Ask the Scholar

{
    "localId": "313081717",
    "label": "Memorandum, \"The Atomic Bomb\"",
    "core": "doc",
    "dtoType": "document",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/313081717"
}

{
    "id": "313081717",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/313081717",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Memorandum, \"The Atomic Bomb\"",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/313081717",
    "collections": [
        "Eben A. Ayers Papers",
        "Subject Files"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-eaa/201201/2805278/2805278-02-001.tif",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-eaa/201201/2805278/2805278-02-001.tif",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-eaa/201201/2805278/2805278-02-001.tif",
    "imageCount": 7,
    "hasImages": true,
    "source": "import",
    "hasTranscription": false
}

{
    "url": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/313081717",
    "naId": 313081717,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "logicalDate": "1951-01-01",
            "year": 1951
        }
    ],
    "recordType": "description",
    "ocrSource": "nara-archive"
}

{
    "seq": 5,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "photo",
    "url": "https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/truman/hst-eaa/201201/2805278/2805278-02-005.tif",
    "mediaId": "50d553a32fd3972a",
    "ocrText": "- 5 -\nand practically every physicist of standing. He said he then outlined the\nfuture of it, and \"went over with him the two schools of thought that exist\nin respect to the future control after the war of this project, in case it\nis successful, one of them being the secret close-in attempt to control the\nproject by those who control it now, and the dher being the international\ncontrol based upon freedom both of science and of access. He told him that\nthose things must be settled before the first projectile is used and that he\nmust be ready with a statement to come out with the people on it just as\nis\nTRUMAN\nAND\n\"NATIONAL\nARCHIVES AND\nsoon as that is done. He agreed to that.\"\nRECORDS\nLIBRARY\nU.S.\nSERVICE\"\nGOVERNMENT\nHe said the conversation covered the three aspects of this question\nthen uppermost in their minds first that it was always necessary to sup-\npress a lingering doubt that such a titanic undertaking could be successful;\nsecond the implications of success in terms of a long-range post-war effect;\nthird the problem that would be presented at the time of the first use of the\nweapon, for with that first use he said there must be some public statement.\nOnlium\nIn April, Stimson set up a committee, charged with the functions of ad-\nComitter)\nvising the President on the various questions raised \"by our apparently im-\nminent success in developing an atomic weapon.\" The committee, known as the\nManhattan Committee consisted of Stimson as Chairman, George L. Harrison,\nwho acted as Chairman in Stimson's absence; James F. Byrnes, then a private\ncitizen, as personal representative of the President; Ralph A. Bard, Under\nSecretary of the Navy; William L. Clayton, Assistant Secretary of State; Dr.\nVannevar Bush, Director of the Office of Scientific Research & Development,\nand President of the Carnegie Institute of Washington; Dr. Carl T. Compton,\nChief of the Office of Scientific Research & Development, and President of\nMassachusetts Institute of Technology, and Dr. James B. Conant, Chairman of\nthe National Defense Research Committee, and President of Harvard University."
}