53. There “may yet be another Fuchs in the project,” the committee’s intelligence expert warned Borden. JCAE, Soviet Atomic Espionage, (U.S. Government Printing office, 1951); Sheehy to Borden, Mar. 20, 1951, no. 2036, JCAE.
54. Mansfield to Borden, May 28, 1951, no. CCCXXXI, JCAE.
55. Second Fuchs: Minutes, Apr. 14, 1953, no. DCLXII, JCAE; Walker to Borden, Apr. 3, 1952, no. 2742; Fields to Borden, May 5, 1952, no. 2773; and Mansfield to file, May 28, 1952, no. DLVI, JCAE.
56. The president was told about the document by the Joint Committee’s acting chairman, Congressman Carl Durham, the day following the inauguration; Ike asked to see a copy a few days later. Eisenhower did not acknowledge receipt of the chronology until Feb. 14, 1953. Richard Hewlett and Jack Holl, Atoms for War and Peace, 1953–1961: Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission (University of California Press, 1989), 34.
57. Borden and Walker contemptuously dismissed Bethe’s counterchronology as a “whitewash”; the Cornell physicist had not even been at the 1946 conference, they pointed out. Walker to files, Oct. 3, 1952, no. 3049, JCAE.
58. Walker to Borden, July 16, 1952, no. 3098, JCAE.
59. Pike to McMahon, June 12, 1950, AEC/NARA; 1950 Fuchs interview: Robert Lamphere to Hoover, June 6, 1950, serial 1412, Klaus Fuchs file, no. 65–58805, FBI.
60. “Committee Business,” Feb. 18, 1953, no. 3281, JCAE.
61. Cotter to Borden, Jan. 27, 1953, no. 3217, and Dean to Cole, Apr. 9, 1953, no. DCXV, JCAE; Hewlett and Holl (1989), 38. A subsequent “damage assessment” done for the AEC by Bethe, Teller, and others—based on the documents that Walker sent Wheeler—concluded that it “clearly reveals the idea of the radiation implosion” as well as “construction elements” of Mike. In his memoirs, Wheeler misremembered what was in the lost document. Wheeler and Ford (1998), 285.
62. Wheeler incident: “Committee Business,” Feb. 18, 1953, no. 3281, and Cotter to file, Mar. 25, 1953, no. 3389, JCAE.
63. “Meeting with President Eisenhower and NSC,” Feb. 16, 1953, Mansfield papers. The unknown author writes of Ike’s reaction: “I never saw anyone more excited and concerned. I remember [Eisenhower] saying that if this had happened in the Army the man would have been shot.”
64. Dean diary, Feb. 17, 1953, Dean papers.
65. Borden interview (1981).
66. Borden tried, unsuccessfully, to distract attention from the incident. Borden to Cole, Apr. 15, 1953, no. DCXVII, JCAE.
67. Fidler interview (1998); Hayward interview (1996).
68. Livermore origins: “Resumé of Meeting,” Aug. 19, 1952, LBL archives; Preparing for the 21st Century: 40 Years of Excellence, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL, 1998), 5–10; Phil Scheidermayer, “Recollections, Reminiscences, Reflections,” UCRL-AR-125101, July 1996, and various interviews, LLNL archives.
69. Even at this late date, Lawrence “said it was not intended that Livermore should become the second major weapons laboratory.” Minutes, AEC no. 744, Sept. 8, 1952, AEC/NARA. Ramrod: Livermore interviews. As its name implied, Ramrod showed Teller’s belated appreciation of the importance of compression in igniting the Super.
70. Project Whitney, named by York, was evidently inspired by Wheeler’s Project Matterhorn at Princeton. The AEC had originally hoped to keep the weapons work at Livermore a secret. AEC to Cooksey, Feb. 25, 1953, LBL.
71. Responsibility for the new Alarm Clock was transferred from Los Alamos to Livermore that summer. AEC no. 425/24, Aug. 18, 1952, AEC/NARA.
72. Francis (1996), 67.
73. Daring and bold did not always mean practical. Transcript of Arthur Hudgins interview, LLNL archives.
74. Hydride bomb: “Procurement of Deuterated Polyethylene,” Oct. 17 and 24, 1952, LBL; author interview with Wallace Decker, Livermore, Calif., June 11, 1997, and Street interview (1997).
75. Chromatics: Various correspondence, folder 3, carton 4, EOL; Childs (1968), 420–26; transcript of interviews with Alvarez and Gaither, box 1, Childs papers; Crawford Cooley, May 29, 1997, personal communication.
76. Neylan intervened with the regents to ensure that Lawrence retained sole patent rights on the tube.
77. “If you guys are going to do this kind of business, you are going to have to learn to put out a better looking product,” a Los Alamos physicist scolded his Livermore counterpart. Ruth test: Hansen (1988), 39 fn.; transcript of Wallace Decker interview, LLNL archives; Francis (1996), 68.
78. Eisenhower briefing: Hewlett and Holl (1989), 3–5; Anders (1987), 286.
79. Murray to Truman, Jan. 6, 1953, Murray papers.
80. Disarmament panel’s report: FRUS, 1952–1954, vol. 2, pt. 2, 1106–14, 1169–74.
81. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 51.
82. Ibid., 45.
83. Eisenhower was also reportedly concerned that he might be criticized for having too few Jews in his administration. Pfau (1984), 137.
84. After his meeting with Borden, Strauss spoke by telephone with Lawrence, Alvarez, and Pitzer. All knew of the 1942 Berkeley meeting and had been outspoken in their criticism of Oppie. Telegram, Borden to Lawrence, Dec. 23, 1952, and reply; Borden to Lawrence, Jan. 19, 1953, folder 25, carton 32, EOL.
85. Murphy’s principal source for the article had been Teddy Walkowicz, head of the air force’s Special Study Group, but Strauss reviewed the draft and evidently suggested changes. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 57; interview with Charles Murphy, June 12, 1954, sec. 42, JRO/FBI.
86. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 57.
87. Belmont to Ladd, May 23, 1952, sec. 12, JRO/FBI. Until a week before the verdict, Oppenheimer had expected to be called to the witness stand. Oppenheimer to Ruth Tolman, Feb. 27, 1953, box 72, JRO; Feb. 25, 1953, Dean diary, Dean papers.
88. “Weinberg Freed,” Kansas City Star, Mar. 5, 1953. Taking no chances, Weinberg’s defense attorney had filed a motion to suppress any evidence gathered by electronic means. Criminal docket, United States vs. Joseph W. Weinberg, May–June, 1953, U.S. District Court records, Washington, D.C. My thanks to Jim David for the records of the Weinberg trial.
89. Borden and McMahon had been Rickover’s ally in his protracted battles with the navy’s “battleship admirals.” Norman Polmar and Thomas Allen, Rickover: Controversy and Genius (Touchstone, 1982), 198; Pfau (1984), 150.
90. Allardice had been recommended to the Joint Committee by Strauss. Allardice: “Committee Business,” May 12, 1953, no. 3470, JCAE.
91. Previously, Borden had gone to
