Evening star., 1949-12-08
GrovesWithhe|d
Secret Reports
From Wallace
Preferred Not to- Give
Dutu toVice President,
Ex-Atom Chief Says
CANADIAN SHIPMENT Of Ora
mum to Reds In '43 Described.
Page AS.
BY the Assoeiated Press

BY the Assoeiated Press
NEW YORK, Dec. 8.-Lt. Gen.
Leslie R. Groves, retired, said to-
day he had withheld from former
Vice President Henry A. Wallace
secret reports on atomic develop
ments which normally would have
gone to Mr.. Wallace.
Asked whether there was any
special reason for not showing
the reports to Mr.. Wallace, the
wartime head of the Nations
atomic bomb project said, II pre-
ferred not to-"
Gen. Groves made the state
ment in a telephone interview
from Norwalk, Conn. He is a
vice president of Remington Rand,
in charge of the company's ad-
vanced research.
Gen. Groves said he showed
Mr.. Wallace one of the reports in
the fall of 1943, but none there
after. He e.stified yesterday be-
fore a subcommittee of the House
Committee on Un-American Ac-
tivities that neither Mr.. Wallace
nor the late Harry Hopkins used
pressure on him to get atomic
secrets for shipment to Russia.
Hopes Probe Will Continue.
The general was asked whether
he knew if the Russians had OBJ
tanned secret information from
any sources.
yes. of course, they did," he
replied. How much they OBJ
tanned nobody knows"
Gen. Groves said he was every
anxious to see the committee
continue its probe as I'm sure it
has every intention of doing.
II hope that the probe will be
concerned with the truly vital
question of whether there were
enormous. unnecessary wartime
shipments to Russia"
Asked whether his testimony
yesterday could be interpreted as
discrediting the story Of George
Racey Jordan, former Air Force
major, that suspicious wartime
shipments were sent to Russia,
Gen. Groves said:
"The details Of Mr.. Jordan's
testimony are relatively unim-
portant.
THE real point at issue to me
is the answer to the question, Was
there an undue drain of American
wealth into the Soviet Union dur
ing the war which had no reason
able bearing on the waging of a
successful war against our COM
mon enemy?'"
Withheld Some Reports.
Gen. Groves gave these answers
to questions asked him by an AS
sociated Press reporter: L.
@. Did you withhold secret re-
ports on atomic developments
from Mr.. Wallace?
A. Yes. I didn't show them to
him after showing him one in
the fall of 1943.
@. Would they normally have
been shown to Mr.. Wallace in his
position as a member of the
Presidents Special Committee on
Atomic Energy?
A. Normally they would have
gone to him but they didn't
@. Was there any special reason
for not showing them to him?
A. I preferred not to.
@. Would you consider this a
deliberate withholding of infor-
nation to Mr.. Wallace?
A. Some people might think SO.
@. Was there any special reason
for not showing Mr.. Wallace the
secret reports?
A. We took number Of de-
1iberate risks on security matters
in an effort to bring the war to
a quicker end, but we took no un-
necessary, recognizable risks.
Elaborates on Testimony.
Gen. Groves statements today
were in elaboration of those made
yesterday in Washington. There
he explained that the secret re-
ports were made available to the
President, certain high military
leaders and scientists, and, on one
occasion, to Mr.. Wallace.
Gen. Groves said that he took
the report to Mr.. Wallace's Office
and was kept waiting for some
time. He said that after show
ing the report to the Vice Pres
ident, II made UP my mind that