Military-Civilian Relations

Cindy Kelly: My name is Cindy Kelly with the Atomic Heritage Foundation. It is January 8, 2016, and I am in New York City with Peter Lax. My first question for him is to say his name and spell it. Peter Lax: Peter Lax, spelled L-A-X. Kelly: Great, thank you. So I would love to […]

Stephane Groueff: [Enrico] Fermi had the characteristics of a real genius. Colonel Franklin Matthias: Almost every time you would get in contact with him, something would come up that was impressive. Physically, he was a small man, unimpressive person, but he grew real large when he started talking about things he knew. Groueff: Was he […]

Walt Grisham: Okay, what you’re looking at is our old family well. It’s a little different than it used to be, because it’s sitting kind of up on the top of a bank here. After the project was built, they did a little roadwork out here and cut it way down. But where I am […]

Cindy Kelly: I am Cindy Kelly. It is October 14, 2015. We’re in in Los Alamos, New Mexico and my first question for the gentleman with me is to tell me your name and spell it. Bill Hudgins: William G. Hudgins. W-I-L-L-I-A-M. G stands for Gordon. Hudgins. H-U-D-G-I-N-S. Kelly: First, could you start by telling […]

Jerome Karle: My name is Jerome Karle. And it is J-E-R-O-M-E K-A-R-L-E. Cindy Kelly: Great. Dr. Karle, can you tell me about what you were doing in the early 1940s and how you happened to become part of the Manhattan Project? Karle: Well, I had just finished my work in 1943, for my graduation on […]

Stephane Groueff: It is working. Mr. Stapleton, you were with security during the Hanford period, or you were already here with security in DuPont in Wilmington? Newton Stapleton: I was in the security prior to Hanford. At the beginning of the war, DuPont got involved in building a plant for the French and British down […]

Roger Rasmussen: Hi, I am Roger Rasmussen. That is R-A-S-M-U-S-S-E-N. I am the son of Rasmus. That is what it means. It is Danish. My dad came from Denmark. Cindy Kelly: When were you born? Rasmussen: I was born in Mason City, Iowa on November 13, 1920. I refer to that as the Middle Ages. […]

Stephane Groueff: Mr. Hobbs, part two. So to go now to how you were contacted for the Manhattan Project. J.C. Hobbs: You see, [Ludwig] Skog was one in the group and had me in on – Groueff: And [William Francis] Gibbs. Hobbs: I had a chance to sit in meetings with him probably half a […]

Stephane Groueff: Hello. Colonel Matthias, if you can tell me the story of how the plutonium was shipped. Colonel Franklin Matthias: Is this good enough. Groueff: Yeah, it is good enough. The plutonium was shipped from Hanford to—? Matthias: To Los Alamos. Groueff: To Los Alamos. Matthias: We spent a lot of time trying to […]

Richard Rhodes: So what I thought we might do since you just came back from – was this work related to the Russian collaboration? Siegfried Hecker: Yes. Rhodes: Then maybe we should debrief you about that first before we go back and do the earlier part of the story. Does that make sense to you? […]