide range of his responsibilities
the Japanese might put American prisoners of war was Groves’s position as head of a bomb target
in the area, or shoot down the plane, and the shock selection group set up in late April, a responsibility
value of the new weapon would be lost. These he shared with General Thomas Farrell, appointed
reasons and others convinced the group that the Groves’s military aide in February 1945. In late May
bomb should be dropped without warning on a dual the committee of scientists and Army Air Force of-
target-a war plant surrounded by workers’ homes. ficers listed Kokura Arsenal, Hiroshima, Niigata,
The meeting with the industrialists on June 1 further and Kyoto as the four best targets, believing that at-
convinced the Interim Committee that the United tacks on these cities-none of which had yet been
States had a lead of three to ten years on the Soviet bombed by Curtis LeMay’s Twentieth Air Force
Union in production facilities for bomb fabrication. (which planned to eliminate all major Japanese cities
On June 6 Stimson informed the President that by January 1, 1946)-would make a profound
the Interim Committee recommended keeping S-1 a psychological impression on the Japanese and
secret until Japan had been bombed. The attack weaken military resistance. Stimson vetoed Kyoto,
should take place as soon as possible and without Japan’s most cherished cultural center, and
warning. Truman and Stimson agreed that the Presi- Nagasaki replaced the ancient capital in the directive
dent would stall if approached about atomic issued to the Army Air Force on July 25P6
weapons in Berlin, but that it might be possible to
gain concessions from Russia later in return for pro- The Franck Report and Its Critics
viding technical information. Stimson told Truman Meanwhile the Met Lab was beginning to stir.
that the Interim Committee was considering The Scientific Panel of the Interim Committee was
domestic legislation and that its members generally the connection between the scientists and the policy
held the position that international agreements makers, and Compton was convinced that there
should be made in which all nuclear research would must be a high level of participation in the decision-
be made public and a system of inspections would making process. His June 2 briefing of the Met Lab
be devised. In case international agreements were staff regarding the findings of the Interim Commit-
not forthcoming, the United States should continue tee led to a flurry of activity. The Met Lab’s Com-
to produce as much fissionable material as possible mittee on the Social and Political Implications of the
to take advantage of its current position of Atomic Bomb, chaired by James Franck and in-
superiority. cluding Seaborg and Szilard, issued a report advo-
cating international control of atomic power as
the only way to stop the arms race that would be in-
Planning for Surrender evitable if the United States bombed Japan without
Strategies for forcing Japanese capitulation oc- first demonstrating the weapon in an uninhabited
cupied center stage in June. Truman gained Chinese area.
concurrence in the Yalta agreements by assuring T. The Scientific Panel disagreed with the Franck
V. Soong, the Chinese foreign minister, that Report, as the Met Lab study was known, and con-
Russia’s intentions in the Far East were benevolent, cluded that no technical test would convince Japan
smoothing the way for the entrance of the Red to surrender. The Panel concluded that such a
Army. Joseph C. Grew, acting secretary of state, military demonstration of the bomb might best fur-
clarified the definition of unconditional surrender. ther the cause of peace but held that such a
Japan need not fear total annihilation, Grew stated. demonstration should take place only after the
Once demilitarized, Japan would be free to choose United States informed its allies. On June 21 the In-
its political system and would be allowed to develop terim Committee sided with the position advanced
a vibrant economy. Grew hoped that a public state- by the Scientific Panel. The bomb should be used as
ment to Japan would lead to surrender before a soon as possible, without warning, and against a
costly invasion would have to be launched. The war plant surrounded by additional buildings. As to
Joint Chiefs of Staff continued to advocate the in- informing allies, the Committee concluded that
vasion of Kyushu, a plan identified as Operation Truman should mention that the United States was
Olympic. Stimson hoped that an invasion could be preparing to use a new kind of weapon against
avoided, either by redefining the surrender terms or Japan when he went to Berlin in July. On July 2,

46
 The Atomic Bomb and American Stratejg

1945, President Truman listened as Stimson outlined Stimson returned on July 3 and suggested that
the peace terms for Japan, including demilitarization Truman broach the issue of the bomb with Stalin
and prosecution of war criminals in exchange for and tell the Soviet leader that it could become a
economic and governmental freedom of choice. force for peace with proper agreement^^^.

Trinity Test Site. Reprinted from Vincent C. Jones, Manhattan: The A m y and the Atomic Bomb (Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1985).

47
The Trinity Test The Dawn of the Atomic Age
Meanwhile, the test of the plutonium weapon, At precisely 5:30 a.m. on Monday, July 16, 1945,
named Trinity by Oppenheimer (a name inspired by the atomic age began. While Manhattan staff
the poems of John Donne), was rescheduled for Ju- members watched anxiously, the device exploded
ly 16 at a barren site on the Alamogordo Bombing over the New Mexico desert, vaporizing the tower
Range known as the Jornada del Muerto, or and turning asphalt around the base of the tower to
Journey of Death, 210 miles south of Los Alamos. green sand. The bomb released approximately 18.6
A test explosion had been conducted on May 7 with kilotons of power, and the New Mexico sky was
a small amount of fissionable material to check pro- suddenly brighter than many suns. Some observers
cedures and fine-tune equipment. Preparations con- suffered temporary blindness even though they look-
tinued through May and June and were complete by ed at the brilliant light through smoked glass.
the beginning of July. Three observation bunkers Seconds after the explosion came a huge blast, sen-
located 10,OOO yards north, west, and south of the ding searing heat across the desert and knocking
firing tower at ground zero would attempt to some observers to the ground. A steel container
measure critical aspects of the reaction. Specifically, weighing over 200 tons, standing a half-mile from
scientists would try to determine the symmetry of ground zero, was knocked ajar. (Nicknamed Jum-
the implosion and the amount of energy released. bo, the huge container had been ordered for the
Additional measurements would be taken to deter- plutonium test and transported to the test site but
mine damage estimates, and equipment would eliminated during final planning). As the orange and
record the behavior of the fireball. The biggest con- yellow fireball stretched up and spread, a second
cern was control of the radioactivity the test device column, narrower than the first, rose and flattened
would release. Not entirely content to trust favorable into a mushroom shape, thus providing the atomic
meteorological conditions to carry the radioactivity age with a visual image that has become imprinted
into the upper atmosphere, the Army stood ready to on the human consciousness as a symbol of power
evacuate the people in surrounding areas. and awesome destruction.49
On July 12 the plutonium core was taken to the
test area in an army sedan. The non-nuclear com-
ponents left for the test site at 12:Ol a.m., Friday
the 13th. During the day on the 13th, final assembly
of the gadget took place in the McDonald ranch
house. By 5:OO p.m. on the 15th, the device had
been assembled and hoisted atop the one-hundred-
foot firing tower. Groves, Bush, Conant, Lawrence,
Farrell, Chadwick (head of the British contingent at
Los Alamos and discoverer of the neutron), and
others arrived in the test area, where it was pouring
rain. Groves and Oppenheimer, standing at the
S-10,OOO control bunker, discussed what to do if the
weather did not break in time for the scheduled 4:OO
a.m. test, At 3:30 they pushed the time back to
5:30;at 4:OO the rain stopped. Kistiakowsky and his
team armed the device shortly after 5:OO a.m. and
retreated to S-10,OOO. In accordance with his policy
that each observe from different locations in case of
an accident, Groves left Oppenheimer and joined
Bush and Conant at base camp. Those in shelters
heard the countdown over the public address
system, while observers at base camp picked it up
on an FM radio signal.48 Tower For Trinity Test. Department of Energy.

48
I The Atomic Bomb and American Strategy
I
At base camp, Bush, Conant, and Groves shook
hands. Oppenheimer reported later that the ex-
perience called to his mind the legend of Pro-
metheus, punished by Zeus for giving man fire. He
also thought fleetingly of Alfred Nobel’s vain hope
that dynamite would end wars. The terrifying
destructive power of atomic weapons and the uses
to which they might be put were to haunt many of
the Manhattan Project scientists for the remainder
of their li~es.5~
The success of the Trinity test meant that a se-
cond type of atomic bomb could be readied for use
against Japan. In addition to the uranium gun
model, which was not tested prior to being used in
combat, the plutonium implosion device detonated
at Trinity now figured in American Far Eastern Remains of Trinity Test Tower Footings. Oppenheimer and
strategy. In the end Little Boy, the untested uranium Groves at Center. Department of Energy.
bomb, was dropped first at Hiroshima on August 6,
1945, while the plutonium weapon Fat Man followed
three days later at Nagasaki on August 9. Potsdam
The American contingent to the Big Three con- !’
’ference, headed by Truman, Bymes, and Stimson,
arrived in Berlin on July 15 and spent most of the
next two days grappling with the interrelated issues
of Russian participation in the Far Eastern conflict
and the wording of an early surrender offer that
might be presented to the Japanese. This draft sur-
render document received considerable attention, the
sticking point being the term “unconditional.” It was
clear that the Japanese would fight on rather than
accept terms that would eliminate the Imperial
House or demean the warrior tradition, but
American policy makers feared that anything less
than a more democratic political system and total
demilitarization might lead to Japanese aggression in
the future. Much effort went into finding the precise
formula that would satisfy American war aims in
the Pacific without requiring a costly invasion of the
Japanese mainland. In an attempt tc achieve sur-
render with honor, the emperor had instructed his
ministers to open negotiations with Russia. The
United States intercepted and decoded messages be-
tween Tokyo and Moscow that made it un-
t mistakably clear that the Japanese were searching
for an alternative to unconditional surrender.

Reports on Trinity
Trinity Device Being Readied. Reprinted from Richard G. Stalin arrived in Berlin a day late, leaving Stimson
Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World,
1939-1946, Volume I of A History of the United States Atomic July 16 to mull over questions of postwar German
Energy Commission (University Park: Pennsylvania State administration and the Far Eastern situation. After
University Press, 1%2). sending Truman and Bymes a memorandum ad-

49
party:
vocating an early warning to Japan and setting out a Grove’s report at great length with Churchill. The
bargaining strategy for Russian entry in the Pacific British prime minister was elated and said that he
war, Stimson received a cable from George L. Har- now understood why Truman had been so forceful
rison, his special consultant in Washington, that with Stalin the previous day, especially in his opposi-
read: tion to Russian designs on Eastern Europe and
Operated on this morning. Diagnosis not yet Germany. Churchill then told Truman that the bomb
complete but results seem satisfactory and could lead to Japanese surrender without an invasion
already exceed expectations. Local press release and eliminate the necessity for Russian military help.
necessary as interest extends great distance. Dr. He recommended that the President continue to take
Groves pleased. He returns tomorrow. I will a hard line with Stalin. Truman and his advisors
keep you p ~ s t e d . ~ ’ shared Churchill’s views. The success of the Trinity
Stimson immediately informed Truman and Byrnes test stiffened Truman’s resolve, and he refused to
that the Trinity test had been successful. The next accede to Stalin’s new demands for concessions in
day Stimson informed Churchill of the test. The Turkey and the Mediterranean.
prime minister expressed great delight and argued On July 24 Stimson met with Truman. He told the
forcefully against informing the Russians, though he President that Marshall no longer saw any need for
later relented. On July 18, while debate continued Russian help, and he briefed the President on the
over the wording of the surrender message, focusing latest S- 1 situation. The uranium bomb might be
on whether or not to guarantee the place of the ready as early as August 1 and was a certainty by
emperor, Stimson received a second cable from August 10. The plutonium weapon would be avail-
Harrison: able by August 6. Stimson continued to favor making
Doctor has just returned most enthusiastic and some sort of commitment to the Japanese emperor,
confident that the little boy is as husky as his though the draft already shown to the Chinese was
big brother. The light in his eyes discernible silent on this issue.
from here to Highhold and I could have heard
his screams from here to my farm.52 Truman Informs S t a b
Translation: Groves thought the plutonium weapon
would be as powerful as the uranium device and American and British coordination for an inva-
that the Trinity test could be seen as far away as 250 sion of Japan continued, with November 1 standing
miles and the noise heard for fifty miles. Initial as the landing date. At a meeting with American
measurements taken at the Alamogordo site sug- and British military strategists at Potsdam, the Rus-
gested a yield in excess of 5,000 tons of TNT. sians reported that their troops were moving into the
Truman went back to the bargaining table with a Far East and could enter the war in mid-August.
new card in his hand. They would drive the Japanese out of Manchuria
and withdraw at the end of hostilities. Nothing was
Further information on the Trinity test arrived on
said about the bomb. This was left for Truman,
July 21 in the form of a long and uncharacteris-
who, on the evening of July 24, approached Stalin
t i d y excited report from Groves. Los Alamos
without an interpreter to inform the Generalissimo
scientists now agreed that the blast had been the
that the United States had a new and powerful
equivalent of between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of
TNT, higher than anyone had predicted. Groves weapon. Stalin casually responded that he hoped
that it would be used against Japan to good effect.
reported that glass shattered 125 miles away, that
the freball was brighter than several suns at mid- The reason for Stalin’s composure became clear
day, and that the steel tower had been vaporized. later when it was learned that Russian intelligence
had been receiving information about the S-1 pro-
Though he had previously believed it impregnable,
ject from Klaus Fuchs and other agents since sum-
Groves stated that he did not consider the Pentagon mer 1942.
safe from atomic attack.53 Stimson informed Mar-
shall and then read the entire report to Truman and
Byrnes. Stimson recorded that Truman was The Potsdam Proclamation
“tremendously pepped up” and that the document A directive, written by Groves and issued by
gave him an entirely new feeling of ~ o n f i d e n c e . ” ~ ~ Stimson and Marshall on July 25, ordered the Army
The next day Stimson, informed that the uranium Air Force’s 509th Composite Group to attack
bomb would be ready in early August, discussed Hiroshima, Kokura, Niigata, or Nagasaki “after

50
 The Atomic Bomb and American Strategy I‘

about” August 3, or as soon as weather permitted.55 touches were put on the message Truman would
The 509th was ready. Tests with dummies had been issue after the attack, word came that the first bomb
conducted successfully, and Operation Bronx, which could be dropped as early as August 1. With the
brought the gun and uranium-235 projectile to Ti- end now in sight, poor weather led to several days’
nian aboard the U.S.S. Indianapolis and the other delay.
components on three C - 5 4 ~was ~ complete. On
July 26 the United States learned of Churchill’s elec-
toral defeat and Chiang Kai-Shek’s concurrence in Hiroshima
the warning to Japan. Within hours the warning In the early morning hours of August 6, 1945, a
was issued in the name of the President of the B-29 bomber attached to the 590th Composite
United States, the president of China, and the prime Group took off from Tinian Island and headed
minister of Great Britain (now Clement Attlee). The north by northwest toward the Japanese Islands
Russians were not informed in advance. This pro- over 1,500 miles away. Its primary target was
cedure was technically correct since the Russians Hiroshima, an important military and communica-
were not at war with Japan, but it was another in- tions center with a population of nearly 300,000
dication of the new American attitude that the located in the deltas of southwestern Honshu Island
Soviet Union’s aid in the present conflict no longer facing the Inland Sea. The Enola Gay, piloted by
was needed. The message called for the Japanese to Colonel Paul Tibbets, flew at low altitude on
surrender unconditionally or face “prompt and utter automatic pilot before climbing to 31,000 feet as it
destru~tion.”~~ The Potsdam Proclamation left the neared the target area. As the observation and
emperor’s status unclear by making no reference to photography escorts dropped back, the Enola Gay
the royal house in the section that promised the released a 9,700-pound uranium bomb, nicknamed
Japanese that they could design their new govern- Little Boy, at approximately 8:15 a.m. Hiroshima
ment as long as it was peaceful and more time. Tibbets immediately dove away to avoid the
democratic. While anti-war sentiment was growing anticipated shockwaves of the blast. Forty-three
in Japanese decision-making circles, it could not seconds later a huge explosion lit the morning sky as
carry the day as long as unconditional surrender left Little Boy detonated 1900 feet above the city, direct-
the emperor’s position in jeopardy. The Japanese re- ly over a parade field where the Japanese Second
jected the offer on July 29. Army was doing calisthenics. Though already eleven
Intercepted messages between Tokyo and Moscow and a half miles away, the Enola Gay was rocked
revealed that the Japanese wanted to surrender but by the blast. At first Tibbets thought he was taking
felt they could not accept the terms offered in the flak. After a second shockwave hit the plane, the
Potsdam Proclamation. American policy makers, crew looked back at Hiroshima. “The city was hid-
however, anxious to end the war without comrnit- den by that awful cloud. . .boiling up, mushroom-
ting American servicemen to an invasion of the ing, terrible and incredibly tall,” Tibbets recalled.57
Japanese homeland, were not inclined to undertake Little Boy killed 70,000 people (including about
revisions of the unconditional surrender formula and twenty American airmen being held as POWs) and
cause further delay. A Russian declaration of war injured another 70,000. By the end of 1945, the
might convince Japan to surrender, but it carried a Hiroshima death toll rose to 140,000 as radiation-
potentially prohibitive price tag as Stalin would ex- sickness deaths mounted. Five years later the total
pect to share in the postwar administration of reached 200,000. The bomb caused total devastation
Japan, a situation that would threaten American for five square miles, with almost all of the
plans in the Far East. A blockade of Japan combin- buildings in the city either destroyed or damaged.
ed with conventional bombing was rejected as too Within hours of the attack, radio stations began
timeconsuming and an invasion of the islands as reading a prepared statement from President Hany
too costly. And few believed that a demonstration Truman informing the American public that the
of the atomic bomb would convince the Japanese to United States had dropped an entirely new type of
give up. Primarily upon these grounds, American bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima-an
policy makers concluded that the atomic bomb must atomic bomb with more power than 20,000 tons of
be used. Information that Hiroshima might be the TNT?’ Truman warned that if Japan still refused to
only prime target city without American prisoners in surrender unconditionally as demanded by the
the vicinity placed it first on the list. As the fmal Potsdam Proclamation of July 26, the United States

51
 -+ Niiga ta

V Q
P
Nagasaki

EAST
CHINA
\
SEA \
\
\
/

ANDs \\ PAClFlC OCEAN

{a \
\
\ VOLCANO
\
0 \ \ ISLANDS
0 0 \ \
\ Jwo Jima

.' \ \\

-20" \ \ \\ i!
0
-20"-
THE ATOMIC BOMBING '\
'
OF JAPAN \

August 1945

a
Hiroshima bombing route, 6 Aug 45
------ Nagasaki bombing route, 9 Aug 45
Site of bomb drop
OTinian
0 1W 4#J MILES
0
oGuam

Atomic Bombing of Japan. Reprinted from Vincent C. Jones, Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office,1985).

52
 The Atomic Bomb and American Strategy

!'

Model of Little Boy Uranium Bomb. Reprinted from Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New World, 1935L1944
Volume I of A Hktow of the United States Atomic Energy Commision (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1%2).

would attack additional targets with equally Nagasaki

devastating results. Two days later, on August 8, the Factional struggles and communications problems
Soviet Union declared war on Japan and attacked prevented Japan from meeting Allied terms in the
Japanese forces in Manchuria, ending American immediate aftermath of Hiroshima. In the absence
hopes that the war would end before Russian entry of a surrender announcement, conventional bomb-
into the Pacific theater. ing raids on additional Japanese cities continued as
scheduled. Then, on August 9, a second atomic at-
tack took place. Taking off from Tinian at 3:47
a.m., Bock's Car (named after its usual pilot) head-
ed for its primary target, Kokura Arsenal, located
on the northern coast of Kyushu Island. Pilot
Charles Sweeney found unacceptable weather condi-
tions and unwelcome flak above Kokura. Sweeney
made three passes over Kokura, then decided to
switch to his secondary target even though he had
only enough fuel remaining for a shgle bombing
run. Clouds greeted Bock's Car as it approached
Nagasaki, home to the Mitsubishi plant that had
manufactured the torpedoes used at Pearl Harbor.
At the last minute, a brief break in the cloudcover
made possible a visual targeting at 29,000 feet and
Bock's Car dropped her single payload, a plutonium
bomb weighing 10,000 pounds and nicknamed Fat
Man, at 11:01 a.m. The plane then veered off and
I headed to Okinawa for an emergency landing. Fat
Fat Man Plutonium Bomb Being Readied at Tinian. Los AIamos Man exploded 1,650 feet above the slopes of the city
National Laboratow. with a force of 21,000 tons of TN".59Fat Man kill-

53
ed 40,000 people and injured 60,000 more. Three formation calculated to satisfy public curiosity
square miles of the city were destroyed, less than without disclosing any atomic secrets, brought the
Hiroshima because of the steep hills surrounding Manhattan Project into f d e r view.61Americans
Nagasaki. By January 1946, 70,000 people had died were astounded to learn of the existence of a far-
in Nagasaki. The total eventually reached 140,000, flung, government-run, top secret operation with a
with a death rate similar to that of Hiroshima.6' physical plant, payroll, and labor force comparable
in size to the American automobile industry. Ap-
proximately 130,000 people were employed by the
Surrender project at its peak, among them many of the
Still the Japanese leadership struggled to come to nation's leading scientists and engineers.
a decision, with military extremists continuing to ad- In retrospect, it is remarkable that the atomic
vocate a policy of resistance to the end. Word final- bomb was built in time to be used in World War 11.
ly reached Washington from Switzerland and Most of the theoretical breakthroughs in nuclear
Sweden early on August 10 that the Japanese, in ac- physics dated back less than twenty-five years, and
cordance with Hirohito's wishes, would accept the with new findings occurring faster than they could
surrender terms, provided the emperor retain his be absorbed by practitioners in the field, many fun-
position. Truman held up a third atomic attack damental concepts in nuclear physics and chemistry
while the United States considered a response, final- had yet to be confirmed by laboratory experimenta-
ly taking a middle course and acknowledging the tion. Nor was there any conception ivitially of the
emperor by stating that his authority after the sur- design and engineering difficulties that would be in-
render would be exercised under the authority of the volved in translating what was known theoretically
Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers. With into working devices capable of releasing the enor-
British, Chinese, and Russian concurrence, the mous energy of the atomic nucleus in a predictable
United States answered the Japanese on August 11. fashion. In fact, the Manhattan Project was as
Japan surrendered on August 14, 1945, ending the much a triumph of engineering as of science.
war that began for the United States with the sur- Without the innovative work of the talented Leslie
prise attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Groves, as well as that of Crawford Greenewalt of
The United States had been celebrating for almost DuPont and others, the revolutionary breakthroughs
three weeks when the formal papers were signed in nuclear science achieved by Enrico Fermi, Niels
aboard the U.S.S. Missouri on September 2. Bohr, Ernest Lawrence, and their colleagues would
not have produced the atomic bomb during World
War 11. Despite numerous obstacles, the United
The Bomb Goes Public States was able to combine the forces of science,
The veil of secrecy that had hidden the atomic government, military, and industry into an organiza-
bomb project was lifted on August 6 when President tion that took nuclear physics from the laboratory
Truman announced the Hiroshima raid to the and into battle with a weapon of awesome destruc-
American people. The release of the Smyth Report tive capability, making clear the importance of basic
on August 12, which contained general technical in- scientific research to national defense.

54
Part VI: first two) with a large, invited audience of jour-
nalists, scientists, military officers, congressmen, and
The Manhattan District in foreign observers at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific. Shot
Able, dropped from a B-29 on July 1, sank three
Peacetime ships and performed as well as its two predecessors
from a technical standpoint, though it failed to
fulfill its pretest publicity buildup. Shot Baker was
detonated from ninety feet underwater on the morn-
ing of July 15. Baker produced a spectacular display
as it wreaked havoc on a seventy-four-vessel fleet of
empty ships and spewed thousands of tons of water
into the air. Both Able and Baker yielded explosions
equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT, though Baker in-
troduced the most subtle hazard of the atomic
age-radiation falloutP2 Able and Baker were the
fmal weapon tests conducted by the Manhattan Pro-
ject and the last American tests until the Atomic
Energy Commission’s Sandstone series began in
spring 1948.

Superpower Chill
From the time S-1 became public knowledge until Between August 1945 and January 1947, while
the Atomic Energy Commission succeeded it on Groves fought to maintain the high priority of the
January 1, 1947, the Manhattan Engineer District atomic program in a peacetime environment, the
controlled the nation’s nuclear program. Groves re- euphoria that swept the United States at the end of
mained in command, intent upon protecting World War I1 dissipated as Americans found
America’s lead in nuclear weapons by completing themselves embroiled in a new global struggle, this \ I

and consolidating the organization he had presided time with the Soviet Union. The United States held
over for three years in challenging wartime condi- a monopoly on atomic weapons during the sixteen
tions. He soon found that peacetime held its own months of Groves’s peacetime tenure, but less than
challenges. three years after the Atomic Energy Commission
According to a plan approved by Stimson and succeeded the Manhattan Engineer District, the Rus-
Marshall in late August 1945, Groves shut down the sians’ secret atomic bomb program achieved success
thermal diffusion plant in the K-25 area on with the 1949 test of Joe I (which the Americans
September 9 and put the Alpha tracks at Y-12 on named after Joseph Stalin). During the 1950s rela-
standby during September as well. The improved tions between the two superpowers remained strain-
K-25 gaseous diffusion plant now provided feed ed, and both added the hydrogen bomb to their
directly to the Beta units. Hanford’s three piles con- arsenals in an attempt to achieve military
tinued in operation, but one of the two chemical superiority.
separation areas was closed. Los Alamos was assign-
ed the task of producing a stockpile of atomic Postwar Planning
weapons. Actual weapon assembly was to be done The beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s
at Sandia Base in Albuquerque, where engineering was linked to the failure of the World War I1 allies
and technical personnel were relocated with the staff to reach agreements on international controls respec-
previously stationed at Wendover Field in western ting nuclear research and atomic weapons. Postwar
Utah. planning in the United States began in earnest in
July 1944, when Met Lab scientists in Chicago
Operation Crossroads issued a “Prospectus on Nucleonics,” which included
In July 1946, during Operation Crossroads, the plans for atomic research and advocated the creation
Manhattan Project tested its third and fourth of an international organization to prevent nuclear
plutonium bombs flrinity and Nagasaki were the conflict. In August the Military Policy Committee

55
t
I Part VI. I
set up a Postwar Policy Committee, charged with in a speech to the newly-created United Nations
making recommendations on the proper government Atomic Energy Commission on June 14, 1946.
role in postwar atomic research and development. Baruch proposed the establishment of an interna-
The committee, composed of Richard Tolman tional atomic development authority along the lines
(chairman), Warren Lewis, Henry Smyth, and Rear proposed by the Acheson-Lilienthal report, one that
Admiral Earle W. Mills, recommended that the best would control all activities dangerous to world
way for the government to maintain a vigorous security and possess the power to license and inspect
nuclear program was to set up a peacetime version all other nuclear projects. Once such an authority
of the Office of Scientific Research and Develop- was established, no more bombs should be built and
ment. Niels Bohr, aware that the Russians had existing bombs should be destroyed. Abolishing
known about the Manhattan Project since 1942 and atomic weapons could lay the groundwork for
convinced that the Soviet Union would spare no ef- reducing and subsequently eliminating all weapons,
fort to catch up with the United States, advocated a thus outlawing war altogether. The Baruch Plan, in
policy of full publicity and international Baruch’s words “the last, best hope of earth,”
cooperation. deviated from the optimistic tone of the Acheson-
Roosevelt and Churchill included postwar plan- Lilienthal plan, which had intentionally remained
ning on their agenda when they met at Hyde Park silent on enforcement, and set specific penalties for
in September 1944. They immediately vetoed the violations such as illegally owning atomic bombs.64
idea of an open atomic world (Churchill adamantly Baruch argued that the United Nations should not
rejecting Bohr’s recommendation). Bush and Con- allow members to use the veto to protect themselves
ant, meanwhile, contacted Stimson on September 19 from penalties for atomic energy violations; he held
and spoke to the necessity of releasing selected in- that simple majority rule should prevail in this area.
formation on the bomb project, reasoning that in a As on enforcement, the Acheson-Lilienthal report
free country the secret could not be kept long. had studiously avoided comment on the veto issue.65
When Roosevelt asked Bush for a briefing on S-1 Not surprisingly, the Soviet Union, a non-nuclear
several days later, Bush discovered that Roosevelt power, insisted upon retaining its United Nations
had signed an “aide-memoire” with Churchill, veto and argued that the abolition of atomic
pledging to continue bilateral research with England weapons should precede the establishment of an in-
in certain areas of atomic techn0logy.6~Bush feared ternational authority. Negotiations could not pro-
that Roosevelt would institute full interchange with ceed fairly, the Russians maintained, as long as the
Great Britain without consulting his own atomic United States could use its atomic monopoly to
power experts. Bush argued, prophetically, that leav- coerce other nations into accepting its plan. The
ing the Russians out of such an arrangement might Baruch Plan proposed that the United States reduce
well lead to an arms race among the Allied victors. its atomic arsenal by carefully defined stages linked
to the degree of international agreement on control.
Only after each stage of international control was
The Baruch Plan implemented would the United States take the next
Bush and Conant presented their views more fully step in reducing its stockpile. The United States
on September 30. They held that the American and position, then, was that international agreement
British lead would last no more than three or four must precede any American reductions, while the
years and that security against the bigger bombs that Soviets maintained that the bomb must be banned
surely would result from a worldwide arms race before meaningful negotiations could take place.
could be gained only through international The debate in the United Nations was a debate in
agreements aimed at preventing secret research and name only; neither side budged an inch in the six
surprise attacks. Bush and Conant’s basic months following Baruch’s United Nations speech.
philosophy found expression in the Acheson- In the end, the Soviet Union, unwilling to surrender
Lilienthal report of March 1946, fashioned primarily its veto power, abstained from the December 3 1,
by Oppenheimer and evolving into the formal 1946, vote on Baruch’s proposal on the grounds
American proposal for the international control of that it did not prohibit the bomb, and the American
atomic energy known as the Baruch Plan. plan became a dead letter by early 1947-though
Bernard Baruch, the elder statesman who had token debate on the American plan continued into
served American presidents in various capacities 1948. The United States, believing that Soviet troops
since World War I, unveiled the United States plan posed a threat to eastern Europe and recognizing

56
 The Manhattan District in Peacetime

that American conventional forces were rapidly late 1945, President Truman withdrew his support.
demobilizing, refused to surrender its atomic deter- Vandenberg's attempt to establish a joint House-
rent without adequate international controls and Senate special committee failed, but Brien
continued to develop its nuclear arsenal. In an at- McMahon of Connecticut successfully created and
mosphere of mutual suspicion the Cold War set in. became chair of the Senate's Special Committee on
Atomic Energy. Daily hearings took place until
The Debate Over Domestic Legislation December 20, when McMahon introduced a
While the international situation grew more substitute to the May-Johnson bill. Hearings on the
ominous due to deteriorating relations between the new McMahon bill began in January, Groves op-
United States and the Soviet Union, a domestic posed McMahon's bill, citing weak security provi-
debate was taking place over the permanent sions, the low military presence, and the stipulation
management of America's nuclear program. The that commission members be full-time (Groves
terms of the debate were framed by the Interim thought that more eminent commissioners could be
Committee in July 1945 when it wrote draft legisla- obtained if work was part-time). Groves.also ob-
tion proposing a peacetime organization with jected to the bill's provision that atomic weapons be
responsibilities very similar to those of the Manhat- held in civilian rather than military custody. Never-
tan Project. The draft legislation provided for a theless, the Senate approved the McMahon bill on
strong military presence on a nine-member board of June 1, 1946, and the House approved it on
commissioners and strongly advocated the federal July 20, with a subsequent conference committee
government's continued dominance in nuclear eliminating most substantive amendments. The
research and development. sometimes bitter debate between those who ad-
vocated continued military stewardship of America's
The May-Johnson Bill atomic arsenal and those who saw continued
military control as inimical to American traditions
The Interim Committee's draft legislation reached ended in victory for supporters of civilian authority.
President Truman via the State Department shortly President Truman signed the McMahon Act, known
after the armistice. After affected federal agencies
officially as the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, on
approved, Truman advocated speedy passage of the
congressional version of the bill, the May-Johnson August 1. The bill called for the transfer of authori-
bill, on October 3, 1945. Groves, Bush, and Conant ty from the United States Army to the United States
testified at hearings in the House of Representatives Atomic Energy Commission, a five-member civilian
that the sweeping powers granted the proposed com- board serving full-time and assisted by a general ad-
mission were necessary and that only government visory committee and a military liaison
control of atomic power could prevent its misuse. The Atomic Energy Act entrusted the Atomic
Although Lawrence, Fermi, and Oppenheimer (with Energy Commission with the government monopoly
some misgivings) regarded the bill as acceptable, in the field of atomic research and development
many of the scientists at the Met Lab and at Oak previously held by its wartime predecessor57
Ridge complained that the bill was objectionable Conclusion
because it was designed to maintain military control The Manhattan Project, its wartime mission com-
over nuclear research, a situation that had been pleted, gave way to the civilian Atomic Energy
tolerable during the war but was unacceptable dur- Commission. How well the Atomic Energy Commis-
ing peacetime when free scientific interchange should sion would be able to manage the nuclear arsenal in
be resumed. Particularly onerous to the scientific a Cold War environment and whether it could suc-
opponents were the proposed penalties for security cessfully develop the peaceful uses of atomic energy,
violations contained in the May-Johnson bill-ten only time would tell. What was clear as the Atomic
years in prison and a $loO,O00 fine. Organized scien- Energy Commission took over at the beginning of
tific opposition in Washington slowed the bill's pro- 1947 was that the success of the Manhattan Project
gress, and Arthur H. Vandenberg of Michigan held had helped cement the bond between basic scientific
it up in the Senate through a parliamentary research and national security. Science had gone to
maneuver. war and contributed mightily to the outcome. The
challenge confronting American policy makers in the
The McMahon Bill postwar years was to enlist the forces of science in
As support for the May-Johnson bill eroded in the battle to defend the peace.

57
Manhattan Project Chart

TOP POLICY THE PRESIDENT

GROUP

MILITARY
PO LlCY COMMITTEE
-SECRETARY OF WAR - COMMITTEE
INTERIM

CHIEF OF
STAFF

GENERAL H.H. ARNOLD -

I
PLANNING FOR
MILITARY OPERATIONS
BRIGADIER GENERAL MANHATAN DISTRICT
T.F. FARRELL, DEPUTY COL. K.D. NICHOLS

OTHER
ESTABLISHMENTS
CLINTON
ENGINEER
HANFORD
ENGlNEER
LOS
ALAMOS
-
WORKS WORKS

58
Notes 11. Ibid., p. 168.
12. Laura Fermi, Atoms in the Family: My Life With Enrico
Fermi (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954),
p. 164.
13. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, pp. 336-38.
14. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 37.
15. Ibid., p. 39.
16. MAUD, while it appears to be an acronym, is not. It is
simply a codename.
17. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, pp. 321-25 and 369.
18. Bundy, Danger and Survival, pp. 4849.
19. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 46.
20. Ibid., p. 49.
21. Ibid., p. 48.
22. Ibid., p. 406.
23. Ibid., pp. 74-75.
24. Ibid., pp. 82-83.
25. Henry D. Smyth, A General Account of the Development
of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes
Under the Auspices of the United States Government,
1. The Einstein letter is reprinted in Vincent C. Jones, 1940-1945 (Washington, D.C.: U. S. Government Printing
Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb Office, 1945), p. 70.
(Washington, D.C.: U.S.Government Printing Office,
1985). 609-10. 26. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 442.
2. Roosevelt to Einstein, October 19, 1939. 27. Ibid.
3. The United States had little reliable intelligence on the
28. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 113.
German bomb effort until late in the war. Thus it was not
known until the ALSOS counterintelligence mission that 29. Kenneth D. Nichols, The Road to Trinity (New York:
the German program had not proceeded beyond the William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1987), pp. 121 and
laboratory stage and had foundered by mid-1942. For 146.
details of the ALSOS mission see Richard Rhodes, The 30. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 149.
Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1986), pp. 605-10. 3 1. Nichols recounts his adventure in borrowing the silver in
Road to Trinity, p. 42.
4. For details on the German research effort see McGeorge
Bundy, Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in 32. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 155.
the First Fijty Years (New York: Random House, 1988), 33. Ibid.
pp. 14-23.
34. Ibid., p. 165.
5. Lawrence Badash, “Introduction,” in Reminiscences of
Los Alamos, 1943-1945, edited by Lawrence Badash, 35. For more on k see Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb,
Joseph 0. Hirschfelder, and Herbert P. Broida (Dordrecht, p. 397.
Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1980), xi. 36. Adsorption is a process whereby gases, liquids, or dissolved
6. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 228. substances are gathered on a surface in a condensed layer.
7. William R. Shea, “Introduction: From Rutherford to 37. Jones, Manhattan, p. 218.
Hahn,” in Otto Hahn and the Rise of Nuclear Physics, 38. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 220.
edited by William R. Shea (Dordrecht, Holland: D.Reide1
Publishing Company, 1983), p. 15. 39. Nichols, Road to Trinity, p. 108.
8. Ibid. 40. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, p. 570.
9. Jones, Manhattan, p. 10. 41. In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Transcript of
Hearing Before Personnel Security Board, Wachington, !’
10. Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson, Jr., The New D.C., April 12, 1954, Through May 6, 1954 (Washington,
World, 1939-1946. Volume I, A History of the United D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1954), pp. 12-13.
States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park,
Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962), 42. For details on Fuchs see Robert C. Williams, Klaus Fuchs,
pp. 30-31. Atom Spy (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).

59
I 1
43. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, pp. 54041.
44. Ibid., pp. 30548.
45. Ibid.. pp. 644-45.
46. Jones, Manhattan, p. 530.
47. The Franck report, the response of the Scientific Panel,
and the Interim Committee recommendations are discussed
in Ibid., pp. 365-72.
48. Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, pp- 571-72.
49. Ibid., p. 676.
50. See Ibid., pp. 668-78, for more on the Trinity test and the
responses of those present.
5 1. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 383.
52. Ibid., p. 386.
53. Groves, Leslie R., Now It Can Be Told, (New York:
Harper & Row, 1962), p. 434.
54. Herbert Feis, The Atomic Bomb and the End of World
War 11 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1966),
p. 85.
55. The directive is reprinted in Rhodes, Making of the Atomic
Bomb, p. 691.
56. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, p. 395.
57. Paul W. Tibbets, “HOWto Drop an Atom Bomb,”
Saturday Evening Post 218 (June 8, 1946), p. 136.
58. The official yield of Little Boy, as listed in the Department
of Energy’s “Announced United States Nuclear Tests, July
1945 Through December 1986,” page 2, January 1987, was
15,ooO tons of TNT (15 kilotons).
59. The official yield of Fat Man listed in Ibid. Descriptions of
the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki derived from
Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, pp. 710 and 7 3 9 4 .
60. Summaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki casualty rates and
damage estimates appear in Rhodes, Making of the Atomic
Bomb, pp. 733-34, 740, 742; Groves, Now It Can Be Told,
pp- 319, 329-30, 346; and Jones, Manhattan, pp. 54548.
61. The Smyth report is cited in footnote 24.
62. For details of the Baker fallout see Barton C. Hacker, The
Dragon’s Tail: Radiation Safety in the Manhattan Project,
1942-1946 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987),
pp. 135-53.
63. Hewlett and Anderson, New World, pp. 326-27.
64. Ibid., p. 579.
65. Bundy, Danger and Survival, pp- 158-66.
66. The McMahon bill is reprinted in Hewlett and Anderson,
New World, pp. 714-22.
67. The Manhattan Project ended with the transfer of power
from the Manhattan Engineer District to the Atomic
Energy Commission, though the Manhattan En,’oineer
District itself was not abolished until August 15, 1947. The
Top Policy Group and the Military Policy Committee had
already ceased to exist by the time the Atomic Energy
commission took over on January 1, 1947.
Select Bibliography States Government, 1940-1945(Washington, D.C.:
U. S . Government Printing Office, 1945).

United States Atomic Energy Commission, In the

Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: Transcript of
Hearing Before Personnel Security Board,
Washington, D.C., April 12, 1954, Through May 6,
1954 (Washington, D.C.: U. S . Government Print-
ing Office, 1954).

Bundy , McGeorge, Danger and Survival: Choices

About the Bomb in the First Fifty Years (New
York: Random House, 1988).

Cantelon, Philip L. and Robert C. Williams,

editors, The American Atom: A Documentary
History of Nuclear Policies from the Discovery of
Fission to the Present, 1939-1984(Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 1984).

Groves, Leslie R., Now It Can Be Told (New York:

Harper & Row, 1962).

Hersey, John, Hiroshima (New York: Knopf, 1946).

Hewlett, Richard G. and Oscar Anderson, Jr., The

New World, 1939-1946,Volume I of A History of
the United States Atomic Energy Commission
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University
Press, 1962).

Jones, Vincent C., Manhattan: The Army and the

Atomic Bomb (Washington, D.C.: U. S. Govern-
ment Printing Office, 1985).

Rhodes, Richard, The Making of the Atomic Bomb

(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986).

Smyth, Henry D., Atomic Energy for Military Pur-

poses: The Official Report on the Development of
the Atomic Bomb Under the Auspices of the United

61
Manhattan Project August 19,1939 Roosevelt informs Einstein that he
has set up a committee to study
uranium.
Chronology September 1, 1939
October 11-12, 1939
Germany invades Poland.
Alexander Sachs discusses Eins-
tein’s letter with President
Roosevelt. Roosevelt decides to act
and appoints Lyman J. Briggs
head of the Advisory Committee
on Uranium.
October 21, 1939 The Uranium Committee meets
for the first time.
November 1, 1939 The Uranium Committee recom-
mends that the government pur-
chase graphite and uranium oxide
for fission research.
March 1940 John R. Dunning and his col-
leagues demonstrate that fission is
more readily produced in the rare
uranium-235 isotope, not the more
Date Events plentiful uranium-238.

1919 Ernest Rutherford discovers the SpringSurnmer 1940 Isotope separation methods are
proton by artificially transmuting investigated.
an element (nitrogen into oxygen). June 1940 Vannevar Bush is named head of
Ernest 0. Lawrence builds the the National Defense Research
1930 Committee. The Uranium Com-
first cyclotron in Berkeley.
mittee becomes a scientific sub-
1931 Robert J. Van de Graaff develops committee of Bush’s organization.
the electrostatic generator. Glenn T. Seaborg’s research group
February 24,1941
1932 James Chadwick discovers the discovers plutonium.
neutron. March 28,1941 Seaborg’s group demonstrates that
1932 J. D. Cockroft and E. T. S. plutonium is fwionable.
Walton first split the atom. May 1941 Seaborg proves plutonium is more
Lawrence, M. Stanley Livingston, fwionable than uranium-235.
1932
and Milton White operate the first May 17, 1941 A National Academy of Sciences
cyclotron. report emphasizes the necessity of
further research.
1934 Enrico Fermi produces fission.
June 22, 1941 Germany invades the Soviet Union.
December 1938 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann
discover the process of fission in June 28, 1941 Bush is named head of the Office of
uranium. Scientific Research and Development.
James B. Conant replaces Bush at
December 1938 Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch con- the National Defense Research Com-
firm the Hahn-Strassmann mittee, which becomes an advisory
discovery and communicate their body to the Office of Scientific
findings to Niels Bohr. Research and Development.
January 26,1939 Bohr reports on the Hahn- July 2,1941 The British MAUD report concludes
Strassman results at a meeting on that an atomic bomb is feasible.
theoretical physics in Washington,
D. C. July 11, 1941 A second National Academy of
Sciences report confirms the findings
August 2,1939 Albert Einstein writes President of the fmt.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, alerting the Bush and Conant receive the MAUD
President to the importance of July 14, 1941
report.
research on chain reactions and
the possibility that research might October 9,1941 Bush briefs Roosevelt and Vice Presi-
lead to developing powerful dent Henry A. Wallace on the state
bombs. of atomic bomb research. Roosevelt

62
 instructs Bush to fmd out if a bomb August 13,1942 The Manhattan Engineer District is
can be built and at what cost. Bush established in New York City, Col-
receives permission to explore con- onel James C. Marshall command-
struction needs with the Army. ing.
November 9, 1941 A third National Academy of August 1942 Seaborg produces a microscopic sam-
Sciences report agrees with the ple of pure plutonium.
MAUD report that an atomic bomb September 13, 1942 The Sl Executive Committee visits
is feasible. Lawrence's Berkeley laboratory and
November 27, 1941 Bush forwards the third National recommends building an elec-
Academy of Sciences report to the tromagnetic pilot plant and a section
President. of a N1-scale plant in Tennessee.
December 7, 1941 The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. September 17, 1942 Colonel Leslie R. Groves is a p
pointed head of the Manhattan
December 10, 1941 Germany and Italy declare war on Engineer District. He is promoted to
the United States. Brigadier General six days later.
December 16, 1941 The Top Policy Committee becomes September 19,1942 Groves selects the Oak Ridge, Ten-
primarily responsible for making nessee site for the pilot plant.
broad policy decisions relating to
uranium research. September 23, 1942 Secretary of War Henry Stimson
creates a Military Policy Committee
December 18, 1941 The $1 Executive Committee (which to help make decisions for the
replaced the Uranium Committee in Manhattan Project.
the Office of Scientific and Research
Development) gives Lawrence October 3, 1942 E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Com-
$4OO,OOO to continue electromagnetic pany agrees to build the chemical
research. separation plant at Oak Ridge.
January 19, 1942 Roosevelt responds to Bush's October 5, 1942 Compton recommends an in-
November 27 report and approves termediate pile at Argonne.
production of the atomic bomb. Fall 1942 J. Robert Oppenheimer and the
March 9, 1942 Bush gives Roosevelt an o p h k t i c luminaries report from Berkeley that
report on the possibility of producing more f ~ o n a b l ematerial may be
a bomb. needed than previously thought.
May 23, 1942 The S-1 Executive Committee recom- October 19, 1942 Groves decides to establish a separate
mends that the project move to the scientific laboratory to design an
pilot plant stage and build one or atomic bomb.
two piles (reactors) to produce October 26,1942 Conant recommends dropping the
plutonium and electromagnetic, cen- centrifuge method.
trifuge, and gaseous diffusion plants
to produce uranium-235. November 12, 1942 On the recommendation of Groves
and Conant, the Military Policy
June 1942 Production pile designs are developed Committee decides to skip the pilot
at the Metallurgical Laboratory in plant stage on the plutonium, elec-
Chicago. tromagnetic, and gaseous diffusion
June 17 1943 President Roosevelt approves the S-1 projects and go directly from the
Executive Committee recommenda- research stage to industrial-scale
tion to proceed to the pilot plant production.
stage and instructs that plant con- The Committee also decides not to
struction be the responsibility of the build a centrifuge,plant.
Army. The Office of Scientific
Research and Development continues November 14, 1942 The S1 Executive Committee en-
to direct nuclear research, while the dorses the recommendations of the
Army delegates the task of plant Military Policy committee.
construction to the Corps of November 1942 The Allies invade North Africa.
Engineers.
November 25,1942 Groves selects Los Alamos, New
July 1942 Kenneth Cole establishes the health Mexico as the bomb laboratory
division at the Metallurgical (codenamed Project Y). Oppen-
Laboratory. heirner is chosen laboratory director.
August 7, 1942 The American island-hopping cam- December 2, 1942 Scientists led by Enrico Fermi achieve
paign in the Pacific begins with the the fmt self-sustained nuclear chain
landing at Guadalcanal. reaction in Chicago.

63
December 10, 1942 The Lewis committee compromises Late 1943 , John von Neumann Visits Los
on the electromagnetic method. The Alamos to aid implosion research.
Military Policy Committee decides to December 15, 1943 The fmt Alpha racetrack is shut
build the plutonium production down due to maintenance problems.
facilities at a site other than Oak
Ridge. January 1944 The second Alpha racetrack is started
and demonstrates maintenance pro-
December 28,1942 Roosevelt approves detailed plans for blems similar to those that disabled
building production facilities and the first.
producing atomic weapons.
January 1944 Construction begins on Abelson’s
January 13-14, 1943 Plans for the Y-12 electromagnetic thermal diffusion plant at the
plant are discussed. Groves insists Philadelphia Naval Yard.
that Y-12’s first racetrack be finished
by July 1. February 1944 Y-12 sends 200 grams of
uranium-235 to Los Alamos.
January 1424,1943 At the Casablanca Conference,
Roosevelt and British Prime Minister March 1944 The Beta building at Y-12 is com-
Churchill agree upon unconditional pleted.
surrender for the Axis powers. March 1944 Bomb models are tested at Los
January 16,1943 Groves selects Hanford, Washington Alamos.
as the site for the plutonium produc- April 1944 Oppenheimer informs Groves about
tion facilities. Eventually three reac- Abelson’s thermal diffusion research
tors, called B, D, and F, are built at in Philadelphia.
Hanford.
June 6,1944 Allied forces launch the Normandy
January 1943 Bush encourages Philip Abelson’s invasion.
research on the thermal diffusion
process. June 21, 1944 Groves orders the construction of the
S-50 thermal diffusion plant at Oak
February 18, 1943 Construction of Y-12 begins at Oak Ridge.
Ridge.
July 4,1944 The decision is made to work on a
February 1943 Groundbreaking for the X-10 calutron with a 30-beam source for
plutonium pilot plant takes place at use in Y-12.
Oak Ridge.
July 17, 1944 The plutonium gun bomb (codenam-
March 1943 Researchers begin arriving at Los ed Thin Man) is abandoned.
Alamos.
July 1944 A major reorganization to maximize
April 1943 Bomb design work begins at Los implosion research occurs at Los
Alamos. Alamos.
June 1943 Site preparation for the K-25 gaseous July 1944 Scientists at the Metallurgical
diffusion plant commences at Oak Laboratory issue the “Prospectus on
Ridge. Nucleonia,” concerning the intema-
Summer 1943 The Manhattan Engineer District tional control of atomic energy.
moves its headquarters to Oak Ridge. August 7,1944 Bush briefs General George C. Mar-
July 1943 Oppenheimer reports that three times shall, informing him that small im-
as much fmionable material may be plosion bombs might be ready by
neceSSary than thought nine months mid-1945 and that a uranium bomb
earlier. will almost certainly be ready by
August 1, 1945.
August 27, 1943 Groundbreaking for the 100-B
plutonium production pile at Han- September 1944 Colonel Paul Tibbets’s 393rd Bom-
ford takes place. bardment Squadron begins test drops
with dummy bombs called pump
September 8, 1943 Italy surrenders to Allied forces. kins.
September 9, 1943 Groves decides to double the size of
September 13, 1944 The first slug is placed in pile 100-B
Y-12.
at Hanford.
September 27, 1943 Construction begins on K-25 at Oak
September 1944 Roosevelt and Churchill meet in
Ridge.
Hyde Park and sign an “aide-
November 4,1943 The X-10 pile goes critical and pro- memoire” pledging to continue
duces plutonium by the end of the bilateral research on atomic
month. technology.

64
Summer 1944-Spring 1945 The Manhattan Project’s chances for June 14,1945 Groves submits the target selection
success advance from doubtful to group’s recommendation to Marshall.
probable as Oak Ridge and Hanford
produce increasing amounts of f1s- June 21,1945 The Interim Committee, supporting
sionable material, and Los Alamos its Scientific Panel, rejects the Franck
makes progress in chemistry, Report recommendation that the
metallurgy, and weapon design. bomb be demonstrated prior to
combat.
September 27, 1944 The 100-B reactor goes critical and
begins operation. July 2-3, 1945 Stimson briefs Truman on the In-
terim Committee’s deliberations and
September 30, 1944 Bush and Conant advocate interna- outlines the p c e terms for Japan.
tional agreements on atomic research
to prevent an arms race. July 16, 1945 Los Alamos scientists successfully test
a plutonium implosion bomb in the
December 1944 The chemical separation plants Trinity shot at Alamogordo, New
(Queen Marys) are f d h e d at Mexico.
Hanford.
July 1 7 - A u g ~ 2,
t 1945 Truman, Churchill, and Stalin meet
February 2, 1945 Los Alamos receives its fust in Potsdam.
plutonium.
July 21,1945 Groves sends Stimson a report on the
February 4-11, 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Soviet Trinity test.
Premier Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta.
July 24,1945 Stimson again briefs Truman on the
March 1945 S-SO begins operation at Oak Ridge. Manhattan Project and peace t e r n
March 1945 Tokyo 1s firebombed, resulting in for Japan. In an evening session,
100,oOO casualties. Truman informs StaIin that the
United States has tested a powerful
March 12, 1945 K-25 begins production at Oak new weapon.
Ridge.
July 25, 1945 The 509th Composite Group is
April 12,1945 President Roosevelt dies. ordered to attack Japan with an
April 25,1945 Stimson and Groves brief President atomic bomb “after about” August
Truman on the Manhattan Project. 3.
May 1945 Stalin tek Harry Hopkins that he is July 26,1945 Truman, Chinese President Chiang
willing to meet with Truman and Kai-Shek, and new British Prime
proposes Berlin as the location. Minister Clement Atlee issue the
Potsdam Proclamation, calling for
May 7, 1945 The German armed forces in Europe Japan to surrender unconditionally.
surrender to the Allies.
July 29, 1945 The Japanese reject the Potsdam
May 23, 1945 Tokyo is firebombed again, this time Proclamation.
resulting in 83,000 deaths.
August 6, 1945 The gun model uranium bomb, call-
May 3lJune 1, 1945 The Interim Committee meets to ed Little Boy, is dropped on
make recommendations on wartime Hiroshima. Truman announces the
use of atomic weapons, international raid to the American public.
regulation of atomic information,
and legislation regarding domestic August 8, 1945 Russia declares war on Japan and in-
vades Manchuria.
control of the atomic enterprise (the
Committee’s draft legislation August 9, 1945 The implosion model plutonium
becomes the basis for the May- bomb, called Fat Man, is dropped
Johnson bill). on Nagasaki.
June 6, 1945 Stimson informs President Truman August 12, 1945 The Smyth Report, containing
that the Interim Committee recom- unclassified technical information on
mends keeping the atomic bomb a the bomb project, is released.
secret and using it as soon as possible August 14, 1945 Japan surrenders.
without warning.
September 2, 1945 The Japanese sign articles of sur-
June 1945 Scientists at the Metallurgical render aboard the U.S.S. Mksouri.
Laboratory issue the Franck Report,
advocating international control of September 9, 1945 S-50 shuts down.
atomic research and proposing a September 1945 Y-12 shutdown begins.
demonstration of the atomic bomb October 3, 1945 Truman advocates passage of the
prior to its combat use. May-Johnson bill.

65
December 20,1945 Senator Brien McMahon introduces a
substitute to the May-Johnson bill,
which had been losing support, in-
cluding Truman's.
January 1946 Hearings on the McMahon bill
begin.
June 14, 1946 Bernard Baruch presents the
American plan for international con-
trol of atomic research.
July 1, 1946 Operation Crossroads begins with
Shot Able, a plutonium bomb drop-
ped from a B-29, at Bikini Atoll.
July 15, 1946 Operation Crossroads continues with
Shot Baker, a plutonium bomb
detonated underwater, at Bikini
Atoll.
August 1, 1946 President Truman signs the Atomic
Energy Act of 1946,a slightly
amended version of the McMahon
bill.
December 1946- The Soviet Union opposes the
January 1947 Baruch Plan, rendering it useless.
January 1, 1947 In accordance with the Atomic
Energy Act of 1946, all atomic
energy activities are transferred from
the Manhattan Engineer District to
the newly created United States
Atomic Energy Commission. The
Top Policy Group and the Military
Policy Committee had already
disbanded.
August 15, 1947 The Manhattan Ehgineer District is
abolished.
December 31, 1947 The National Defense Research
Committee and the Office of Scien-
tific Research and Development are
abolished. Their functions are
transferred to the Department of
Defense.

66