Security & Secrecy

Arthur Squires: And I probably did not appreciate, during the war itself, the extent to which this was such a remarkable effort. Kellex – I am sure some of this you have already heard. Kellex was put together by M.W. Kellogg Company pretty much on a command basis. They just went to the top people […]

Groueff: Hello? Hello? Recording, San Francisco, Berkeley, February 9, 1965. Robert Thornton: Well my first connection with the radiation laboratory was in about 1933 when I came here on a post-doctoral fellowship because it was not long before then. And I then was working with Professor [Ernest] Lawrence and others on the development on the […]

Stephane Groueff: Mr. James Stowers. James Stowers: We had a responsibility of procurement, which was not generally—it was not generally known. Going into this job, the Kellogg Company wanted to be well protected. They didn’t want to lose any money, it’s understandable. And they did not want to get entangled in having to defend a […]

Stephane Groueff: Berkeley, California. Recording, 1, 2, 3. Harold Fidler: I remember when I first heard about the project was the middle of August of 1942. We knew that Colonel [James C.] Marshall, who was a district engineer at the Syracuse District of the Army Corps of Engineers, was being asked to set up a […]

Raemer Schreiber: Yes, there was at least one [bomb core], and people back here worked furiously taking the plutonium as it arrived and converting it into another core. I don’t know the answer to it. I have heard stories another core was on its way out at the time of the surrender. Richard Rhodes: Groves […]

Gilbert Church: During the construction period there were several fellows that I could suggest you see. One of them would be Phil Gardner, for example. He was a recruiter on the road, and that was one of the biggest problems that we had, was getting manpower. He would know all the detail of that. So […]

Stephane Groueff: So Mr. Friel, you were with the optical side in Chicago project? Dan Friel: Yes. My interest and activity was in the optical end. The job was to make it possible to see through walls and to see into equipment where otherwise the radioactive level was too high to operator or to work. We knew, […]

Groueff: And so you have the tank. You have all these military things. And then you finally got the atomic bomb. Keller: Yes. Groueff: What date did [General Leslie] Groves come to you? Keller: That is all in the book. Groueff: That was in ’43. Keller: You will get that all out of the book. […]

Kelly: My name is Cindy Kelly of Atomic Heritage Foundation and this is Friday, November 7, 2014. And I am here in Hobe Sound, Florida and I have with me Kenney. The first question is to please tell me your name and spell it. Kenney: My first name is Gale. G-A-L-E. My middle initial is […]

[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 misspellings and other errors.] Stephane Groueff: So you were saying that they were very close […]