General George C. Marshall and the Atomic Bomb

Drawing on official documents, correspondence, the opinions and memoirs of his peers, and personal interviews, this volume chronicles General George C. Marshall's role in the development of the atomic bomb, from his appointment to President Roosevelt's advisory committee in 1941 to his tenure as President Truman's secretary of defense in 1950, including his time as Army chief of staff, his participation in the Top Policy Group for atomic energy, his involvement in the Manhattan Project, his collaboration with Secretary of War Henry Stimson and Manhattan Project leader General Leslie Groves, and the use of atomic weapons against Japan in World War II. It also discusses his early skepticism about the effectiveness of the atomic bomb as a weapon, intelligence operations in Europe relating to a possible German atomic bomb and Anglo-American relations concerning atomic energy, his recognition of it as a weapon that should never be used again, his views on its use vs. conventional weapons like fire bombing and poison gas, his diplomatic skills in dealing with issues related to the control and use of nuclear weapons, and the postwar nuclear era, including his concern about the reliance on nuclear weapons to downsize conventional military forces, maintaining civilian control over their use, and their possible use during the Berlin crisis and the Korean War. Annotation ©2016 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Frank A. Settle Jr., PhD, professor emeritus of chemistry, Washington and Lee University, and director of the ALSOS Digital Library for Nuclear Issues, was professor of chemistry at the Virginia Military Institute from 1964 to 1992.