Churchill's Bomb

by Graham Farmelo

  29WSC to Eden, 12 September 1948, CHUR 2/68A.

  30CHBIO, Vol. 8, p. 315.

  31Jenkins (2001: 808).

  32Churchill (1948): ‘Theme of the Volume’, printed at the beginning.

  33Churchill (1948: 301–2).

  34Reynolds (2004: 481–2).

  35Reynolds (2004: 136–44).

  36Coward to WSC, 9 December 1948, CHBIO, Vol. 8, pp. 449–50.

  37Reynolds (2004: 97–8).

  38Clementine Churchill to WSC, 5 March 1949, CHUR 1/46. See CHBIO, Vol. 8, pp. 461–2.

  39Lindemann to WSC, 13 March 1949, CHUR 2/81A. See Lindemann’s letters to The Times, 30 November and 9 December 1949.

  40‘Churchill Arrives Beaming’, 24 March 1949, New York Times, p. 1.

  41‘Churchill Hailed by Capital Crowd’, 25 March 1949, New York Times, p. 1.

  42WSC to Truman, 29 June 1949, CHUR 2/158.

  43Truman to WSC, 2 July 1949, CHUR 2/158, f. 22.

  44WSC to Lindemann, 20 September 1949, LIND J84/7, and the reply on 1 October, J84/8.

  45The text is in CHUR 4/390B, ff. 212–16.

  46Lindemann speech in House of Lords, 5 July 1951, HNSRD.

  Peierls and ‘the spy of the century’

  1Genia Peierls to Klaus Fuchs, 4 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA; for the ‘spy of the century’ quote, see Gannon (2002: chapter 13).

  2New York Times, 31 January and 1 February 1950, both p. 1; ‘Work to Begin on Hydrogen Bomb’, Manchester Guardian, 1 February 1950, p. 7.

  3Extract from the Daily Worker, 2 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA, PF.109567.

  4Moss (1987: 184).

  5‘Note’ of J. H. Marriott, 6 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA.

  6KV 2/1661, NA, extract PF.109.567; Peierls (1985: 223); Moss (1987: 184–7); Peierls interview, 13 August 1969, AIP, p. 153 of transcript. Peierls expressed his initial view that Fuchs ‘could not possibly be guilty’ to the security forces: see ‘Note’ of J. H. Marriott, 6 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA.

  7Communications with Gaby Gross (née Peierls), 20 October 2011 and 23 January 2013.

  8E-mail from Gaby Gross (née Peierls), 24 January 2013.

  9Phone tap on the Peierlses, KV 2/1661, NA, report dated 6 December 1950.

  10Phone tap on the home of Herbert Skinner, 3 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA.

  11KV 2/1661, NA, extract PF.109.567, report 6 December 1950; Metropolitan Police report, 6 February 1950.

  12Moss (1987: 239–48), see p. 244.

  13This account largely follows the account of the conversation given by Peierls in his letter to Commander Burt, written on 5 February 1950, and J. H. Marriott’s report on the conversation, 6 February 1950, KV 2/1661. See also the letter Genia Peierls wrote to Fuchs on 4 February 1950 (PEIERLS, D.52) and Moss (1987: 186–90).

  14Peierls to Commander Burt, 5 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA.

  15Genia Peierls to Fuchs, undated but clearly written on 4 February 1950, D.52 PEIERLS. Lee (ed.) (2009: 209–11).

  16Fuchs to Genia Peierls, 6 February 1950, PEIERLS D.52. Lee (ed.) (2009: 212–13).

  17See, for example, Daily Mirror, New York Times and Washington Post, 4 February 1950.

  18‘Wartime Atom Chief Tells Congress . . .’, Washington Post, 5 February 1950, p. M1.

  19Quoted in Moss (1987: 210).

  20‘The Lesson of the Fuchs Case’, c. March 1950, reproduced in Lee (2009: 219–25), see p. 222.

  21‘Atomic Scientists’ Association’, report by A. K. Longair, 23 September 1947, KV 2/1658, NA.

  22‘Atomic Energy Train Exhibition’, Nature, 13 September 1947, p. 358; see also Nature, 15 November 1947, pp. 668–9. Brown (2012: 88–90).

  23MI5 report by Capt. A. C. M. Bennett, 18 March 1948, KV 2/1658.

  24Interview with Peierls, 12 August 1969, AIP, see p. 103 of transcript.

  25E-mail from Dyson, 28 October 2011.

  26Peierls to Bethe, 15 February 1950, PEIERLS C.17.

  27Peierls to Bohr, 14 February 1950, NBA, supplementary Peierls archive.

  28Peierls to Derek Curtis-Bennett, 28 February 1950, KV 2/1661, NA.

  29Note by J. C. Robertson, 6 March 1950, PF. 62251, Vol. 9, KV 2/1661, NA.

  30Szasz (1992: 84); Moss (1987: 194–203).

  31‘Mr Churchill Assails Foreign Policy’, Manchester Guardian, 15 February 1950; ‘First Major Statement on Foreign Policy’, Daily Telegraph, 15 February 1950. CHSPCH, Vol. 8, pp. 7936–44.

  Churchill softens his line on the Bomb

  1‘Mr Churchill Assails Foreign Policy’, Manchester Guardian, 15 February 1950.

  2CHSPCH, Vol. 8, p. 7943 –4.

  3Handwritten note by Attlee, 3 March 1950, PREM 8/1279, NA.

  4Attlee to Commons, 6 March 1950, HNSRD; ‘Swift Plunge into Controversy’, Manchester Guardian, 7 March 1950, p. 7.

  5Jenkins (2001: 836–7).

  6McMahon (2003: 50); Jenkins (2001: 833).

  7WSC to Attlee, 4 August 1950, CHUR 2/28.

  8WSC to Eden, 12 December 1951, PREM 11/1682, NA; Maddock (2010: 60).

  9Lindemann to WSC, 2 October 1950, CHUR 2/36; Lindemann to WSC, 23 July and 1 August 1950, CHUR 2/28.

  10Arrangements for WSC’s visit to Copenhagen and its press coverage: CHUR 2/276 and CHUR 2/278.

  11Bohr’s presence was pointed out in WSC’s notes for the trip: CHUR 2/276. Bohr’s Open Letter: Aaserud (2005: 173–85).

  12WSC (1951) Københavns Universitets Promotionfest, Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri, p. 14.

  13WSC (1951) Københavns Universitets Promotionfest, Bianco Lunos Bogtrykkeri, p. 21.

  14‘Mr Churchill Calls for a United Europe’, Birmingham Post, 12 October 1950, p. 1.

  15Report in Vendsyssel Tidende, a north Jutland newspaper, 30 November 1950, p. 1.

  16McCullough (1992: 820–2).

  17Commons session on 14 December 1950: HNSRD.

  18WSC to Lindemann, 3 December 1953, EG 1/36, NA.

  19Parliamentary exchanges on 14 December 1950 and 30 January 1951, HNSRD.

  20Lindemann to WSC, 6 December 1950, CHUR 2/28, ff. 118–19.

  21Blackburn (1959: 96).

  22Attlee to WSC, 3 December 1950, PREM 8/1559, NA.

  23See Roger Makins’s account of the meeting, 31 January 1951, and WSC’s subsequent letter to Attlee, 12 February 1951, PREM 8/1559, NA.

  24Confidential Foreign Office note, ‘Atomic Energy’, 28 December 1950, PREM 8/1559, NA.

  25See correspondence in CHUR 2/28: WSC to Truman, 10 and 12 February 1951; Truman to WSC, 16 February 1951, delivered to WSC on 26 February via the US Embassy; Truman to WSC, 24 March 1951.

  26Murrow, E. R. ‘Churchill: The Hinge of Fate’, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 187, pp. 70–3, see p. 71.

  27Reynolds (2004: 334).

  28Churchill (1951: 341–2). Further evidence of the implausibility of WSC’s claim: Gowing (1964: 162–3).

  29Churchill (1951: 723).

  30Lindemann to WSC, 1 August 1950, CHUR 2/28.

  31Peierls (1985: 283).

  32 Top Secret document ‘Professor Peierls’, 15 January 1951, KV 2/1661, NA.

  Penney delivers the British Bomb

  1Howard (1974).

  2Hennessy (1989: 713); see correspondence in PREM 11/292, NA.

  3BMFRS of Penney, Vol. 39, February 1994, p. 288.

  4Boyle (1955: 261).

  5Penney, Samuels D. E. J. and Scorgie G. C. (1970) ‘The Nuclear Explosive Yields at Hiroshima and Nagasaki’, Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A266, pp. 357–424, see p. 419.

  6Cathcart (1994: 29–30, 82).

  7Telephone conversation with Tam Dalyell, 9 January 2005.

  8Cathcart (1994: 39–40).

  9Hennessy (1989: 712–13).

  10Goodman (2007:13).

  11Gowing (1974a: 224).

  12‘Strategy’ memorandum by Tizard, 4 November 1949, DEFE 9/34, p. 2, NA.

  13‘Strategy’ memorandum by Tizard, 4 November 1949, DEFE 9/34, NA.

  14CHSPCH, Vol. 8, p. 7943; WSC ‘Press
Notice’, February 1951, CHUR 2/28, ff. 91–3.

  15Cathcart (1994: 129).

  16Quoted in Hennessy (2007: 59).

  17Lindemann to WSC, 17 June 1951, CHUR 2/113A.

  18Speech by Lindemann in the House of Lords, 5 July 1951, HNSRD.

  19‘Development of Atomic Energy in Great Britain’, Nature, 14 July 1951, p. 61.

  20The Bomb should be ready to test between ‘July and October 1952’ Portal told Sir William Elliot, 10 August 1950, AB 16/1132, NA.

  21‘Note on Dr Penney’, unsigned, 25 May 1951, AB 16/942, NA.

  22Cathcart (1994: 164).

  23Minutes of Chiefs of Staff Committee, 17 September 1951, DEFE 32/2, NA.

  24‘Pledge to Cut Spending, End Nationalisation’, Daily Telegraph, 29 September 1951.

  25WSC speech on 23 October 1951: CHSPCH, Vol. 8, pp. 8281–6.

  26Item 6 in ‘Some Reflections on the Present Situation’, undated but probably January 1951, DEFE 9/34, NA (Sir Frederick Brundrett’s supportive response is dated 9 January 1951). Gowing (1974a: 229– 30) refers to this passage but dates it 1949.

  27Gowing (1974a: 230).

  28The plans for the first British Bomb are in ES 1/11, NA; see also Cathcart (1994: 202–35).

  29Minutes of Chiefs of Staff Committee, 24 October 1951, DEFE 32/2, NA; Cathcart (1994: 150).

  30Cathcart (1994: 148).

  31Gowing (1974a: 405).

  32Lindemann speech to the House of Lords, 5 July 1951, HNSRD.

  Churchill – Britain’s first nuclear Premier

  1FRUS, 1952–4, Vol. 5, p. 1721.

  2WSC’s speech to Commons, 6 November 1951, HNSRD.

  3Colville (1985: 604).

  4Colville (1985: 658).

  5Colville (1985: 595); Shuckburgh (1986: 160–1).

  6Wheeler-Bennett (1969: 119).

  7Fort (2004: 318).

  8Taylor, A. J. P., ‘Lindemann and Tizard: More by Luck than Judgment?’, Observer, 9 April 1961, p. 21.

  9Birkenhead (1961: 277–9, 302–5).

  10Birkenhead (1961: 310).

  11Lindemann to WSC, 13 November 1951, PREM 11/292, NA.

  12WSC to Lindemann, 15 November 1951, PREM 11/292, NA. The only precedent for the views expressed here by WSC is in the note he drafted for the press in the previous February, CHUR 2/28, untitled, but beginning ‘There seems to be some misunderstanding . . .’.

  13Moran (1966: 352).

  14WSC to Sir Edward Bridges, 8 December 1951, PREM 11/297, NA. WSC uses the word ‘millions’ rather than the correct ‘million’.

  15‘Atomic Energy Expenditure’ briefing for the Prime Minister, 12 December 1951, PREM 11/297, NA.

  16WSC endorses the policy on the minute Lindemann to WSC, 14 November 1951, PREM 11/292, NA.

  17Hennessy (2000: 180–3, 188).

  18Coote (1971: 102–10).

  19Moran (1966: 349).

  20CAB 21/3058, NA; CHBIO, Vol. 8, p. 674.

  21‘Subjects for discussion at Washington’, November 1951, CAB 21/3058, NA.

  22New York Times, 14 December 1951, article by James Reston, p. 8. Young (1996: 72).

  23McCullough (1992: 874); Larres (2002: 168); Young (1996: 72–82).

  24Young (1996: 75); CHBIO, Vol 8, p. 675.

  25McCullough (1992: 874–5).

  26Young (1996: 80).

  27See WSC–McMahon correspondence in November 1948, CHUR 2/69B; and their correspondence in April 1949, CHUR 2/84B.

  28Moran (1966: 359).

  29British record of the WSC–Truman meeting, 18 January 1952, CAB 21/3058, NA.

  30Brandon (1988: 94).

  31Colville (1985: 604); Birkenhead (1961: 279); Moran (1966: 382).

  32WSC to the Commons, 23 October 1952, HNSRD.

  33Gowing (1974b: 37, 56).

  34‘Soviet atomic capabilities: appreciation for SACEUR’, 14 November 1952, DEFE 21/62, NA.

  35Colville (1985: 596).

  36Hennessy (2006: 174–5).

  37Moran (1966: 400).

  38Birkenhead (1961: 310); Lindemann to WSC, 26 September 1952, LIND J122/99–100.

  39Colville (1985: 614).

  40Lindemann’s atomic energy papers for WSC: LIND J122/4–16 (see also PREM 11/561, NA).

  41Arnold (2001: 37–8).

  42Confidential Annex to D.(52) 12th Meeting, 12 December 1952, CAB 131/12, NA.

  43Lindemann to WSC, ‘Atomic Energy – Future UK Programme’, LIND J122/4–6.

  44The estimate is from the Ridley Committee: see the text of Hinton’s talk on 30 October 1953 in AB 19/85, NA.

  45Quote is from Cockcroft’s draft memoir, CKFT 25/6 p. 41.

  Hinton engineers nuclear power

  1Sir Christopher Hinton’s unpublished memoir, p. 61, HINTON.

  2Hennessy (2006: 329) Gowing (1974b: 20) and BMFRS of Hinton, December 1990, p. 226.

  3Lindemann to WSC, 17 September 1952, PREM 11/292, NA. Gowing (1974b: 12).

  4Gowing (1974b: 191).

  5Wells (1914: 51).

  6BMFRS of Hinton, Vol. 36, December 1990, p. 220.

  7Gowing (1974b: 22–3).

  8Gowing (1974b: 20–1).

  9Sir Christopher Hinton’s unpublished memoir, p. 61, HINTON.

  10Hinton, C., ‘Atomic Energy in Industry’ conference, New York, 30 October 1953, text in AB 19/85, NA.

  11Hinton BIOFRS, December 1990, p. 227.

  12‘Talks on Exchange of Atom Data End’, New York Times, 17 October 1953.

  13The text of Hinton’s talk on 30 October 1953: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, December 1953, pp. 366–8, 390. Conference proceedings, ‘Atomic Energy in Industry’, National Industrial Conference Board (1954), section 2.

  14Zachary (1999: 361–3).

  15Bird and Sherwin (2005: 472–5).

  16Time, 21 September 1953. Hinton’s clip of the article ‘The Atom’, pp. 13–15: AB 19/85, NA.

  17Larres (2002: 192, 199–205).

  18Hinton to Plowden, 22 December 1953, PLDN 5 1/2.

  Churchill the nuclear missionary

  1Moran (1953: 403).

  2Larres (2002: 182–4).

  3Quoted in Larres (2002: 189).

  4Larres (2002: 195–6).

  5Boyle (ed.) (1990: 31–52).

  6Eden wrote Eisenhower’s ‘tiresome’ comment in his diary on 4 March 1953: Avon papers, AP 20/1/29, BHM. Larres (2002: 182–3).

  7Larres (2002: 199).

  8Larres (2002: 222–32).

  9WSC to Commons, 11 May 1953, HNSRD.

  10CHBIO, Vol. 8, pp. 846–7. Jenkins (2001: 860–1).

  11Telephone conversation with Lady Williams of Elvel (née Jane Portal), 2 February 2012.

  12Moran (1966: 415).

  13Moran (1966: 427, 437).

  14Moran (1966: 448, 451, 457). Colville (1985: 633) apparently misremembers the anecdote about WSC’s amazement at reading news of the Soviet H-bomb in August 1953 and that this anecdote refers to WSC’s reaction to Sterling Cole’s speech in February 1954.

  15Butler (1971: 174).

  16Lovell, R., letter to the British Medical Journal, 10 June 1995, p. 310.

  17Birkenhead (1961: 311–16).

  18Birkenhead (1961: 332).

  19Allén, S. (2005) ‘If You Have No Misgivings: Churchill’s Nobel Prize in Literature’, European Review, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 591–5.

  20Reynolds (2004: 439); Jenkins (2001: 864).

  21WSC to Commons, 3 November 1953, HNSRD.

  22Lindemann to WSC, 12 November 1953, LIND J138/66.

  23Larres (2002: 308–9).

  24Young (1996: 224–5); Larres (2002: 310).

  25British record of the Bermuda conference, 4 December 1953, FO 371/125138, NA. See also FRUS 1952–4, Vol. 5, p. 1761.

  26Notes on meeting between Lindemann and Strauss, 4 December 1953, EG 1/36, NA.

  27FRUS 1952–4, Vol. 5, pp. 1767–9.

  28Macmillan (1971: 324).

  29FRUS 1952–4, Vol. 5, ‘Western European Security’, p. 1739; Montague Browne (1995
: 156–7).

  30CLVL 1/8, ‘The Bermuda Conference’, 7 and 8 December 1953.

  31FRUS 1952–4, Vol. 5, p. 1768; CLVL 1/8, 6 December 1953.

  32Eisenhower speech to UN, 8 December 1953: http://greatspeeches.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/dwight-d-eisenhower-atoms-for-peace-8-december-1953/.

  33CHBIO, Vol. 8, pp. 940–1.

  34Wheeler-Bennett (ed.) (1969: 121–2).

  35Hennessy, P. (2001) ‘Churchill and the Premiership’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Vol. 11, pp. 295–306, see pp. 305–6. Interview with Lady Williams, 19 October 2010.

  36WSC to Eisenhower, 9 March 1954, quoted in Boyle (ed.) (1990: 124).

  37Butler (1971: 173).

  Cockcroft becomes a confidant of the Prime Minister

  1Cockcroft to his mother, 17 December 1954, CKFTFAMILY.

  2Interview with Maurice Wilkes, 24 March 2009.

  3Chadwick to Appleton, 2 June 1945, CHAD IV 2/1.

  4Cockcroft lecture on ‘Nuclear Physics since Rutherford’, CKFT 4/21.

  5Cockcroft lecture to McMaster University, 15 May 1947, CKFT 25/24, p. 2.

  6Cockcroft talk to Manchester Grammar School, 15 July 1952, CKFT 4/19, p. 2.

  7Cockcroft talk, ‘The influence of Lord Rutherford on the modern world’, text of BBC broadcast, 12 December 1950, p. 5. Cockcroft lecture to McMaster University, 15 May 1947, CKFT 25/24, p. 2.

  8Personal conversation with George Steiner, 24 May 2011.

  9Personal conversations with Chris Cockcroft 8–10 May 2009, 9 March 2012; ‘Thoughts on our father’ by Cockcroft’s children, undated, passed to GF 8 March 2012.

  10Hartcup and Allibone (1984: 191).

  11Cockcroft, J. D. (1959) ‘The scientist and the public’, Harlequin magazine, Christmas edition, pp. 25–6.

  12Letter from Cockcroft to his brother Eric, 26 August 1945, CKFTFAMILY. Chadwick strongly disagrees with this, believing ICI’s record in the project to be ‘admirable’: Chadwick to Akers, 31 May 1945, CHAD IV 11/1.

  13Cockcroft to his mother, 16 June and 6 December 1940, 12 March 1941, CKFTFAMILY; Hartcup and Allibone (1984: 166).

  14Cockcroft, draft memoir, CKFT 25/6, p. 32.

  15Toronto Star, 15 March 1946, in Cockcroft’s scrapbook, CKFTFAMILY.

  16Note of meeting on 12 March 1954, CAB 130/101, NA.

  17The ‘hybrid’ weapon was ‘boosted’ with lithium deuteride, of which about three hundred pounds was needed for each bomb.

  18Annex 1 to Defence Policy Committee, ‘Russian capacity to produce and deliver thermo-nuclear weapons’, CAB 134/808, NA.