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    "title": "Memorandum, \"The Atomic Bomb\"",
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    "ocrText": "- 3 -\nBARRY 8.5. ARCHIVES BOVERNMENT SERVICE\" NATIONAL RECORDS TRUMAM AND THE\nIn outlining the history of the development of the atomic bomb in his\nbook, Stimson referred to a paper which he published in February, 1947, in\nHarper's Magazine and he quoted at length from that article.\nHe said that it was in the Fall of 1941 that the question of atomic\nenergy was first brought directly to his attention. At that time President\nHenry\nRoosevelt appointed a committee consisting of Vice President/Nallace, General\nMarshall, Dr. Vannevar Bush, President of the Carnegie Institute of Washing-\nton, Dr. James B. Conant, President of Harvard University and himself to\nadvise the President on questions of policy relating to the study of nuclear\nfission which was then proceeding both in the United States and Great Bri-\ntain. He said that from May 1, 1943, until his resignation as Secretary\nof War on September 21, 1945, he was directly responsible to the President\nfor administration of the entire undertaking with General Marshall, Bush,\nConant and Major General Leslie R. Groves, the Officer-in-charge of the\nproject, as his chief advisor.\nHe said the policy adopted and steadily pursued by Roosevelt and his\nadvisors was to spare no effort in securing the earliest possible success-\nful development of an atomic weapon. The original experimentallachievement\nof atomic fission, he pointed out, had occurred in Germany in 1938 and it\nwas known that the Germans had continued their experiments. In 1941 and\n1942 they were believed to be ahead of us and it was vital that they should\nnot be the first to bring atomic weapons into the field of battle.\n\"At no time, from 1941 to 1945,\" Stimson wrote, \"did I ever hear it\nsuggested by the President or by any other responsible member of the Govern-\nment that atomic energy should not be used in the war.\" He said the entire\npurpose of the project was production of a military weapon; \"on no other\nground could the war-time expenditure of so much time and money have been\njustified.\""
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