Leslie Richard Groves
August 17, 1896(1896-08-17) – June 13, 1970 (aged 73)
MGEN Groves
Place of birth	Albany, New York
Place of death	Washington D.C
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1918-1948
Rank	Lieutenant General
Commands held	Manhattan Project
Awards	Distinguished Service Medal Nicaraguan Medal of Merit
Other work	Vice President Sperry Rand

Lieutenant General Leslie Richard Groves (August 17, 1896 – July 13, 1970) was a United States Army Engineer officer who oversaw the construction of the Pentagon and was the primary military leader in charge of the Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb during World War II. Events 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Year 1896 ( MDCCCXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 1525 - Martin Luther marries Katharina von Bora, against the Celibacy rule decreed by the Roman Catholic Church for Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Albany is the Capital of the State of New York and the County seat of Albany County. Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. This article is about a United States military rank For other countries that use a similar rank see Lieutenant General. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb Sperry Corporation (1910-1986 was a major American equipment and Electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century Lieutenant General is a Military rank used in many countries The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the Events 986 - A Byzantine army was destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Year 1896 ( MDCCCXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Leap year Events 1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. An officer is a member of an armed force who holds a position of authority The Pentagon is the Headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. The World War II Manhattan Project developed the first Nuclear weapon (atomic bomb A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including ^[1]

Biography

Descended from French Huguenots who came to America in the 17th century, Leslie Groves was the son of a U. S. Army chaplain. A chaplain is typically a Priest, Pastor, ordained Deacon, Rabbi, Imam or other member of the Clergy serving a group of He was born in Albany, New York, and educated at the University of Washington and MIT before attending West Point. Albany is the Capital of the State of New York and the County seat of Albany County. See Washington (disambiguation for other uses The University of Washington, founded in 1861, is a public research University "USMA" redirects here For other uses see USMA (disambiguation The United States Military Academy (also known as USMA, Groves graduated in 1918, fourth in his class, and was commissioned into the Army Corps of Engineers, completing his engineering studies at Camp A. A. Humphreys (now Fort Belvoir), 1918–21. Year 1918 ( MCMXVIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The United States Army Corps of Engineers ( USACE) is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 34600 Civilian and 650 Military personnel Fort Belvoir is a United States military installation and a Census-designated place (CDP in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States Fort Belvoir is a United States military installation and a Census-designated place (CDP in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States He married Grace Hulbert Wilson in 1922. Year 1922 ( MCMXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.

Groves worked in various assignments throughout the United States and served with distinction in Nicaragua. In October 1934, he was attached to the Office of the Chief of Engineers and received a promotion to captain. Year 1934 ( MCMXXXIV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full 1934 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Chief of Engineers commands the US Army Corps of Engineers. See " Captain " for other versions of this rank In the uniformed services of the United States, captain is a federal Following courses at the General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth (1936) and the Army War College (1939), he was promoted to major in 1940 and posted to the General Staff in Washington. The Command and General Staff College ( C&GSC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a United States Army facility that functions as a Graduate school Fort Leavenworth is a United States Army facility located in Leavenworth County Kansas (just north of the city of Leavenworth) in the upper northeast The United States Army War College is a United States Army school located in Carlisle Pennsylvania, on the 500 acre (2 km² campus of the historic Carlisle Year 1939 ( MCMXXXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Major is a Military rank the use of which varies according to country Year 1940 ( MCMXL) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full 1940 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A military staff is a group of officers and enlisted personnel that provides a bi-directional flow of information between a commander and subordinate units He was deputy to the Chief of Construction and oversaw a number of projects including the construction of the Pentagon in 1940. The Pentagon is the Headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. In the same year, he was promoted to colonel. Colonel ( RP ˈkɜnəl GA ˈkɜrnəl is a Military rank of a Commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country

By this time, Groves had developed a reputation as an officer of high intelligence, tremendous drive and energy, and great organizational and administrative ability, as well as considerable ruthlessness, arrogance, and self-confidence. His success in overseeing a huge number of construction projects costing billions of dollars during the mobilization period between 1940 and 1942 made him a natural choice to take charge of the fledgling atomic bomb program.

Manhattan Project

Further information: Los Alamos National Laboratory

In September 1942, he was made a temporary Brigadier General and appointed as the military director of the nascent Manhattan Engineer District of the US Army Corps of Engineers, replacing the first director, Col. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL (previously known at various times as Site Y, Los Alamos Laboratory, and Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) is a Year 1942 ( MCMXLII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Brigadier General is the lowest ranking General Officer in some countries usually sitting between the ranks of Colonel and Major General. James Marshall, who had proven indecisive and slow in getting the project moving beyond the research stage. He provided the code-name 'Manhattan' himself from the Corps practice of naming districts after their headquarters' city. He had been seeking action overseas and was initially dubious about attaching himself to a controversial weapons project. Nevertheless he quickly threw himself into the project with all his energy.

Groves and Robert Oppenheimer

Groves was important in most aspects of the bomb's development, including determining the sites to be used, finally deciding on Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Hanford Engineering in Washington state, as the primary sites for theoretical research and materials production. Oak Ridge is an incorporated City in Anderson and Roane Counties in East Tennessee, USA, about 25 miles northwest of Los Alamos (Los Álamos meaning "The Cottonwoods quot is a Townsite and Census-designated place (CDP in Los Alamos County, The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in south-central Washington operated by the United States government He made critical decisions on prioritizing the various methods of isotope separation, acquiring raw materials needed by the scientists and engineers, and in creating the army air force bomber unit which would deliver the finished bombs to their targets. He strongly advocated the choice of Kyoto as lead target, citing its tremendous cultural importance; he reasoned that the city's highly educated population would better appreciate the significance of the new weapon, thereby increasing its political impact. (IPA /kʲoːto / is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. His wish to destroy the city was overruled by Secretary of War Henry Stimson, who had honeymooned there. Henry Lewis Stimson ( September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American Statesman, who served as Secretary of He was involved in collecting military intelligence on German atomic research and helped determine which cities in Japan were chosen as targets. Military intelligence (abbreviated MI int Commonwealth, or intel Groves also blanketed the Manhattan Project with an unprecedented degree of security (which, however, failed to prevent the Soviets from conducting a successful espionage program that stole some of its most important secrets).

Though his conservative, rigid temperament and cold, blunt manner alienated some of the scientists he worked with, he also (against the advice of everyone he consulted) took the risky step of putting J. Robert Oppenheimer (a leftist intellectual and Groves' opposite in almost everything) in charge of Los Alamos, where the bomb was designed and assembled, trusting in the physicist's abilities. Groves' choice proved inspired, for Oppenheimer's brilliant, charismatic leadership was decisive in creating workable designs and getting them transformed into usable bombs.

Groves and Brig. Gen. Thomas F. Farrell, 1945

Groves' greatest contribution to the Manhattan Project was in imparting his own driving energy and determination to get the bomb built as quickly as possible. General Thomas Francis Farrell ( December 3, 1891 &ndashApril 1967 was the Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Field Operations of the Manhattan Engineer District He was the key leader in transforming what had been a slow paced, poorly coordinated, theoretical and laboratory research effort of a few universities into a fast moving, highly articulated, truly massive juggernaut involving thousands of scientists, engineers, technicians, workmen, and soldiers, as well as hundreds of companies and governmental organizations, spread all over the United States and the world. Please do not put information about the X-Men character on this page

Groves was promoted to temporary Major General in 1944. Major General or Major-General is a Military rank used in many countries Year 1944 ( MCMXLIV) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war with Japan, Groves was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.

As chief of the atom bomb program during the wartime emergency, Groves accrued an enormous amount of power. In the words of a subordinate, he ". . . planned the project, ran his own construction, his own science, his own Army, his own State Department and his own Treasury Department". Doing so, Groves ran roughshod over many people and made many enemies, some of them quite powerful. These enemies eventually succeeded in drastically reducing Groves' power and authority as control over atomic energy was transferred from military to civilian hands (from the Manhattan District to the Atomic Energy Commission) in January, 1947. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by Congress to foster and control

For a time, Groves continued to play a role at Los Alamos as head of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, but he eventually realized that in the rapidly shrinking post-war Army he would not be given any assignment approaching in importance the one he had held in the Manhattan Project (such posts would go to combat commanders returning from overseas). He decided to leave the Army. He was promoted to Lieutenant General just before his retirement on February 29, 1948 in recognition of his leadership of the bomb program. This article is about a United States military rank For other countries that use a similar rank see Lieutenant General. Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Some activists believe, incorrectly, that Groves was one of the early proponents of using depleted uranium. A memo alleged to be on that subject, is often cited on the Internet. However, a close reading of the memo, which is actually a composite of several documents, including some pages not attributable to Groves, shows that the material under discussion was fission products and not uranium.

Post-retirement

Groves went on to become a Vice-President at Sperry Rand. Sperry Corporation (1910-1986 was a major American equipment and Electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the twentieth century He moved to Darien, Connecticut in 1948. Darien is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. ^[2] He retired from Sperry Rand in 1961 and moved back to Washington, D. C. He also served as president of the West Point alumni organization, the Association of Graduates. "USMA" redirects here For other uses see USMA (disambiguation The United States Military Academy (also known as USMA, He presented GEN Douglas MacArthur the Sylvanus Thayer Award in 1962, which was the occasion of MacArthur's famous Duty, Honor, Country speech to the United States Military Academy Corps of Cadets in 1962. General MacArthur redirects here for other meanings see General MacArthur (disambiguation. The Sylvanus Thayer Award is an award that is given each year by the United States Military Academy at West Point "USMA" redirects here For other uses see USMA (disambiguation The United States Military Academy (also known as USMA, Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. His account of the Manhattan Project, NOW IT CAN BE TOLD, was originally published in 1962. ^[3]

In 1955, a reporter asked Groves how the secret of the atomic bomb was "so well kept", (apparently forgetting that it wasn't well kept from the Soviets) who recorded this reaction: "If you have ever been the object of his direct look, you will know why I dropped my pencil in utter confusion when he said, 'Mainly by not talking to reporters. '" The reporter laughed, Groves laughed and the interview went on. ^[2]

He is memorialized as the namesake of Leslie Groves Park along the Columbia River, not more than five miles from the Hanford Site in Richland. The Columbia River (known as The Hanford Site is a decommissioned nuclear production complex on the Columbia River in south-central Washington operated by the United States government Richland is a city in Benton County in the southeastern part of the U

Popular culture depictions

Groves and others at remains of the Trinity test

Groves' role in the Manhattan Project has attracted a continuing interest in film. Trinity was the first test of technology for a Nuclear weapon. He was the character played

• by Paul Newman in Fat Man and Little Boy,
• by Richard Masur in the 1995 docudrama Hiroshima,
• by Richard Herd in the 1980 television movie Enola Gay,
• by Brian Dennehy (physically much closer to the burly Groves than was the thin Newman) in a three-hour 1989 PBS television production, DAY ONE: Before Hiroshima and After. Paul Leonard Newman (January 26 1925 &ndash September 26 2008 was an Academy Award Fat Man and Little Boy (aka Shadow Makers in the UK is a 1989 film that reenacts the Manhattan Project, the secret Allied Richard D Masur (born November 20 1948) is an American actor who has appeared in over 80 movies during his career Hiroshima is a 1995 Japanese / Canadian film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and Roger Spottiswoode about the decision-making Richard Herd Jr (born September 26, 1932) is an American Actor in Television and Film. Brian Mannion Dennehy (born July 9 1938 is an American two-time Tony Award -winning Actor who has appeared in movies, on television and performed
• by Manning Redwood in the mini-series "OPPENHEIMER".

In fiction, Groves is a key figure in Harry Turtledove's alternate history series Worldwar. Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14 1949) is an American historian and novelist who has written Historical fiction, Fantasy, and Alternate history or alternative history is a subgenre of Speculative fiction (or Science fiction) and Historical fiction Worldwar is a series of four Alternate history Science fiction novels by Harry Turtledove.

In John Adams's opera Doctor Atomic, Groves is a lead character of the opera. John Coolidge Adams (born February 15 1947 is an American Composer with strong roots in minimalism. Doctor Atomic is an Opera by the contemporary Post-minimalist American composer John Adams, with libretto by Peter Sellars.

Footnotes

External links

• Annotated bibliography for Leslie Groves from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues