The Girls of Atomic City (53 page)

Purchasing of silver from US Treasury from author interviews, Nichols, Groves, and
Making the Atomic Bomb
, by the DOE (previously cited), Rhodes, and “14,700 tons of silver at Y-12,” by the Y-12 National Security Complex, US Department of Energy. As the calutrons were taken out of commission and dismantled, the silver borrowed from the U.S. Treasury was returned bit by bit to the government, with the final repayment arriving in 1970. Only about four hundredths of 1 percent was missing. Cameron Reed’s article “From Treasury Vault to the Manhattan Project,” in the January-February 2011 issue of
American Scientist
offers a detailed look at the story of Oak Ridge’s silver. Information regarding Tennessee Eastman and lack of workers from Nichols, Groves, Wilcox, and
Making the Atomic Bomb
(DOE). Doubling of Y-12, shutting down of Y-12 in 1943, increased estimates of U-235 needed for the bomb, catering anecdote from Groves. Board feet used for Y-12 from
Making the Atomic Bomb
, DOE (previously cited). Information regarding naming plants from Letter to Gus Robinson from Leslie Groves, dated October 14, 1949, Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, Record Group 326; National Archives at Atlanta; National Archives and Records Administration.

Background information on Evelyn Handcock Ferguson and Harold Kingsley Ferguson from “Ferguson Builds War Plants Fast,” by the Associated Press, as seen in
Charleston News and Courier
, November 22, 1942; “Rites Tomorrow for H. K. Ferguson,”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
, December 10, 1943. Information regarding Phil Abelson and decision to pursue liquid thermal diffusion from Groves, and
Making the Atomic Bomb
(DOE). Information regarding meeting between Evelyn Ferguson and Groves from Groves, Smyth, and Groueff.

6. To Work

Y-12 contest information and efficiency of female workers from author interviews and Nichols (previously cited).

Description of roles of women workers, PSQs, workplace activity from author interviews. Y-12 information, including bus fare and rates, from author interviews,
Oak Ridge Journal
, Robinson and Googin. Additional information regarding commuting times for cubicle operators to Y-12 from George Akin’s paper “Eastman at Oak Ridge,” published in 1981 and found in box 7, folder 27 of the “Club” collection in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation at the University of Rochester. Anecdotes regarding buses from author interviews. Description of badges and guards from author interviews,
City Behind a Fence, At Work in the Atomic City
, and Robinson. Changing house information from author interviews. Description of cubicle control rooms from author interviews, photographs by Ed Westcott (NARA Still Pictures Division, Washington, DC), and
At Work in the Atomic City.
Number of women in control room and description of panels from author interviews, photographs by Ed Westcott (previously cited), author visits to Y-12, cubicle exhibit, American Museum of Science and Energy (Oak Ridge), Smithsonian Oral Histories (previously cited).

Description of Es, Qs, Rs,
etc.
from author interviews, Googin, Smithsonian (previously cited), papers of Jane Puckett, “Lawrence and His Laboratory: A Historian’s View of the Lawrence Years, Episode 2: The Calutron,” by J. L. Heilbron, Robert W. Seidel, and Bruce R. Wheaton,
Newsmagazine
, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, 1981.

Information about cleaning out of E boxes from author interviews with Wilcox; yellowcake from Virginia Coleman. Anecdote regarding
Mellor’s Handbook of Inorganic Chemistry
from Googin. Codes from author interviews, Smithsonian, and Googin. Information regarding preparation 38 from
Heavy Water and the Wartime Race for Nuclear Energy
, by Per F. Dahl (London: Institute of Physics, 1999). Number of buildings in Y-12 complex from Rhodes.

Information regarding calculators from author interviews, notably Jane Puckett. Description of Jane’s process notes, job description, pay rate and titles from personal papers of Jane Puckett.

Information regarding Clock Alley from author interviews,
At Work in the Atomic City
, and
Atomic Spaces.

Author note: I have read in several places that Clock Alleys were segregated. However, Kattie clearly remembers being on line to clock in with both white and black workers. Work song from interview with Kattie Strickland and from
Negro Work Songs and Calls
, edited by B. A. Botkin (Washington, DC: Archive of Folk Song, Folk Music of the United States, Music Division, Recording Laboratory AFS L8, Library of Congress). Information regarding transfer of train personnel at Reservation boundary from Robinson.

K-25 pipe conditioning information from author interviews with Colleen Black. Description of the floor from author interviews and photographs by Ed Westcott (previously cited). Glyptal information from author interview and Glyptal/General Electric magazine ad (1943).

The gas that Colleen’s probe was emitting was helium, though she did not know that, and the gauge she was eyeing was that of a mass spectrometer, which she also did not know at the time.

Jellico train wreck information from author interviews and
Troop Train Wreck
, by David Ray Smith (Oak Ridge: September 2007); “Death Toll in Troop Train Wreck Reaches 33,”
Kingsport Times
, July 9, 1944; “Troop Train Wreck Toll Set at 40,” Associated Press,
Milwaukee Sentinel
, July 8, 1944. Details regarding deaths per month from memo titled “Number of Deaths at the Oak Ridge Hospital” and dated September 20, 1944, from Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, Record Group 326, National Archives at Atlanta; National Archives and Records Administration.

Tubealloy: The Couriers

Description of courier route from Rhodes, Groueff. Information regarding container and form of contents from author interviews, notably with David Ray Smith and Wilcox. Contents as well as silo also described in Rhodes. First shipment quality from Groves and Y-12 production specifics from Groves. Y-12 shipping receipts from Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, Record Group 326; National Archives at Atlanta; National Archives and Records Administration.

Description of courier travel and route from author interviews, also Rhodes, Groueff, and
The New World: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, vol. I, 1939–1946
, by Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson Jr. (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962); and “Operations and shipments begin,” from Y-12 National Security Complex, US Department of Energy.

7. Rhythms of Life

Descriptions of Roane-Anderson meeting of December 1943 and the need for recreation, especially among young women, from Clarke and
Spaces
(previously cited), also “Minutes of Meeting of Executive Committee, Recreation and Welfare Association, Held at Town Hall, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, 12/31/43, at 2:00 PM,” memo from the War Department, US States Engineer Office, dated January 4, 1944. State of mind of housewives from author interviews, notably Rosemary Lane. Lists of activities from Robinson,
Oak Ridge Journal
, and author interviews. Information regarding Waldo Cohn, from author interviews, also “the Symphony Orchestra,” by June Adamson, from
Voices
(previously cited).

Information regarding dances from author interviews,
Oak Ridge Journal
(as cited within text). “Parachute dresses” seen online and on exhibit at the Behring Center of the Smithsonian, National Museum of American History, Washington, DC.

Average age of Oak Ridge from author interviews and “New High School in ’51 Talk of the Town—and state,” by D. Ray Smith,
Oak Ridger
, August 11, 2008. Regarding “Where are you from”: Colleen loves to sing “Where are you from, Mr. Oak Ridger?” which was from the musical “A Thousand Suns,” written by Betty Clayton Osborn on the occasion of Oak Ridge’s 25th anniversary.

Author note: Virtually everyone I interviewed described going on “dates” to the cafeteria. Chapel on the Hill schedules from
Oak Ridge Journal.
Reference to Methodist church at movie theater from Robinson. Story of kicking bottles out of the way to have services in the rec hall from Viola Lockhart Warren Papers (Collection 1322). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. Number of church groups from Robinson.

Happy Valley recreation description from author interviews, notably with Helen Jernigan, also “Happy Valley,” by Helen C. Jernigan, in
Voices.
3.2 percent beer ad from Brewing Industry Foundation “The American Soldier and Sobriety,”
Life
magazine, April, 19, 1943. Tales of bribing gate guards and hoarding of booze from author interviews, notably Paul Wilkinson, Toni Schmitt, and
Please God, US First
, by John C. Pennock (Charlottetown: TWiG Publications, 2003). Hiding contraband booze and how to make fake wine from author interviews. Swimming pool statistics from Oak Ridge Visitor Center and “History and Architectural Resources of Oak Ridge, Tennessee” (previously cited).

Segregated recreation information from
At Work in the Atomic City, Atomic Spaces, City Behind a Fence
, and author interviews, notably with Valeria Steele Roberson and Kattie Strickland. Also “A New Hope,” by Valeria Steele, from
Voices
(previously cited). Hal Williams information from “Scarboro: The Early Days” exhibit at Scarboro Community Center, Oak Ridge, Tennessee; “A Tribute to Hal Williams,” by Rose Weaver,
Oak Ridger
, February 9, 2010. Colored Camp Council meeting from
City Behind a Fence.

Tensions with Knoxville inhabitants from author interviews. Bacon Hosiery Mills information from
City Behind a Fence.

Tubealloy: Security, Censorship, and the Press

Information about the Met Lab meeting from “Behind the Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb: Chicago 1944–45,” by Alice Kimball Smith,
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
, October 1958. Information on compartmentalization and “sticking to knitting” from Groves.

Censorship information and War Department Counterintelligence Unit information from Groves and Robinson. Approach to screening and hiring from Groves and from
An Exceptional Man for Exceptional Challenges: Stafford L. Warren,
vol. 1. Interviewed by Adelaide Tusler. Oral History Program, University of California at Los Angeles, Regents of the University of California, 1983.

Presidential Executive Order from “Franklin D. Roosevelt: ‘Executive Order 8985. Establishing the Office of Censorship,’ December 19, 1941.” Courtesy of Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project,
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=16068
, last accessed June 2012.

U.S. Government Office of Censorship. “Code of Wartime Practices: For American Broadcasters” (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1942). June 15, 1942 ed. by Clarence W. Griffin Papers, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, NC.

Additional information about censorship, including the June 28, 1943, memo and Mutual Broadcasting Company from Robinson (previously cited).

8. The One about the Fireflies . . .

All jokes included in this chapter were told to the author throughout the researching of this book. There are many, many more . . .

Women’s stories from author interviews.

Information about the newspaper, vis-à-vis Francis Gates stories from “From Bulletin to Broadside,” by June Adamson from
Voices
(previously cited).

Additional information regarding Celia’s brother Clem from official military record of Clement P. Szapka, NARA office of Military Personnel Records, National Personnel Records Center, St. Louis, MO. Censoring of letters was a common occurrence based on author interviews, including Celia Klemski and Helen Hall.

Use of incomplete ideas to increase rumors from author interviews, notably Joanne Gailar. Information regarding Superman censorship from Robinson and “Fatal Fiction: A Weapon to End All Wars,” by H. Bruce Franklin,
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
, Nov. 1989.

Jim Ramsey, longtime resident of Oak Ridge and son of one of the “old-timers,” said that native Gullah speakers from the Low Country of South Carolina were also hired to empty garbage, ostensibly because of their limited reading skills. Propaganda images from photographs taken by Ed Westcott (previously cited). While visiting with Ed Westcott at his home, I noticed the Norman Rockwell calendar he had in his kitchen. Many of Westcott’s pictures had that “Rockwell” feel to them, and some were staged as well. The juxtaposition of lines at the butcher shop and comic book sales with the fences, guards, and towering industry have always struck me as interesting, and I find this one of the more engaging aspects of Westcott’s work. Additional information on “creeps” and informants from author interviews, also predominantly Groves, as well as
City Behind a Fence
and Hales. June 14, 1944, memo and seditious dismissals from
Spaces.
Additional information about guard harassment in the black hutment area from Formerly Declassified Correspondence, 1942–1947; Records of the Committee on Fair Employment Practice, Record Group 228; National Archives at Atlanta; National Archives and Records Administration.

Tubealloy: Pumpkins, Spies, and Chicken Soup, Fall 1944

Kramish story from “Hiroshima’s First Victims,” by Arnold Kramish,
The Rocky Mountain News,
August 6, 1995. Kramish described uranium as a “bone-seeker” and suffered for many years as a result of his accident. Tibbets information from Groves and from “Wendover’s Atomic Secret,” by Carl Posey,
Air & Space Magazine
, March 2011.