[ RadSafe ] Release of history of Manhattan Project security

[Peter Crane]

<http://fas.org/sgp/library/mdhist-vol14.pdf>

This fascinating document confirms a story my late father, Milton Crane, told me perhaps 40 years ago: that during World War II, the school newspaper of the University of Chicago published an article that included a reference to the fact that Arthur Compton, a professor of physics at the university, was known for his work on splitting the atom. (See page 6-17.) I can add a detail that does not appear in the written history.

According to my father, the writer and editor were immediately visited by counterintelligence agents, intent on knowing whether there had been a leak of classified information. (There hadn't.) They were then told that they must never write about such subjects again. The response of the writer and/or editor was that they would refrain from doing so only if it was explained to them why. At that point, they were told that work on splitting the atom was in progress, and that it was their duty to help protect this all-important military secret. That was good enough for them. 

My father, who had served in OSS during the War, was a member of the university's English department from 1947 to 1952. I have no idea who his source was.

-- Peter Crane, Seattle