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Curtis LeMay Assures General Groves that Recent Article Does Not Divulge Atomic Secrets: “I am confident that his report will not be harmful to United States interests”
Curtis LeMay Assures General Groves that Recent Article Does Not Divulge Atomic Secrets: “I am confident that his report will not be harmful to United States interests”
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Groves Leslie

 

 

Curtis LeMay Assures General Groves that Recent Article Does Not Divulge Atomic Secrets: “I am confident that his report will not be harmful to United States interests”

 

CURTIS E. LeMAY, Typed Letter Signed, to Leslie R. Groves Jr., August 12, 1964, Washington, D.C. 1 p., 8" x 10.5".  Very good.

 

Excerpts

“Dr. Goldberg, Senior Historian of the Air Force, was on a leave of absence working overseas on a grant from the Social Science Research Council when he researched and wrote the article on ‘The Atomic Origins of the British Nuclear Deterrent.’ Before publication the article was reviewed and cleared by the Air Force, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Atomic Energy Commission and the State Department.”

 

“With its references to the spies in the Klaus Fuchs, Gouzenko and Alan Nunn May cases, the article seems to justify the careful security policy of President Truman and the McMahon Act. Goldberg also points out, in the words of Sir Leonard Owen, that ‘the McMahon Act was probably one of the best things that happened to the technologists of the British Atomic Energy Project, as it made us work and think for ourselves along independent lines.’ Although the majority of his interview and documentary sources were British, it seems evident that Dr. Goldberg took neither a pro-British or anti-American approach, and I am confident that his report will not be harmful to United States interests.”

 

Historical Background

Dr. Alfred Goldberg (b. 1918) worked as a senior historian for the U.S. Air Force from 1946 to 1965. In 1964, Chief Justice Earl Warren placed Goldberg on the Warren Commission staff to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and Goldberg co-authored the Warren Commission Report. After serving as a senior staff member at RAND, Goldberg served as Chief Historian for the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 2007.

 

In the July 1964 issue of International Affairs, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Goldberg published “The Atomic Origins of the British Nuclear Deterrent,” a twenty-one-page article on the development of a British nuclear force between 1945 and 1960.

 

On August 1, 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed into law “An Act for the development and control of atomic energy,” otherwise known as the McMahon Act, after Senator Brien McMahon of Connecticut, who introduced it. The act determined how the United States would manage nuclear technology it had developed jointly with World War II allies, the United Kingdom and Canada. It declared that nuclear weapon development and nuclear power management would be under civilian rather than military control and established the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. When the act went into effect on January 1, 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission assumed responsibility for nuclear energy from the Manhattan Project.

 

While the bill was being debated, the world learned of the defection of Soviet clerk Igor Gouzenko in Canada, bringing with him documents on Soviet espionage. During Congressional testimony, General Leslie R. Groves also revealed that British physicist Alan Nunn May had passes secrets of British and American atomic research to the Soviets during World War II. Because of these revelations, the McMahon Act restricted access to nuclear information by other countries, ultimately creating a rift between the United States and its allies Great Britain and Canada, but also forced the British to develop their own nuclear weapons independently. In 1958, Congress amended the act to allow the United States to share information with its close allies.

 

 

Curtis E. LeMay (1906-1990) was born in Ohio and graduated from Ohio State University with a degree in civil engineering. He entered the Air Corps Reserve in 1929 and received a regular commission in the Army Air Corps in 1930. He became a pursuit pilot and specialized in navigation. During World War II, LeMay led his B-17 bomber group in Europe and later in China, before being place in charge of all strategic air operations against the Japanese home islands. He commanded B-29 combat operations against Japan, including massive incendiary attacks against Japanese cities. After World War II, he served in Europe as U.S. Air Force commander and oversaw the Berlin Airlift in 1948. From 1948 to 1957, LeMay served as the head of the Strategic Air Command and gained promotion to a four-star general in 1951, making him the youngest four-star general in American history since Ulysses S. Grant. LeMay served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force from 1957 to 1961, when he became Chief of Staff. During his tenure from 1961 to 1965, he clashed frequently with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who had served under LeMay in World War II. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, LeMay argued unsuccessfully for bombing Soviet nuclear missile sites in Cuba. His strategic approach to aerial bombardment also proved ineffective in the early stages of the Vietnam War. His conflicts with President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam policy led to LeMay’s being force into retirement in February 1965. Later that year, he published his autobiography, co-written by novelist MacKinlay Kantor. In 1968, LeMay became George Wallace’s vice-presidential running mate for the American Independent Party.

 

Leslie R. Groves Jr. (1896-1970) was a United States Army General with the Corps of Engineers who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II. Born in New York to a Protestant pastor who became an army chaplain, Groves graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1918 in a course shortened because of World War I. He entered the Corps of Engineers and gained promotions to major by 1940. In 1941, he was charged with overseeing the construction of the Pentagon, the largest office building in the world, with more than five million square feet. Disappointed that he had not received a combat assignment, Groves instead took charge of the Manhattan Project, designed to develop an atomic bomb. He continued nominally to supervise the Pentagon project to avoid suspicion, gained promotion to brigadier general, and began his work in September 1942. The project headquarters was initially in the War Department building in Washington, but in August 1943, moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He and physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer selected the site in Los Alamos, New Mexico, for a laboratory, and Groves pushed successfully for Oppenheimer to be placed in charge. Groves was in charge of obtaining critical uranium ores internationally and collecting military intelligence on Axis atomic research. Promoted to major general in March 1944, Groves received the Distinguished Service Medal for his work on the Manhattan Project after the war. In 1947, Groves became chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project. He received a promotion to lieutenant general in January 1948, just days before meeting with Army Chief of Staff Dwight D. Eisenhower, who reviewed a long list of complaints against Groves. Assured that he would not become Chief of Engineers, Groves retired in February 1948. From 1948 to 1961, he was a vice president of Sperry Rand, an equipment and electronics firm. After retirement, he served as president of the West Point alumni association and wrote a book on the Manhattan Project, published in 1962.

 

 

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