Lt. Col. Clyde Mathews was a Public Relations Officer during the Manhattan Project. He worked for Lt. Col. William A Consodine, who reported to General Leslie R. Groves.
Mathews helped assemble material for the film “The Atom Strikes.” He was on the ground in Japan shortly after the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki to gather materials to be used in the film.
He is referenced on page 8 of the Manhattan District History, Book 1, Volume 4. He is also referenced in the book Racing For the Bomb General Leslie R. Groves, The Manhattan Projects’ Indispensable Man, page 434.
“Laurence’s first assignment was to draft a statement that would be used by the president when he announced the dropping of the first bomb on Japan. The draft announcement was presented to the interim committee on May 15. It did not meet with their approval. As we have seen, the statement was worked upon by many hands before it was released on August 6. Such was the case with all of Laurence’s stories. Everything he wrote before Hiroshima was submitted to Colonel Consodine.
“Consodine in turn gave them to his staff, Moynahan, Lt. Col. Clyde H. Mathews, and Capt. Kilburn R. Brown, who rewrote and edited them as many as half a dozen times, before Groves finally found them satisfactory. The drafts of Laurence’s articles are preserved with the Manhattan records in the National Archives. Groves’s handwriting is evident on many of the pages, making additional deletions and corrections.”
Medals: American Campaign Medal; WWII Victory Medal.
Ranks: 1st Lieutenant 13 Jul 1942; Captain 16 Mar 43; Major 22 Jan 44; Lt. Colonel 13 Jun 1945; Colonel 1 May 1951.