Pandora's Keepers (63 page)

78
. Lanouette with Silard,
Genius in the Shadows
, p. 243.

79
. Author’s interview with Robert Christy, Pasadena, Calif., July 29, 1998.

80
. Quoted in Groueff,
The Manhattan Project
, p. 96.

81
. Ibid.

82
. Herbert Anderson, quoted in Wilson,
All in Our Time
, p. 95.

83
. Diary entry, December 2, 1942, CGMPD, CGP, HML.

84
. Libby,
The Uranium People
, p. 126; and Wigner,
Symmetries and Reflections
, p. 240.

85
. Compton,
Atomic Quest
, p. 144.

86
. Anderson, “Fermi, Szilard and Trinity,” p. 45.

87
. Wigner,
Symmetries and Reflections
, pp. 240–241.

88
. Lanouette with Silard,
Genius in the Shadows
, p. 245.

89
. Weart and Szilard,
Leo Szilard
, p. 146.

90
. Author’s interview with Kathleen Manley, Los Alamos, N.Mex., July 21, 1997.

Chapter 5: Los Alamos

1
. Jon Else,
The Day After Trinity
(KTEH-TV, 1980); and I. I. Rabi, “How Well We Meant,” Speech at Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1983, LANLA.

2
. Groves,
Now It Can Be Told
, p. 63.

3
. Quoted in Joseph J. Ermenc, ed.,
Atomic Bomb Scientists: Memoirs, 1939–1945
(Meckler, 1989), p. 257.

4
. Enclosure to Frederick T. Hobbs to H. T. Wensel, June 10, 1942, BCF, ROSRD, MEDR, NA.

5
. Leslie Groves to the District Engineer, United States Engineer Office, Manhattan District, Station F, July 20, 1943, in ibid.

6
. Quoted in Herbert Smith interview with Charles Weiner, August 1, 1974, OHC, NBL, AIP.

7
. Rabi, “How Well We Meant.”

8
. See Robert Oppenheimer to John Manley, November 10, 1942, Accession #A-84–019/63–1, LANLA.

9
. Quoted in Edwin M. McMillan, “Early Days at Los Alamos,” in Badash et al.,
Reminiscences of Los Alamos
, p. 15.

10
. Quoted in Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer
, p. 161.

11
. Quoted in “Julius Robert Oppenheimer” in Charles Montz, ed.,
Current Biography Yearbook, 1964
(H. W. Wilson, 1964), p. 331.

12
. “Reminiscences of Norman E Ramsey,” OHRO, CU.

13
. Franklin D. Roosevelt to J. Robert Oppenheimer, June 29, 1943, Box 62, JROP, MDLOC.

14
. J. R. Oppenheimer to the President, July 9, 1943, Box 36, in ibid.

15
. Author’s interview with Donald Hornig, Cambridge, Mass., May 14, 1998.

16
. Quoted in Jungk,
Brighter than a Thousand Suns
, p. 118.

17
. Quoted in Compton,
Atomic Quest
, p. 113.

18
. Powers,
Heisenberg’s War
, p. 181; and “Reminiscences of Norman F. Ramsey,” OHRO, CU.

19
. See Graph 1 in Hawkins,
Toward Trinity
, p. 483.

20
. Robert Wilson to Henry Smyth, November 27, 1943, Accession #A-84–019/7–7, LANLA.

21
. Major N. E. Davis to Occupants of Dormitory T-187, March 8, 1945, Accession #A-84–019, in ibid.

22
. Elsie McMillan, “Outside the Inner Fence,” in Badash et al.,
Reminiscences of Los Alamos
, p. 43.

23
. Robert Wilson to Henry Smyth, November 27, 1943, Accession #A-84–019/7–7, LANLA.

24
. Author’s interview with Donald Hornig, Cambridge, Mass., May 14, 1998.

25
. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission,
In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer
, pp. 12 ff.

26
. Author’s interview with Louis Rosen, Los Alamos, N.Mex., July 16, 1997.

27
. Ibid.

28
. Smith and Weiner,
Robert Oppenheimer
, p. 226.

29
. Quoted in Powers,
Heisenberg’s War
, p. 216.

30
. Ibid.

31
. “Reminiscences of Norman F. Ramsey,” OHRO, CU.

32
. Author’s interview with Beverly Agnew, Solana Beach, Calif., March 13, 2001.

33
. Norris Bradbury with Arthur Lawrence Norberg, February 11, 1976, History of Science and Technology Program, BL, UCB.

34
. Author’s interview with Kathleen Manley, Los Alamos, N.Mex., July 21, 1997.

35
. Quoted in Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer
, p. 178.

36
. Quotes are in Blumberg and Owens,
Energy and Conflict
, p. 124.

37
. Author’s interview with Robert Christy, Pasadena, Calif., July 29, 1998.

38
. J. R. Oppenheimer to General L. R. Groves, October 6, 1944, Box 36, JROP, MDLOC.

39
. See I. I. Rabi to Robert Oppenheimer, “Suggestions for Interim Organization and Procedure,” February 10, 1943, Box 59, in ibid.

40
. Quoted in Blumberg and Owens,
Energy and Conflict
, p. 129.

41
. Teller with Shoolery,
Memoirs
, p. 177.

42
. Ibid., pp. 177–178.

43
. Quoted in Smith and Weiner,
Robert Oppenheimer
, p. 273.

44
. Author’s interview with Philip Morrison, Cambridge, Mass., May 18, 1998.

45
. Hans Bethe Personal Papers (hereafter cited as BPP), Ithaca, N.Y.

46
. Author’s interview with Kathleen Manley, Los Alamos, N.Mex., July 21, 1997.

47
. Author’s interview with Hans Bethe, Ithaca, N.Y., June 6, 1997.

48
. Author’s interview with Kay Mark, Los Alamos, N.Mex., July 19, 1997.

49
. Author’s interview with Rose Bethe and Jane Wilson, Ithaca, N.Y., June 8, 1997.

50
. Bernstein, “Profiles: Physicist—II,” p. 53.

51
. Quoted in Rigden,
Rabi
, p. 217.

52
. Quoted by Hans Bethe in ibid., p. 149.

53
. Quoted in Peierls,
Bird of Passage
, p. 192.

54
. Quoted in J. Robert Oppenheimer to I. I. Rabi, February 26, 1943, JROP, MDLOC. Rabi had apparently suggested this to Oppenheimer in a prior letter or conversation.

55
. Author’s interview with Hans Bethe, Ithaca, N.Y., June 6, 1997.

56
. The physicist was John Wheeler, then at Hanford, Washington. His brother Joe, an army private with a Ph.D. in history, was killed on October 25, 1944. Wheeler with Ford,
Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam
, pp. 18–19.

57
. Darol Froman interview with Arthur Lawrence Norberg, HSTP, BL, UCB.

58
. Blue Corn, quoted in Mason,
Children of Los Alamos
, p. 147.

59
. Quoted in Peggy Pond Church,
The House at Otowi Bridge
(University of New Mexico Press, 1960), pp. 65–66.

60
. Bohr handwritten notes, Document 10, Niels Bohr Archives Document Release, February 6, 2002,
www.nba.nbi.dk/NBA/papers/docs/d10tra.htm
.

61
. Quoted in James Glanz, “New Light on Physicist’s Role in Nazi Bomb,”
NYT
, February 7, 2002, pp. A1 and A8.

62
. Quoted in Rudolf Peierls to Mr. Masters, February 20, 1988, Addendum D.9, RPP, BL, UO.

63
. Moore,
Niels Bohr
, p. 324.

64
. Quoted in Teller with Shoolery,
Memoirs
, p. 186.

65
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, p. 195; and Niels Bohr to President Roosevelt, July 3, 1944, JROP, Box 34, MDLOC.

66
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 94–95, 196.

67
. Quoted in Powers,
Heisenberg’s War
, p. 255.

68
. Author’s interview with Robert Christy, Pasadena, Calif., July 29, 1998.

69
. Richard Feynman interview with Charles Weiner, June 28, 1966, OHC, NBL, AIP.

70
. Felix Frankfurter to Lord Halifax, April 18, 1945, JROP, Box 34, MDLOC.

71
. Quoted in Moore,
Niels Bohr
, p. 343.

72
. See R. V. Jones, “Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill,”
Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
, 1966, p. 88; and Gowing,
Britain and Atomic Energy
, p. 355.

73
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 106–108.

74
. See Aage Bohr, “The War Years and the Prospects Raised by the Atomic Weapons,” in Rozental,
Niels Bohr
, pp. 206–207; and Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, p. 109.

75
. Hyde Park Aide-Memoire, September 18, 1944, President’s Map Room Papers, Naval Aide’s File, Box 172, FDRL.

Chapter 6: The Decision to Use the Bomb

1
. Leo Szilard to Vannevar Bush, January 14, 1944, LSP, Box 5, Folder 21, MSCD, GL, UCSD.

2
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 118–119. Compton himself addressed the political implications of atomic bombs for the first time in a memorandum to James Conant in August 1944. See Arthur H. Compton to James B. Conant, August 15, 1944, BCF, ROSRD, MEDR, NA.

3
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, p. 120; see also Arthur H. Compton to Alice K. Smith, September 30, 1958, Series 3, Box 27, Arthur H. Compton Papers (hereafter cited as AHCP), Washington University Archives (hereafter cited as WUA), St. Louis, Mo.

4
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, p. 122; and Bohr Memorandum, May 8, 1945, summarizing his communications with Roosevelt, JROP, Box 34, MDLOC.

5
. Lanouette with Silard,
Genius in the Shadows
, p. 260.

6
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 200–201; and Leo Szilard, “Atomic Bombs and the Postwar Position of the United States in the World,” March 12, 1945, reprinted in Weart and Szilard,
Leo Szilard
, pp. 196–204.

7
. See Leo Szilard to Ernest Lawrence, April 3, 1945; and Ernest Lawrence to Leo Szilard, April 9, 1945, EOLP, BL, UCB.

8
. Quoted in Wyden,
Day One
, p. 141; and Weart and Szilard,
Leo Szilard
, p. 182.

9
. Quoted in Allan R. Millett and Peter Maslowski,
For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States of America
(revised, Free Press, 1994), p. 482.

10
. Quoted in John W. Dower,
War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
(Pantheon Books, 1986), pp. 39–40.

11
. Quoted in Steve Birdsall,
Saga of the Superfortress
(Doubleday, 1980), p. 195.

12
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 145–147.

13
. Henry L. Stimson Diary, December 31, 1944, Sterling Library, Yale University.

14
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 134, 190.

15
. Ibid., p. 150; and Harry S Truman,
Memoirs, Vol. I: Year of Decisions
(Double-day, 1955), p. 10.

16
. Henry L. Stimson, “Memo Discussed with the President,” April 25, 1945, Box 151, Folder 60, HBF, MEDR, NA.

17
. J. Robert Oppenheimer, “The Atomic Bomb as a Great Force for Peace,”
New York Times Magazine
, June 9, 1946, p. 60.

18
. Leo Szilard to J. Robert Oppenheimer, May 16, 1945, LSP, Box 14, Folder 27, MSCD, GL, UCSD.

19
. Author’s interview with Louis Rosen, Los Alamos, N.Mex., July 16, 1997.

20
. Ibid.

21
. U.S. Atomic Energy Commission,
In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer
, pp. 32–33.

22
. Bodanis,
E = mc
²
, p. 161.

23
. Lanouette with Silard,
Genius in the Shadows
, p. 265.

24
. Quoted in Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, p. 202.

25
. James Byrnes to President Roosevelt, March 3, 1945, Box 147, HBF, MEDR, NA.

26
. See Szilard, “Reminiscences,” pp. 122–128; Smith,
A Peril and a Hope
, pp. 28–30; and James F Byrnes,
All in One Lifetime
(Harper and Brothers, 1958), pp. 284–285.

27
. Szilard, “Reminiscences,” p. 129.

28
. Arthur H. Compton, Statement to Interim Committee, May 28, 1945, BCF, ROSRD, MEDR, NA.

29
. Compton,
Atomic Quest
, p. 238.

30
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 203–204; and Stimson Diary, May 31, 1945, SL,YU.

31
. Handwritten Notes “To the Four [Scientists],” May 31, 1945, HBF, MEDR, NA.

32
. Diary entry for May 31, 1945, Series 4, Box 1, AHCP, WUA.

33
. Quoted in Moore,
Niels Bohr
, p. 369.

34
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, pp. 206–207.

35
. Quoted in Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer
, p. 142.

36
. Compton,
Atomic Quest
, pp. 238–239.

37
. Quoted in Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer
, p. 247.

38
. Arthur H. Compton to Colonel Kenneth D. Nichols, June 4, 1945, MUC-AC-1306/7, MEDR, NA. See also Diary entry for June 3, 1945, Series 4, Box 1, AHCP, WUA.

39
. Sherwin,
A World Destroyed
, p. 210.

40
. Ibid.

41
. Franck Report, June 11, 1945, reprinted as Appendix B in Smith,
A Peril and a Hope
, pp. 560–572.

42
. See James Franck, “Washington Trip Memo,” April 21, 1945, James Franck Papers, Box 18, DSC, JRL, UC.