Leslie Groves

Leslie Richard Groves Jr. was born in Albany, New York, on August 17, 1896. His father, a Presbyterian minister, became an Army chaplain shortly after his birth, and he grew up on military posts across the country.⁠[1][2][3]

Groves studied engineering for one year at the University of Washington and two years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In June 1916 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating fourth in his class on November 1, 1918, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers.⁠[3][1][4]

For about the next 20 years Groves held a variety of engineering assignments in the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry and HawaiiHawaiiHawaii is a U.S. state consisting of a group of volcanic islands in the central Pacific Ocean; its capital is Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu. Hawaii was admitted to the Union on August 21, 1959, as the 50th state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 1,455,271.Open the full entry, including a posting in Nicaragua, and attended the Engineer School, the Command and General Staff School and the Army War College.⁠[3][5]

During the mobilization of 1940–1942 Groves oversaw army construction in the United States, including the Pentagon. In July 1941 he was appointed supervisor of the Pentagon construction project.⁠[3][4]

On September 17, 1942, Groves, then an Army colonel, was appointed to head the Manhattan Engineer District. He later recalled being very upset by the assignment; General Brehon Somervell’s answer was: “If you do the job right it will win the war.”⁠[6][2][3]

The next day, September 18, he acquired 1,250 tons of uranium mined in the Belgian Congo and moved the district’s headquarters from New York City to Washington, D.C., keeping the “Manhattan Project” name. On September 19 he approved Oak Ridge, TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state in the southeast-central United States, with its capital at Nashville. It was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 6,910,840 residents.Open the full entry, as the location of Site X, the uranium-processing facility. On September 23 he was promoted to brigadier general.⁠[6][2][5]

In mid-October 1942 Groves secured a contract with DuPont for plutonium production, visited the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago and, on October 15, asked J. Robert OppenheimerJ. Robert OppenheimerJ. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) was an American theoretical physicist and science administrator who directed the Los Alamos laboratory that developed the atomic bomb during World War II.Open the full entry to head the weapons laboratory known as Project Y. On Oppenheimer’s recommendation he approved Los Alamos, New MexicoNew MexicoNew Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States. Its capital is Santa Fe and its largest city is Albuquerque. It was admitted to the Union on January 6, 1912, as the 47th state, and had a population of 2,117,522 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, as the location of Project Y on November 25, and on January 16, 1943, he approved Hanford, Washington, as the plutonium-production site.⁠[2][5][6]

In January 1943 he requested military police, medical and veterinary personnel to protect and support Los Alamos, and in March 1943 made a similar request for the other major project sites.⁠[6]

On April 25, 1945, Groves gave President Harry S. TrumanHarry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman (1884–1972) was an American politician who served as a U.S. senator from Missouri and as vice president in 1945, succeeding Franklin D. Roosevelt on his death that year and serving as the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953, a period spanning the end of World War II and the early Cold War.Open the full entry his first in-depth briefing on the atomic bomb project. On July 16 he watched the Trinity test, carried out under his direction. On July 24 he drafted the directive authorizing the use of the atomic bomb. The war against Japan ended on August 14.⁠[5][2][4]

In 1945 he received the Distinguished Service Medal for his Manhattan Project work and the Legion of Merit for the construction of the Pentagon, and Truman recommended him for the permanent rank of major general.⁠[4]

On December 31, 1946, the Army transferred responsibility for atomic energy to the new Atomic Energy Commission, and Groves wrote a farewell message to the soldiers of the Manhattan Engineer District crediting them with building the weapon that ended the war. On February 28, 1947, he was appointed chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, his final assignment; in late 1947 he left the Manhattan Project after the newly created Atomic Energy Commission had taken control of it.⁠[6][5][3][2]

Groves retired as a lieutenant general on February 29, 1948. Congress then authorized his promotion to permanent major general and to honorary lieutenant general on the retired list.⁠[2][1][4]

After retiring he joined Remington Rand, serving as vice president for research and development until 1961; the Atomic Heritage Foundation and OSTI pages name the company as Sperry Rand (1948–1961).⁠[3][4][5][1]

In 1962 Groves published Now It Can Be Told, his account of running the Manhattan Project.⁠[3][5]

In February 1970 President Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Nixon (1913–1994) was an American politician who represented California in the U.S. House and Senate, served as vice president from 1953 to 1961 and was the 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974. His administration opened relations with China, signed strategic arms limitation agreements with the Soviet Union and ended U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War; he resigned over the Watergate scandal on August 9, 1974, the only U.S. president to do so.Open the full entry presented Groves with the Atomic Pioneer Award. He died of heart disease at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., on July 13, 1970, at the age of 73, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VirginiaVirginiaVirginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state whose capital is Richmond. It entered the Union on June 25, 1788, as the 10th state, and had a population of 8,631,393 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry.⁠[4][1][2][3]

Groves married Grace Wilson on February 10, 1922.⁠[5]

Bronze statues of Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer stand in downtown Los Alamos, New Mexico, memorializing the leaders of Project Y: Groves, the military leader of the Manhattan Project, and Oppenheimer, whom he selected to oversee the Los Alamos Laboratory.⁠[7]

Los Alamos National Laboratory: Official website: https://www.lanl.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]