C H A P T E R 1 3

The McMahon Act

i im SCIENTISTS~ concern wit11 all the ramifications of secrecy and with military policies affecting research and international agrecment formed a backdrop for their participation in legislative developments during the first seven months of 1946. In brief these developments were as follows: Beginning on January 22 the McMahon bill was considcred by the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy in open and closcd hearings. O n April 19 it was reported with amend- ments to the Senate, which passed it on June 1. The IIouse then tried further en~asculation through amendments both in co~nnlittcc and on thc House floor, but aficr conferences with the Senate both houses passed the bill in a fonn not vcry differcnt from the Senate version of June I. President Truman signed the bill on August I , 1946.

The reacljustmcnts of postwar politics and the novelty of thc sub- ject made this progress not uneventful cven for experienced politicians. To the scientists the crises werc unfamiliar and ominous. In evcry stage the federation, especially the atomic scientists, took an active interest. In some stages thcy played a conspicuous and probably a decisive part, although their share of the credit was not always quite what they thought it to be a t the time; nor is it possible even now to assign it with accuracy, so complex had the political picture be- come by the time the bill was passed. Again, thc full story based upon generally inaccessible official docunlents can be found in The

3 66 Domestic Legislation and International Control

New World. Thc prescnt accou~it concentrates on the scientists' atti- tudes and activities.

1. Trre McMarro~ BILL T o nlake their support of the McMahon bill effectivc requirecl that thc scientists look both to Congress and to the public, and in neither direction clicl they act alone. In mobilizing public support they had crocial assistance from citize~ls' committees, and in their relations with Congress they had leadership and guidance from the staff of tllc McMal~on committee in deciding when to fight, when to compro- mise, and whcn a massive expression of public opinion was in order. As they wese accustonled to c10 among themselves, the scientists frccly cllallcngcd advice; on occasioli thcy acted without it; but on tlic whole thc collaboration was a smooth and successful one.

I-hits in office m e ~ ~ ~ o r a n d u m s that after the Christmas recess Ncwman was advising the scientists to curtail their direct contacts with Congress are confirmed by the course of events. The grandiose schemcs for educating senators were quietly allowed to lapse. When tlic stuclics of inspection and control were diverted from the Senate committee to the W a r Department's co-ordinating committee, noth- ing took their place. There was recurrent talk of dinners for scien- tists and congressmen like those that had successfully opened up comnmnication in the autumn, but Higinbothall1 reported on January 16 that for the present McTCTahon committee contacts considered thcin politically unwise. Small affairs with senators and scientists dining "dutch" a t the Cosn~os Club would be better. This idea was in turn abandoned when hostesses were found for small dinners, but Szilarcl was soon complaining that these "lacked seriousness."'

Those who staffccl the Washington office quickly grasped the c0111plexitics of the political picture and realized how many interests and prcssurcs-some of their own making-had appeared on the sccnc sincc thc atomic scientists had rushcd impulsively to Washing- to11 tllrec months before. The two full-time staff members, Willy I-Iiginbotham and Joe Rush, developed considerable aptitude for distinguishing bchveen what they wantcd and what they could get but were caught between the advicc of the professionals and the

I l-llginbotl~arn to Pliillips, January 16, 1946, and Higinbotham to FAS ad~ninistratire comrnlttee, January 31, 1946, FAS I, 8; Jaffey to ASC executive committee, February 16, 1946. and Nickson and Higinbotham reporting to ASC executive committee, Feb- ruary 19, 7.3, 1946, ASC VI, 12.

The McMahon Act 367

reluctance of their colleagues outside Washington to recognize that badgering congressmcn while the special committee was a t work might do more harm than good. Scientists were encouraged, however, to continue their interest in the legislation itself, partly for support, partly for advice, and partly to make them better propagandists. The newly formed Oak Ridge Engineers and Scientists began their own evaluation of the bill dunng the Christmas holidays, collecting opinions also from non-members at K-zg and Y-12, and forwarded suggestions to the McMahon committee through Chauncey Starr. McMahon asked all the local associations for similar contribution^,^ and during January they discussed the bill in committees and at general mectings, aided by charts prepared in the Washington office that compared the vario~is mcasures thus far introducecl. Altl~ongl~ freewheeling in Washington was discouraged, those at a safe clistancc were reminded, as they would be many timcs in tlic ensuing months, of the importance of individual lettcrs and telegrams to Senate com- mittee members and other congressmen, and many of these went out from Oak Ridge. Chicago, and elsewhere expressing and soliciting opinions about the McMahon bill.

With the advice of Newman and Condon it was decided that a representative of the Federation of Atomic Scientists, capitalizing on the special experience of its nicmbers, should con~municate its cn- dorsernent of the bill to the Senate committee on January 28. Francis Friedman, chairman of the legislative committee of the Ato~nic Scientists of Chicago, was cllargcd with preparing the testimony, using as a starting point the analysis provided by the FAtS Chicago conference of December 28 and modifying it in the light of sugges- tions from all the FAmS groups, Assisting Fricdmaa, but working in the Washington office, was Bernard Feld (on his way from Los Alamos to M.I.T., where Fricdman would shortly join hinl). There was nothing very glamorous now about a clelcgate's life in lvashington, reported Feld to friends in Los Alamos; it was ~nostly routine-answering letters from well-wishcrs, grinding the mimeo- graph machine, talking to other scientists and newsnlcn. Still it was part of a scientist's liberal e d u c a t i o ~ ~ . ~

While Feld worked on testimony, Roy Thompson, also of Los

ZAtomic Engineer and Scientist (newsletter), January 6, 1946, AORES XX, 3; MC- Afahon to Novick of ALAS, January 16, 1946, ALAS IV, 12.

3 Feld to "Lennie," January 10, 1946, ALAS TV, 9; Feld to H. Linschitz, JanuaV 16, 1946, PAS chronological files (Washington, D.C.).

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Alamos, was serving for a few wccks as liaison between the office ;uld thc committee staff. The outlook for increased publicity on committee hearings was not very bright, h e wrote Friedman the day aftcr thcy olxncd; the federation had bcen told that the most helpful thing it could do was to prepare a two- or thrce-page digest of each day's testimony and the FRS reaction to it. Tllompson forwarded thc first of such reports to Senate committee members two days later, but it is not clcar how long thcy wcrc kept up or whethcr thcy merged into thc scheme of digests that the FAS inaugurated for its own mcnlbcrs. During the thrce weeks or so of open hearings, complete transcripts of committee testimony werc scnt on altcrnate days to the Atomic Scientists of Chicago and to thc SAM groups at Columbia, ~vhosc nlenlbers promptly made digests for distribution to other associations.'

R y January 28, when FAtS testimony was presented, the second scrics of hearings hacl beell going on for several days. Budget director Hal-old D. Smith and Secretary of the Interior Iclies had both testi- ficd in favor of the McMahon bill, and support from academic circles hacl bcen presented in a University of Chicago Round Table dis- cussion bctwccn Chancellor Robert M. Hutcl~ins and three dis- tiuguishccl colleagues in sociology, science, and law, Robert Redfield, 1%. 6. Gustavson, and Edward Levi. But the testimony that had made most impression on the committee-particularly on Byrd, Hicken- loopcr, Jollnson, and Millikin-was Secretary of the Navy Forrestal's criticism of the bill on the grounds of inadequate liaison between tlic comruission and the military. This issue was very much in the minds of thc scven members-a large attendance for this second scrics-who heard the reprcsentative of the Federation of Atomic Scientists tcstify on January 28.'

The FAtS witness was I-Iarrison Davies, a thirty-four-year-old bio- chemist cvho had been at Clinton Labs since 1943, a cl~oice that rcflectccl some lcssons of recent n~ont l~s . "Aren't there any scientists with good Amcrican names?" one scnator is reported to have asked. Added to Davies' satisfactory name was his impeccably Anglo-Saxon appcarancc ancl the fact that without being too suavely articulate to ovcrawc or annoy the senators he was a very able fellow. S. 1717, dcclarecl Davies, hacl "the strong support not only of more than -. -

,I ' l ' l ~omlx~m to hTcl\lahon committee members, January 2 5 , 1946, FAS X I , 7 ; FAS PJr \vs l~ t t r r , No 1, January 25, 1946, FAS X, 5. " S . Senate, Special Committee on Atomic Energy, Atomic Energy: Hearings on

S. Rcs. 179, 79111 Cong., 1st sess., November 2 7 , 1945-February 1 5 , 1946.

The A4cAlaho11 Act 3 69

fifteen hundred Manhattan Project scientists and engineers, but of thousands of other scicntists." The collective testimony he offered showed that the month of discussion since the Chicago conference had produced no change of viewpoint; suggested alterations in the bill were so minor, said Davies, that they were being held for later referral to the committee lcst they detract from the wholehcarted support the federation wished to give it. The only substantial additiol~ to the Chicago analysis was undoubtedly made after Forrestal's testimony five days earlier:

We wish to go on record most strongly as favoting complcte exclusion of the military from any policymaking function on the commission. By this we do not mean to exclude efficient liaison betwcen the commission and the armcd forces. Provisions making this liaison ~nanclatory as sug- gested by Secretary Forrestal would not be opposed by the Atomic Scien- tists. However, it is in the best tradition of Americar~ government that policy be made by civilians. A subject fraught with such tremendous sig- nificance to our foreign policy as the development of atomic energy in this country must certainly be freed from every vestige of military contr01.~

Davies' manner is hardly one to invite accrbity. Yet the senators' questions werc less deferential and more calculated to put him on the spot than those directed at John Simpson six weeks e l c r 1' cr. In the interval the senators had been made waiy not only by Forrestal's testimony but by publicity given to scicntists' conlplaints about Groves and army security policy and by the news from the London UN Assembly mceting, where two committee members with the United States delegation, Senators Vandenberg and Connally, had expressed grave concern lest commitments to cliscuss international control involve too many revelations. In Vandenberg's absence, Sena- tor Hart immediately challenged what he interpreted as federation support of military exclusion, employing thc common argument that atomic energy would be under civilian supervision because the Presi- dent and Congrcss control the military. Davies' counterquestion- "but is that control directly exercized?"-reflected the fears of the civilian control camp of a stereotyped formula that only secmed to subordinate nlilitary influence. Davies did a good job at elaborating the federation's views on military versus civilian control, a consider- able service in view of the prominence this issue was shortly to assume. He was on less happy ground when lured by the senators' questions into quasi-political judgments on the effect of the bomb on interna-

Hearings on S. Res. 179, pp. 135-59; New York Times, January 29, 1946, p. 4; Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I (I'ebruary 1, 1946), pp. 1. 4-5.

3 70 Domestic Legislatio~l and International Control

tional rclatio~~s and, as commonly happened, he was in turn sharply criticized for overstepping his compctence by the very people who asked him the questions.

On January 31 the Senate special committee heard testirnolly from Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace, the McMahon bill forces' closcst ally in the cabinet. After emphasizing the bill's importance for international agreement and discussing some points relating to his own department, Wallace lined up all the arguments in its favor, including a strong statement about civilian control.

That aftcrnoo11 President Truman was asked about Wallace's testimony a t a press conference. H e replied with a seemingly off-the- cuff endorscrnent of the principle of civilian control. T h e following daj~, using a draft provided by James Newman, the President wrote to Chairman McMahon making more explicit his support of a civilian ~ommission, government ownership of fissionable materials, a licens- ing systcm for atomic cnergy devices, freedom of scientific research, and arrangements that would facilitate international agreement. "TO your committee, pioneers in legislation of vast promise for our people and all pcople," the President's letter read, "there beckons a place of h o l m in history."'

'Thc l'resiclent's letter received first-page coverage in newspapers ovcr thc weck cncl, and on Monday the FRS office wired all the associations urging congratulatory telegrams to Truman and a barrage of com~nunicatio~~s to McMahon7s office; lay groups and public figwcs slioulcl also be requested to write or wire. This was followed up wit11 an FAS press release expressing complete agreement with the principles cited in the President's letter to McMahon, principles that dcscrvctl thc support of all enlightened citizens; if civilian con- trol werc not established soon atomic science in America would suffer grievous interruption, an argument, it will be noted, that had not carried much wcight with these same scientists when offered four months carlier by supporters of the May-Johnson bill.' --

7 Trurnan to McMahon, February I , 1946, copy in FAS XI, 7. IHewlett and Ander- son suggest that Newman and Condon were responsible for the contents of Wallace's tcstinwnv and for thc President's endorsement (Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Ander- son. Jr., The New World, 1939-1946 [University Park: Pennsylvania State University I'rccs, 1 ~ 6 ~ 1 . p p 489-91 [referred to hereinafter as The New World]).

8 Phillips to all associations, February 4, 1946, FAS, XI, 4 ( the folder contains letters conveving fctleration approval of favorable testimony to Ickes, Wallace, et a l . ) ; FAS press release, February 5, 1946, FAS XVII, I .

The McMahon Act 371

Tl~rougl~out the three weeks of open hearings the feder t ' a Ion con- tinued to have observers present and to circulate daily digcsts, of which further condensations appeared in the Chicago bullet it^^. One of the purposes of this vigil was to counter statements that secmed unsou~ld. When George E. Folk, for the National Association of Manufacturers, called for minimum government controls and talked about "harmless" fissionable materials, the FAS issucd a special releasc to say that harmless fissionable material did not exist and that if Folk's advice was followed any crackpot or subversive could make bombs. Knoiving that Major de Seversky's testimony woold try to mioin~ize atomic bomb damage, the federation had Philip Morrison, whose description of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had so impressed the committee before Christmas, on hand to answer him. But dc Sevcrsky's t~vo-lrour testi- mony came in the morning, and the reporters did not return after lunch to hear Morrison's rebuttal-the kind of ineptness in public relations, Higinbotham told fellow scientists, that they must learn to avoid.D

On the whole there was little occasion for corrective statements, for witnesses from industry generally backcd the bill or criticized it in areas where the scientists claimed no competence. Testimolly from individual scientists, not spcaking for the federation, was also favor- able, although detailed reco~~~nlcndations varied. Lilce some of 1lis more conservative colleagues, Harlow Sliapley advocated a s i ~ ~ g l e administrator with full-time divisional directors and an unpaid ad- visory board; I. I. Rabi spoke for a conlpletely civilian conlmission with adequate military liaison. Others testified not so nl~lcll about the bill as about the principles bcl~ind it, Louis Ridenour relleating the practical arguments against strict secrecy in Iris Portulze article, and John von Neumann eloquently explaining the importallce of freedom of research and his belief that the war had delayed rather than accelerated the dcvelopmcnt of nuclwr physics. in which 11e foresaw great advances in the next five years.

Througliout thcse opcn Iiearings, Secretary Forrestal's had been the only major dissenting voice. Secretary of War Patterson had been abroad, and his test~mony on February 14 was awaited wit11 interest by those who Ilad differed strongly with him over t l ~ e May- Johnson bill. Their supposition that Pattersoll had not changed his

372 Domestic Legislation and International Control

vlctvs turncd out to be correct, though the story behind his testimony cannot have bcen widely known at the timc. Three days earlicr a care- ful War Department analysis of the McMahon bill had been sent to thc Wliitc I-Iousc and thcn to the Bureau of the Budget to be revicwcd for consistency with administration policy, a test it failed to mect bccause Patterson's recommendatioils for putting military oficcrs in staff positions was inconsistcnt with the President's recent cnclorscmcnt of civilian control.1° T h c evening before h e testified Pattcrson conierred wit11 the President on how this split in adminis- tration opinion should be handled, and although Truman did not insist on unqualified support, Pattcrson next day endorsed the princi- ple of civilian control, approved a full-time three-man commission, and :idvocatcd free publication of basic scientific information, with civilians, not the military, drawing the line betwcen basic science and militay applications. But in his response to questions, Patterson's lack of enthusiasm for the McMahon bill became apparent; he recom- mcnclcd that the armed forces should have custody of atomic bombs; thcy should be allowed to conduct research in military applications of atomic cnergy; and they should be consulted about sccurity regula- tions, which should not rcst solely on provisions of the Espionage Act. All these points were to be of particular concern to the federa- tion sclcntists in the coming months."

If the Senate committee staff was not particularly eager to have tlic scicntists' help in dealing with Congress, i t was delighted t o have thcir assistance in arousing public interest. T h e FAS prepared a peti. tion to the Congress of the United States with arguments for the McMahon bill distilled for quick and easy comprehension and phrase? to attract the widcst possible support. T h e principles fundamental tc a satisfactory domestic policy on atomic energy were declared to bt full control of developments by the federal government and thr excrcizc of control through a civilian agency fully responsible to t11c President and Congress; science must not be hamstrung "by short sighted and unrealistic policy based on the belief that military securic can be achicved by imposition of secrecy in scientific research.. .

I n Sce The New World, pp. 499-500. Budget Director I-Iarold Smith sent the W: Ilepartnlent analysis to the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion, where Jam1 Ncnman , along wit11 his job as McMahon committee counsel, was still the Director rlght~hand man. "Whatever Smith's intentions," comment the authors of The Ne \l"orJd, "his action was tantanlount to killing the War Department report."

I 1 New York Times, February 15, 1946, p. 3; Hearings on S. Res. 179, pp. 389-40

The McMahon Act 373

National legislation must not obstruct but s ~ n o o t l ~ the path for the future creation of international control." The control and develop- ment of atomic energy must not bccome a partisan issue. About February 5 these petitions went to some forty rcscarch ccntcrs, to organizations, and to individuals, acconlpaniecl in some cases by a sample letter to "Dear Fricnd" that could be used for solicitation of more signatures. The receipt of four thousand namcs at the end of a ten-day period was considered very satisfactory.'"

The help given by local associations at this juncture was somewh,lt uneven, for ALAS, Cambridge, and SAM were hanclicapped by loss of membcrs and the new groups getting under way in February seemed to draw their strength from interest in international rather than domestic problems. Members of the Atomic Scientists of Clli- cago, however (since if thcy moved a t all, it was nlnstly from thc Met Lab to the University of Chicago), maintained their intense intercst in domestic legislation and responded to the appeal of February 5 with a prompt assignment of duties relating to the McMahon bill- promotion of letters and telegrams, preparation of a resolution on the bill, and contacts with radio commentators and newsmen and wlth universities, scientific organizations, and other sites. By chance the conference for midwcst religious leaders opened on the campus the very day the call for help came from Washington, and after the not signally successful effort to exchange scientific fact for spintllal io-

sight, the affair turned into a rally for the McMahon bill. fort~r- odd clergymen not only wired the President and Senator McMahon their support of civilian control but went home prepared to spread the word in their communities. Two Michigan meetings organized by the continuing committee of the conference had, as we sllall sce, a significant influence on the military liaison issue.'3

2. THE CANADIAN SPY SCARE Supporters of civilian control hoped that the President's endorscn~ent and Patterson's nominal backing would check the interest of the Senate committce in strengthening military liaison. But on Saturday, February 16, two days after Patterson testified, these hopcs wcre

l2 Petition and related material in FAS XI, 1 , 2; FAS Newsletter, I (March 1 , 1946), AORES XXI, 5; report of I-Iagemann to ASC executive committee, February 19- March 2 , 1946, in ASC files.

&&utive committee minutes. February 5, 1946, ASC VI, 1 2 ; pmcecdings, correspondence, etc., of conference of religious leaders in ASC 11, 6; 111, 15, 16; IV, S.

3 74 Domestic Legislation and International Control

clasl~ccl by ncivs from Canada that arrcsts had followed the defection of a Rossiao cypher clerk wit11 documents taken from the Soviet cmlxmy vault. A week earlier a new version of the May-Johnson bill 11:id becn introduced in the Senate as S. 1824, and the scientists and their allics now facecl the probabilit)~ that the Canadia~l affair, as yet mnlinomn in its extent or United States in~plications, would be oscd cither to this bill through or drastically to amend the McMahon bill. The effect of the spy case on both legislators and scicntists was hcightenccl by the fragmentary release of information, liberally intcrlardecl with rumor and speculation. Headlines referred to "atom" spies cvcn when the articles denied that atomic energy was involved, and along with official statements that no United States scicntists were implicated, rumors spread of more extensive espionage in this country. And alarm was caused on both sides of the border by Canadian special orders in council under which suspects were arrested, by suspension of habeas corpus, and by denial of legal counscl.

Trying to disentangle truth from rumor, FAS leaders prudently withhcld comment, but discussions of the affair were fraught with real anxicty. In Chicago an ASC executive committee meeting on Pebru;~ry 19 heard a report from Washington that some kind of mili- tary board was inevitable and began to think in terms of a compromise for~nula limiting its control to the bomb itself. Jamcs Franck, a man not subject to hysterical reactions, was quoted as saying that all scicntists were being called spies and that Secretary Patterson should bc asltcd to clarify the situation. ASC leaders regarded the spy scare as a smoke screen to force passage of the May-Johnson bill, and a phone call by Szilard to Byron Miller during the meeting revealed thc same suspicion among McMahon bill supporters in Washington. Miller's aclvicc was to stress this point rather than make a direct attack on the May-Johnson bill, and to this end the executive com- mittce niadc imnlccliate contact with colunmists and con~mentators- inclncling Raymond Swing, Walter Lippman, Elmer Davis, Clifton Utley, Waltcr Winchell, Drew Pearson, and Dorothy Thompson- climaxccl a fcw days later with a conference for Chicago radio com- mcntators at which Szilard and some younger ASC members ex- plainccl their vicws on the relation of the spy scare to domestic lcgislatlon.

A ~cncwcd pus11 was given to circulation of McMahon bill petitions bv the ASC, and a postcard campaign was directed at the Senate

The McMahon Act 375

committee. Efforts to organize an FAS affiliate of non-Project scien- tists and engineers in the Chicago area were intensifiecl. Two hunclrccl and fifty students at Armoor Research Foundation were implored to write letters in support of the bill, and Elarolcl Urey llclpccl organize a group of doctors. Urey was also assigned the task of converting Colonel Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune to the cause of civilian control, but he failed to turn in a progress report. A visit from FAS chairman Higinbotham on February 23 found these efforts in full swing; be brought little encouragement from Wasldngton- only the bad news that the tide of mail s~lpporting thc McMahon bill had dropped to a trickle after the spy case broke."

There were disturbing minor repercussions. Slling's broadcast oil the twenty-second revealed that a visa had been dcnicd to Niels Bohr. And one that seemed very ominous was an army statement- attributed, of coursc, to General Groves-that from disclosures in Senate committee hearings and loose talk anlong irresponsible scien- tists more information about the atomic bomb had leaked out in the last four weeks than in thc entire course of the war. Tllis roused particular anger at Clinton Labs. One of the pre-Christmas witnesses, Alvin Weinberg, wired Urey, Simpson, Teller, and Szilard, urging that scientists who had appeared before the conln~ittee sign a state- ment that their testimony had not jeopardized sccurity and had been essential to its deliberations." There is no record of such a joint statement, but Weioberg's colleagues in AORS shared llis indigna- tion. In addition to a vigorous campaign by the political actioll ~0111-

mittee to get members and friends to write and wire the President and Senate conimittce mcrnbers, AORS released a staten~ent that said in part:

The Army.. .would like to kecp atomic alcrgy exclusively as a military sapon, t l m insuring f i a t it would nwer be used for the good of man- kind. It would like to continue to inanufacture more and more atomic bombs, thus plunging the world into an atonlic arnl;iments rac+ lndi~lg inevitably to atomic war, against the expross wisha of the pmple, tlle President, the Secretary of State, and the Uni td Nations Organiratioo.16

On February 21 and 22, while this angry reaction was in full tide, the reprcsentativcs of AORS, ALAS, and the ASC met in Chicago

14ASC executive committee minutes, February 19-26, 1946, ASC VI, 12.

l5 Weinberg to Urey et al., February 19, 1946, ASC XXV, 8. ~"uoted by Raymond Lawrence, Oakland Tribune, March 4, 1946, p. 20; AORS

memorandum, n.d., AORES IV, 7; AORS Newsletter, February 27, 1946, AORES XX, 1.

Domestic Legislation and International Control

for that belated election of FAtS officers already described and to propose a major reorganization of thc FAlnS, actions that were not unselatecl t o the gloomy outlook for civilian control. Said the resulti~lg mcrno~andum wit11 morc pith than elegance:

7'hc present political crisis has found us with our Washington political ~~antsclown. There has been insuficicnt building of political fences by continuecl contact with members of Congress and the Administration. At timcs, politically unwise press releases have been made. A good deal of this is due to the relative inexperience of our representatives in Washing- ton. Much could be done, however, if greater use were made of a number of noliticallv-wise men in Was11ingto11-men who have already shown strong sympatlly for our program.

Liaison of the Wasllington office with mcmbcr groups has been very poor. Bsccpt for occasional phone calls and telegrams, the local organiza- tions llave rcceivcd little immediate information from Washington. Policy has effectively bcen determined by the few people in Washington, rather than bp thc PAmS Council, which has not met since the beginning of T a n ~ i a r ~ . Tlicrc has been little attempt to gather information and opinions from the local organizations before action has been taken in Washington. Communication 113s bcen largely an after-the-fact business, via a delayed

I t is not clear whet lm hi gin both an^, who was in Chicago next day, was on hand on the twenty-sccond to dcfcnd the Washington staff and tllc lcss aggressive policy toward Congress recommended by its political advisers; but he did try to improve communicatiolls, and w ~ t h i n a few days a rcport on the lcgislative situation went from the FAS office to all mcmbcr associations: the rcsponsc to thc McMahon 1,111 pctition lxad bcen good-an informal count a t this point showed four to fivc thousand signatures-but still more wires and resolutions to congrcssmcn from scientists and laymen wcre nccded. T h e com- ~ n ~ t t e e might conclude its hearings by March 11 (an estimate that was off by lust a m o n t l ~ ) , and speed was essential.''

For thc prcss an FAS rclcasc on Fcbruary 27 was directed not to thc particular episode of thc spy case bu t to the general subject of sccrccv. Sccrcts wcre leaking, i t pointed out, wherever the nature of t 1 ~ univcrsc was being studied. T h e nlomentary advantage of the

1 7 "I'roposal for Reorganization of the Federation of American Scientists," ca. Marcl v, 1 ~ 4 6 , ASC XIII, 15. The Philadelphia association also complained that lack of corn rnni~ica~ion was leading to doubts about the usefulness of the federation (Fusfeld ti l lig~nbotham, February 26, 1946, FAS VII, 5 ) .

18 FAS memorandum to all associations, February 26, 1946, FAS XI, 4; Phillips t~ Newman, February 27, 1946, FAS XI, 1.

The A4cMahon Act 377 United States was its two-billion-dollar investlncnt in plants. Scicn- tists did not want to give away military secrcts, but the American public could not judge the nest war witllout knowing about radiation damage a t Hiroshima and about bacteriological warfare. T h e top military men had not told the American people the real story of science in war because they tliemselves had not been authorized to develop a new security policy geared to the atomic age. T h e past week of spy hysteria, concluded thc release, was an exanlple of what was to come.''

The day this FAS release was issued there occurred a second event that stirred the McMahon bill camp to even further heights of alarm and activity. O n February 27 the Senate committce reopcncd its public hearings to listen to the views of General Groves on military liaison. Speaking for himsclf, not the W a r Department, Groves recommencled a nine-man conlmission of whom pcrllaps four should be military men and from which nuclear physicists, or heads of institutions having large nuclear physics laboratories, sl~ould be cx- cluded as not being disinterestccl. If any bill is aclopted, said Groves, "which does not include men with military background on the Commission, the Commission should be required by law to submit to the Joint Chiefs of Staff all matters of policy prior to adoption and before publication." This seemed to describe exactly the control of policy that scientists were trying to prevent and overshadowed the General's blander comments to the effcct that after the past fivc months he would be most reluctant t o accept the post of administrator and that the bill should look to the future and not indicate that we thought of atomic energy only in tcrms of a weapon." W i t h ithnemes already on edge after ten days of scare headlines on the Canadial~ spy case, the E'AS this time did not allow a cooling off period. I t issued a statement nest day drawing attention, somewllat unjustly, to the nditaristic character of Groves's testimony.

The discovery of atomic energy, developed by civilians for peaceful uses, under a systenl of world order and law, offers greater hope for plenty than any single thing since man discovered use for fire. . . .Today, however, the men who think of atomic energy mainly as a super-weapon to kill rnillio~ls

'"PAS press release, February 27, 1946, FAS XVII, 1.

US. Senate, Special Committee on Atomic Encrgy, Atornic Encrgy Act of 1946: Hearings on S. 17x7, 79th Cong., zd sess., January 22-April 4, 1946, pp. 467 ff.; New York Times, February 28, 1946, p. 12.

378 Domestic Legislatio~~ and International Control

where oncc bombs killed thousands . . . arc mging mankind to keep playing wit-l1 the toys of war until the flaming endz1

i\s far as the scientists were concerned it was now almost impossible for Groves to say the right thing. Outside the hearings he suggested salav increases for scientists for the purpose-or at least so h e was quoted-of saving thc country. I-Iiginbotham wired all sites for re- actions. Jaffey reported by phone from Chicago that h e and his collcagucs thouuht economic security was definitely not a reason 9 pmplr wcrc lcavmg the Project, though polls should be taken to find out. ALAS chairman Maurice Shapiro wired on March 1 : "If General aclrually said 'to save country,' we say raising scientists' salaries is pleasant but irrclevant. . . . Best hopc of saving country from sudden clevastation is world collaboration for control of atomic energy. Na- tional atonlic armament is a false basis for national security." And Waldo Cohn informed a Senate conl~llittee member tha t AORS consiclercd Groves ill qualified to pass on scientific secrets, comment- ing that tlrc Gcueral had not led the Project but had commanded and doinincercd it.22

T h c Association of Oak Ridge Scientists went ahead with the plans alrcacly outlined. Duplicated matcrial under date of March 1 in- clutlccl a twopage statement on atomic energy legislation, a memoran- dum to "Mcmbcrs and Friends of AORS" quoting the February 26

call to action from Washington, and a model letter to "Dear Friend," ending in each case with a list of Senate committee members and an exhortation to write or wire. T h e model letter contained a typical csample of propaganda and prophesy:

Whctlm thc bill the [Senate] committee sends to the Senate has the pro- gressivc features of the present McMahon bill or the restrictive ones of the ill-famcd May-Johnson bill depends upon what the comn~ittee hears from the public.

I t is not too much to say that the future course of the world may de- pcnd on thc action takcn in Washington on this subjcct within the coming days and weeks. If atomic energy is left in the hands of the military we may cspcct the continuation of the present: situation, in which the War De- partmcnt stockpiles atomic bombs while the Statc Department and U.N.O. clelcgates make vain gestures towards the international control of atomic cncrgy. W e havc, as a result of the War Department's action, initiated an

2 ' 1"AS press release, February 28, 1946, FAS XVII, I. z2 Higinhotham wire to Jaffey and memorandum of phone call, February 28, 1946,

ASC SS\?, 8; Shapiro wire to I-Iiginbotham, A4arch 1, 1946, FAS V, 8; Cohn to Senator Tohnson of Colorado, March 1, 1946, AORES V, 10.

The McMallon Act

atomic armament race, vitiated the efforts of the UN0 and our own State Deparbment, demoralized the Projects and forced the bctter scientists out of them; we have crippled our own atomic energy research and spurred the rest of the world into mistrust and fear of us.

AORS also distributed a March 3 column by the New York Herald Tribune's militaxy colun~nist, Major Gcorgc Fielding Eliot, support- ing civilian control and chiding General Groves for lack of conficlcncc in the American people. (Thcy did not apparently feel an equal in- terest in a New York 'rimes article of the same date by Arthur IZroek expressing some sympathy for the General's sick of the argument.) And finally yet another AORS statement, dated March 4, described the critical situation of the McMahon bill and again urged cominuni- cations to Senate committee members, because "we technical work- ers" feel that we cannot stem this tide a lo i~e . '~

Reflecting an equally strong reaction in Chicago to Grovcs's testi- mony, a Bulletin editorial of March 1 called his recornmclld a t' ions a program to drive away the best scientists in the country and continued:

To the military mind, one scientist may be as good as another; if one leaves he can be replaced by another one. This is the spirit in which Hitler let the best German scientists leave the country. . . .This is the spirit whicl~ dryed [sic] out military research in this country between the two World Wars. -. . . .Will the Congress, in despair over the momentary-and perliaps pass- ing-international troubles, enact legislation which will create, in the tissue of our public life, a malignant tumor of irresponsible military rule; wl~icll will stifle science in the name of a futile "security," create a "h4aginot line" of a stock of atomic bombs, and start the whole world 011 tllc road to d i sa~ te t ?~~

On a practical level the ASC determined to see that i t was effectively represented in the Washington office. Since Christmas there had been difficulty in finding people to go, but toward the end of Fcbruary Albert Calm spent a short time there, and when he indicated his willingness to return for an indefinite period, the executivc committee agreed to underwrite his salary." Cahn soon became the scientists' chief link with the Senate committee staff and with supporting citizens groups. His connection with Kansas City political figures, i t will be remembered, had given Szilard an entree to the m i t e I-louse in tllc

23 The five AORS releases are in FAS VII, 2.

24Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I (March I, 1946), 12.

25 ASC executive committee minutes, March 6, 1946, ASC VI, 12.

3 So Don~cstic Legislatio~l and International Control

spring of 1945. Acquaintance with Scnator McMal~on through his wifc's family in Connecticut now gave Cahn another useful contact.

T h e sending of Cahn reflected the critical attitude that the old- guard atomic scientists continued to maintain toward the larger fccleration. T h c in~l~lication-son~ewl~at lacking in ~ol i t ica l realism- was that more energetic action in the Washington office would have prevcutcd tlic Scnate conlrnittee from developing doubts about the McMahon bill in its original form. As for the local associations, Clin- ton Labs and Chicago complained that although other groups pro- duced Ictters, telegrams, and signatures for the McMahon bill petition tl-rcy clid not send volunteers to Washington or originate aggressive action.

There was, indeed, some justice in this observation, but as indi- viduals adlusted t o new jobs and new associates, scveral of the "non- atomic" groups became effective in their own way. At this time, in fact, a vigoious new FAS affiliate was developing in Berkclcy. Toward thc cnd of January tlic \Yashington office had lcarncd that a dozen people there wcre interested but hesitant about organizing because of kawreucc's known opposition t o political activity, bu t these fears wcrc 70011 ovcrcomc, and early in February the Northern California Association of Scientists was formed. T h e nucleus was a group of young men interested in the Committee for Foreign Correspondence ancl in a social science project concerned with atomic energy; but the NCAS owed to the military control issue the fact that in the first fivc wecks it acquired three hundred members, with an additional one hundrcd and fifty applications on hand. I t organized a meeting in San Francisco on March 1 a t which the University of California's dis- tinguished chcmist Joel I-Iildcbrand talked about the challenge of atomic cncrgy to an overflow audicnce of two thousand. T h e Mc- Mahon bill petition was circulated a t the meeting, and by March 1 2

thc NCAS scnt in fourteen hundred signatures. Enthusiastic progress reportq went almost daily to the Wasl~ington 0 6 c e . ~ ~

Altllough some scientists fclt that not enough was being done, a quitc contrary reaction was expressed by a few outside observers. The New York Times "Topics" editor, who had questioned scientists' qualifications for politics after the May-Jol~nson bill debate, now raised thc issue again and denounccd the AORS' February 27 blast a t the

2" FAS I-Iistory-Diary, January 22, 1946, in FAS files (Washington, D.C.); reports from Lco Brewer to IJiginbotham, February and March, 1946, FAS XX, 4.

The McMahon Act 381 army as an example of angry, passionate partisanship. Rebuked for this remark by an unidentified woman scientist at M.I.?'., the "Topics" editor returned to the subject the following Sunday. I Ie did not want scientists to go back to their ivory towers; he only wanted them to make clear when they spoke as scientists ancl when as citizens and-since opinions among scientists clearly clifiercd-not to be so

A West Coast colun~nist took up the theme. Mcssianic motivation was understandable, wrote Iiaymond Lawrence in the Onklatzd Tribune, bu t the army had already lost its fight for military control and the public didn't need educating. Citing the AORS statement of February 27 and the San Francisco McMahon bill rally, which he had attended, Lawrence continued:

In this process of educating the public and defeating the Army, many of these scientists havc bccome tub thun~pcrs whose intanperate vitupera- tion and intense passion might arouse the envy of Gerald K. Smith. The popular notion that the scientific temperament is restrained, judicious, quiet and soundly balanced is belied by some of the rccent antics. . . .

The language of the learned journals has turned acrid and acidulous, but we do not believe sarcasm and vituperation, regardless of the dcfi- ciencics of the milita~y education, will accompl~sl~ the purpose. . . . . . . Tlme scientists could be bcttcr guides in atomic thlnk~ng and policy, and would elicit more support, if they rcturned to their own method and spirit. . . . TO a remonstrance from the Northern California Association Law- rence replied in a second column with some scnsiblc remarks about conflicting views on research and security without retracting his statc- nlents on intemperate p r ~ p a g a n d a . ~ ~

For thc most part what the scientists rcad in the papcrs was from more sympathetic pens. By a kind of autocatalytic proccss ncws of current developments was fed back to them, a t least in the papers they most rcspectecl like the New York Tiines and the Wnslziizgfon Post, by newsmen whose views on atomic encrgy they themselves had helped to form. But in reacting strongly on the nlilitary liaison issue, the local associations wcre responding not only to published news but also to private reports from Washington. The spy scare had completely changed the picture, wrote Higinbotham to a friend a t

z7 New York Times, February 24, 19 6, sec. E, p. 8; March 3, 1946, sec. E, p. 8. a h~sivrmce. Oakbnd Tiibmc, Marcfi 4, 1946, p. 20, and March 8. 1946, p 3 2 ;

M. Kasha to Lawrence, March 5, 1946, FAS XX, 4.

3 8 2. Don~estic Legislatio~l and International Control

Los Alamos. The committee got scared and called on Groves and pcrllalis tllcy ivoulcl now report his bill to tlie Congress. Higinbotham was not sure what to do next, but the FAS staff was getting all the advicc possible. "In any event," he said, "an all-out attack on the General is in order since he has spoken as an individual and contrary to the President's position."'"

Returning to Chicago about March 2 French Ilagemann told the esccutivc committce that tlie picture looked very black. Gencral Grovcs's testimony had found a majority of the committee with him, and rcfcrcnccs had been made in committce circles to "crackpot long h a i d scientists." Newrnan and Condon, b e a r i ~ ~ g the still incomplete McMahon bill petition with some five thousand signatures, had seen thc Prcsident and urged that he speak again in favor of civilian con- trol but with inconclusive results.30

From thc FAS office the first formal newsletter in six weeks as- scsscd the damage suffered in the fortnight since the Canadian spy story broke: there was now grave danger that something like the May-Johnson bill would be reported out by the Senate committee; as propaganda against genuine civilian control the spy hysteria could not havc bccn better timed if it had been planncd that way. But therc were indications that committee members were still influenced by Icttcrs ancl telegrams, and support given the FAS McMahon bill pctition had becn excellent. Science legislation, hitherto regarded by federation scientists as a distraction from their main business, was now, in Senator Kilgore's conipromise version, recomn~ended to members for study, with the admonition that the issue of adminis- tering science for peace or war might be the same for both pieces of legislation. A supplementary niemorandu~n from Higinbotham re- ferred to last-ditch efforts by the office staff to save the McMahon bill, adding aiiti-cli~i~actically but not irrelevantly, "At this inopportune inonlcnt WC are broke.""

One of these last-ditch efforts is documented by correspondence bctwccn Melba Phillips and certain leading scientists. Although an imprcssivc nunlbcr of prominent oncs had testificd in favor of tlie

2VNlgn1,otharn to M. Shapiro, March I, 1946, FAS files (Washington, D.C.). W Rel~ort of Hagemann to ASC executive committee, February 19-March 2 , 1946

111 ASC' filrc 3 1 FAS Newslettcr, I (March I , lqq6) , AORES XXI, 5; Higinbotham memorandun

to all s~tes, March I , 1946, Camb. 11. The FAS attitude toward science legislation i d 1 ~ 1 w X l 111 a latcr chapter.

The McMahon Act 383

McMahon bill or publicly supported it and the petitions wcre bring- ing in signatures from many more, a perhaps decisive blow would be struck in its favor if those who had previously baclicd the May-Johnson bill could be shown to have changed their niincis. Tlic FAS leaders decided to try. O n February 27 letters to Conant, Bush, Lawrence, Oppenheimer, Fermi, and A. 1-1. Compton pointed out that the cause of civilian control would be greatly strengthened if they would join in supporting thc principles set forth in the petition for the Mc- Malion bill.32

Answers were requested by telegram; some may have been phonccl. The only oncs in the files are from Bush and Fermi-both prompt, careful, and negative. Ferini could not support the bill because he disagreed with it on ten counts, which he elaborated in an attaclled memorandum; these included, lie noted with characteristic fairncss, only points of disagreement, not those of which he approved.

In the first place the McMahon bill tended to discourage industrial developments, especially atomic power.

While I realize that atomic industry on a large scale may make the prob- lem of international control of the production of weapons more laborious I think that the passage of such legislation would be a deterrent to tlle progress in the field, since many people will be unwilling to work for an objective which at present is forbidden on the chance that it may be p m mitted in the future. I also believe that in the present ~nternational situa- tion it is in the best interest of the Nation to further and not to discourage large scale development in the atomic field. I also doubt the soundness of the argument that showing no intentio~l to expand rapidly this field will improve the chances of international agreement. I am rather inclinecl to believe M~at the main incentive for some foreign powers to accept an agree- ment may be the conviction that they shoulcl be left behind in the in- dustrial development if one were to come to an armament race.

Fermi questioned the operation of installations by the colnn~ission instead of by contractors as this would involve huge administrative machine^^ and the handicap of low government salaries. The bill's statement of policy, Fermi noted, omitted any reference to atomic energy as contributing to national safety. More precise definition was needed of "fissionable materials" and of what constituted ir- relevant amounts. Fermi's last two points related to civilian control: the army should be given authority over research and development of military applications and should have custody of aton~ic weapons.

Phillips to Conant et al., February 27, 1946, FAS XXVI, 1.

184 Domestic Legislatiorl and International Control

JJc agreed that wcapons production should be possible only under specific authority from the Prcsiclcnt, but tlie rcquirc~ncllts of quar- terly renewal of this authority would prevent long-term commitments and I~ampcr p r o d ~ c t i o n . ~ ~

Tllc reply from Bush came a few days later in a friendly letter to Higinbotham. He had given much thought to clomestic policy and approvcd the May-Johnson bill, especially as amended in late Octo- ber (I-I.R. 4566). "I an1 fully aware, howevcr," said Bush, "that many of the most compctcnt scicntists who worked on the atomic fission project favor a different type of organization.. .and I have kept an opcn mind on the subjcct so that I may fully understand their view- point." He l-racl studied S. 1717 and concluded that it had serious dcficienclcs that should be remedicd before the Senate committee reported it, and he enclosed a copy of a seven-page lettcr h e had sent to Chairman McMahon on January 22 discussing these matters in detail. Bush's first two points dealt with the conduct of research by govcrnnicnt agcncics as opposed to the private and university sponsorship that he strongly favored. There was also a lengthy discus- sion upholding a part-time commission, a point on which Bush when intcrvicwed in 1962 expressed as strong an opinion as he did in 1946. He also gave McMahon his views on licensing, patents, and other points.

Blanket endorsement of the McMahon bill, Bush told Iligin- botham, was a very serious responsibility that should not be under- taken without the considered conclusion that in all respects i t an- ~wercd the lxoblcm. This conclusion he had not reached and he hoped the bill would be amended. In any case Bush thought it im- proper for him as a government official to join in a group petition of private citizcns to Congress. At the same time, h e concluded, "I want to urge you and the other members of your Federation and its mcmbcr associations to continue to take an active part in these legislative mattcrs that so vitally affcct us as scientists and citizens."34

Bush's testimony before the McMahon committee had prcceded tlie introcluction of thc McMahon bill, but if his views as expressed in thc confidential letter to McMahon caused no surprise in the FAS ofice neither did they convince. One rcader, quite likely Higin-

33 Fermi to Phillips, March 1, 1946, and "Comments on the McMahon bill on atomic energy," FAS XXVI, 1.

34 Bush to IIieinbotham. March A. 1046, and enclosure, Bush to McMahon, Tanu

The McMahon Act 385

botham himself7 made some marginal cornmcnts. By the section opposing government control of research, he wrote, "Nuts, we have Los Alamos and Clinton." On control of research, he noted "argue," but on licenses "no argue."

Local associations also tried to get endorsement froin important individuals. Again it was a rcfusal that got into thc rccord whcn Lee A. DuBridge, who had led an attack on the original May-John- son bill but supported its amended form, told Robert Mulliken of the ASC advisory committee that h e thought a full-time commission was preposterous, though h e would withdraw his objection if anyonc could name for him five highly intelligent men who would accept the jobs a t $15,000 a year.35

Arthur Krock, in a long New York Times article about the attacks being made on General Groves and his information policy, also showed an interest in the opinions of "leading scientistsM-Bush, Conant, A. H. Compton, Oppcnheimer, Lawrence, Urey, and Szilard -only the last two, Krock said, disagreed with Groves on any major point. Urey, he added, had advised against expansion of an Oak Ridge $ant for extracting U-235 on the grounds that it could make no important contribution before the war was over, and he could be wrong again.36

Krock's "leading scientists" were those whose names had becn most often in the papcrs, and the category was thus weighted on the side of official status in the Manhattan Project. One mig11t add that none of those he mentioned as agreeing with Groves, whatever their current views, was now taking public part in the debate on domestic legislation. Bush was busy demobilizing the numcrous OSRD re- search projects; Conant was back at Harvarcl; Oppenlleimer was immersed in the State Department study of international control; and Compton was concentrating on his new duties as chancellor of Washington University, though he did take public issue on March 6 with the demand of the World Council of Churches that the manufacture of atomic bombs be stopped by pointing out to its president, Bishop G. Bromley Oxnan~, that war itself nccdccl to be outlawed but that we could not at present abandon bombs.37 The efforts of the FAS to draw tl~esc men back into the fray were notably unsuccessful.

35 DuBridge to Mulliken, March 4, 1946, ASC VIII, 7. as New York Times, March 3, 1946, sec. E, p. 3. 37 New York Times, March 7, 1946, p. 10.

3 86 Do~ncstic Legislation and International Control

As for those who disagreed with Groves, Szilard, who since the iglo's w11en lle had tried to interest Chain1 Weizmann in a founda- tion 1-0 control the atom, had never ceased t o think of its relation to war and pcace, was for the present out of the Waslli~lgton picture (or was, at any rate, eluding the firm rein of Newn~an) and was exploring the-for him-new field of biologp at the Universiq of Cllicago. Siilard's thoughts, as usual, had jumped ahead of events ancl wcrc now directed toward facilitating international agreement l,!; some kind of direct communication with Russian scientists, a dream that was not fulfilled until the Pugwas11 Conferences began ten years later. Urey, however, was in the thick of things, and this fact inspired a suggestion from Oak Ridge on how to counter Groves's Fcbruay 27 testimony. The Senate conlmittee will listen to Groves bccause he is one and we are many, wrote Waldo Cohn to Rush in thc Washington office; we should choose one leader-Urey-and let llim bnttlc Grovcs where, as, and if, he chooses. "This is no time for l~alm~cring on orgmizational activities," Cohn concluded; "the battle of tlie bill is on, and no holds are barred."38 Urey would never offi- cially have entered the lists against Groves, but in his impetuous, slx~ttering way he was continuing to speak out and did SO, in fact, on the clay that Cohn wrote from Oak Ridge, telling reporters in an interview at the New York office of Americans United for World Organization that if the people of the United States werc awakc they woulcl realize that they too had a quarrel with the Manhattan Dis- trict, as inclccd the whole world

Gcncral Groves, whose public utterances hacl so often made the scientists angry, did not counterattack, but through Oppenlieimer he convcyccl to I-Iiginbotham the hope that in the future he and the federation might confer upon issues as thcy arose. Higinbotham's note to the General acknowledging these overtures was polite but chilly and said little more than that he was sorry they did not agrec4'

Closcly rclated to its bearing upon the fate of the McMahon bil: was another angle to the Canadian spy case that caused much privatc concern to the FAS leadership, namely, its effect upon the standint of scientists in relation to security. The problcm of keeping thc

Cohn to Rush, March z, 1946, FAS VII, I . As reported in the New York Times, March j, 1946, p. 12; with Urey were Bernar

Feld of Cambridge, Aaron Novick of Chicago, Irving Kaplan and Clarke Williams c the SAX1 Lab, and Lyle Borst of Clinton.

I-liginbotham to Grovcs, March 14, 1946, FAS cl~ronological files washingt to^ 11 C . ) .

The McMahon Act 387 organization free from taint of fellow-traveling hacl worried some people a great deal, especially those on the Manhattan Project who fully realized how casily their campaign for international control could founder, despite the blessing of conservative statesmen, if they be- came associated with individuals or groups whose motives for ncgo- tiating with Russia could be impugned. This consicleration accounted in part for the insistence on an organization of limitcd scope and specific objectives. Their problem was not an internal one, for the Project's G-2 and other sccurity agencies had done the purging of awkward associates at an earlicr stage, but situations developed that required poise and sometimes toughness, and the burden fell on the Washington staff, who, unable to discuss the proble~ns frankly, got caught in an uncomfortable crossfire from their own lincs. I t llad come from one angle when the first Washmgton clelegates moved in with the Indepcndent Citlzens Committee and from another when a clerical employee was dropped because of past associations. Like the question of affiliation with the World Federatio~~ of Scientific Workers, these were vexing yroblenls for pcople accustomed to toler- ate some divergence of opinion.

At a time when all their energies were needed to co-ordinate sup- port for the McMahon bill and to combat internal criticism IIigin- botham and Rash endured a period of ac~lte anxiety about the security status of PAS. Just as reports were beginning to circulate that the House Un-American Activities Committee was off to investigate Oak Ridge, a dinner was held on March 1 at the homc of J. Terry Duce, a vice-prcsident of the Arabian-American Oil Company. T h e gucste included Glenn Seaborg from Berkelcy, Albert Cahn ancl French Hagemann from Chicago, Rush from the federation otlicc, E. U. Condon and his wife, James Newman and his O W M R boss John Snyder, Senators McMahon and IIatch, Representatives Edith Nourse Rogers and Karl R/Iundt, a few othcr offic~als, and several newslllen.

Rush opened the after-dinner discussion wit11 a s ~ ~ m n l a n , of tlie scientists' position on international control, emphasiri~lg that they were under no illusions about casy agreement-that, indeed, tlley Felt the odds were poor-but that the appalhng conseque~~ces of fail- ure impclled them to a desperate effort. Almost immediately the conversation was diverted to Russia with Mrs. Condo11 in ller usual Forthright fashion arguing heatedly, for the most part against Reprc- sentative Mundt, for a more lenient attitude toward the Russians. The scientists, it was noted at the time, did not themselves take part

388 Don~estic Legislatio~l and International Control

in this discussion and were, in fact, disappointed that so much time wap dcvotcd to Sovict rclatiolis when they wanted to talk about inmediate problems of domestic lcgislation. Remembering that Munrlt was a nmnbcr of the House Un-American Activities Commit- tee, Rush thought all was lost, but as they werc leaving, Mondt spoke to liirn apprcciatively of tlie views he had expressed, inviting Rush to addrcss the 76 Club made up of survirillg members of the Seventy- sixth Congrcss "

Mundtli opi~liorl was importaot. A week later the New York Times carried a report that Unhmerican Activities Committee cllairman John S. Wood was leavi~lg for a ten-day trip; his itinerary was sccret, but the trip was associated with rumors of espionage linlcs between New York and Oak Ridge." At the same time came private hints that the com~nittcc had its eye on the FAS. IIigin- botham and Rush decided to make the first move and went to see Attorncy-General Tom Clark. Clark was somewhat puzzled a t thcir tunrlng up with no nanles to report; all they wantcd, t11ey explained, war timc to make sure that any necessary ho~~secleaning was done. Clark assurcd tlieni that as far as his office was concerned the FAS was not unclcr any cloud, and thc contact, likc tliat with Mundt, latcr stood them in good stead.

j . a'rm VANI~NIE,RG AMENDMENT The early days of hlarell did not bring much hope that the Senate cornmittce would lose interest in strengthened military liaison. On Marcl, 6 newspapers reportcd not only Cborchill's speech of the prc~ious clay at Fulton, Missouri, calling for a firmcr stand against Russia, 11ut the arrest in England of physicist Alan Nunn May on cliargcs of cspionagc relating to the Canadian affair. Ancl on March 12 tivo events intensified the apprehension created in a large segment of the American scientific community by the Canadian spy case and Grows's tcstinlony, T h e Military Affairs Committee requested that tlic reviscd May-Johnson bill be given priority on the House calendar, ancl the Senate special committee accepted by a vote of six to OIIC Scnator Vandenberg's amendnlent setting up a militaly

41 L ~ s t of dinner guests in FAS XV, 1; intemicw with Rush, September 7, 1959, allcl Rwh tn i.hc author, February 28, 1964; interview with Iliginbotham, October 18, 1961. The Duce dinner was recalled in 1948 when Condon's clearance was withdrawn (rcter l X w n colrlrnn, Washington Ncws, March 15, 1948)"

-2 New York Ti~nes, March 8, 1946, p. 3.

The A4cMahon Act 3 89

liaison board and providing that "the Commission shall advise and consult with the Committee on all atomic energy matters which tlie Conimittec clcems to relatc to the common defcnse and security. Tlie Committee shall have full opportunity to acquaint it- self with all matters before the C~rnmission.""~

To Llle proposed resurrection of thc May-Johnson bill, the FAS responded with an immediate release repeating carlicr warnings against its strong military emphasis; if science must be geared to war, it askcd, why not all basic i n d u ~ t r i c s ? ~ ~

News of Vandenberg's amendment reached Ilenry Wallace in time for him to denounce it in a speech he was making that after- noon, and this attack from a cabinet membcr so annoyed Vandell- berg that he obtained confirmation of the amendment vote next day in full committee with ten in favor to McMahon's one disscnt. As the McMahon bill forces had been urging him to do for some days, the President now reaffirmed his support of civilian cootrol. And from the FAS office Higinbotham issued the second release in two days to deplore the proposcd departure from the traditional practice of excluding the military from policy-making. I-Ie had to apologize latcr for acting without authorization, but therc is no question tllat the statcnient reflected FAS o p i n i ~ n . ~ ' A more detailed explanation of why scientists found the amendment so objectionable appeared in the next Chicago Bulletia. Reiterating the point made in Davics7 testimony that the FAS did not oppose efficient or even mandatoq liaison with the military, Rabinowitch citcd Patterson's own assertioll that the military should not be the ones to draiv the line betweell basic research and military applications. A militaarj board lacking expert technical knowledge, said Rabinowitcl~, can~lot avoid playillg safe and carving "the largest possible chunk out of the livillg body of science. . . . The evolutionary fact of the present situation is t l ~ a t military have ceased to he experts on ~ c c u r i t y . " ~ ~

Running through all the scientists' comments-and the nlilitaq liaison amendment produced folders of niemorandoms and analyses -are the dual arguments tliat military control is contraq to our

FAS press releaye, March 12, 1946, FAS XVII, I .

The New World. pp. 506-7; FAS press release, March 1 3 , 1946, FAS XVII, 1; Higinbotham to all associations, March 18, 1946, Camb. 11.

4"ulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I (March 15, 1946). I, 16.

3 90 Domestic Legislation and Internatior~al Control

colrstitution ancl traditions and that sccrecy would stifle scientific p ~ g s c s s and tlrus hamper sccurity. Five scientists on duty in Wash- iilgtoil on March 18 issued in their own names an eight-page appeal for civilian control, pointing up the sccrecy issue for the ordinary cit.izcn. No group of scientists, they said, proposes to givc the world the clcsign or blueprints of any weapon or atomic bomb.

But in the lattcr case the matter does not stop with blueprints. Suppose that the Garand rifle had involved f~inclamcntal scientific discoveries in metallurg)i. It would be proper to keep the design-the invention-secret, but if that new metal developed for the M-1 was of such a new and mar- velous naturc that it would be revolutionary if used in airplanes and motor- cars, wonld thc military be ju,stified in keeping the knowledge secret? Would they be justified in insisting that most of that metal in peacetime should be uscd for guns and not for aut~mobiles?~'

Beforc the second FAS council meeting, scheduled for March 23 and 24 in Riiladclpl~ia, I-Iiginbotharn dispatc1led a memorandum to all the associations with background information to help them formulate their stand on the Vandenberg amendment and other aspects of the McMahon bill. W e cannot afford to appear to be working with McMallon alone, he advised, for other members of thc Scnatc committee and other senators consider him young, in- crycricncccl, and intcrestccl in making a name for himself. WE must not iclentify ourselves with any group or party; peace groups and liberals flock to our assistance, and we must retain our objectivity. Higiobotl~am furthcr reported a very rcal fear among responsible people? like Forrestal, Patterson, and Vandenberg, that civilian con- trol had been einpl~asized to a point where our military security was tlircatciiccl; until world control was achievecl the military could not be cut off from weaponeering. Vandenberg claimed that his amendment gave the military liaison committee no power to exercize authority-it could only make recommendations to the co~nmission and aclvisc the President-but this was considered in Washington tc be an aclministrative monstrosity. The Senate committee had not ye1 comc to thc sccrecy provisions, but there was almost universal confu sion l~etween secrecy and security, and it was up to the scientists tr cinphasizc i-he clistinction in all talks and releases.

Higinbotham urged renewcd attention to rebutting false state nlents and rumors. More was heard about this in the next few days. In

4 7 FAS prcss relcase by A. Cahn, Joan Hinton, W. A. Higinbotham, A. Novick, an J. W. Rush, Rtarch 18, 1946, FAS XVII, 1.

The hlcA4ahon Act

a Washington Post article Alfred Friendly, in what he called tile hardly coincidental series of incidents leadi~lg up to the Vanclcl~berg amendment, included the following:

The House Un-American Activities Committee revaled it had tncecl a Russian spy link to the great Oak Ridge establisIlment in the Manhattan Project. So far nothing has been made puMic on the n a t ~ ~ r e of the evidence.

It was disclosed rhat f i e Army is giving lie detector t a t s to Oak Ridge personnel. In an official statement, the Army cleclarecl that the tests wcre merely experiments to find out more about the lie detector. But again, "reports persisted'' that the object was to uncover possible s~ibveniol~ among the employees.48

On March 26 the Washington Post reported that Ernie Adamson, chief cot~nsel of the House Un-American Activities Committee, had announced a witch hunt among atomic scientists and quoted Adam- son as saying that the committee w o ~ ~ l d hold closed hearings in the four research centers in connection with its atomic spy ring investi- gation. Adamson, according to the Post, had been gathering evidence at Oak Ridge. But how had be got in? The Post concludecl that he must have been working with Gcneral Groves; people like Adamson were holding up the development of atomic energy because scien- tists would not work for the government if they were s~ibjected to the hazards of surveillance, loss of reputation, and idle ~mearing.*~

With such rumors abroad it was in a most uneasy atmosphere that the FAS council met on March 23 to discuss the Vandenbcrg amend- ment and other aspects of the McMahon bill. But the council could do little more than reaffirm its oppositioll to reviving the May-John- son bill and stress its support of civilian control and its desire for a reasonable policy regarding secrecy, for i t had no official infornla- tion as to what amendments to the original McMahon bill the Senate committce would propose. In any case a wide campaigs for public support could not be waged on dctails; but a con~prehcllsive state- ment on domestic legislation would be useful in explaining the gen- eral picture to the public, and the task of drafting one was delegated to the Cambridge Association. Still nursing a strong sense of griev- ance over the use made of the Canadian spy case by supporters of the military, the council authorized the FAS staff to prepare a mm-

48F1iend1y, "Debate over Atom Confused by Clamor for Civilia~l Co~itrol," \Vash- ington Post, March 21, 1946

+$As quoted in "FAS Commentary on Canadian Spy Case," [May 8, 1~463, FAS XIII, 1.

392 Doniestic Legislatioll and International Control

rnarv of thc case, bascd on official statements and the more reliable ncwi rcports, and in due course copies of such a summary were widely c l i s t r i ~ ~ ~ t c c l . ~ ~

Thc scicntists had one weapon in reserve against controls they consiclercd harmful, and that was not to work. A scientists' strike as a mcans of curtailing weapons of war was mentioned once or twice in carly postwar discussions only to be promptly and firmly repudi- ated. Resides being thoroughly incompatible with their sensc of pro- fcssional responsibility, scientists well knew that the problem of war and pence was much too complex to be solved by unilateral action of any kind, and in the absence of international agreement most of them believed that continued military development, under p r o p safcguards, was necessary. Even in thcir extrcme anxiety over t h e fate of civilian control in March, 1946, scientists did not consider mass action of this sort." If military control was permanently estab- lisllccl, llowcvcr, there was the possibility that by a serics of individual elccisions enough scientists might choose not to do nuclear research to seriously lrampcr an atomic energy program. The shaken fabric of civi1i;ln control, it was arguccl, might be strengthened if the aver- sion of scientists to working under the military was substantiated and publicizcd.

A p011 for this purposc had bccn proposccl by thc Chicago cxecu- tivc cornmittcc even before Groves made his suggestion about raising sclcntists' salaries to keep them on the job, and on March 2 George Sachcr. a statistician in the biology scction of the Mct Lab, and sociologist Edward Shils were asked to draw up questions relating to worli in government laboratories. This poll was still being pre- pxcd WIICII on AZarch 12-the day the May-Jollnson bill showed slqns of lifc and Vadenbcrg introduced his amendment-John Simp- son pi-esentccl to the executive conlnlittee three questions on which information was nccdcd in Washington by the end of the week.s2 What was described as a rough compilation of answers from ASC mcml~crs was as follows:

n o FAS council minutes, March 23-24, 1 ~ 4 6 , ASC XIV, 2; copy with covering letter to "Dear fcllow scicntists," May 8, 1946, FAS XIII, I , and other filcs.

a1 Michael Amrine, in an interview April 24, 1963, claims that M-Day-the day for moving out of thc laboratories-was oftcn mentioned as a possibility, but I liave found no other evidence of anything but negative interest in the idea.

5 2 Simpson ~ n c m o r a n d ~ ~ ~ n to ASC members, March 12, 1946, and replies to ques. tions. ASC XIX, I .

The McMahon Act

I yes 1 No (Perhapr(d&

1 . Would you like to work on new methods for the production of plutonium and U - 2 3 5 and the utilization of these sub-

............................................ stances for peacetime purposes?

2. Are you willing to do this under Army control, for instance, such as is exercired at present by the Manhattan District? ....

Altllough hardly an example of sopl~isticated opinion-taking, this poll clearly showed that a large proportion of those who answered did not want to work under strict military control but that a majority, though a smaller number than those who would not work under army control, accepted the necessity of some restrictions on informatio~l.

The more professional poll prepared by Sacher and Shils was dis- tributed a t the end of Marcli while the furor over the military liaison amendment was still on; probably most of the replies werc made shortly thereafter, although the results were not tabulated until June. The eight-page questionnaire was sent to the two hundred members of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago plus a few non-members on the University of Chicago science faculty. T h e one hundred and eight answers revealed the scarcely unexpected fact that a substantial majority preferred jobs with a minimum of restrictions; thirty-three admitted that some free time for non-militaly scientific pursuits would reconcile them to peacetime work in arrny or atomic energy commission laboratories; forty-one would not choose to work on militaly research in peacetime regardless of salary or frce-time coo- cessions; and thirty-one said tllcse were not factors that would de- termine their attitude toward military rescarch. A few were undecided on this point.53

3. Are you willing to do this in a government laboratory if there is still need to keep technical and engineering information from othcr nalions but no new penalties against violating rules of compartmentalization and sumcient relaxation of se- crecy to make intelligent criticism of over-all conduct of proj- ects possible? .....................................................................

Two final queries bore directly upon the question a t issue in March and are herewith reproduced in full:

53ASC X I X I , and XXVI, 3; ASC executive committee minutes, Mareh 23, 30, 2nd June 25, 1946. ASC W , 12, 11. T h e ASC minutes refer to an earlier poll a t LOS Alamos, and the Sacher and Sbils poll was distributed at Oak Ridge; however, I did not find the results from Los Alamos or Oak Ridge.

'Four said they did not understand the question. 69 2 1 1 3 6'

3 94 Domestic Legislation and International Control

Pollcv.makillg and administrative power Indicate if your willingness to work in the nticl&r cncrgy field mould be influenced by wl~ether civilians or thc military controlled policymaking or administration of the National Atomic Energy Commission. Mark (X) Ixlorc ,111 conditions which you would accept, and ( ? ) if undecided.

S \ ? -- y 2 / 3 l : ~ ) Would work if policy made by a conlpletely civilian co~nmission and

c~ecntcd by civilian administrators (as provided in the original McMahon

I z

;

Lffcct of world conditions on acceptability of security regulations. Mark ( X ) before all c o n d i i h s of world affairs undcr which you would, in the national interest, accept any security regulations or restrictions, regardless of your opinion as to the desirability of such restrictions. The alternatives are not arranged in any order of preference.

58

Wonld be willing to work in the field of nuclear energy under any security regulations wlllch thc National Atomic Energy Comlnission sees fit to impose:

2.1

I 6

declared by the Prcsidcnt. emerges which can prevent wars.

Atomic Energy Commission is set up.

Bill). I ) ) \Vonld work if policy made by a civilian commission, subject to veto by

an Army board, and executcd by civilian adn~inistrators (as provided in the Vandenberg amendment to the McMaho11 Bill).

c ) Would work if policy made by a part-time Commission and executed by a n Administrator who could be a military man (as provided by the

z;

May-Johnson Bill). cl) Would work if policy made by a Commission consisting of full-time

civilian rncrnbcrs, plus the Secretaries of State, War, Navy, Co~n~nerce and Intcrior, and executed by civilian administrators (as provided by the nail Bill).

7'hc rccords do not say what use was made of these polls, but it secrns safc to assume that the rcsults were turned over t o those plan- 111115 McMahon bill strategy in Washington. One can guess further that thc March 12 answers helpcd provide background for the eight articlcs t h t Alfred Friendly began to publish in thc Washingto11 Post on March 2 0 on the scientists' attitude toward working in an atolnic cncrgy program controlled by the nilitary.

6 13 ; 7

The McMahon Act 395 Friendly's articles were concerned mainly with compartmcntation

of information ancl the scientists' certainty that if the military got control, either through the May-Johnson bill or by the more subtle device of the Vandenberg amendment, the compart~nentation policy would be continued. Although Friendly mentioned some of the army's arguments for closer military liaison-quoting Patterson as saying, "We don't cotton t o the idea of having a bomb handed to us some day and be expected to use it the next day without knowing what it is"-the articlcs were strongly biased in favor of the scicntists' views. Amply furnished with anti-Groves and anti-arny stories, which he must have been collecting over the winter, Friendly used them to show that scientists were lcaving the R4anhattan Project laboratories because of their strong objections to military control.54

As motivation for leaving the Project, this feeling was probably not as important as Friendly-and pcrhaps the scientists tl~emsclves -pictured it, for if one thinks of individual c a m among both senior scientists and young men and the jobs they left to take in late 1945 and 1946, it seems unlikcly that the most idyllic research conditions the government could have proposed would have held many of them. The pull from the opposite direction was too strong. At the Univer- sity of Chicago, where these polls were taken, there were, for exam- ple, the new research institutes that reportcclly originatcd in idle talk between Urey and his friends about establishing in some pleasant and salubrious part of the West a laboratory for exploring interrela- tions opened up by new scientific knowledge. Althougl~ unable to offer a mountain or desert retreat Chancellor Hutchins gave Urcy's project a warm welcome a t Chicago, where, offering the excitement of a new venture, i t attracted a distinguished staff, largely from Co- lumbia, the Met Lab, Los Alamos, and Oak Ridge. E. 0. Lawrence's laboratory a t Berkeley and the traditional strength of the sciences there were also drawing emincnt figures ancl young men, despite Lawrence's known disapproval of dabbling in politics and his support of the May-Johnson bill. The appeal of old or new teaching and research jobs in Cambridge, Itl~aca, or PasacIena was equally strong. Nor should one forget the attractions of n o r e familiar pattcrns of living. 1% fncnds laughed when a Los Alamos scientist summed up his reaction to departure as relief a t not having to drive thirty-five miles to get his shoes repaired, but the urge to return to normalcy

5 4 Alfred Friendly, "Civilian vs. Military Control of Atomic Age," Washington Post, March 2-27, 1946.

2

o

4 1

2

e ) in time of war. f ) until all nations disarm. g ) as long as world conditions are unsettled. h ) rindcr any circumstances. i ) undcr no circumstances.

396 Donlestic Legislation and International ControI

fortified many a scientist's high-minded objections to working under military control.

Vlcse remarks, offered by way of corrective, do not disprove Friendly's major point or the evidence of the polls that a substantial nrlrnber of scientists were reacting strol~gly in March of 1946 to the ~ossibility that some form of militaqr control over the atomic energy program would be continued. From this sense of crisis there de- vclopcd an active collaboration between scientists and other support- ers of civilian control that led to an accommodation of the militaql liaison issue and that also had a marked influence on later stages of the bill.

Within a week of the introduction of the military liaison amend- ment, thc effectiveness of this collaboration was demonstrated in Vandenlxr6's home state of Michigan, where two meetings on atomic cncrgy, growing out of the Chicago midwest conference of religious leaders of carly February, took place in Grand Rapids on hiIarc11 19 ancl in Flint on the twenty-first. The meetings had been ~ lanned bclorc the introduction of the amendn~cnt, and the Atomic Scien- ists of Chicago wllen congratulated by the Washington strategists on thcir tinling had to admit that it was quite fortuitous. The five uni- vcrsitv and Mct Lab scientists who went to Grand Rapids and the three who went to Flint included such responsible characters as Ken- ncth Cole, 'l'horfin I-Iogncss, Warren Jollnson, and Walter Bartky, hut they whipped up tremendous feeling against the Vandenberg amendment among the Senator's constituents, who forthwith dis- patdiccl resolutions of protest to its author in IVasllington,"

Altliough this was a small part of the aclversc mail rcacl~ing Vanden- berg's desk, it disturbed him very much. His reply to Rabbi Folkman, onc of tllc sponsors of the Grand Rapids meeting, expressed more sorrow than angcr, but he enclosed with it a form lettcr asserting his entire devotion to the principle of civilian control, his belief that his amc~lclment did no more than insure a sensible regard for national security, and his astonishment at the commotion it had caused. In all his public experience, said Vandenbcrg, he had "never known any- thing to be so hysterically misrepresented by propaganda out of washing to^^ as is the action of our Scnatc Co~nn~ittee" in voting for the amendment. Vanclenbcrg replied even more sharply to a wire frvm Rabbi Sinion of Chicago, like Folkman a mcmber of the con- tilluing conmittce of the religious lcaders conference:

T 4 Inlcrvicw with ICatl~arine Way, April 20, 1959; ASC cxccutivc coinmittcc minutes, h l ,~ rc l~ z. 23, 1946, ASC VI, 12; reports of the meetings in ASC 11, 14, 15.

The McMahon Act 3 97 It seems perfectly obvious to me that you and your associates havc bcen

victimized by some of the outrageous misrepresentation to whicll my amendment to the McMahon Bill has becn subjectecl. On no other pos- sible basis could I explain your "alarm" . . . or your suggestion that the amendment violates the "spirit of the Constitution". . . . To tell you the truth, I am the one who is "alarmed" that public opiniorl in this country can be so quickly and SO effectively misguided as in the present instance.

Rabbi Simon's even tempered reply did not follow the scientists' line about secrecy but explained his objection to having the military liaison committee responsible to the President rather than to the civilian secretary of war. According to the Bulletin, it was this fea- ture of the amendment, making the n~ilitary liaison co~nnlittcc equal in status to the commission, that had produced so many allies among defendcrs of civilian au t l~or i ty .~~

With the possible exception of the Friendly articles, these reactions to the Vandenberg amendment had grown out of initiatives taken by the scientists. But at the same time a more deliberately plannecl phase of scientist-citizcn collaboration was being developed in Wash- ington by a small ad lzoc stratcgy committee originating in consulta- tions between the FAS scientists, the McMahon con~nlittee staff, ancl the most actively interested members of the National Committee on Atomic Information. One page of minutes of a meeting at 9 A.M.

on March 5, a week before the Vandenberg amendment was intro- duced, probably records the inception of this ad hoc committee as the self-appointed guardian of the civilian control issue. After March 12 its immediate objective was the elimination or modification of the Vandenbcrg amendment. I t left no records. Its operations werc informal, and so was its composition. Thc nucleus of it, besides James Newman, Byron Miller, and E. U. Conclon, incli~clcd Mrs. Rachel Bell, Joseph Rauh, a Washington lawyer, Albeit Calm, Hig- inbotham as FAS representative, and whenever they werc in town, Edward Lcvi and Thorfin Hogness from Chicago. McMahon, I-Ielen Gahagan Douglas, and Holifield sometimes met with it, and so did Friendly whose Waslzington Post articles were closely related to its

Copies of Vandenberg to Folkman, March 23 , 1946, and of form letter and cor- respondence without date between Vandenberg and Simon in ASC X, 8; Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I (April I , 1946), 1.

Minutes of meeting, March 5 , 1946 in FAS chronological files (Washington, D.C.); those present were, from FAS, Higinbotham. Rllrh Ph;11;-- ---1 . -

3913 Domestic Legislatiorl and International Control

iZ most important member of this coinrnittee and the leader in mobilizing support for the scientists was Mrs. Rachel Bcll, cxecutive sccvetary of Americans United for World Organization and wife of Gcoqc 13cll of tllc Commerce Department. Some months earlier X;lrs. Bcll ancl two friends had organized the Legislative Information Service, a committee of organizatio~ls formed to rally support for the Unitcc1 Nations. I t was inevitable, says Mrs. Bell, that the scien- tists should sooner or later be stecred t o "movers and shakers" like hcvsclf, and she places it in the autumn of 1945 that James Newman :iskcd llcr and llcr friends, referred to by their admirers as "Crises Tncorporatcd" and "the three lnedclleson~e matrons," to help promote civilian control. Be that as it may, quite early she met Szilard, Con- don, and Wigncr and encountered the younger FAS men on occa- siom s ~ ~ c h as the Pil~chots' parties. Unlilte others who describe the scientists as na'ive in their political dealings, Mrs. Bell, when prcsscd to 1x2 specific, does not qualify the word away. She found them in- suficiently aware of thc play of personalities or of the nuances of radicalism and conservatis~n and tried to prevent them from plung- ing i l l and antagoi~izing peoplc unnecessarily. By the time the issue of civilian control became critical in late February and March, Mrs. Bell was familiar with the subject and the protagoni~ts .~~

During March and April, and thereafter as the situation required, thc rtd 11oc conln~ittce met two to five timcs a week at five in the after- noon to talk about strategy, publicity, and funds for tlie McMahon bill campaig~~. References to i t are scanty, but its hand is readily clctcctccl in Iil-icnclly's articles, in the questions circulated at tlie Met Lab on h4arcll 12 about working under the military, and in the an- nounccmcnt at an ASC executive committee meeting that same eve- ning that Edward Levi would go to Washington to arrange interviews between scientists and officials. Four days later the executive com- mittcc rcccived a report from Levi, "off-the-record" but almost cer- tainly dcaling with the organization of two groups to which the ad lzoc committee delegated the raising of funds and public support. Rccollcctions are vague, and overlapping terminology-"Emergency Committee for Civilian Control" was loosely applied to all three-

f~o in NCAI. Chalrman RiIcDonald, Mrs. Reid, Mrs. Bell, Robert Lamb of the CIO. and a few others. References to the ad hoc co~nmittee in FAS and other files arc Ywrce and confuslne: this account is based on interviews with Mrs. Bell, Cahn, Ihg~nlmtham. Ilogness, hl l ler , and Newman.

' hltcrv~cw w i ~ h llacliel Bcll, December 29, 1961

The McMahon Act 3 99

makes it difficult to disentangle the parent ad hoc colnmittce ancl its two offspring. Probably i t would be more accurate not to do (And a further confusion arises from the formation in the s u ~ n ~ n e r of 1946 of the entirely distinct fund-raising group, the Onlcrgcncy Corn- mittee of Atomic Scientists.)

The National Committee for Civilian Control of Ato~nic Energy, formed of prominent individuals on invitation fro111 forlner War Production Board chief Donald Nelson, provided funds a ~ i d pob- licity. Its membership, as announced on March 28, consisted of some thirty bishops, bankers, university presidents, and other public figures who, in the next few weeks and again wllen the McMa11on bill was before tlie House in July, placed full-pap ads in newspapers and supported the campaign through contributions. Its first prcss releases and publicity urged defeat of the Vandenberg an~endment, which was describcd as m i l i t a ~ control in its worst form under cloak of a civilian commission; later statements continued to underscore the importance of an independent civilian agency responsible to the President and C o n g r e ~ s . ~ ~

Albert Cahn became executive secretary of the National Commit- tee for Civilian Control, and his recollections are of a series of pro- liferating contacts and ever wiclcning circles of influence and support. Probably as early as February he had met AI Friendly throi~gh Robert Eiclrholtz, who became the committee's trcasurer Friendly brongl~t in Leon Henderson; and Henderson brought in Beardsley Kuml. A New York friend took Cahn to the Stork Club as the easiest ivay to insure a casual encounter with Walter Winchell, and there C& also met Jerry Mason, editor of Pais Week, who commissioned an article by PAS publications editor Amrinc and was helpful ill other ways. Each new contact suggested others-a typical case histoly, no doubt, of Washington causes, but this was one to rvhicll people seemed specially eager to colnnlit their friends, and virtually all Ncl- son's initial invitations were accepted.

The campaign did not require large funds. Most committee nlern- b m paid their own expenses; and the newspaper advertisements7 office rcnt, phone bills, and Cahn's salary, guaranteed by tlle ASC but taken over by the National Committee, were the chief emeodi-

J q S C cxecutive committee minutes, March 12, 16, 1 ~ 4 6 , ASC VI, 1 2 .

mBulletin of the Atomic Scientists, I (April 1 , 1946), 1, 18, 19; press releases and related material in ASC I, 5, 20, and FAS XV, 3; Higinbotham melnnrandum to all associations, March IS, 1946, Camb. 11.

,400 Domestic Legislatio~l and International C o ~ ~ t r o l

tnrcs, totaling, by thc time the committee was liquidated in August, 1wt over $6,300. A contribution of $2,500 from the Amalgamated Clothing Workcrs of Amcrica had come at a critical point in early Ayr11 and was, as Cahn told Sidney IIillmao, a lifesaver in enabling the conlmittcc to gct started and carry on the necessary work with C o n g r e ~ s . ~ ~

'X71c sccond instrument devised by the ad Izoc committee for creat- ing p b l i c interest in civilian control was a committce of organiza- tions known as the Emergency Conference for Civilian Control of Atomic Energy. On the morning of March 13, the day after Vanden- l m g introduced his amendment, reprcscntatives of cightecn of the organizations affiliated with the National Committee on Atomic Infolm~tion mct in Mrs. Bell's office at Americans United. The tax c ~ u n p t NCAI could not engage in lobbying, and the solution adopted at t h l ~ meeting was a parallel organization for political action.62

TIE Emcrgcncy Conference began its campaign with two mcetings in Washington on Thursday, March 21. In the morning an organiza- tion mceting, chaired by Representative Chet Holifield of California, was bcld in the House caucus room with a large audience-variously rcportcd as one hundrcd and thrce hundrcd-including some thirty conglessmen. The president of the conference, the Reverend A. Powcll Davics of All Souls Unitarian Church and an NCAI board ~ncmbcr, explained the confcrencc aim, and Mrs. Bell, serving as executive secretary, its program. Sevcral scie~ltists and nine congress- men spokc briefly. In the evening a p~lblic rally a t the Press Club Budding auditorium drew an audiencc of eight hundred. A principal speaker was Thorfin Hogness, just arrived in Washington from thc Grand Rapids meetingG3

Rcfoic a wcek had elapsed a rcquest had bcen scnt to Chairman McMahon, with copies to Senate committee membcrs, that hearings 11c lcopcncd so that the public-that is, representatives of organiza- tlons such as tllosc in the Emergency Confcrencc-might bc heard. Civdian control, the Senate committee was reminded, was a corner-

c l Informal list of expenditures of the National Committee for the Civilian Control of Atomic Energy, and Cahn to I-Iillman, April 11, 1946, in Calm's files;,

8 2 "Summary of Action, Emergency Conference for Civilian Control, April 20,

1 ~ 4 6 , FAS XV, 3; D. Melchcr to NCAI members and friends, March 20, 1946, ASC ?(iiIIl. 2; Hi~inbotham memorandu~n on tax exemption, December 29, 1947, AORES XVII, l 0

03 Report of S G English to AORS. March 21-22, 1946, AORES V, 2; Emergency Conference for Cn~rlian Control of Atomic Energy press release, March 28, 1946, ASC 1. 20 . The New World, p. 509.

The McMallon Act 401

stone of free government and essential for national dcfense, scien- tific progress, education, protection of free enterprise, and an ade- quate program of world control."

Although the National Committee of individuals and the Emer- gency Conference of organizations were technically separate, with their own letterheads and their own executive secretaries, Cahn and Mrs. Bell worked closely together and policy was co-ordinated by Cahn in the National Committee's office. References in local associa- tion minutes and newsletters constantly mixed up thc titles of the two groups, and probably in practice there was littlc distinction.

According to Mrs. Bell there was nothing unusual about the cam- paign of the next four montl~s except perhaps that the issue of civilian control brought in religious and educational groups, which, unlike labor, were not accustomed to exerting this kind of pressure. The chief device employed-massive assault by telegram-was an established technique.

Mrs. Bell immediately undertook to stimulate action outside Wash- ington. A California conlmittee for civilian control with one hundred participating organizations and a Chicago conlnlittee with forty-one were soon reported. T h e way the job was carried out on the local Icvel can best be followed in Chicago, where the scientists' special interest in legislation, combined with the dynamic leadership of a prominent Chicagoan, Mrs. John P. Welling, produced a prompt response to an opening meeting sponsored jointly by the ASC and the Chicago committee on the evening of March 22 .

Tllereafter the Chicago committee worked in close association with the Chicago scientists. In the already overcrowded basement office that the ASC shared with the Bulletin in tllc university's Social Science Research Building on the Midway, Mrs. Welling spent many hours in the coming weeks accompanied by a young woman volun- teer whose diamonds flashed along the typewriter with unexpected skill. Chic North Side millinery struck a cheerful note anlong the steam pipes and the surplus filing cabinets, but what really filled the scientists and secretaries with awe was the assurance with w11ich Mrs. Welling and her coworkers conscripted the money, time, and moral support of their fellow Chicagoans. By con~parison their own rela- tively successful public relations seemed halting and clumsy.

In many ways paralleling the activities of the ASC, the Citize~ls G4 Unslgned memorandum to McMahon and Senate committee members, Marcl] 20,

1946, ASC I, 20.

402 Domestic Legislation and International Control

co~nnlittce reached a larger and wider audience. I t called press con- ferenccs for the scientists and sponsored mcetings of up to three thousand people, with scientists and others as speakers. At booths n~aimcd by tllc A~ncrican Veterans Committee cards were collected plcd@ng thc signers to write to Washington, and congressional i n a l ~ ~ w c r e distributed-seventy-five hundred for Chicago and thirty- fivc l~unclrccl for downstate-with instructions on how to do it. Mrs. Wclliug ancl hcr helpers spread around the community fifty thousand fliers hcadcd: "Can You Answer These Life and Death Questions? Atomic l'owcr 'l'hrcatens You-Your Chilcl-Your Job," ancl followed 11y a truc-falsc quiz asking "Is there a dcfcnse? Can we kcep the bomb a sccret? Is this new force only a weapon? And how much time do WC havc?"

In April and May thousands of letters were sent to pledge-signers informing them of changes in the legislative picturc and thousands morc to inclivicluals and organizations urging action at critical mo- mcnts. Whcn the McMahon bill finally passed the House in July, Mrs. Welling could take satisfaction in having "delivered" all seven Illiilo~s c o n g ~ c s s n ~ e n . ~ ~

I t ~voulcl bc casy to conclude, as some have done, that the ad hoc committee took things out of the scientists' hands, exploiting their influcncc \vllen it was expedient to do so and keeping them out of thc wav n~hcn it was not. Cahn insists that this was not the case, that the collaboration was a genuine one with the committee pitching in to hclp tllc I~ard-pressed scientists carry on what they had started. Nor, Calm maintains, were the scicntists pushed into the background in the lobbying and political maneuvering that was an essential fol- low-up to t l ~ c creation of an aroused public opinion.

Altllougll vigorously bcating the drum for civilian control, the sci- cntists rccognizcd all along that the March crisis was more likely to end in compromise than victory. T h e off-the-record plans relayed by Levi to the ASC on the evening of March 16 probably included t l ~ c possibility of co-opting the services as intermediary of ASC mem- ber Thorfin IHogness, who had oftcn discusscd legislation with Miller and Lcvi and was well versed in what the scientists were fighting for. P-

" ASC executive committee minutes, March 20, 23, 1 ~ 4 6 , ASC VI, i z ; Chicago citize~ls' committee reports and other material, ASC I, 4, 5; interviews with Katharine Way, April zo, 1959, and Mrs. Welling, January 23, 1960.

The McMahon Act

Then in his early fifties, Hogness had been a member of the Uni- versity of Chicago chemistry department since 1930. Tall, handsomc, with iron-gray hair and bushy eyebrows, he cut a striking, but still an eminently respectable figure. While serving as head of the chem- istry division of the Metallurgical Project, he had also been drawn into liaison jobs for OSRD and other government agencies, for which his affable manner in dealing with people eminently suited him.

Hogness recalls being asked by Chancellor Hutchins to go to Wash- ington to see what he could do about the Vandenberg amendment; other sources say he wcnt to work with the Emergency Conference for Civilian Control." No matter under what auspices, immcdiately after speaking at the Grand Rapids meeting on March 19 hc wcnt to Washington and became the principal intermediary between the ad hoc committee and Senator Vandcnbcrg in rcacl~ing an ac- commodation on the military liaison issue. His prescnce thcre was an acknowledgment that both the impulsive needling of star per- formers l ~ k c Urey and Szilard and the carnest reprcsentations of youth had served their purpose and that a Inan with I-Iogncss' well- tailored self-assurance would now be more effective. Mrs. Bell, a normally con~posed and efficient person, who confcsscs that exas- peration at Szilard's unpredictable bel~avior once rcduced her to tears, found Hogness' conduct of the Vandenberg negotiations absolutely magnificent. "You could send him ai~ywhere," she says, "sure that he would charm and mollify."

But Hogness had not come t o Washington in a conciliatory mood. This was evident in the speech he nude at the Emerp lcy Conference rally on March 21. Expediency had dictated that bomb clcvelop- ment be supervised by the army, he told his audience, because the financing could be covercd without explanation by its large appropri- ations for aviation and because it could arrange priorities in mcn, materials, and transportation, but given such priorities any othcr government agency could l~ave developed thc bomb at lcast as well. Hogness advanced the scicntists' usual arguments that undcr the new conditions created by the bomb the military were no longer the guardians of national security bccause the old concepts of defense were no longer valid; security meant exploring new ficlds, not simply keeping secrets. If the military renlainecl in control, said Hogness,

Interview with Ilogness, January 18, 1960, a11d letter to the author, November 16, 1962; The New World, p. 51 1.

Domestic Legislation a ~ l d In ter~~at ional Control

tllerc would be both an exodus from nuclear research and a reluc- tancc to cntcr it, for, he added, there is such a thing as free enterprise in scicnce as in b ~ ~ s i n e s s . ~ ~

I n the days that followed I-Iog~less remembers frequent consulta- tions with R/lcMahon, Newman, and Condon. O n e of his first inter- views was with Gcneral Eisenhower, then chief of staff. I-Iogness was fanliliar with the General's liberal views about the proper limits of thc arluy's couccrn for security, for h e had served on an ASC com- mittcc to consider Eisenhower's proposal, made after the tcstimony from Forvestal but before that of Pattcrson, that the Joint Chiefs of Staff should pass on atomic security regulations and that clifferences bctwecn thcm and the atomic energy commission should be referred to the President." Granted a half-hour interview before a staff meet- ing by a giurlging aide, I-Iogness found Eisenhower more outspoken tlion m y scientist about excessive military claims and ready to support a modificatic~n of the military liaison amendrncnt. Seeing Hogness look g~i i l~ i ly at his watch, Eisenhower said the topic they wcre dis- cussing was more important than the staff meeting and went on talking; when I-Iogncss walked through the anteroom a t the end of an hour and a half he found, as h c now visualizes the scene, dozens of three- and four-star generals glaring at

I t was only after this interview, Hogness recalls, that h e saw Van- dcnbcrg, wllo l i s t e d to his account of the conversation with Eisen- howcr and said, "YOU are tlie man I have been looking for; you fellows fix it ~p."~"EIogness had seen a copy of the Senator's angry outburst to Rabbi Simon, and such eagcrncss to rcach an acconlmodation was uncsl~cctccl. If it owed something to Hogness' tact and to Vanden- lxrg'sccuston~ary pattern of approaching an issue obstructively and then undcrgoi~lg a statesmanlikc conversio11 to the progressive view- point, it d01111tlcss owed cvcii more to what had been happening to the Senator's mail and that of his special committee colleagues. The suddcn dcartli of lctters after tlie Canadian spy news had not lasted, and c o ~ ~ i i ~ i u n i c a t i o ~ ~ s about the military liaison issue had broken all

li7 Slxcch 11v 'Iy. R. Hogness before Emergency Conference for Civilian Control of Atomic ~ n c r b , March 21, 1946, in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists filcs.

ASC cxccntivc committee minutes, February 9, 1946, ASC VI, 12.

"1 lntcrv~cw will1 Ilogness, January 18, 1960. 7 0 lntcrvlew with Ilogness, Janualy 18, 1960. O n April j Vandenberg acknowledged

t l ~ c help of a Grand Rapids official in putting Hogncss in touch with him (Vandenberg to Hon. George Welsh, April j, 1946, in Cahn's files). According to The Private Papers of Scnator Vandellberg (I3oston: IIoughton MifIlin Co., 19 52)' Vandenberg took the initiative in bringing in Ilogness, in whom he had confidence (p. 259).

The McMahon Act

records. Contemporary reports tend to be vague about the period covered or about whose mail is included, but they citc totals of ovcr seventy thousand letters and telegrams in support of the original McMahon bill or opposing the Vandenberg amcndment, with a peak day of fifteen thousa~lcl on March 19. A mere trickle of lcttcrs allcl telegrams favored the May-Johnson bill or the Vandcnbcrg amcnd- rnent71

On March 27, while Hogncss was still negotiating with Vandenberg, the FAS also released the results of the petition supportillg the Mc- Mahon bill that had been circulating for the past two montlls. Eigllt thousand signatures had been collected in over a llundrcd collcgc communities and research centers.'"

I t is worth noting that the volume of public rcsponse reacl~ed its peak just bcfore the citizens' con~mittccs got to work. But the first fifteen or twenty thousand lettcrs and telegranrs-many of wllicl~ must have duplicated the cight thousand petition signatures- probably represcnted the limit of what the scientists could have ac- complished unaidcd.

Although the account based on Vandenbeg's private papers does not throw much light on his change of heart, i t quotes him as telling Hogness that the scientists could write their own ticLct "as long as it fcll foursquare within the purposc of assuring the proper liaison between the military and the ultimate civilian authority, and that the ~nilitaly phascs of atomic energy wcrc not to be ncglcctccl in an aura of wisllful thinking about a brave new postwar world."73 011

Aogncss' part the impulse to compromise was fortified by knowledge

- The Los Alamos Ncwsletter, No. 25, April 16, 1946, ALAS 11, 19, reportcd tllat

when the Vandenbcrg anlendment first appcarcd, ovcr 70,000 Ictters opposing it werc received, with the pcak day on March 19. An undated summarv of activities of thc Emergency Conference for Civilian Control in BAS XV, j, states t l~a t by April 10

Chairman McMahon and Senator Connally had received 70,973 letters and telegrams in favor of the original Mcllahon bill, of which 24,851 obp te t l to tllc Vnndcnl~er~ amendment; 6 favored the May-Johnson bill, 1 2 opposed the original McMal~on IIill, and 7 favored the Vandenberg amendment. This did not include co~nmunicatio~~s to comniittce me~nbcrs othcr than McMahon and Connally. The New World account (p. 510). based on Senate committee files states that in the four weeks following t l ~ c introduction of the Vandcnbcrg amendment the Senate committee received 42,1R9 pieces of mail, which was almost twice the volume of the thrce previous months of the committee's existence; again this does not count that received by individual mem- hers, and The New World does not make clear whetl~er "mail" includcd telcgranls.

FAS press rclease, March 27, 1946, FAS XVII, 1. A March 28 FAS summary of wires received and an eight-page list of organizations supporting S. 1717 m"dpposing the Vandenbcrg amcndment are in ASC I, 20.

73 The Private Papers of Senator Vandenberg, p. 259.

4 C " l

solnc at of his fellow scientists would support him. I t is

t,,,, Hint i ~ o New York associations passcd a joint res0lutio1l on ~ ~ l r c l l 27 opposing the ammdmcnt, but at the same time a wire came froll1 tllc n;lli Ridge Engineers and Scientists strongly urging recon- si~ciltioll of tllc FAS stand because the llystcrical o p p ~ ~ i t i o l l as llnted in the press was detrimental to Xiellt ist~ prestige and justified iir thc light of thcir basic aim."

i\I,long ~ ~ o g ~ l e s s ' colleagues in Chicago, conlpronlise was discussed at nmcti~>g of the ASC at whicb radio comme~ltator Clifton Utlcr adv i~c 011 bow to condoct a campaign on a political issue.

1 13t they hacl to After lic had analyzed their problem in terms of % l sdl-tllli is, civilian control-and the reasons for sales resistance- dlicflv [car of llnssia and public apatlly-lle Was asked by ue the Vanclenberg lvhcthcr it would not be better t o try to cllanb gmendllle~lt in a favorable direction than to keep fighting for the origillal McMalloo bill Utky advised against compromise at this l,o;nt, for would result in a bill perhaps 10 per cent satisfacton/, ivllereas, llc said, "if we were to keep insisting that the McMallon bill lit paiscd rvithout thc Vandenbcrg amendment and should ultimately llc forced to ;lcccpt some compromise it would be more likely that

final bill be somethillg like 40 to 50 per cent agreeable

to us B,~ , ilogncss a pretty good idea of what scientists wo~llJ ac-

cept Since the fcdcration had nevcr officially sulIportcc1 McMal1on ll1 dcmandlng ~omplctc cxdusion of the military (although indi- v l ~ , l ~ l ~ rl;licnlcnts 2nd such interpretatioll~ as Friendly's perllaps gave tllc c o n t r q m , p r e s ~ i ~ n ) , it was possible for its members to s~lpport a comlxOlllirc that guaranteed that the powers of a militan/ liaison c,,l,,lll,ttcc wodd not he arbitrary or onlimltcd. For spotting legal plkfallr, Ilogness on Edward Levi, now back in Cllicago, and lLc,,l toocll lliln by phone tliroughoi~t his talks with Vanden-

g (h tllc basis of discossions with Hogness Valldenberg rcdraftcd ill$ slllendmcnt, then submitted lt to Hogness for apploval. The

"crslon dso showed the influence of a competing proposal for lnlllt.liu llalsoll drawn up by Wallace and Eisenhower. Vandenbe%

The McA4al1o11 Act 407 . ,

had no intention of losing the ball a t this stage, and having obtained a copy of their amendment tllrough the White I-Ioose, 11c llad incor- porated some of its phraseology with his own.

Vandenbergs final version, approved by Hogness ancl Levi, made the military liaison committee responsible to the sccrctarics of Lvar and navy. Its concern was defined as relating to military applications, and the objectionable provision broadly granting the comnlittee "opportunity to acquaint itself with all matters before the Commis- sion" had been replaced by the statement that both comnlission and committee were to keep tl~emselves "frilly inforn~ecl.'"' When Van- denberg resented this new amendment to the Senate committee on April 2, it was accepted by ten votes, wit11 Cllairmall McMaIlon abstaining. -

Sonx observers wondered a t the time wl~et l~er the great public clanlor had been necessary to obtain siich small conccsUons. Vanden- berg himself referred to the compromise as a mere c11ange in lan- guagc." The more deliberate conclusion of the autllors of the Mc- Mahon bill was that altlro~lgh "it might appcar that thc cssc11ti:il elements of the carlier version escaped sign~ficant moclification and that protest was quelled with only a token concession . . . tlle comprornisc was a genuine one." With the bcncfit of still lo~rger perspective, the Atomic Energy CommisGon historians take tlle vreiv that the changes were indeed too minor to have produced in them- selves t11c sudden willingness to reach an accommodatio~l but that to McMahon the whole episode was wortl1w1~iie, even without aluch substantive change. Prior to this timc, they p o i ~ ~ t out, McMallon had been playing a lone bancl in the Senate co~nnlittce witllout rnilcIl outside support. "The dispute had made atomic crlergy legislation a national issue. With the spotliglrt focused on the bdl, McMalIon could afford to co~npromise and move for quick passage in the Senate."78

The amendment negotiations may have affccted the fate of tile bill in another way, for as they procecdcd IIogncss devclol~cd great

" For both versions of the Vandenbcrg aniendment, see Miller, rS p. 812, n. 16.

T T "Inasmuch as we all sren~ecl to be addressing ourselves to r co111nlnn objectiic, it seemed quite silly that this nationwide controversy iliould continue if a mere change in 'language' could make everybody happy. That is exactly wllat finally happe1mcdJ' (Vandenbcrg to Welsh, April 3, 1946, in Calm's files).

'"arnes R Newman and Byron S. Miller, The Coiltrol of Atomic Bzieigy (New York: McGraw-Hill Book CO., 1948), pp. 44-45 (used by per~nission of the publisher); The New World, pp. 51 2-1 3.