The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II

by Denise Kiernan

  The battle of the laboratories held fateful risks for us as well as the battles of the air, land, and sea, and we have now won the battle of the laboratories as we have won the other battles.

  Beginning in 1940, before Pearl Harbor, scientific knowledge useful in war was pooled between the United States and Great Britain, and many priceless helps to our victories have come from that arrangement. Under that general policy the research on the atomic bomb was begun. With American and British scientists working together we entered the race of discovery against the Germans.

  A cloud hung over Hiroshima. The estimated damaged area was 1.7 square miles, with initial calculations indicating approximately 70,000 people were killed instantly—nearly the population of Oak Ridge—with roughly the same number of people injured. Those reports would soon be revised up, with closer to 140,000 people dead, though precise numbers are impossible to know. News about the bombing began to spread quickly across the world as well as the Reservation. Wives with access to radios and phones called husbands at work. Whispers became shouts; gossip morphed into fact. At K-25, Colleen Rowan heard the news after a coworker’s wife had called. She went out to buy a copy of the Knoxville newspaper. It usually sold for a nickel, but today “extras” were going for $1—and everyone had sold out.

  The United States had available the large number of scientists of distinction in the many needed areas of knowledge. It had the tremendous industrial and financial resources necessary for the project and they could be devoted to it without undue impairment of other vital war work. In the United States the laboratory work and the production plants, on which a substantial start had already been made, would be out of reach of enemy bombing, while at that time Britain was exposed to constant air attack and was still threatened with the possibility of invasion. For these reasons Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt agreed that it was wise to carry on the project here. We now have two great plants and many lesser works devoted to the production of atomic power. Employment during peak construction numbered 125,000 and over 65,000 individuals are even now engaged in operating the plants. Many have worked there for two and a half years. Few know what they have been producing. They see great quantities of material going in and they see nothing coming out of those plants, for the physical size of the explosive charge is exceedingly small. We have spent two billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history—and won.

  But the greatest marvel is not the size of the enterprise, its secrecy, nor its cost, but the achievement of scientific brains in putting together infinitely complex pieces of knowledge held by many men in different fields of science into a workable plan. And hardly less marvelous has been the capacity of industry to design, and of labor to operate, the machines and methods to do things never done before so that the brain child of many minds came forth in physical shape and performed as it was supposed to do. Both science and industry worked under the direction of the United States Army, which achieved a unique success in managing so diverse a problem in the advancement of knowledge in an amazingly short time. It is doubtful if such another combination could be got together in the world. What has been done is the greatest achievement of organized science in history. It was done under high pressure and without failure.

  Jane Greer stood up, walked away from the numbers she had been crunching, and strolled to the window, unable to ignore the growing ruckus. Nothing had changed since Germany’s surrender. But now shouts and cheers rose up to her second-story window in building 9731. She looked down and saw something unexpected, especially during a workday.

  A large crowd was gathered on an expanse of muddy ground outside the building. People were ecstatic. They hugged each other and yelled excitedly to any other curious passersby.

  Whatever’s going on must be big, Jane thought. As she opened the window, the volume of the throng increased. She leaned out over the mayhem, trying to get someone’s attention so that she could find out what had happened. Surely, it had something to do with the war.

  Or did it have something to do with them?

  We are now prepared to obliterate more rapidly and completely every productive enterprise the Japanese have above ground in any city. We shall destroy their docks, their factories, and their communications. Let there be no mistake; we shall completely destroy Japan’s power to make war.

  It was to spare the Japanese people from utter destruction that the ultimatum of July 26 was issued at Potsdam. Their leaders promptly rejected that ultimatum. If they do not now accept our terms they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth. Behind this air attack will follow sea and land forces in such numbers and power as they have not yet seen and with the fighting skill of which they are already well aware.

  Leaflets to this very effect were dropped on Japanese cities following the bombing, stating that this bomb had been used because of the rejection of the declaration to surrender issued from Potsdam.

  ATTENTION JAPANESE PEOPLE. EVACUATE YOUR CITIES.

  Because your military leaders have rejected the thirteen part surrender declaration, two momentous events have occurred in the last few days.

  The Soviet Union, because of this rejection on the part of the military has notified your Ambassador Sato that it has declared war on your nation. Thus, all powerful countries of the world are now at war with you.

  Also, because of your leaders’ refusal to accept the surrender declaration that would enable Japan to honorably end this useless war, we have employed our atomic bomb.

  A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s could have carried on a single mission. Radio Tokyo has told you that with the first use of this weapon of total destruction, Hiroshima was virtually destroyed.

  Before we use this bomb again and again to destroy every resource of the military by which they are prolonging this useless war, petition the emperor now to end the war. Our president has outlined for you the thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender. We urge that you accept these consequences and begin the work of building a new, better, and peace-loving Japan.

  Act at once or we shall resolutely employ this bomb and all our other superior weapons to promptly and forcefully end the war.

  EVACUATE YOUR CITIES.

  Pamphlets floated down from a troubled sky, as the Japanese season of the Obon was about to begin, a time of communing with the spirits of one’s ancestors, a time when the living honor their dead. The papers landed on grass and rubble, warning of distant fires, smoky remains, and more destruction to come.

  In the United States, the president’s statement continued:

  The Secretary of War, who has kept in personal touch with all phases of the project, will immediately make public a statement giving further details. His statement will give facts concerning the sites at Oak Ridge near Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Richland near Pasco, Washington, and an installation near Santa Fe, New Mexico. Although the workers at the sites have been making materials to be used in producing the greatest destructive force in history they have not themselves been in danger beyond that of many other occupations, for the utmost care has been taken of their safety.

  Oak Ridge?

  Ears in Dr. Rea’s office and across the Reservation perked up.

  OAK RIDGE! Those with access to phones yanked receivers from cradles and began dialing furiously. Others found themselves rooted to their spots in front of the radio, lest any more information about Oak Ridge be divulged.

  This was different.

  This announcement wasn’t just about a bomb.

  It was about what had been going on here the whole time.

  Oak Ridge’s secret was out.

  The fact that we can release atomic energy ushers in a new era in man’s understanding of nature’s forces. Atomic energy may in the future supplement the power that now comes from coal, oil, and falling water, but at present it cannot be produced on a basis to com
pete with them commercially. Before that comes there must be a long period of intensive research.

  It has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or the policy of this Government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge. Normally, therefore, everything about the work with atomic energy would be made public.

  But under present circumstances it is not intended to divulge the technical processes of production or all the military applications, pending further examination of possible methods of protecting us and the rest of the world from the danger of sudden destruction.

  I shall recommend that the Congress of the United States consider promptly the establishment of an appropriate commission to control the production and use of atomic power within the United States. I shall give further consideration and make further recommendations to the Congress as to how atomic power can become a powerful and forceful influence towards the maintenance of world peace.

  ★ ★ ★

  “Now you know what we’ve been doing all this time.”

  Rosemary looked at Dr. Rea as he spoke to the small crowd still gathered in his office. The address was finished, but for Oak Ridgers, the news was just beginning to sink in.

  Bombing Hiroshima with this new and powerful weapon was enough of a development to digest. But Oak Ridgers now scrambled to learn more about their roles in what had happened.

  It all made sense now: the gates and the guards and the plants and the schedule and the secrecy. Of all the words the president had uttered, that single mention of “Oak Ridge” had caused perhaps the greatest shock of all.

  Rosemary found the entire experience—finally learning what had been going on around her for the past two years—unnerving, exciting, a bit skin-crawling. Definitely shocking.

  And now there was an ultimatum for Japan to surrender.

  But would they? If they did, it would mean the end of the war. This was the conversation on the lips of many Americans, but at CEW, Oak Ridgers struggled to process not only the event itself, but the fact that they had all, in some way, played a part.

  ★ ★ ★

  “It was evident when the war began that the development of atomic energy for war purposes would occur in the near future and it was a question of which nations would control the discovery . . .”

  So stated Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson in his own “Statement on the Bombing of Japan” released August 6. He went into limited detail about the atomic bomb, describing the new weapon as perhaps the “greatest achievement of the combined efforts of science industry, labor, and the military in all history.”

  “Improvement” would be made, increasing effectiveness and possibly the “scale of magnitude.” Little Boy’s impact would pale in comparison to what might be developed down the line.

  “The possession of this weapon by the United States even in its present form should prove a tremendous aid in the shortening of the war against Japan,” he said.

  Exact methods would not be revealed, obviously, but “in accord with its policy of keeping the people of the nation as completely informed as is consistent with national security, the War Department wishes to make known at this time, at least in broad dimension, the story behind this tremendous weapon which has been developed so effectively to hasten the end of the war.”

  Stimson started in 1939, with the discovery of fission, and emphasized that the “fundamental scientific knowledge” that was the basis for the development of the atomic bomb was known in a number of countries. Japan, he felt, would not be using an atomic bomb in this war—which was not yet over—and any efforts by Germany to develop her own weapon ended with her defeat.

  He described the close work between the United States and the United Kingdom, how the Project had started first in the Office of Scientific Research and Development, under Dr. Vannevar Bush before control of the project was transferred to the War Department and the command of now Maj. Gen. Leslie R. Groves.

  This man—General Groves—had officially taken over the Manhattan Project just under three years ago. By sheer force of will and roughly $2 billion, he’d bulldozed his way to a successful Gadget with the help of a team of scientists led by J. Robert Oppenheimer and hundreds of thousands of workers across the country.

  A Government-owned and operated city, named Oak Ridge, was established within the reservation to accommodate the people working on the project. They live under normal conditions in modest houses, dormitories, hutments, and trailers, and have for their use all the religious, recreational, educational, medical, and other facilities of a modern small city. The total population of Oak Ridge is approximately 78,000 and consists of construction workers and plant operators and their immediate families; others live in immediately surrounding communities.

  Stimson continued: “The large size and isolated location of this site was made necessary by the need for security and for safety against possible, but then unknown, hazards.”

  He detailed the plants in Hanford, Washington, and the labs in New Mexico, identifying Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer—the “genius,” in Stimson’s words—largely responsible for the development of the bomb. Stimson also acknowledged the many “smaller” sites and universities—Columbia, University of Chicago, Iowa State, and more—and countries and governments, including Canada. He thanked the many companies involved—M. W. Kellogg, Union Carbide, Tennessee Eastman, DuPont, and more—but did not mention the specific names of the plants they helped construct and manage: Y-12, K-25, S-50, and X-10.

  Stimson thanked the press as well for complying with the requests of the Office of Censorship. Across the country, news editors had finally run their fingers under the gummed flaps of the envelopes they had been instructed not to open until further notice. As they did, official statements and photos poured out, many of which had been taken by the Photographer, Ed Westcott. There was talk of patent control and the need to maintain adequate supplies of the element known to thousands of Project employees by the name “tubealloy.” As for the ultratight security and the remarkable ability for so many thousands of people to keep such a big secret as well as they had, Stimson admitted:

  The work has been completely compartmentalized so that while many thousands of people have been associated with the program in one way or another, no one has been given more information concerning it than was absolutely necessary to do his particular job. As a result only a few highly placed persons in Government and science know the entire story.

  There was an inherent promise to atomic fission in peacetime, he said, and a question of how to employ this science going forward, since its most visible use thus far was as a devastating weapon. He predicted it would take many years of research “for the conversion of atomic energy into useful power. . . . We are at the threshold of a new industrial art . . .”

  ★ ★ ★

  What had for so long been a drought of information came now as a flood. But people who worked in the plants at CEW still wondered what, exactly, they might have been doing all this time. The specific details of their roles in the Oak Ridge story did not always trickle down. The complete story would, for many of them, remain beyond their grasp for decades to come.

  No one took Helen and Dot aside to explain what happened when they turned their knobs this way or that, or told them they were helping operate calutrons. Colleen was not then told what the pipes she continued to inspect carried. Kattie did not know what the plant she cleaned had done. Yes, chemists like Virginia Spivey and statisticians like Jane Greer could assemble the informational pieces a little more easily for themselves, but the full picture from start to finish was not made public.

  Everyone at CEW found themselves recasting discussions and experiences in light of the new information. Oak Ridge’s precise role was not entirely clear to many. Some assumed they had built the bomb itself. That they had actually been helping create the atomic bomb’s fuel source was too abstruse for many to comprehend. And most details remained top secret.

  But that was no matter.

&n
bsp; Oak Ridgers finally knew something. There was something to pin their efforts and their work on. They had played a part in what appeared to be a key turning point in the war, one that might end it for good.

  Elizabeth Edwards, Oak Ridge’s librarian transplant from the New York Public Library, went to the shelf containing the encyclopedias. She looked over the spines and stopped at the volume containing the letter U. As she picked up the book, it fell open as if on command, the spine already worn and bent and broken from more than a year of being opened to the same page over and over by chemistry-savvy people trying to make sense of what they thought might possibly be going on.

  On that well-worn page was a long streak of black ink, smudged by fingers of sweaty, overworked hands, leading to a word, the element that gave the Clinton Engineer Works its reason for existence.

  ★ ★ ★

  In the ensuing celebration that day and into the night, words that previously had gone unmentioned, whether unknown or forbidden, passed everyone’s lips, ricocheting off walls and the hushed spaces of plants, and cafeterias and buses.

  Uranium!

  Atomic!

  Bombs!

  Radiation!

  Plutonium!

  There were 235s and 238s ringing in people’s ears, even though most of them had never heard of either. Children were in a tizzy jabbering on about the “automatic bomb.” “Stay on the job” still remained the message at work. The war was not yet over, still many workers took to the streets. Cubicle operators abandoned their panels, chemists walked away from their benches. As the celebration and the release of so much pent-up curiosity continued, some recoiled at the sound of words they had been explicitly forbidden to utter. Scientists who had banished certain terms from their vocabularies found it hard to hear the language bandied about so freely.