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Glenn Seaborg, Discoverer of Plutonium, Sends Condolences to General Groves’s Widow
Glenn Seaborg, Discoverer of Plutonium, Sends Condolences to General Groves’s Widow
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Description:

Seaborg Glenn

Glenn Seaborg, Discoverer of Plutonium, Sends Condolences to General Groves’s Widow

 

GLENN T. SEABORG, 2 Typed Letters Signed, to Grace Wilson Groves, July 15, 1970, Washington, DC. Both on Atomic Energy Commission stationery. 4 pp., 8" x 10.5".  Very good.

 

Excerpts

Official Letter:

“My fellow Commissioners and I were deeply grieved to learn of the death Monday night of General Groves. We in the Commission have long been aware of the great legacy we have received from General Groves. His successful organization of the Manhattan Engineer District was an extraordinary accomplishment.”

 

“General Groves’ ability to strike quickly at the heart of a problem and his willingness to take full responsibility for decisions were characteristics which made a profound impression on those of us who were privileged to work with him. This same devotion to duty and his willingness to risk his own career in carrying out what he considered to be the best interests of his country were also clearly evident in the postwar years when we were both serving as members of advisory committees to the Atomic Energy Commission.”

 

“I have directed that the flags on all AEC Headquarters buildings be flown at half staff from noon today until noon on Friday in his memory.”

 

Personal Letter:

“Helen and I were shocked to learn yesterday of General Groves’ sudden death on Monday evening. We cannot, of course, commence to share your loss, but we want you to know that you have our deepest sympathy.”

 

“Looking back on the last two decades, I think it is clear that General Groves had a profound influence on American life in his generation. His extraordinary contributions to victory during World War II set new standards for accomplishment in the Army and in the Federal service. He also took a leading part in establishing the patterns of operation for the postwar period. We can be sure that his name will always be associated with one of the most significant developments in his nation’s history.”

 

Historical Background

General Groves suffered a heart attack on July 13, 1970, and died at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington.  He was interred in Arlington National Cemetery next to his brother Allen Groves, who died of pneumonia in 1916.

 

Glenn T. Seaborg (1912-1999) was born in Michigan but grew up in California and graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1933. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley in 1937. He became a pioneer in nuclear medicine and was a prolific discoverer of isotopes. He and fellow researchers first identified plutonium in February 1941, and Seaborg alone or with collaborators discovered another nine elements. In 1951, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with mentor Edwin McMillan for the discovery of the first transuranium elements. In 1942, he worked on the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago’s Metallurgical Laboratory with Enrico Fermi. After the war, he led nuclear chemistry research at the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California on behalf of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. President Truman appointed Seaborg a member of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission, a position he held until 1960. From 1961 to 1971, Seaborg served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. In 1971, he returned to the University of California, Berkeley as a university professor and later chancellor.

 

Grace Hulbert Wilson Groves (1897-1986) was born in Wyoming to a military officer and his wife, and she became a kindergarten teacher. She met Leslie R. Groves Jr. in Montana, and they married in 1922 in Seattle, Washington. They had two children; their son Robert H. Groves was born in 1923, and their daughter Gwen Groves was born in 1928.

 

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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