Szilárd petition



The Szilárd petition, drafted by scientist Leó Szilárd, was signed by 70 scientists working on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois. It was circulated in July 1945 and asked President Harry S. Truman to consider an observed demonstration of the power of the atomic bomb first, before using it against people. However, the petition never made it through the chain of command to President Truman. It also was not declassified and made public until 1961.

Later, in 1946, Szilárd jointly with Albert Einstein, created the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists that counted among its board, Linus Pauling (Nobel Peace Prize in 1962).

Petition excerpt

 * [W]e, the undersigned, respectfully petition: first, that you exercise your power as Commander-in-Chief, to rule that the United States shall not resort to the use of atomic bombs in this war unless the terms which will be imposed upon Japan have been made public in detail and Japan knowing these terms has refused to surrender; second, that in such an event the question whether or not to use atomic bombs be decided by you in the light of the considerations presented in this petition as well as all the other moral responsibilities which are involved.

Reaction
In reaction to the petition, General Leslie Groves, the director of the Manhattan Project, sought evidence of unlawful behavior against Szilárd. Most of the signers lost their jobs in weapons work.

Signatories
The 70 signers at the Manhattan Project's Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, in alphabetical order, with their positions, were:


 * 1) David S. Anthony, Associate Chemist
 * 2) Larned B. Asprey, Junior Chemist, S.E.D.
 * 3) Walter Bartky, Assistant Director
 * 4) Austin M. Brues, Director, Biology Division
 * 5) Mary Burke, Research Assistant
 * 6) Albert Cahn, Jr., Junior Physicist
 * 7) George R. Carlson, Research Assistant-Physics
 * 8) Kenneth Stewart Cole, Principal Bio-Physicist
 * 9) Ethaline Hartge Cortelyou, Junior Chemist
 * 10) John Crawford, Physicist
 * 11) Mary M. Dailey, Research Assistant
 * 12) Miriam P. Finkel, Associate Biologist
 * 13) Frank G. Foote, Metallurgist
 * 14) Horace Owen France, Associate Biologist
 * 15) Mark S. Fred, Research Associate-Chemistry
 * 16) Sherman Fried, Chemist
 * 17) Francis Lee Friedman, Physicist
 * 18) Melvin S. Friedman, Associate Chemist
 * 19) Mildred C. Ginsberg, Computer
 * 20) Norman Goldstein, Junior Physicist
 * 21) Sheffield Gordon, Associate Chemist
 * 22) Walter J. Grundhauser, Research Assistant
 * 23) Charles W. Hagen, Research Assistant
 * 24) David B. Hall, Position Not Identified
 * 25) David L. Hill, Associate Physicist, Argonne
 * 26) John Perry Howe, Jr., Associate Division Director, Chemistry
 * 27) Earl K. Hyde, Associate Chemist
 * 28) Jasper B. Jeffries, Junior Physicist, Junior Chemist
 * 29) William Karush, Associate Physicist
 * 30) Truman P. Kohman, Chemist-Research
 * 31) Herbert E. Kubitschek, Junior Physicist
 * 32) Alexander Langsdorf, Jr., Research Associate
 * 33) Ralph E. Lapp, Assistant To Division Director
 * 34) Lawrence B. Magnusson, Junior Chemist
 * 35) Robert Joseph Maurer, Physicist
 * 36) Norman Frederick Modine, Research Assistant
 * 37) George S. Monk, Physicist
 * 38) Robert James Moon, Physicist
 * 39) Marietta Catherine Moore, Technician
 * 40) Robert Sanderson Mulliken, Coordinator Of Information
 * 41) J. J. Nickson, [Medical Doctor, Biology Division]
 * 42) William Penrod Norris, Associate Biochemist
 * 43) Paul Radell O'connor, Junior Chemist
 * 44) Leo Arthur Ohlinger, Senior Engineer
 * 45) Alfred Pfanstiehl, Junior Physicist
 * 46) Robert Leroy Platzman, Chemist
 * 47) C. Ladd Prosser, Biologist
 * 48) Robert Lamburn Purbrick, Junior Physicist
 * 49) Wilfred Rall, Research Assistant-Physics
 * 50) Margaret H. Rand, Research Assistant, Health Section
 * 51) William Rubinson, Chemist
 * 52) B. Roswell Russell, Position Not Identified
 * 53) George Alan Sacher, Associate Biologist
 * 54) Francis R. Shonka, Physicist
 * 55) Eric L. Simmons, Associate Biologist, Health Group
 * 56) John A. Simpson, Jr., Physicist
 * 57) Ellis P. Steinberg, Junior Chemist
 * 58) D. C. Stewart, S/Sgt S.E.D.
 * 59) George Svihla, Position Not Identified [Health Group]
 * 60) Marguerite N. Swift, Associate Physiologist, Health Group
 * 61) Leo Szilard, Chief Physicist
 * 62) Ralph E. Telford, Position Not Identified
 * 63) Joseph D. Teresi, Associate Chemist
 * 64) Albert Wattenberg, Physicist
 * 65) Katherine Way, Research Assistant
 * 66) Edgar Francis Westrum, Jr., Chemist
 * 67) Eugene Paul Wigner, Physicist
 * 68) Ernest J. Wilkins, Jr., Associate Physicist
 * 69) Hoylande Young, Senior Chemist
 * 70) William F. H. Zachariasen, Consultant