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OCR Page 1 of 4TRUMAN
BARRY by. ARCHIVES AND RECORDS
TRUMAN & THE ATOM BOMB.
B.S. GOVERNMENT
BACKGROUND
When Truman became president on April 12, 1945, upon
the death of President Roosevelt, he had no knbwledge of the
actual bomb project itself and his first infomration about
what was really being done came from Secretary of War Henry L.
Stimson on April 25th.
Stimson himself, was virtual head of the project
and had been during the years of its development as a military
weapon. Stimson had conferred frequently with President Roosevelt
during this period but his last meeting with FDR had been on
March 15th. (See Stimson biography, "On Active Service." (Pg. 615).
At that time He discussed a memorandum FDR had sent him from an
unnamed "a istinguished public servant who was fearful lest the
Manhattan (atomic( project "be a lemon'; it was an opinion common
among those not fully informed. 11 The writer, alarmed at
rumors of extravagance in the project, suggested they get a body of
outside scientists to pass on the peject "because rumors are going
around that Vannevar Bush and Jim Conant have sold the President
a lemon on the subject and ought to be checked up." Stimson
Tharacterized it as a "jitfery and nervous memorandum and rather
silly" and he gave the President a list of scientists a_tually
engaged in it.
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