Security & Secrecy

Stephane Groueff: So, you were in charge of recruiting for Hanford or generally for DuPont? Phil Gardner: No, I had one section of it. The country was really split up into four parts at the time I became connected with it. That was in May of 1944 – four different people were sent out to […]

Cindy Kelly: I am Cindy Kelly and we have our guest, Robert S. Norris. Stan Norris: Right.  Kelly: Do you want to say your name and spell it? Norris: I am Robert S. Norris, R-o-b-e-r-t, middle initial S, last name Norris, N-o-r-r-i-s. It is February 13, 2013. We are here in the offices of the […]

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 […]

[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.] General Leslie Groves: It was the fact that I had been […]

Stephane Groueff: I want to start from the beginning. My book, I intend to start with the year 1942 because otherwise, there is no limit. A few months before the Manhattan District and decision to go— J. Robert Oppenheimer: The decision was actually made on December 6, to take the thing seriously. Groueff: ’41? Oppenheimer: […]

Stephane Groueff: Where did you come from? Probably we’ll start chronologically and then— Dr. Samuel K. Allison: I was born here in Chicago, just half a kilometer from where we’re sitting at this moment. I went to school at the public schools in the city of Chicago and entered the University of Chicago in 1917. […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]