Interim Committee
In July 1944, before the Interim Committee was formed, Bush, Conant, and Irvin Stewart had produced a proposal for legislation to control nuclear energy. Conant submitted the proposals to the Interim Committee at its meeting on July 9, 1945. Harrison brought in two experienced lawyers, Kenneth Royall and William L. Marbury, to take up the job of drafting the legislation. Their draft bill would have created a nine-man commission consisting of five civilian and four military members. It granted the commission broad powers to acquire property, to operate facilities, to conduct research and to regulate all forms of nuclear energy. The Royall-Marbury bill was reviewed by the Interim Committee at its July 19 meeting and revised in line with their suggestions. The bill was forwarded to the President in August. The Interim Committee met again on September 28 to discuss legislative strategy. The Royall-Marbury bill was introduced into the United States Congress by the chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee, Andrew J. May, and the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, Senator Edwin C. Johnson, on October 3. It then became known as the May-Johnson bill.