Atomic Shield: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission: Volume II 1947-1952

On January 1, 1947, the U.S. Government transferred its atomic energy program to the Atomic Energy Commission. Nearly four months later, after a bitter political struggle laced with headline charges ranging from conflict of interest to Communist-led subversion plots, the Senate confirmed the Commission appointed by President Truman, with David E. Lilienthal as Chairman. Within hours, Lilienthal began reading for the first time the FBI's secret report on the man his commission had recommended for chairman of the AEC General Advisory Committee — J. Robert Oppenheimer.<br /><br />ATOMIC SHIELD documents the dramatic history of the Atomic Energy Commission from this nearly disastrous beginning until the end of 1952. The earlier years of this history are covered in THE NEW WORLD 1939/1946 (The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1962). A third volume is now planned to cover the years from 1953 through 1960. These volumes are based in large part on official government records, including material that is still under security restrictions and has never before been made available to the public. The records are from the files of the Atomic Energy Commission, the State Department, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, and several related agencies.<br /><br />In this second volume, the authors proceed from the appointment of David Lilienthal and the Oppenheimer affair to the Berlin blockade, efforts to build the nation's atomic stockpile, the dispute over civilian versus military control of atomic energy, international control negotiations, the first Soviet detonation in 1949, the debate over the development of a thermonuclear weapon, the effect of the Korean War on atomic energy policy, and other major research and administrative developments during the period.<br /><br />Each volume of this history is a remarkable example of highly readable scholarship. The authors cover a large amount of technically detailed and highly significant material in a manner that is dramatic as well as professionally accurate, entertaining as well as sobering. Volume 2 includes original material of value to historians, political scientists, students of international affairs and public administrators. Since it focuses on the highest levels of government, many general readers will find it unusually informative and frequently fascinating.