General Leslie Groves, Manhattan Project Director, Personnel Files, Documents, Publicatons

General Leslie Groves, Manhattan Project Director, Personnel Files, Documents, Publications and Newspapers 

This collection contains 1,831 pages.

Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves Jr. (1896 – 1970) was a United States Army Corps of Engineers officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and directed the Manhattan Project, the top-secret research project that developed the atomic bomb during World War II.

In September 1942, the War Department, on the order of President Roosevelt, gave the task of overseeing the building of the atomic bomb to Groves, who was selected to head the Manhattan Project and to organize the work of the scientists to develop the first nuclear weapons.

“Without Groves’ vision, drive, and administrative ability, it is highly unlikely that the atomic bomb would have been completed when it was,” wrote Robert Norris of the Federation of American Scientists, in his book, "Racing for the Bomb." 

This collection includes:

Official Military Personnel File for Leslie R. Groves

900 pages of documents from the War Department and the Department of Defense.

This Official Military Personnel File includes records from the following folders: Service Documents (November 1918-July 1970); Awards, Decorations, & Commendations (April 1924-August 1948); Efficiency/Fitness Reports (June 1916-February 1948); Medical Records (January 1920-April 1970); Photograph (1948).

Documents

40 pages of historical documents, memos, and notes covering milestones in Groves' involvement in the development of nuclear weapons.

 
Publications

699 pages in 9 publications covering the history of the creation of the American Nuclear program with significant coverage of General Leslie Groves. Academic histories created by the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Naval Postgraduate School, National War College, United States Atomic Energy Commission, and the U.S. Army War College.

The histories include:

Manhattan District History - Nonscientific Aspects of Los Alamos Project Y - 1942 through 1946 (1946)

Acquisition Systems Protection Planning the Manhattan Project - A Case Study (1994)

Truman's Atomic Bomb Decision - An Attack on Japan's Center of Gravity (1996)

The Role of Congress in the Strategic Posture of the United States, 1942-1960 - Manhattan Project to the New Look (2010)

Atomic Army - The Roles of the U.S. Army in America’s Nuclear Endeavors (2014)

 
Newspapers

192 full-sheet American newspapers sheets, dating from 1940 to 1962, carrying news about Leslie Groves.  The newspapers are from across the country, from Alaska to Washington D.C.'s The Evening Star.