by Steve Olson
89“We wore rubber boots”: Sanger, 117–18.
90By May 20, 1944: Hewlett and Anderson, 217.
91“about as tough as milling iron”: B Reactor Museum Association, 27.
91“They had carloads of Kotex coming in”: Ibid., 31.
92A crucial design decision involved: Johnson et al., 11.
93Construction workers were cleared: Sanger, 136.
94“Farmer is his real name”: Libby, The Uranium People, 163.
94“With sandwich and apple held high”: Ibid., 175.
95workers in the fuel fabrication plant were producing thousands: Compton, Memories of Early Atomic Pioneers, 134.
95Two men figured out: Grills, interview by Stephane Groueff.
95The temperature of the metal baths: B Reactor Museum Association, 79.
96“We worked together to solve problems”: Compton, Memories of Early Atomic Pioneers, 135.
96“a drink or two of good whiskey”: Libby, The Uranium People, 180.
96Without water running through the tubes: B Reactor Museum Association, 67.
97“jump right in the middle of it”: Lawren, 159.
97That evening, Fermi and Woods drove back: Libby, The Uranium People, 181.
98“The tale’s been told”: Compton, Atomic Quest, 192–93.
CHAPTER 11: THE T PLANT
101Leona Woods was entranced: Libby, The Uranium People, 185.
102“an awe-inspiring experience”: Seaborg, Journals, 463.
102“One sees nothing but 860 feet”: Ibid., 574.
102The result was about 3,000 gallons of liquid feed: Freer and Conway, 2–4.12.
103A television camera mounted on the bridge crane: Sanger, 63.
103“We wanted as few moving parts as possible”: Ibid., 61.
103“That helped,” Genereaux said: Ibid., 64.
104fantastic amounts of gaseous, liquid, and solid waste: Gephart, 5.1–5.54.
104“great plumes of brown fumes”: Libby, The Uranium People, 174.
105the intense neutron flux could make: DeFord, 2–6.14.
106The initial tanks had lifetimes estimated at 20 years: Gephart, 5.10.
106“Hesitate, Cogitate, Be Safe”: Freer, 2–10.30.
107“We did a lot of foolish things”: Sanger, 190.
108At four o’clock in the morning on March 2: Hales, 95.
108“Impossible,” he said: Toomey, 64.
108But as the plans evolved: Harvey and Krafft, 33.
109He even renamed the planned hotel: Franklin Matthias diary, June 27, 1943. Available at the Public Reading Room, Department of Energy, Richland, WA.
109“the necessity for maintaining high morale”: Pehrson, 42.
109“Hanford workers were living at the frontier”: Findlay and Hevly, 103.
110Forty-four documented cases: Keating and Harvey, 2–8.10.
CHAPTER 12: IMPLOSION
111“Do you have a locked compartment”: “Something to Win the War: The Hanford Diary,” VHS videotape, 1985. Available in the Seattle Room of the Seattle Public Library.
111“No, I couldn’t get a bedroom”: Matthias, interview by Stephane Groueff.
113only about one-seventh of the plutonium atoms split: Aste.
115In 1944, the spontaneous fission problem: Hoddeson et al., 3.
116“You don’t worry about it”: George Kistiakowsky, interview by Richard Rhodes.
116“Now we have our bomb”: Hoddeson et al., 271.
117In 1944, a Manhattan Project scientist had been startled: Rotblat, interview by Martin Sherwin.
118“I don’t think I’ll ever forget D-Day”: Crawford Greenewalt. From a speech on the 25th anniversary of the world’s first nuclear chain reaction, available in the papers of Herbert L. Anderson, Box 5, Special Collections, University of Chicago Library.
118In March 1943, he had received a letter: Goudsmit, 47.
119“The conclusions were unmistakable”: Ibid., 70–71.
120“The capture of this material”: Norris, 641, note 69.
120“The whole German uranium setup”: Goudsmit, 106–8.
120“lacked the fear of an Allied project”: Wellerstein, “Historical thoughts.”
121“Isn’t it wonderful that the Germans have no atom bomb?”: Goudsmit, 76.
CHAPTER 13: WASHINGTON, DC
122“a discussion was held as to the production schedule”: Franklin Matthias diary, March 24, 1945. Available at the Public Reading Room, Department of Energy, Richland, WA.
122Groves and Matthias had three possible ways: Norris, 368.
122“Production results have been extremely good”: Franklin Matthias diary, May 9, 1945. Available at the Public Reading Room, Department of Energy, Richland, WA.
123“get the hell out of the road”: Sanger, 197.
123When Eleanor Roosevelt met with Harry Truman: Goodwin, 604.
129The power of the Interim Committee: Sigal, “Bureaucratic Politics,” 329–30.
129By this time, Groves had been planning: Makhijani, 24.
129“publicly to affirm its determination”: Ellsberg, 226.
130who later wrote that Szilard had the greatest influence: Seaborg and Seaborg, 118.
134But the panel member who reportedly held out longest: Wyden, 171.
134“I believe your people actually want”: Davis, 182.
135“We didn’t know beans about the military situation in Japan”: Bird and Sherwin, 300.
135The argument that appears to have persuaded: Bernstein, “Roosevelt, Truman and the Atomic Bomb,” 61.
135After the Doolittle raid of April 1942: Prioli, 89.
136They built thousands of balloons filled with hydrogen: McDowell, 55.
CHAPTER 14: TRINITY
137extracted from a hot-press mold: Baker et al., 146.
137They would fit “rather easily”: Sanger, 201.
138director of the test suggested stocking up: Hoddeson et al., 325.
138A technician accidentally dropped that first initiator: Ibid., 318.
138He later cited several sources: Rhodes, Making of the Atomic Bomb, 572.
139“important headquarters or troop concentrations”: Groves, Now It Can Be Told, 267.
141“It’s across the river and it would take a long time to get it”: Giovannitti and Freed, 40–41.
141Opinions differ on exactly why Stimson: Kelly, “Why Did Henry Stimson Spare Kyoto from the Bomb?” 183.
142“As to the matter of the special target”: Norris, 387.
143On July 24 a message arrived in Washington, DC: Giovannitti and Freed, 247.
144The endgame had been preordained long before: Bernstein, “Roosevelt, Truman, and the Atomic Bomb,” 24.
144Truman “was like a boy on a toboggan”: Knebel and Bailey, 20.
145He seems to have thought that Hiroshima: Wellerstein, “A ‘purely military’ target?”
146On Friday, July 13—a date chosen by George Kistiakowsky: Hoddeson et al., 367.
147“Let it stick there for a few minutes”: Ibid., 369.
147After one final test of the connections: Kunetka, 300.
148“I could not absent myself at that time”: Compton, Atomic Quest, 214.
149“Groves stayed with the Director”: Kunetka, 308.
150“There was only one dissenting vote”: Norris, 662, note 27.
151a light bright enough to be easily seen from the moon: Reed, 355–56.
151“at the end of the world:” Hershberg, 234.
151At the base camp, Fermi was so focused on an experiment: Libby, The Uranium People, 229.
152“The war is over”: Groves, Now It Can Be Told, 298.
CHAPTER 15: TINIAN ISLAND
153The previous evening he had watched: Sweeney, 195.
154“I’d rather face the Japanese than Tibbets”: Glines.
155“It’s your call, Chuck”: Sweeney, 204–5.
157Suddenly, as if walking through a doorway: Miller and Spitzer, 97.
157“W
e got something wrong here”: Bradbury and Blakeslee.
158“I know all about that”: Sweeney, 199.
160“I can’t see the goddamned target”: Miller and Spitzer, 101.
160“No drop,” Sweeney said: Sweeney, 213.
160“Zeros coming up”: Ibid., 214.
160“What’s wrong with Nagasaki?”: Miller and Spitzer, 103.
161“What’s the score?”: Ibid., 106.
161“It means that, if you agree”: Ibid., 108.
161“I’ll guarantee we come within five hundred feet of the target”: Sweeney, 217.
161“Let me think it over, Chuck”: Miller and Spitzer, 108.
162The plane was five minutes from Nagasaki: Coster-Mullen, 76.
162“I’ve changed my mind, Chuck”: Miller and Spitzer, 109.
162Jim Van Pelt had his face close: Olivi, 124.
162“I’ve got it!”: Miller and Spitzer, 110.
162“You own it”: Sweeney, 217.
163“Never, never again”: Miller and Spitzer, 110.
PART 3: UNDER THE MUSHROOM CLOUD
165“This was the day”: Shirabe, A Physician’s Diary, 1.
CHAPTER 16: NAGASAKI MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL
167At exactly eleven o’clock in the morning: From a report written by Raisuke Shirabe in November 1945, translated by Atsumi Nishimura. Available (in Japanese) at https://www-sdc.med.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/abcenter/hibaku-taiken/index.html#taiken1–06.
168“I cannot describe my thoughts”: Shirabe, A Physician’s Diary, 3.
168“You’re all right, don’t worry”: Shirabe, “My Experience and Damages.” Division of Scientific Data Registry, Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University. Available (in English) at https://www-sdc.med.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/abcenter/shirabe/index_e.html.
170“Where were you?”: Shirabe, A Physician’s Diary, 4.
171One of the students at the medical college: Akizuki, 39.
173“I sensed a kind of godliness”: Shirabe, A Physician’s Diary, 6.
173“Two children dragging the body”: Yasuyama, 111.
174He later calculated that the radiation from the bomb: From a report written by Raisuke Shirabe in November 1945, translated by Atsumi Nishimura. Available (in Japanese) at https://www-sdc.med.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/abcenter/hibaku-taiken/index.html#taiken1–06.
174Anyone standing outside the hospital: Glasstone and Dolan, 333.
174The bomb’s shock wave destroyed: Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 40.
176Houses within five miles of the hypocenter: Tsipis, 87–89.
176The most recent studies indicate: Robock et al., 9, and Mills et al., 161.
CHAPTER 17: THE URAKAMI VALLEY
177“Their voices were well harmonized”: Shirabe, A Physician’s Diary, 10.
180Right after the bombing: Committee for the Compilation of Materials on Damage Caused by the Atomic Bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 127–85.
181“Their voices were angry”: Shirabe, A Physician’s Diary, 36.
CHAPTER 18: NAGASAKI
183They found that within one kilometer: Shirabe et al., Statistical Observations, 2.
184These deaths “may represent death from secondary shock”: Ibid., 15.
184“The atomic bomb is not an inhumane weapon”: Southard, 109.
185In early September, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune: Weller, 3–22.
185“Today the writer spent nearly an hour”: Ibid., 31.
185they were lost for 60 years: Ibid., 306.
185Fourteen or fifteen people often lived: Southard, 134.
186“Men and women of the world”: Nagai, 118.
PART 4: CONFRONTING ARMAGEDDON
189“The total elimination of nuclear weapons”: Stoffels, “World Citizens for Peace Turns 25.”
CHAPTER 19: THE COLD WAR
191“I couldn’t help but believe that God: Van Arsdol, Hanford: The Big Secret, 78.
191even Matthias was initially unclear: Webb, “Local Press Response,” 45.
192“For all we know”: Boyer, 5.
192the Milwaukee Journal published a map: Ibid., 14.
193When a sample of Americans: Boyer, 183.
193Almost 100,000 Americans died in combat: Clodfelter, 584.
194Because of the naval blockade: Frank, 149–63.
194Truman and his aides knew: Kuznick, 9.
194The entry of the Soviet Union into the war: Hasegawa, 195–201.
194they initially made little distinction: Wilson, Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons, 40–42.
194Groves’s single-minded determination: Goldberg, “Racing to the Finish,” 127.
194Meanwhile, Truman and his future secretary of state: Alperovitz, 270–75.
194“the most controversial issue in all of American history”: Walker, xi.
194The consensus view of most though not all: Ibid., 104.
195“not to use the weapon on Japan without warning”: Seaborg, Journals, 700.
195“I understand and do not quarrel”: Seaborg and Seaborg, 120.
196“I’m proud of you and all your people”: Bird and Sherwin, 315.
196“As the days passed”: Smith, A Peril and a Hope, 77.
197“When the second bomb was released”: Boyer, 49.
197“Before God our consciences are clear”: Bernstein, “Four Physicists and the Bomb,” 241.
197“We recognized that victory was necessary”: Compton, Atomic Quest, 277.
197“As regards criticism of physicists and scientists”: Hiltzik, 299.
198“All [here] are perplexed and bewildered”: Fermi, Atoms in the Family, 245.
198“I expect to sleep as well”: Boyer, 342.
198“I have no qualms of conscience”: Norris, 426.
198“I don’t think the second bomb”: Sanger, 41.
198For the rest of his life, he wildly exaggerated: Walker, 102.
199After his death, a researcher discovered: Dower, “Three Narratives,” 96.
199“In the summer of 1945”: Rabinowitch, 3.
199“one of the greatest blunders of history”: Lanouette, 276.
202One anthropologist described America: Boyer, 21.
202An article in Life magazine: “The 36-Hour War,” 27–35.
203“From the river west to Seventh Avenue”: Morrison, 8–15.
205“Discussion of process”: Gerber, On the Home Front, 47.
205Military intelligence continued to open mail: Loeb, 26.
206On September 21, he and his wife: Norris, 444.
207His final efficiency report said that Groves: Ibid., 504.
208A 1946 poll found that 54 percent of Americans: Boyer, 37.
208Within two weeks of Japan’s surrender: Herken, 142.
208“if there are to be atomic weapons in the world”: Norris, 473.
209Early that year, the commissioners: Gerber, Legend and Legacy, 18.
CHAPTER 20: BUILDING THE NUCLEAR ARSENAL
210On September 1, 1949, a B-29: Burr.
210“Provide us with atomic weapons”: Rhodes, Dark Sun, 179.
211According to documents made public: Trenear-Harvey, 133.
211Using gulag labor and nearby lakes and rivers: Brown, 88–123.
212Two-thirds of Americans said in a poll: Boyer, 339.
212“In the brutal and strident climate of the early Cold War”: Ibid., 350.
213“I thought, my lord, what have I gotten myself into?”: Ballard, interview by Douglas O’Reagan.
214A few months later: Ferguson and Smith, 108.
215They also used the heat from the cooling water: Carlisle and Zenzen, 99.
217Among the first dramatic groups: Pugnetti, 130.
218“maternal deaths, infant deaths, and deaths from other causes”: Gerber, Legend and Legacy, 22.
218“the Birmingham of Washington”: Pihl.
218in 1950 it had seven Black residents: Findlay and Hevly, 275.
> 219less than a dozen African American clerks and custodians: Ibid., 129.
CHAPTER 21: PEAK PRODUCTION
222When it began generating electricity: Marshall.
222doubled America’s nuclear power capacity: Carlisle and Zenzen, 130.
223“I assume this is wholly on the level”: Cary, “Remembering JFK’s visit to Hanford.”
223“Today the wind is at your back”: Flenniken, 4.
225Originally budgeted at $47.7 million: Rhodes, Energy, 289.
225In the 1956 book Our Friend the Atom: Cooke, 119.
227“Fortunately,” Seaborg later quipped: Seaborg and Seaborg, 127.
228“not entirely successful in convincing their teachers”: Seaborg, Man-Made Transuranium Elements, 17.
228“with a complete lack of interest”: Seaborg and Seaborg, 136.
230In his final days: Libby, The Uranium People, 20.
231“the most difficult job I ever had”: Seaborg and Seaborg, 161.
231“doubts about the validity”: Ibid., 181.
232On June 7, 1968, Seaborg returned to Richland: Seaborg, Nuclear Milestones.
233Over the previous two years: Seaborg and Seaborg, 240.
234By 1968, the reactors on the Columbia and Savannah rivers: US Department of Energy, Plutonium Balance, 11–13.
236“We were told to close our eyes”: Flenniken, 16.
237Yet employment at Hanford did not go down much: Findlay and Hevly, 65.
237“nobody can lay pipe too slowly”: Loeb, 117.
CHAPTER 22: THE RECKONING
238Boosters in the Tri-Cities: Loeb, 110–11.
238Given estimates made about the same time: Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly, 123.
241In the fall elections: Wittner, 154.
241“No one expected a big crowd”: Godfrey.
244In 1981, it halted construction: Pope, 163–206.
245“The accident at Chernobyl”: Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly, 23.
245“agree on a stage-by-stage program”: Savranskaya and Blanton, “Gorbachev’s Nuclear Initiative of January 1986.”