Letter from Charles E. Starr to President Harry S. Truman

atomic Energy 692-8 miscel 1/23/50 Pro PMA Omaha, Nebraska & His Excellency The President of the United States The White House Washington, D. C. Mr. President: In 1940, the late President Roosevelt created a Board of Defense with power to recommend the development of new war weapons. Shortly after this Board was created I wrote the Board suggesting the development of the "Hydrogen Bomb", and offered to the United States Government the use of my patent for the THERMAL DECOMPOSITION OF NATURAL GAS, or the CRACKING OF NATURAL GAS for the recovery of "uncontaminated Hydrogen" - at no cost to the Government. I offered my services in the development of a "Hydrogen Bomb". Some time later I received a letter from this Board advising that they were not interested in the development of a "Hydrogen Bomb". I believe I was among the first to recommend the development of a "Hydrogen Bomb" as a war weapon in defense of the United States some nine years ago. When the Board rejected my recommendation for the development of a "Hydrogen Bomb" I felt the Board had made a grave mistake in connection with the defense of our Country. Before making application for my patent for the THERMAL DECOMPOSITION OF NATURAL GAS I carried on experiments and research for over two years from a Pilot Plant which I had constructed. These experiments indicated to me that the most deathly "Hydrogen Bomb" could be developed at not as TRUMAR great a cost as one may think. ARCHIVES NATIONAL RECORDS No SERVICE In my experiments, I found that natural gas is the cheapest way to pro- $ duce "hydrogen". "Hydrogen" in volcanic gases, rock salt, and by reduc- tion is very costly - compared to the recovery of "hydrogen" from natural gas by THERMAL DECOMPOSITION. While carrying on my experiments for the recovery of "hydrogen" from natural gas, I found that the small bombs, comprising a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen heated to a high degree or subject to sun light, exploded with violence due to the rapid union of the two elements. As all technicians know, hydrogen combines directly with only a few other elements. My ex- periments disclosed that temperature control with a cooling medium is necessary in the design of "Hydrogen Bomb Shells".