11/5/20 The Manhattan Project - Personalities and Problems Fromm Institute Fall 2020 bebo.white@gmail.com Lecture 6 submitted questions/comments from lecture 5 1
11/5/20 revisiting the labs’ mission (and our course vision) • Given that the original mission of the Manhattan Project was to build an atomic bomb, that short-term mission would end successfully or not • If the project was successful, it might not only end World War II, but also • It would change global politics • It would change the future of weaponry • U.S. adversaries (especially the USSR) would want their own bomb • Change the relationships between scientists, politicians/bureaucrats and the general public • Change the path of government-funded “big science” research (not just for military/defense) • As the bomb project came closer to completion, many of the decisions made included a consideration of the post-war lab roles • The labs would not (and could not) remain secret and would be forced to change some of their wartime modus operandi and public perception - that is why (IMHO) looking at their history is so important historically cew and hew had a lot in common - relationships inside and outside their communities • Total disruption of a rural agricultural community (more than 60,000 acres) • The creation of a secret government town • Massive influx of workers (population grew from 3,000 in 1942 to 75,000 in 1945) • Emphasis on security 24 hours per day onsite and offsite • Issues with discrimination • HEW had the dust; CEW had the mud 2
11/5/20 lots of rumors about what cew was doing • Synthetic rubber • “I thought they were making sour mash [whiskey] to drop on the Germans. Get them all drunk” (resident to New Y ork Times) • An experiment in socialism: “a model community designed to prepare the American people for Communist rule” • The FDR fifth term button-making factory - how did that one get from HEW to CEW or was it the other way around? 3
11/5/20 . - . . · .,.,. PRQ,J ECT MANHATTANJ . .. ... .. / CONTRACTORS' EMPLOYMENT , August 1942 - December 1946 140 140 100 • go, I I I - : r 8 0 I 0 .,. C: I 0 1 0 . ,. Q . 10 I I. 'I 60 ..- . \ 60 I'' 50 / ' / ' ' I CEW OPERATIONS • 50 . - - ' - - 40 'r'> •. 40 I 3 0 20 10 10 0 0 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 the war manpower commission (wmc) searches for workers • No shortage of scientists (actually a surplus); great shortage of electricians and plumbers • Knoxville did not provide the expected boom of candidates • Secrecy hampered recruitment efforts • Recruitment happened throughout the South • Poaching complaints • Covert recruitment complaints • Each year recruited 15,000-20,000 female workers with only ~1,700 yield 4
11/5/20 who was recruited? • Key groups: coal miners, farmers (seasonal), rural industry • Opportunities for all family members older than 18 years • Average age: women - 28; men - 35 • Fewer than 50% of Y-12 workers were high school graduates; 67% had graduated from at least the 8th grade • Women whose husbands were unemployed or not in the area • Those wishing to take advantage of CEW schools for their children 5
11/5/20 is this a security leak? “It just didn’t make any sense at all…The uniforms were first washed, then ironed, all new buttons sewed on and passed to me. I’d hold the uniform up to a special instrument and if I heard a clicking noise - I’d throw it back to be done all over again. That’s all I did - all day long” (1943 Business Week interview) despite the security, there were spies at cew • Both George Koval and Alfred Slack worked at Y-12 and provided the Soviets with valuable information about U(235) separation • Koval was born in US, advanced degrees in Moscow, married a Russian woman, received Soviet citizenship George Koval (how did he get a security clearance?) • Both Koval and Slack had the same Soviet contact (Harry Gold) as the spies at Los Alamos • Koval was given an award posthumously by Vladimir Putin in 2007 Alfred Slack 6
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11/5/20 hutments fill the formerly empty valleys Happy V alley - 1944 16 ft. x 16 ft. “government had to attract people to the project with houses near to what they were used to. Black housing was better than what a black worker in Mississippi would have had, while a white scientist wouldn’t feel the same way” 8
11/5/20 your seniority (or race) might get you a trailer or an “alphabet house” “every house that Skidmore Owings designed [for Oak Ridge] (and they were built to last a mere 4 years, but still exist today) includes a fireplace, no matter how tiny, because the architects at the firm believed that scientists wanted to sit by a fire and read after dinner” 9
11/5/20 racial bias in the cew labor force • African-Americans were only allowed laborer jobs at CEW • Many qualified African-American scientists were only able to work at The Met Lab or other university projects .. . . 1 0 1 ■ - - --- • !Cl. D C I6 1 1 1 1 a 5 P . 0 i l : ! 1 1 : I · C Cl 1 ' ! 1 1 - l.9 l' f & /A. j J' I" p"' . . ! d Ii "' C • I • 10
11/5/20 cew workers were immediately recognizable in knoxville • They might be “furriners” • They seemed to have an abundance of ration stamps • They had “fistfuls of cash” • They had muddy boots like hew, keep the workers happy and distracted • The Army created a shopping center of nearly 200 businesses • 16 baseball parks (10 baseball teams, 10 softball teams), bowling alleys, skating rinks, swimming pools • A symphony orchestra (organized by a CEW biochemist); “residents could boast that they had an orchestra before they had sidewalks” • Organized dance parties and movie nights • Excellent bus system since most workers did not have cars 11
11/5/20 from the mountains of Tennessee to the mesas of new mexico different worlds and relationships but with a common purpose 12
11/5/20 • Approximately 100 scientists, engineers, and support staff lived and worked in Los Alamos when it opened in 1943 • By 1945, 6,000 men, women, and children lived there - more than 4,000 of them worked in the labs • The Army assigned housing based upon an individual’s position of employment • Members of the local surrounding community (the Pueblos, Hispanics) worked there but did not live there; in the 1940 census, less than 1% of the population in New Mexico was African-American • It is unknown how many African-Americans were considered or recruited on “Oppie’s tour,” but there is no evidence that any of the residents were African- American 13
11/5/20 look how young these guys are (1943) Johnny F ermi James Chadwick T eller Robert Wilson: 29 Klaus Fuchs: 32 Serber: 34 T ed Hall F eynman Bohr Oppie, Kisty Weisskopf: 35 Bethe McMillan: 36 14
11/5/20 in los alamos they worked hard and played hard • “The battleship” (Bethe) and “the mosquito boat” (Feynman) rattled the halls of the Theory Section • “Kisty’s” explosions rattled the canyon walls • The Serbers “played secret agents” to distract the Santa Fe locals with rumors about “electric rockets” • Parties continued on “Bathtub Row” and in the dormitories • Strict segregation between the men’s and women’s dormitories • “My brother tried to handle all of Gen. Grove’s concerns except for the number of babies being born at Los Alamos” (Frank Oppenheimer) - extra space was added to the site hospital • Rumors about a Los Alamos underground (gambling, visits by Santa Fe “girls,” etc.) • And meanwhile, Klaus Fuchs, David Greenglass, and Ted Hall played with the Russians “the battleship” and “the mosquito boat” Feynman and Bethe greatly respected one another, but Feynman refused to be awed by Bethe’s established credentials; “No, no, you’re crazy . It’ll go like this!” It was a contest between “The Battleship” (Bethe) and “The Mosquito Boat” (Feynman) that often resulted in loud conversations heard throughout the group “Dick was as likely to begin in the middle or at the end, and jump back and forth until he had convinced himself he was right (or wrong)” Bethe later made Feynman the leader of a sub-group 15
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