Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, The Manhattan Project's Indispensable Man. . - book review

Parameters, Spring, 2003 by Colonel Cole C. Kingseed

Racing for the Bomb: General Leslie R. Groves, The Manhattan Project's Indispensable Man. By Robert S. Norris. South Royalton, Vermont: Steerforth Press, 2002. 722 pages. $40.00.

No decision in World War II generated more controversy than President Harry S. Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Standing at the heart of the industrial and engineering construction effort that produced the atomic weapons was a career Army engineer officer by the name of Leslie R. Groves. In what is likely to become the definitive biography of the project's principal supervisor, Robert S. Norris places Groves at the center of events and offers a more complete understanding of the Manhattan Project.

Norris is no stranger to the study of nuclear issues. A longtime nuclear weapons analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington, D.C., and an editor of the Nuclear Weapons Databook series, he also coauthored Making the Russian Bomb. From Stalin to Yeltsin and Atomic Audit: The Costs and consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons since 1940. Drawing upon family letters, government documents, and a plethora of primary sources, Norris argues that Groves was truly indispensable in the construction of the atomic bomb and was the critical person in determining how, when, and where it was used on Japan. Since he relies heavily on Groves's own military records and personal papers, Norris's portrait of the hard-nosed director of the Manhattan Project is decidedly pro-Groves.

Leslie Richard Groves, Jr., was born in Albany, New York, on 17 August 1896. The son of an Army chaplain, Groves entered West Point in June 1916 and graduated number four in the class of November 1918 under the curtailed wartime curriculum. Selecting the Corps of Engineers upon graduation, Groves served at various military camps throughout the South, in Washington, D.C., and in Nicaragua, where he helped survey a proposed interoceanic canal. A product of the Army's emphasis on institutionalized professional education, Groves also graduated from the Command and General Staff College and the Army War College. His interwar efficiency reports were uniformly positive, though not spectacular. Despite his excellent military record, however, Groves was still a captain with 22 years of commissioned service at the onset of the European war.

World War II presented Groves with the opportunity to shine. In 1940 responsibility for military construction lay with the quartermaster general, not the chief of engineers. When Quartermaster General Edmund B. Gregory, a longtime friend of Groves, asked him to serve as his special assistant responsible for domestic construction, then-Major Groves accepted provided that such an assignment meant a promotion. Promoted to full colonel, Groves was now a man on the move, "maneuvering adeptly through the bureaucratic labyrinths of Washington."

The highlight of Groves's tenure in the Office of the Quartermaster General was clearly his supervision of the construction of the Pentagon, which began on 11 September 1941. Norris curiously reserves a scant five pages to this episode, even though the project cemented Groves's reputation as an officer who could cut through red tape and bring a construction project in on time. Working closely with General Brehon B. Somervell, who ultimately rose to Commanding General of Army Service Forces, Groves guided the construction of the Pentagon in its earliest stages. The entire project was completed on 15 January 1943, just 16 months after breaking ground. Groves, however, was not on hand at the final unveiling, as he was already supervising the most expensive and colossal construction project in history.

The heart of Norris's biography is the story of the Manhattan Project, which Groves was selected to run on 17 September 1942. Groves's appointment was the result of his engineering, administrative, and organizational abilities, as well as his drive and determination. Having served with distinction under some of the Corps of Engineers' most qualified officers also lent credibility to Groves's reputation. In detailing his subject's contribution, Norris presents a compelling case that of all the participants in the Manhattan Project, Groves alone was indispensable to its success.

Groves made all the important decisions governing the Manhattan Project himself. He personally recruited J. Robert Oppenheimer as his scientific director and other giants of American industry to construct and run the atomic factories. Groves drew up the plans for the organization, construction, operation, and security of the project and took all necessary steps to put it into effect. Reporting directly to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and General George C. Marshall, Groves routinely bypassed traditional lines of authority to ensure the success of his project.

What makes this particular biography so interesting is Norris's analysis of Groves's relationship with some of the project's more prominent members. Groves selected the 38-year-old Oppenheimer to supervise the laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico, over the objection of virtually every advisor and scientist. The bond between the two was mutually beneficial, though Groves's lack of support of Oppenheimer during the "Red scare" of the 1950s tarnished Groves's own character.