Nexus - 0401 - New Times Magazine-pages

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A salutation, "My dear Mr Minister", led to a few sentences of stock courtesies. One passage, of eleven words, in the top line of the second page, impressed me enough to merit a scribble on my envelope. That excerpt ran thus: "_____ had a hell of a time getting these away from Groves." The last two words should not be taken as referring to Major General Leslie R. Groves himself. What they meant, proba- bly, was "from the Groves organization". The commander of the Manhattan Engineer District, later the Manhattan Project, was almost unique in the Washington hierarchy for his dislike and suspicion of Russia... The first thing I had done, on finding the White House note, was to flip over the page to look for a signature. I penciled it on my envelope as "H. H." | This may not have been an exact transcription. In any case, my intention is clear. It was to chron- icle, on the spot, my identification of the author as Harry Hopkins. It was general usage at Great Falls and elsewhere to refer to him as "Harry Hopkins", without the middle initial. I remember distinctly having had to remove that letter from a metal clip. It held two other exhibits—obviously the things which [someone] had such difficulty in submitted to the Bureau of Standards for a "getting away from Groves". One was a _ test of its age. thick map. When unfolded, it proved to be For the first time in my life, I met the as wide as the span of my extended arms. word "uranium". The exact phrase was In large letters it bore a legend which I "Uranium 92". From a book of reference I recorded: "Oak Ridge, Manhattan learned afterward that uranium is the 92nd Engineering District". element in atomic weight. The other was a carbon copy of a report, At the time of this episode I was as two or three pages long, which was dated unaware as anyone could be of Oak Ridge, Oak Ridge. If it had a signature, I did not the Manhattan District and its chief, set itdown. At the top of the first page, General Groves. The enterprise has been impressed with a rubber stamp, or typed, celebrated as "the best guarded secret in was the legend: "Harry Hopkins" followed history". It was superlatively hush-hush, to by the title "Special Asst. Co-ordinator" or the extreme that Army officers in the "Administrator". I gathered that this partic- "know" were forbidden to mention it over ular copy had been earmarked for Mr_ their private telephones inside the Hopkins. In the text of the report was Pentagon. General Groves has testified encountered a series of vocables so out- that his office would have refused to send landish that I made a memo to look up their any documents to the White House, with- meaning. Among them were "cyclotron", out authority from himself, even if it was "proton" and "deuteron". There were curi- requested personally by the President... ous phrases like "energy produced by fis- sion" and "walls five feet thick, of lead and Water, to control flying neutrons”. Copies of From Major Jordan's Diaries Probably no more than 200 men in all the | are available from NEXUS. Contact your country would have been capable at the | local office for prices. In Australia, send time of noting down these particular $40.00 (includes p&h) to: expressions out of their own heads. The NEXUS, PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 paper on which I made my notes was later Continued in the next issue of NEXUS... submitted to the Bureau of Standards for a test of its age. For the first time in my life, I met the word "uranium". The exact phrase was "Uranium 92". From a book of reference I learned afterward that uranium is the 92nd element in atomic weight. At the time of this episode I was as unaware as anyone could be of Oak Ridge, the Manhattan District and its chief, General Groves. The enterprise has been celebrated as "the best guarded secret in history". It was superlatively hush-hush, to the extreme that Army officers in the "know" were forbidden to mention it over their private telephones inside the Pentagon. General Groves has testified that his office would have refused to send any documents to the White House, with- out authority from himself, even if it was requested personally by the President... NEXUS +83 — The Explosive Secrets of Major Jordan's Diaries — DECEMBER 1996 - JANUARY 1997