Churchill's Bomb

by Graham Farmelo

Churchill made no public comment on this. By the end of the 1950s, the allure of the French Riviera had palled and he preferred cruising on the motor yacht Christina O, owned by Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis. After a Caribbean cruise on the yacht in the spring of 1961, Churchill paid his final visit to the shores of the United States. He did not set foot on land and was unable to make the journey to Washington to meet the new President, John Kennedy.30 Disappointed, Kennedy invited him to the White House two years later to receive an honorary citizenship of the United States, but Churchill was too weak to make the journey and watched the ceremony on television at home in London. He still paid occasional visits to the Commons, rolling into the chamber in his wheelchair, saying nothing. At the 1964 General Election, at the height of Beatlemania, he did not contest his seat, ending a parliamentary career that had begun before the Wright brothers’ pioneering flight and had ended in an age when supersonic aircraft could deliver nuclear weapons.

  A month after Churchill left the Commons, Margaret Gowing published the first official history of the British nuclear project during the war, laying bare for the first time the role he had played in nurturing the Bomb. Officials in the Cabinet Office had checked the penultimate draft ‘to watch Sir Winston’s Churchill’s interests’.31 In her description of his meeting with Bohr, Gowing gave the impression that Churchill was unaware of the implications of the Bomb in May 1944. Worried officials, unable to find anyone who could remember the meeting, sent Gowing’s account to Montague Browne. He bristled at ‘an implied criticism’ of Churchill and asked for his side of the story to be presented more clearly:32 ‘After all, Bohr knew about as much of foreign affairs as the Prime Minister knew of nuclear physics, and perhaps lacked the latter’s technical advisers.’ After requests from the Cabinet Office, Gowing made several amendments.33 The result was an account of the meeting that removed the sense of a missed opportunity and any implication that Churchill was short-sighted about the Bomb.34 After Gowing had finalised her account of the wartime Churchill–Bohr meeting, the Cabinet Office received a letter from Churchill – almost certainly written by Montague Browne – thanking them ‘for the care with which they watch his interests in these matters’.35

  After suffering another stroke less than a year later, Churchill died in his London home on Sunday 24 January 1965. His coffin, draped in a Union flag, lay in Westminster Hall for three days, during which a third of a million mourners filed past it. Beyond requesting ‘lots of military bands’,36 he had not specified the detailed arrangements for the funeral, though he would have been moved by its spectacle and by the outpouring of national grief. He was given a British state funeral in the imperial tradition, the last to be granted but the first one ever to be televised. The ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral, on the Saturday after his death, was attended by numerous heads of state – though not President Johnson – and hundreds of dignitaries, including the hunched Lord (Clement) Attlee, now able to walk only with support. There were nine military bands. A few hours later, following a brief private service, Churchill was laid to rest alongside his parents in the churchyard at Bladon, within sight of his birthplace, Blenheim Palace.

  Most of his obituaries made little or nothing of his involvement in the history of the Bomb. One, however, in the Daily Telegraph, listed among his five main contributions to the running of the war effort ‘the interweaving of science into the fabric of Government, on a scale never accomplished before’.37 Yet even this article made no mention of the longevity of Churchill’s association with nuclear weapons, as a writer and a politician. No one in the press seemed to know that the seeds of his opinions on nuclear warfare had already been sown in 1925, when he first foresaw that the weapons were coming, in the article ‘Shall We All Commit Suicide?’38

  Most revealing of all about his attitude to progress in science and technology was his early correspondence with H. G. Wells, a few years after they first met. Churchill reproved the famous author for believing naively that human beings would be able to take this progress in their stride:39

  We shall not change so quickly as you think . . . man will [long] remain an animal with a slight balance on the side of his nobler instincts, perhaps as far below the works which his brain creates as above the species whose sufferings and struggles have created him.

  Churchill even worried that science might be the death of mankind:

  Till now [Homo sapiens] has been the most progressive feature of the world; he may end, if scientific development fulfils its promises, by being the greatest anachronism.

  Churchill wrote those fearful words in October 1906, when he was an ambitious Undersecretary of State for the Colonies and was pushing to join the Cabinet. Rutherford – then at McGill University and at the peak of his career as a researcher – was working at his laboratory bench, exploring the energy that appeared to be locked up deep inside the atom.

  When Wells foresaw ‘atomic bombs’ less than a decade later in The World Set Free, he believed that their destructiveness would make human beings abjure war, after they realised its pointlessness – a conclusion that Churchill probably regarded as unrealistic. By 1931, when Churchill published ‘Fifty Years Hence’, he feared that contemporary leaders would not be equal to the challenge of handling the weapons that scientists were about to put in their hands:

  Great nations are no longer led by their ablest men, or by those who know most about their immediate affairs, or even by those who have a coherent doctrine. Democratic governments drift along the line of least resistance, taking short views, paying their way with sops and doles, and smoothing their path with pleasant-sounding platitudes.

  During most of the Second World War, however, Britain had been led by its ablest politician, as Churchill himself would have been the first to agree. Yet even he – aware at the beginning of the conflict that the nuclear age was in prospect – struggled to deal effectively with the coming of the Bomb. While the articles Churchill wrote in the 1930s warning that nuclear energy might soon be harnessed are testimony to his sagacity as a writer, his handling of the technology when it arrived was not one of his great achievements as a politician.

  In the 1950s, he occasionally expressed a Wellsian optimism about the potential of nuclear weapons to liberate the human race, but his words were unconvincing. The threat of thermonuclear war eventually made him revert to the pessimism that lay below the resolute hopefulness that had done much to make him a renowned wartime Prime Minister. By the second half of the twentieth century, Churchill believed, scientists had finally given international leaders weapons that were more powerful than they could handle. Science was finally becoming the master of its creator, and humanity would pay the price.

  Acknowledgements

  ‘Whilst writing, a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy, then an amusement, then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then it becomes a tyrant and, in the last stage, just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.’

  WINSTON CHURCHILL, 2 November 19491

  Before a book is flung to the public, custom dictates that its author thanks everyone who made the writing more of an adventure than a struggle. I am glad to follow this admirable tradition here, for Churchill’s Bomb has been an especially fulfilling enterprise.

  Much of the research on the book was done at Churchill College, Cambridge, especially in its excellent Archives Centre. I should like to thank the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust for generously funding two stays at the college as an Archives By-Fellow, and it is a pleasure to express my gratitude to Jamie Balfour, the Trust’s Director-General, for facilitating the arrangements. I could not have been treated with more friendly consideration than I received at the Archives Centre, so it is a special pleasure to thank its director, Allen Packwood, and his unfailingly helpful colleagues: Natalie Adams, Francesca Alves, Philip Cosgrove, Andrew Riley, Sarah Lewery, Sophie Bridges, Katharine Thomson, Julie Sanderson, Laure Bukh, Madelin Terrazas and B
ridget Warrington, not forgetting Lynsey Darby and Caroline Herbert, who have now moved on. Churchill College’s Master, Sir David Wallace, and its Fellows have made me exceptionally welcome during my numerous stays, which were essential to the development of this project.

  Most of Churchill’s Bomb was written at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton during four richly rewarding summers, when I was visiting its former director Peter Goddard. Over the past decade, he has been generous beyond measure in supporting my writing projects, which would otherwise not have been possible. I am duly grateful to him and to his successor as the Institute’s director, Robbert Dijkgraaf, who also made me extremely welcome. From the Institute’s Faculty, I have learned much about matters relating to scientific aspects of the book during conversations with Nima Arkani-Hamed, Freeman Dyson, Peter Sarnak, Nathan Seiberg and Matias Zaldarriaga. The services in the libraries and at the Shelby White and Leon Levy Archives Center at the Institute are peerless, and I am delighted to thank all the many colleagues there who have showered me with kindness and given me no end of help: Christine Di Bella, Karen Downing, Momota Ganguli, Gabriella Hoskin, Erica Mosner, Marcia Tucker, Kirstie Venanzi and Judy Wilson-Smith. Many colleagues and friends made my stays at the Institute uniquely pleasurable: Lily Harish-Chandra, Kate Belyi, Beth Brainard, Linda Cooper, Karen Cuozzo, Christine Ferrara, Catie Fleming, Michael Gehret, Helen Goddard, Jennifer Hansen, Pamela Hughes, Kevin Kelly, Camille Merger, Louise Morse (mère et fille), Susan Olson, Amy Ramsey, Paul Richardson, Kelly Devine Thomas, Nadine Thompson, Jill Titus, Michele Turansick, Sarah Zantua-Torres, Sharon Tozzi-Goff and former colleague Margaret Sullivan.

  During stays at Trinity College, Cambridge, I made extensive use of the papers held in its Wren Library. I should like to thank the college’s former Master Lord (Martin) Rees for enabling these sojourns, and Jonathan Smith for facilitating my use of these archives.

  Of all the colleagues and friends who have given me information as well as expert help and advice, I am especially indebted to: Jodie Anderson, Christopher Andrew, Lorna Arnold, Joanna Batterham (née Chadwick), Jeremy Bernstein, Adrian Berry, Sir Michael Berry, Giovanna Bloor (née Blackett), Sandra Ionno Butcher, Brian Cathcart, Judith Chadwick, Chris Cockcroft, Ralph Desmarais, David Edgerton, Joyce Farmelo, Pedro Ferreira, Robert Fox, Mark Goldie, Charles Griffiths, Gaby Gross (née Peierls), Jonathan Haslam, Ian Hart, Lord (Peter) Hennessy, David Holloway, Jo Hookway (née Peierls), Ruth Horry, Steve Jebson, Gron Tudor Jones, Katharina Kraus, Rita Kravets, Richard Langworth, Dan Larson, Sabine Lee, Roy MacLeod, Alice Martin, Peter Morris, James Muller, Gros Næs, the late Sir Michael Palliser, Orhan Pamuk, Christopher Penney, Martin Penney, the late Sir Michael Quinlan, David Reynolds, Simon Schaffer, Michael Sherborne, George Steiner, Zara Steiner, Martin Theaker, Sir John Thomson, Humphrey Tizard, Jane Tizard, Lady Tizard, Alan Walton, the late Sir Maurice Wilkes and Lady Williams of Elvel.

  For their careful reading of the entire manuscript, and for numerous comments and corrections, I am grateful to Andrew Brown, Brian Cathcart, Maddy Corcoran, Freeman Dyson, Paul Courtenay, Allen Packwood, Ben Sumner and David Sumner. My friend David Johnson read every draft of the text with great attention to detail and supplied me with a stream of comment and advice, all of it learned, wise and constructive. I owe him an enormous debt.

  During the research for Churchill’s Bomb, I worked in several other archives, whose staff I would like to thank: the staff at the University of Birmingham archives; the staff at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University; Finn Aaserud and Felicity Pors at the Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen; Laura Gardner and Rhonda Grantham at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers; the staff in the Manuscripts Room at the Library of Congress, Washington DC; Clare Kavanagh, Elizabeth Martin and Tessa Richards at Nuffield College (Lindemann archive), Oxford University; all the staff at the UK National Archives, Kew; Tatiana Balakhovskaya at the Kapitza archive in Moscow; Alan Carr, historian at the Los Alamos National Laboratory; staff at the Harold Nicolson archive in Balliol College, Oxford; Virginia Lewick and David Woolner at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum; Peter Collins and Joanna Hopkins at the Royal Society; Lynda Corey Claassen and Matthew Peters at the Mandeville Special Collections Library (Szilárd archive) at the University of California, San Diego; Tammy Kelly at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum; Dennis Sears at the H. G. Wells archive at the University of Illinois.

  Throughout the preparation of the book, I have benefited from the unstinting encouragement and advice of my publishers. At Faber in London, I especially want to thank Neil Belton, who shepherded the project from its conception and gave me wise guidance at every stage. Kate Burton, Kate Ward and copy-editor Neil Titman were a pleasure to work with. At Basic Books in New York, Lara Heimert gave me an invaluable critique that much improved the quality of the narrative.

  Finally, I should like to underline that every error of fact and judgement in the book is solely my responsibility. And I want to thank everyone I have acknowledged here for making Churchill’s Bomb such an agreeable adventure – the book never became a marauding monster that I could not wait to fling at you, but an agreeable companion I am rather sad to see go its own way.

  Princeton

  February 2013

  References

  Please note that all references to websites in the notes were verified correct on 27 January 2013. All the Churchill documents – whose references begin with CHUR, CHAR and CHPC – are in the Churchill archive at Churchill College, Cambridge.

  List of archival sources

  Several of the archives listed below are in the Churchill Archives

  Centre (CAC) in Churchill College, Cambridge.

  AAC Academic Assistance Council archive, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, UK

  AEA Albert Einstein Archives, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

  AEC Atomic Energy Commission records, www.archives.gov

  AHQP Archives for the History of Quantum Physics

  AIP American Institute of Physics, interviews by Charles Weiner

  AVHL A. V. Hill archive, CAC

  BHM Birmingham University Archives, UK

  BHMPHYS Archives of the Birmingham University physics department, UK

  BLACKETT Patrick Blackett, Royal Society, London, UK

  BMFRS Biographical Memoirs of the Fellows of the Royal Society

  BRUN Papers of Frederick Brundrett archive, CAC

  CHAD Papers of James Chadwick, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, UK

  CHBIO Biography of Winston Churchill, by Sir Martin Gilbert, except for the first two volumes, written by Churchill’s son Randolph

  CHDOCS Documents in support of the biography of Winston Churchill, edited by Sir Martin Gilbert, apart from the first five volumes, which were written by Churchill’s son Randolph

  CHESSAYS Collected Essays of Winston Churchill, Bristol, Library of Imperial History

  CHPC Press cuttings of Winston Churchill, CAC

  CHSPCH Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963, ed. Robert Rhodes James, London, Chelsea House Publishers

  CKFT Cockcroft papers, CAC

  CKFTFAMILY Cockcroft family papers

  CLVL Jock Colville Papers, CAC

  CONANT Papers of James Conant, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

  CSCT Papers of Clementine Churchill, CAC

  FDRLIB Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hyde Park, New York, USA

  FEAT Papers of Norman Feather, CAC

  FRISCH Otto Frisch papers, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK

  FRUS Foreign Relations of the United States, Department of State Publications

  GPT G. P. Thomson’s papers, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK

  HGW H. G. Wells archive, University of Illinois, USA

  HH Harry Hopkins’s papers, Georgetown University, Washington DC, USA

  HINTON Papers of Sir Christopher Hinton, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, London, UK

  HLFX Lord Halif
ax’s papers, CAC

  HNKY Lord Hankey’s papers, stored at CAC

  HNSRD Speeches in the House of Commons and House of Lords, available online (search Hansard + “quotation”)

  HTT Henry Tizard archive, Imperial War Museum, London, UK

  IAS Archives of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, USA

  LIBCON Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA

  LIND Archive of Frederick Lindemann, a.k.a. Lord Cherwell, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, UK

  LOSALAMOS Archive at Los Alamos Laboratory, New Mexico, USA

  MCRA Papers of Colonel Stuart Macrae, CAC

  MART Papers of John Martin, CAC

  NBA Niels Bohr archive, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark

  NIC Harold Nicolson archive, Balliol College, University of Oxford, UK

  OPPY Oppenheimer archive, Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA

  PEIERLS Rudolf Peierls archive, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, UK

  PLDN Papers of Lord Plowden, CAC

  RFD Rutherford archive, University Library, University of Cambridge, UK

  ROSK Papers of Stephen Roskill, CAC

  ROWE Papers of A. P. Rowe, Imperial War Museum, London, UK

  ROWECH Papers of A. P. Rowe, CAC

  RVJO Archive of R. V. Jones, CAC

  SPSL Archive of the Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, formerly the Academic Assistance Council, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, UK

  STIMSON Diaries of Henry Stimson, Yale University, USA

  WELLS Papers of H. G. Wells, University of Illinois, USA

  List of references

  The documents stored in the UK National Archives in Kew are labelled NA in this list.

  Aaserud, F. (1986) Niels Bohr, Collected Works, Vol. 9, Amsterdam, North Holland

  Aaserud, F. (2005) Niels Bohr, Collected Works, Vol. 11, Amsterdam, North Holland

  Addison, P. (1992) Churchill on the Home Front, London, Pimlico

  Alanbrooke (2002) War Diaries 1939–45 (eds Danchev, A., and Todman, D.) London, Phoenix