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Lot 152
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James Byrnes as Sec. of State to General Groves for His Service on Manhattan Project
James Byrnes as Sec. of State to General Groves for His Service on Manhattan Project
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Description:

Groves Leslie

James Byrnes as Sec. of State to General Groves for His Service on Manhattan Project

 

“your tremendous contribution to the winning of the war and the development of atomic energy has become known to the whole world.”

 

JAMES F. BYRNES, Typed Letter Signed, to Leslie R. Groves Jr., January 2, 1947, Washington, D.C., “TOP SECRET.” 1 p., 8" x 10.5". Expected fold; very good.

 

Excerpts

“I have today received with real regret your resignation as American Representative on the Combined Development Trust (CDT) and Secretary of the Combined Policy Committee (CPC). As head of the Manhattan District, your tremendous contribution to the winning of the war and the development of atomic energy has become known to the whole world; it is my very great pleasure to add my own word of appreciation of your services in that capacity, under responsibilities of a weight borne by few individuals....”

 

“The country is fortunate that you will continue to serve it in the military profession.”

 

Historical Background

The Combined Development Trust was an effort by the United States and the United Kingdom formed in 1944 to control the world market of uranium ore. Led by General Leslie Groves, the CDT tried to ensure a supply to the Manhattan Project while preventing nuclear proliferation, especially to the Soviet Union. The CDT later became the Combined Development Agency.

 

The Quebec Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1943, created the Combined Policy Committee to manage the Manhattan Project and the British Tube Alloys project to develop nuclear weapons. The CPC included representatives from the United States, Britain, and Canada, and met eight times between September 1943 and the use of atomic bombs against Japan in 1945. It met a few more times before technical collaboration ceased in 1947.

 

 

James F. Byrnes (1882-1972) was born in Charleston, South Carolina, became a law clerk, and was eventually admitted to the bar in 1903. In 1910, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives and represented South Carolina there from 1911 to 1925. He served as U.S. Senator from South Carolina from 1931 to 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He left the Supreme Court to lead the Office of Economic Stabilization for eight months in 1942-1943, and then the Office of War Mobilization from 1943 to 1945. In July 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed him as Secretary of State, a position he held until early 1947. From 1951 to 1955, he served as governor of South Carolina. He later endorsed Republican candidates when he believed that the Democratic Party had become too liberal and had taken the South for granted.

 

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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