Race for the Atomic Bomb

Cindy Kelly: We are with Richard Rhodes at Atomic Heritage Foundation’s studio in Washington, D.C. Can you start by telling us your name? Richard Rhodes: I’m Richard Rhodes. Kelly: Can you spell that, please? Rhodes: Yes, R-H-O-D-E-S. Kelly: And Richard spelled the usual way? Rhodes: Yes. Kelly: We are trying to gather various pieces of […]

Cindy Kelly: This is Wednesday, February 13, 2013. I’m Cindy Kelly, and we have with us Alex Wellerstein. Alex, could you say your name and spell it, please? Alex Wellerstein: Alex Wellerstein, W-E-L-L-E-R-S-T-E-I-N, and it’s just Alex, nothing fancy. Kelly: Great. Thank you, Alex. Alex, give us a little background as to your education and […]

Charney: Where shall I start? Groueff: Tell me how you got involved in the whole project and your first meeting with all those people and where you came from. Start from the beginning.  Charney: I had actually just graduated from college and I was prepared to go into the Army or to look for a […]

George Allen: Alright. This is in Alexandria, Louisiana at the city park. My name is George Allen. G-E-O-R-G-E, A-L-L-E-N. Interviewer: Alright and where was your place and date of birth? Allen: I was born right in Alexandria on September the 10th, 1925. Interviewer: Okay. How did you first become involved with the Army Air Force? Allen: […]

Stephane Groueff:  Interview with Dr. James Conant. Dr. James Conant, New York, October 11, 1965.  Dr. James Conant:  I don’t remember anything about it, frankly. And I’m amazed at what people are writing about it [referring to “The New World, 1939-1946: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission,” Vol. I, by Richard G. […]

S. L. Sanger: This is Hefner on June 11, 1986, interviewed at his residence in Richland. Jack Hefner: The plant at Oak Ridge was operating to make enough samples of plutonium, so they could learn how to separate here at Hanford. Very few people said a great deal about that and knew much about it. […]

Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly from the Atomic Heritage Foundation. It is Friday, April 11, 2014, and I have with me William Lanouette who is going to be talking about Leo Szilard. Why don’t you start by actually saying your full name and spelling it?  Bill Lanouette: I’m William Lanouette, L-A-N-O-U-E-T-T-E.  Kelly: Tell us about […]

[Many thanks to Bill Curtis for recording and donating this interview to the Atomic Heritage Foundation.] Mary Lou Curtis: When I got out of college, it was 1932 and a big Depression was on. Miami University, where I graduated from, only placed one teacher that year because jobs were so hard to find. I didn’t […]

S. L. Sanger: Hello. Dr. Teller? Edward Teller:  Yes. Sanger:  This is Steve Sanger. I am a reporter at Post Intelligencer in Seattle. We are doing a section, probably not until July, a commemoration of the Trinity test and first bombs, partly because of the presence of the Hanford reservation over in eastern Washington where […]

[We would like to thank Robert S. Norris, author of the definitive biography of General Leslie R. Groves, Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, the Manhattan Project’s Indispensable Man, for taking the time to read over these transcripts for mispellings and other errors.] James R. Chapman: When I first heard about the project that […]