Diana Preston - Before the Fallout

“glowing continuously”; “reflected some neutrons… critical”; “the reaction… second”; “if I had hesitated beenfatal”: Frisch, What Little I Remember, pp. 161–62.

“We had reaction”: P. Morrison’s article in the Scientific American, August 1995.

“much more room… technique”: Peierls, Bird of Passage, pp. 200–201.

“the complex theories work”: Groves, Now It Can Be Told, p. 288.

“When I saw conditions”: Author’s interview with Rotblat, 9 January 2002.

“the real purpose… Soviets”: Rotblat’s article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, August 1985.

“a terrible shock ally”: Rotblat’s interview with C. D. King and A. Brown, 7 January 1994, LIV 246. Rotblat shared of all: All quotes are from author’s interview with Rotblat, 9 January 2002.

“What … or physics?”: Quoted in Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, p. 174.

“ought to be confined mortal crimes”; “I did not… head”: W Churchill’s telegram of 2 September 1944 to Lord Cherwell, PREM/3/139/8A, PRO.

“It was… schoolboys”: Quoted in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society (R. V. Jones, obituary of W. Churchill).

“the suggestion… is not accepted”; “Enquiries… Russians”: Aide-memoire of discussion between W Churchill and F. D. R. Roosevelt (Hyde Park Agreement), 18 September 1944, PREM/3/139/8A, PRO.

“While Bohr continued… Los Alamos”: All quotes in this paragraph are from author’s interview with Rotblat, 9 January 2002, except for “within… truth,” which comes from Rotblat’s article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, August 1985.

“it would be ignore”: Letter of 29 January 1945. to T. Allibone, CCC/JC.

“The salad… suspicion”: R. Campbell to C. Barnes, 29 January 1945, CAB/i 26/2C9, PRO.

“to learn… Joliot-Curie”; “a transcript of everything”: Author’s interview with Gold­schmidt of 3 April 2002.

“However Joliot-Curie”: All quotes in this paragraph are from ibid.

“Thankyou. very well”: Ibid.

“unusually captivating”: Quoted in Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 90.

“extremely excellent and very valuable”: Quoted in Williams, Klaus Fuchs, p. 82.

“the more. atmosphere”: Kurzman, Day of the Bomb, p. 175.

“In July 1944 preparations”: The quotes in this paragraph are from ibid., p. 100.

“The beasts strike back”: Material in the possession of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.

All quotes from Paul Tibbets come from his account Mission Hiroshima unless otherwise stated.

“the United States high explosive”: Quoted in G. Thomas and M. Morgan Witts, Ruin from the Air, p. 6.

“the most fantastic day in my life”: Ibid., p. 37.

“too young”: Groves quoted in Norris, Racingfor the Bomb, p. 319.

“even the screws… extra turn”: quoted in Thomas and Morgan Witts, Ruinfrom the Air, p. 147.

“the semi-liquid way… dust”; “Dead… asleep”: Quoted in Lindqvist, A History of Bombing, items 214 and 21 £.

“How many… the number?”: Quoted in Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century, vol. 2, p. 642.

“comfort… prewar life”: Author interview with Takeko Kagawa, Hiroshima, March 2004.

“higher beings”; “their first priority… Empress”: Author interview with Yoko Kono, Hiroshima, March 2004.

Quotes attributed to Sam Goudsmit are from his book Alsos: The Failure in German Science unless otherwise stated. Similarly, quotes from Boris Pash come from his account The Alsos Mission unless otherwise noted.

“Germany Had No Atomic… Bomb”: Goudsmit, Alsos: The Failure in German Science, p. 71.

“our secret work on uranium”: Hahn, My Life, p. 157.

“the Germans… troops”: Groves, Now It Can Be Told, p. 207.

“would be… to me”; “any difficulties”: Heisenberg’s letter to D. Coster of 16 February 1943, quoted in Powers, Heisenberg’s War, p. 326.

“By far… a kidnapping”: V. Weisskopf’s letter to R. Oppenheimer of 28 October 1942, Oppenheimer Papers, Weisskopf folder, box 77, LOC.

“interesting”; “to the proper authorities”; “I doubt… matter”: R. Oppenheimer’s letter of 29 October 1942 to V. Weisskopf, Oppenheimer Papers, Weisskopf folder, box 77, LOC.

“like an utterly exhausted swimmer… firm land”: W. Heisenberg, Physics and Beyond, p. 191.

“actively anti-Nazi… nationalistic”: Report on interrogation of Heisenberg, 11 May 1940, Alsos papers among the Manhattan Papers, NARA.

The records of the first, second, and third meetings of the Target Committee are contained in top-secret correspondence of the MED, file CD, roll 1, M 1109, NARA. The record of the Interim Committee is in file 100, roll 8, Harrison Bundy files, M 1108, NARA: V—Problems of Control and Inspection; VI—Russia; VIII—Effect of the Bombing on the Japanese and Their Will to Fight; and IX—Handling of Undesirable Scientists.

“A Profound Psychological Impression”: Minutes of Interim Committee of 31 May 1945, file 100, roll 8, Harrison Bundy files, M1108, NARA.

“More than an end governments”: Quoted in Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century, vol. 2, p. 711.

“the development… destructive power”; “so powerful… scale”: H. S. Truman, Year of Decisions, p. 10.

“to make plans effective”: Groves, Now It Can Be Told, p. 266.

“I had set… air raids”: Ibid., p. 267.

“a personal representative of himself”: H. Stimson’s diary of 2 May 1945, CUL/S.

“ought to… many people”: Letter from K. Darrow to E. Lawrence, 9 August 1945, UCLA/BL.

“perhaps ten minutes”: Letter from E. Lawrence to K. Darrow, 17 August 1945, UCLA/BL.

“sufficiently spectacular useless”: Ibid.

“The reason unfortunate”; “I was over-ruled”: Groves, Now It Can Be Told, pp. 273–75.

“he could… in accord”: J. Byrnes, quoted L. Giovannitti and F. Freed, The Decision to Drop the Bomb, p. 109.

“The subject… eccentric”: Quoted in Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows, p. 249.

“ I didn’t suppose I was”: Weart and Szilard, Leo Szilard, His Version of the Facts, p. 181.

“He was not a doer a coward”: Quoted in Norris, Racing for the Bomb, p. 526.

“flabbergasted”; “assumption… manageable”: Weart and Szilard, Leo Szilard: His Version of the Facts, p. 184.

“Nevertheless when he returned… off the hook”: The quotes in this paragraph are from file 76, roll 6, Harrison Bundy files, M1108, NARA.

“Meanwhile Leo Szilard… to the president”: The quotes in these two paragraphs come from Teller, Memoirs, pp. 204–8.

“to make out of it”; “The guys pilot”: Quoted in Rees, Horror in the East, pp. 122–23.