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Add My Story“I found this data of such import that I have convened a Board…”
The following letter was written by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to Leó Szilárd and Albert Einstein’s letter about creating a program–what will later be known as the “Manhattan Project”–for the creation of atomic bombs in order to compete with Nazi Germany’s efforts to do the same. Roosevelt thanks Einstein for the useful information and explains the precautionary steps he is taking to investigate whether or not Germany is actually using uranium in dangerous ways:
The White House
Washington
October 19, 1939
My dear Professor:
I want to thank you for your recent letter and the most interesting and important enclosure.
I found this data of such import that I have convened a Board consisting of the head of the Bureau of Standards and a chosen representative of the Army and Navy to throughly investigate the possibilities of your suggestion regarding the element of uranium.
I am glad to say that Dr. Sachs will cooperate and work with this Committee and I feel this is the most practical and effective method of dealing with the subject.
Please accept my sincere thanks.
Very sincerely yours,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Read the Einstein-Szilárd letter here and for more information, please visit the Argonne National Laboratory website.
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