Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard RhodesPulitzer Prize-winning historian and AHF Board Member Richard Rhodes delivers an engrossing seven-minute overview of the history of the Manhattan Project for the online program “Real News from the Blaze”. Illustrated by photographs and documentary clips, the “Real History of the Manhattan Project” provides an excellent brief summary of the Manhattan Project.


Rhodes closes with a discussion of how nuclear weapons have forever transformed warfare, quoting Manhattan Project mathematician Stanislaw Ulam, “It is an unending source of surprise for me to see how a few scribbles on a blackboard or on a sheet of paper could change the course of human affairs.”¹  

On February 13, the Tri-City Herald published an article about the proposed Manhattan Project National Historical Park and AHF's recently released Guide to the Manhattan Project in Washington State. Thanks for the press, Tri-City Herald! We hope other news outlets will highlight the proposed Park and our guidebook.

You can purchase a copy of our Guide to the Manhattan Project in Washington State here.

 

 

   
                The B Reactor at Hanford today         
  

With Congressman Doc Hastings serving as chairman of the House committee responsible for national parks, prospects are very good that Congress will enact legislation to designate a Manhattan Project National Historical Park this year.

Just in time, the Atomic Heritage Foundation’s new Guide to the Manhattan Project in Washington State gives a preview of what the park at Hanford, WA might include, and provides information about related sites throughout the State.  Senator Maria Cantwell, a champion of the new park, said, “This guide will help current and future generations understand both the scientific contributions and enormous sacrifices made in Washington State for the war effort.”

To build Manhattan Project facilities, the Army Corps of Engineers acquired over 570 square miles in the Columbia Basin, roughly half the size of Rhode Island, almost overnight. The guide explains why the desolate, windy desert land nestled between the Cascade Mountains and the Bitterroot Range proved so attractive to Army officials.  When Colonel Kenneth “Fritz” Nichols first toured the area in December 1942, he quickly realized that it presented an ideal site to build the world’s first plutonium production plant.

The guide includes personal testaments to life in the secret installation. The Corps of Engineers speedily built hundreds of standardized “alphabet houses” to accommodate the influx of workers from across the country. With rows of identical houses, children often had a hard time finding their home. The DuPont Company signed on to manage the entire operation, from designing the reactor and other plants to building the sprawling industrial complex connected by 158 miles of railroad tracks. The Manhattan Project transformed the Tri-Cities area from small agricultural communities to bustling frontier towns. The Army’s development paved the way for Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick to become the large and economically successful cities they are today, proud of their seminal role in World War II.

               The B Reactor at Hanford in 1945

The book describes the Hanford Engineer Works, as the site was known, and the enormous human capital involved.  Fifty thousand people worked on the construction alone, requiring eight mess halls that served an average of 19,500 meals. Producing plutonium at Hanford involved three major operations—fuel fabrication, reactor operations, and chemical separation to extract the plutonium---and countless innovations in technology.  Governor Chris Gregoire commented, “Like no other place, Hanford’s B Reactor serves as a monument to our nation’s ingenuity and determination.”

The guidebook highlights the challenges of designing these first-of-a-kind facilities. As David Nicandri, President of the Washington State Historical Society, said, “Wherever one stands on the use of nuclear weapons, Hanford represents a significant chapter in the history of engineering.”

Washington also turned out planes and ships and trained pilots. From the Boeing factory at Renton that produced the B-29 Superfortress (the planes that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki), to Bremerton’s Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, to Pasco’s Naval Air Station, Washington was a major contributor to the nation’s success in World War II.                                                                                                                                 A mess hall full of Hanford workers

Filled with colorful photographs and engaging stories, the guide provides an excellent overview to this fascinating chapter in Washington’s history. As Senator Patty Murray wrote for the book jacket, “Hanford and Washington State played a critical role in the Manhattan Project. We need to ensure that future generations can reflect on and learn from this history.”

The book is available from the Atomic Heritage Foundation’s store, Amazon, and museum stores in Washington State.

AHF would like to extend a special thanks to Crystal Trust and M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust for providing the funds for the development and publication of this book.

 

 

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos

John Roos, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, defended the proposed Manhattan Project National Historical Park in a January letter penned to the mayor of Hiroshima, Kazumi Matsui. Ambassador Roos reassured Matsui that the Park will function as "an educational and commemorative facility” and "will provide insight into an undertaking that transformed American science, politics, economics, society and culture and left an indelible legacy for the world today." He explained the importance of historical contextualization, declaring, “As we look to the future and a world without nuclear weapons, it is fitting to remember that era through the lens of history, which the promised park aims to achieve."

Ambassador Roos’ letter responds to concerns expressed in letters by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and submitted to Roos in early December. Matsui stated, "The people of Hiroshima were profoundly alarmed" by the proposed Manhattan Project Historical Park. He argued that such a park would oppose "the wishes of the millions of people around the world calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons” and “would communicate an erroneous and dangerous message to future generations." Ambassador Roos’ diplomatically explains that the Park will serve as an educational tool and will consider the history of nuclear weapons from every angle.

The interpretation of the Manhattan Project Historical Park will be the responsibility of the National Park Service (NPS). With its long-standing oversight of controversial landmarks, including the Manzanar National Historic Site, a Japanese internment camp during World War II, and Little Bighorn Battlefield, the site of one of the last armed efforts by Native American tribes to preserve their way of life, the NPS is well practiced in telling the story of sites with divisive histories.