A General Account of the Development of Methods of Using Atomic Energy for Military Purposes Under the Auspices of the United States Government 1940-1945.

SMYTH, Henry DeWolf (1898-1986); United States. War Department. Corps of Engineers.

Published by Government Printing Office, 1945., Washington, D.C.:, 1945

About this Item

[10x7 inches] Sm. 4to. [193] pp. With page IV-7 printed upside down [IV-8 positioned correctly]. [After the unpaged front matter, which is printed on one side of the leaf, each chapter has separate pagination and the pages of the Appendices are numbered A1-1 and so forth."] Original cream-colored textured card-wrappers, lithoprinted on the front "Released for Publication on _________", side-stapled [2]; corners curled, variously soiled (representative of 'normal' exposure). Signature of M.J. Coffee. Good. / PROVENANCE: "M.J. Coffee / Rm 213 Chemistry Bldg. / Ohio State Univ. / Columbus, Ohio" With an inscribed index card, "This is my copy of the A-Bomb record sent to all the people who were instrumental in perfecting the bomb used on Hiroshima + Nagasaki. It was sent out after the war to people who worked for the Manhattan Project. I was at the Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio." FIRST OFFICIAL PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT ON THE MANHATTAN PROJECT :: THE CREATION OF THE ATOMIC BOMB. LIMITED EDITION of about 1,000 copies. [Jones]. First official government statement printed and released [on August 12, 1945] solely for persons related to the project and the press, being the first printed account of the development of the Manhattan Project and the atomic bomb, issued just six days after the bombing of Hiroshima. The lithoprinting was done in the Adjunct General's Office in the Pentagon. / Coleman describes the conditions by which this book was put together, "It is apparent that gathering the leaves for binding was done in haste under the pressure of tight security precautions. Pages are lacking or repeated in several copies that have been seen." :: p. 206. This copy is complete. / "Researchers should note that correspondence dealing with the writing and editing of the Smyth Report is mainly located in Series V, Smyth Report. This correspondence appears to have been filed by Smyth with related materials (i.e., notes, draft manuscripts, early printings) for several reasons. His primary intent appears to have been continuity; the correspondence discussing his work on the Smyth Report often refers to specific drafts, now also filed in Series V. These letters were also often classified "Secret" and "Top Secret" along with his various manuscript versions from 1944 through 1945. These materials remained together over the years while in Smyth's possession, periodically undergoing review for declassification as a group by the U.S. AEC. For these reasons, as well as the fact that Smyth meticulously arranged Series V himself, the correspondence dealing with the Smyth Report has been maintained in its original order and assigned to this separate series. Cross referencing has been done for correspondents who appear in Series V, Smyth Report; the existence of letters in Series V has been noted under the appropriate correspondent's name in the Series I section of the container list." :: American Philosophical Society, Henry DeWolf Smyth Papers. / In addition, page VI-12 contains the sometimes missing "secret" classified content dealing with plutonium production rates. This copy contains both the entire section V and the plutonian production rates from VI-12. / "The story of the development of the atomic bomb by the combined efforts of many groups in the United States is a fascinating but highly technical account of an enormous enterprise. Obviously military security prevents this story from being told in full at this time. However, there is no reason why the administrative history of the Atomic Bomb project and the basic scientific knowledge on which the several developments were based should not be available now to the general public. To this end this account by Professor H. D. Smyth is presented./ All pertinent scientific information which can be released to the public at this time without violating the needs of national security is contained in this volume . . ." :: Major General L.R. Groves (foreword). / "There was published on 12 August 1945 (. Seller Inventory # S13207

Bibliographic Details

Title: A General Account of the Development of ...

Publisher: Government Printing Office, 1945., Washington, D.C.:

Publication Date: 1945

Binding: Soft cover

Edition: 1st Edition