Evening star., 1954-04-13

into the New Mexico desert for
an indeterminate period and ur1-
der quasi-military auspices dis
turbed q good many scientists,
and the families Of many more.
But there was another side to it.
ALI Knew Of Opportunity.
Almost every one realized that
this was a great undertaking.
Almost every one knew that if it
were completed successfully and
rapidly enough, it might deter
mine the outcome Of the war.
Almost every one knew that it
with an unparalleled opportunity
to bring to bear the basic knowl-
edge and art Of science for the
benefit Of his country. Almost
every one knew that this job.
II It were achieved, would be
a part of history.
This sense of excitement, of
devotion and Of patriotism in the
end prevailed. Most Of those with
whom talked came to Los Ala
mos. Once they came, confidence
in the enterprise grew as men
learned more Of the technical
status Of the work; and though
the laboratory was to double and
redouble its size many times be-
fore the end, once it had started
it was on the road to success.
We had information in those
days Of German activity In the
field Of nuclear fisSion. We were
aware Of what 1t might mean if
they beat US to the draw in the
development of atomic bombs.
The consensus of all our opin-
ions, and every directive that I
had, stressed the extreme ur-
gency of our work. as well as the
need for guarding all knowledge
of it from our enemies. Past
Communist connections or SYM
pathies did not necessarily dis
qualify a man from employment,
If We had confidence in his in
tegrity and dependabillty as a
man.
There are two items Of derog-
atory information on which I
need to comment at this point.
The first is that it was reported
that I had talked the atomic
bomb question over with Com
munist party members during
this, period (1942-45). The Sec
ond is that I was responsible for
the employment on the atomic
bomb project of individuals who
were members of the Communist
party or closely associated with
activities Of the Communist
party.
Talked Only Officially.
AS to the first. my only discus
sions of matters connected with
the atomic bomb were for official
work or for recruiting the staff
Of the enterprise. So far as l
knew none of these discussions
were with Communist party
members. I never discussed any,
thing Of my secret work or any,
thing about the atomic bomb
with Steve Nelson.
AS to the statement that Sc
cured the employment Of doubt
full persons on the project:
OF those mentioned, Lomanitz.
Friedman and Weinberg were
never employed at Los Alamos.
I believe that ! had nothing to
do with the employment of
Friedman and Weinberg by the
Radiation Laboratory: I had no
responsibility for the hiring of
any one there. During the time
that continued to serve as a
consultant with the Radiation
Laboratory, and to advise and
direct the work of some of the
graduate students, assigned
David Bohm and Chain Rich
man to a problem of basic
science which might prove useful
in analyzing experiments in con-
nection with fast neutrons. That
work has long been published.
Another graduate student was
RoSSi Lomanitz. ! remember
vaguely a conversation with him
in which he expressed reluctance
to take part In defense research,
and encouraged him to do
what other scientists were doing
for their country. Thereafter he
did work at the Radiation Lab
oratory.
Assumed Security Check.
I remember no details of our
talk. If I asked him to work
on the project. ! would have as
sumed that he would be checked
by the security officers as a mat
ter OF course. Later, in l943.
when Lomanitz was indicted
into the Army. he wrote me ask
ing me to help his return to the
project. I forwarded a CODY of
his letter to the Manhattan Dis
trict Security officers, and let the
matter rest there. Still later.
at Lomanitz' request, wrote to
his commanding officer that he
was qualified for advanced tech
nical work in the Army.
asked for the transfer of
David Bohn to Los Alamos; but
this request. like all others, was
subject to the assumption that
the usual security requirements
would apply; and when / was
told that there was objection on
security grounds to this transfer,
1 was much surprised, but of
course agreed.
David Hawkins was known to
the personnel director at the
laboratory. and / had met and
liked him and found him intelli-
gent; I supported the suggestion
OF the personnel director that he
come to Los Alamos. under
stood that he had had left-wing
associations; but it was not until
in March Of 1851, at the time of