Editing Leslie Groves (section)

=== Manhattan Project ===
{{Main|Manhattan Project}}
[[File:United States Department of State headquarters.jpg|thumb|right|Groves ran the Manhattan Project from the fifth floor of the [[Harry S Truman Building|New War Department Building]].|alt=Columned facade of a building.]]
The [[Manhattan Engineer District]] (MED) was formally established by the Chief of Engineers, Major General [[Eugene Reybold]] on 16 August 1942. The name was chosen by Groves and MED's district engineer, Colonel [[James C. Marshall]]. Like other engineer districts, it was named after the city where its headquarters was located, at [[Tower 270|270 Broadway]]. Unlike the others, it had no geographic boundaries, only a mission: to develop an [[atomic bomb]]. Marshall had the authority of a division engineer head and reported directly to Reybold.<ref name="Fine&Remington, pp. 659-661">{{harvnb|Fine|Remington|1972|pp=659–661}}</ref>

Although Reybold was satisfied with the progress being made, [[Vannevar Bush]] was less so. He felt that aggressive leadership was required, and suggested the appointment of a prestigious officer as overall project director. Somervell, now Chief of [[Army Service Forces]], recommended Groves.<ref name="Fine&Remington, pp. 659-661"/> Somervell met Groves outside the hearing room where Groves had been testifying before a [[United States Congress]] committee on military housing and informed him that "The [[Secretary of War]] has selected you for a very important assignment, and the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt|President]] has approved the selection&nbsp;... If you do the job right, it will win the war." Groves could not hide his disappointment at not receiving a combat assignment: "Oh, that thing," he replied.<ref name="Groves, pp. 3-4">{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=3–4}}</ref>

[[File:Groves Oppenheimer.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Groves (left) and [[Robert Oppenheimer]]|alt=A man in shirt and tie and another wearing a suit stand behind a writing desk. On the wall behind is a map of the Pacific.]]
Groves met with Major General [[Wilhelm D. Styer]] in his office at the Pentagon to discuss the details. They agreed that in order to avoid suspicion, Groves would continue to supervise the Pentagon project. He would be promoted to brigadier general, as it was felt that the title "general" would hold more sway with the academic scientists working on the Manhattan Project.<ref name="Groves, pp. 4-5">{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=4–5}}</ref> Groves therefore waited until his promotion came through on 23 September 1942 before assuming his new command. His orders placed him directly under Somervell rather than Reybold, with Marshall now answerable to Groves.<ref name="Fine&Remington, pp. 659-661" />

Groves was given authority to sign contracts for the project from 1 September 1942. The [[United States Under Secretary of War|Under Secretary of War]], [[Robert P. Patterson]], retrospectively delegated his authority from the President under the [[War Powers Act of 1941]] in a memorandum to Groves dated 17 April 1944. Groves delegated the authority to [[Kenneth Nichols]], except for contracts of $5 million or more that required his authority. The written authority was only given in 1944 when Nichols was about to sign a contract with Du Pont, and it was found that Nichols's original authority to sign project contracts for Marshall was based on a verbal authority from Styer, and Nichols only had the low delegated authority of a divisional engineer.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|p=132}}

Groves soon decided to establish his project headquarters on the fifth floor of the [[Harry S Truman Building|New War Department Building]], now known as the Harry S Truman Building, in Washington, D.C., where Marshall had maintained a liaison office.<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=27–28}}</ref> In August 1943, the MED headquarters moved to [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], but the name of the district did not change.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|p=88}}</ref>
Construction accounted for roughly 90 percent of the Manhattan Project's total cost.<ref>{{harvnb|Fine|Remington|1972|p=663}}</ref> The day after Groves took over, he and Marshall took a train to [[Tennessee]] to inspect the site that Marshall had chosen for the proposed production plant at Oak Ridge. Groves was suitably impressed with the site,<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=25–26}}</ref> and steps were taken to [[Eminent domain|condemn]] the land. Protests, legal appeals, and congressional inquiries were to no avail. By mid-November [[U.S. Marshal]]s were tacking notices to vacate on farmhouse doors, and construction contractors were moving in.<ref name="Fine&Remington, pp. 663-664">{{harvnb|Fine|Remington|1972|pp=663–664}}</ref>

[[File:(Major General Leslie R. Groves, in charge of the Manhattan Project.) - NARA - 535931.tif|thumb|right|upright|Groves at his desk, 1945]]
Meanwhile, Groves had met with [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]], a physicist at the [[University of California, Berkeley]], and discussed the creation of a laboratory where the bomb could be designed and tested. Groves was impressed with the breadth of Oppenheimer's knowledge. He had a long conversation on a train after a meeting in Chicago on October 15, when Groves invited Oppenheimer to join Marshall and Nichols on the [[20th Century Limited]] train returning to New York. After dinner on the train they discussed the project while squeezed into Nichols's one-person roomette, and when Oppenheimer left the train at Buffalo, Nichols had no doubt that he should direct the new lab.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|p=73}} Groves saw that Oppenheimer thoroughly understood the issues involved in setting up a laboratory in a remote area. These were features that Groves found lacking in other scientists, and he knew that broad knowledge would be vital in an interdisciplinary project that would involve not just [[physics]], but [[chemistry]], [[metallurgy]], ordnance, and [[engineering]].<ref name="Bird & Sherwin, pp 185-187" />

In October 1942 Groves and Oppenheimer inspected sites in [[New Mexico]], where they selected a suitable location for the laboratory at [[Los Alamos, New Mexico|Los Alamos]]. Unlike Oak Ridge, the [[Los Alamos Ranch School|ranch school]] at Los Alamos, along with {{Convert|54000|acres|ha}} of surrounding forest and grazing land, was soon acquired.<ref name="Fine&Remington, pp. 664-665">{{harvnb|Fine|Remington|1972|pp=664–665}}</ref> Groves also detected in Oppenheimer something that many others did not, an "overweening ambition" which Groves reckoned would supply the drive necessary to push the project to a successful conclusion. Groves became convinced that Oppenheimer was the best and only man to run the laboratory.<ref name="Bird & Sherwin, pp 185-187">{{harvnb|Bird|Sherwin|2005|pp=185–187}}</ref>
[[File:K-25 Air View Oak Ridge (7795431078).jpg|alt=Oblique aerial view of an enormous U-shaped building.|left|thumb|The [[K-25|Oak Ridge K-25 Plant]]]]
Few agreed with him in 1942. Oppenheimer had little administrative experience and, unlike other potential candidates, no [[Nobel Prize]]. There was also concern about whether Oppenheimer was a security risk, as many of his associates were [[communist]]s, including his brother [[Frank Oppenheimer]], his wife [[Katherine Oppenheimer]], and his girlfriend [[Jean Tatlock]].<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=72–73}}</ref> Oppenheimer's [[Communist Party USA|Communist Party]] connections soon came to light,<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=260–263}}</ref> but Groves personally waived the security requirements and issued Oppenheimer a clearance on 20 July 1943.<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=61–63}}</ref> Groves's faith in Oppenheimer was ultimately justified. Oppenheimer's inspirational leadership fostered practical approaches to designing and building bombs. Asked years later why Groves chose him, Oppenheimer replied that the general "had a fatal weakness for good men."<ref>{{harvnb|Norris|2002|p=242}}</ref> [[Isidor Rabi]] considered the appointment "a real stroke of genius on the part of General Groves, who was not generally considered to be a genius&nbsp;..."<ref name="Bird & Sherwin, pp 185-187" />

[[File:Groves and Farrel.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Groves and Brigadier General [[Thomas Farrell (general)|Thomas Farrell]] in 1945|alt=Two men in shirts and a ties. One is sitting at a desk and the other standing. Both are talking on telephones.]]
Groves made critical decisions on prioritizing the various methods of [[isotope separation]] and acquiring raw materials needed by the scientists and engineers. By the time he assumed command of the project, it was evident that the AA-3 priority rating that Marshall had obtained was insufficient. The top ratings were AA-1 through AA-4 in descending order, although there was also a special AAA rating reserved for emergencies. Ratings AA-1 and AA-2 were for essential weapons and equipment, so Colonel [[Lucius D. Clay]], the deputy chief of staff at Services and Supply for requirements and resources, felt that the highest rating he could assign was AA-3, although he was willing to provide an AAA rating on request for critical materials to remove bottlenecks.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=57–61}}</ref> Groves went to [[Donald M. Nelson]], the chairman of the [[War Production Board]] and, after threatening to take the matter to the President, obtained a AAA priority for the Manhattan project. It was agreed that the AA-3 priority would still be used where possible.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=80–82}}</ref>

The Combined Development Trust was established by the governments of the United Kingdom, United States and Canada in June 1944, with Groves as its chairman, to procure [[uranium]] and [[thorium]] ores on international markets. In 1944, the trust purchased {{Convert|3440000|lb|kg}} of uranium oxide ore from companies [[Belgian Congo in World War II#Uranium|operating mines]] in the [[Belgian Congo]]. In order to avoid briefing the [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Treasury Secretary]], [[Henry Morgenthau Jr.]], on the project, a special account not subject to the usual auditing and controls was used to hold Trust monies. Between 1944 and the time he resigned from the Trust in 1947, Groves deposited a total of $37.5 million into the Trust's account.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=90, 299–306}}</ref>

Worried by the heavy losses occurring during the [[Battle of the Bulge]], in late December 1944 President Roosevelt requested atomic bombs be dropped on Germany during his only meeting with Groves during the war.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Norris |first1=Robert S. |title=Racing for the Bomb: The True Story of General Leslie R. Groves, the Man behind the Birth of the Atomic Age |date=21 October 2014 |publisher=Skyhorse |isbn=978-1-63220-101-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xy51EAAAQBAJ&dq=battle+of+the+bulge+leslie+groves&pg=PT289 |access-date=25 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Groves informed him the first workable bomb was months away.

[[File:Trinity Test - Oppenheimer and Groves at Ground Zero 002.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Groves and Oppenheimer at the [[Trinity test]] site in September 1945. The white [[Galoshes|overshoes]] were to prevent [[Nuclear fallout|fallout]] from sticking to the soles of their shoes.|alt=A man smiling in a suit in suit and one in a uniform chat around a pile of twisted metal.]]
In 1943, the Manhattan District became responsible for collecting [[military intelligence]] on Axis atomic research. Groves created [[Operation Alsos]], special intelligence teams that would follow in the wake of the advancing armies, rounding up enemy scientists and collecting what technical information and technology they could. Alsos teams ultimately operated in Italy, France and Germany.<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=189–194}}</ref> The security system resembled that of other engineer districts. The Manhattan District organized its own counterintelligence which gradually grew in size and scope,<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=254–259}}</ref> but strict security measures failed to prevent the Soviets from conducting a successful espionage program that stole some of its most important secrets.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=265–266}}</ref>

Groves met with [[General (United States)|General]] [[Henry H. Arnold]], the Chief of [[United States Army Air Forces|U.S. Army Air Forces]], in March 1944 to discuss the delivery of the finished bombs to their targets. Groves was hoping that the [[Boeing B-29 Superfortress]] would be able to carry the finished bombs. The [[509th Composite Group]] was duly activated on 17 December 1944 at [[Wendover Army Air Field]], [[Utah]], under the command of Colonel [[Paul W. Tibbets]].<ref>{{harvnb|Herman|2012|pp=313–315, 332}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=253–259}}</ref> A joint Manhattan District – USAAF targeting committee was established to determine which cities in Japan should be targets. It recommended [[Kokura]], [[Hiroshima]], [[Niigata (city)|Niigata]], and [[Kyoto]].<ref name="Groves 1962 268–276">{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=268–276}}</ref>

At this point, [[Secretary of War]] [[Henry L. Stimson]] intervened, announcing that he would be making the targeting decision, and that he would not authorize the bombing of Kyoto. Groves attempted to get him to change his mind several times and Stimson refused every time. Kyoto had been the [[capital of Japan]] for centuries, and was of great cultural and religious significance. In the end, Groves asked Arnold to remove Kyoto not just from the list of nuclear targets, but from targets for conventional bombing as well.<ref name="Groves 1962 268–276"/> [[Nagasaki]] was substituted for Kyoto as a target.<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|p=308}}</ref>
Groves was promoted to temporary [[Major General (United States)|major general]] on 9 March 1944.<ref name="Cullum 1950" /> After the [[atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] became public knowledge, he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]]. His citation read:{{Blockquote|Major General Leslie Richard Groves, as Commanding General, Manhattan Engineer District, Army Service Forces, from June 1942 to August 1945 coordinated, administered and controlled a project of unprecedented, world-wide significance—the development of the Atomic Bomb. His was the responsibility for procuring materiel and personnel, marshalling the forces of government and industry, erecting huge plants, blending the scientific efforts of the United States and foreign countries, and maintaining completely secret the search for a key to release atomic energy. He accomplished his task with such outstanding success that in an amazingly short time the Manhattan Engineer District solved this problem of staggering complexity, defeating the Axis powers in the race to produce an instrument whose peacetime potentialities are no less marvellous than its wartime application is awesome. The achievement of General Groves is of unfathomable importance to the future of the nation and the world.<ref name="Norris, p. 443" />}}
Groves had previously been nominated for the Distinguished Service Medal for his work on the Pentagon, but to avoid drawing attention to the Manhattan Project, it had not been awarded at the time. After the war, the Decorations Board decided to change it to a [[Legion of Merit]].<ref name="Norris, p. 443">{{harvnb|Norris|2002|p=443}}</ref> In recognition of his work on the project, the Belgian government made him a Commander of the [[Order of the Crown (Belgium)|Order of the Crown]] and the British government made him an honorary [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]].<ref name="Cullum 1950" />