Harry Truman shifted atomic bomb control to civilians in 1946
By Roy Castellano ·
Biological hazards and cancer risks remained hidden behind a public face of peacetime development while agency leaders planned emergency relocations with Strategic Air Command.
The file's catalogue entry records the "official decisions and policies of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission." These are the Secretariat Subject Files, a high-level administrative snapshot that captures the agency's operations from the perspective of the top policy making level. The records are a mix of meeting minutes, memorandums, and correspondence, blending classified and unclassified documents into a single archival stream.
To understand the weight of these files, one has to look at the public record of how the AEC came to be. In 1946, President Harry S. Truman signed the McMahon/Atomic Energy Act, which transferred the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands effective January 1, 1947. This was a pivot of historic proportions. It handed the plants, laboratories, and personnel that had built the first bombs to a civilian commission. The Secretariat files are the ledger of that transition, documenting the "origins, structure, functions, missions, controversies, and activities" of an agency tasked with managing the most dangerous force in human history.
"Military Research and Applications"
Despite the civilian mandate, the military never truly exited the room. The catalogue description explicitly lists "military research and applications" as a primary subject within the Secretariat files. This is where the friction of the early Cold War lived: the tension between the civilian desire to "foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science" and the grim necessity of maintaining a credible deterrent.
The scope of these files is vast, covering everything from "budgetary matters" and "procurement" to "international affairs" and "security." For an analyst, the interest lies in the intersections. When the Secretariat discussed "industrial development and regulations" or "materials," they weren't just talking about power plants; they were talking about the fuel for the arsenal. The fact that classified and unclassified documents are "intermixed throughout the files" suggests a workspace where the line between public policy and state secret was porous, if not non-existent.
Civil Defense and the SAC
While the Secretariat files handle the high-level policy, the related series in the National Archives provide the operational context. Specifically, the "Records Relating to Civil Defense" tie the AEC directly to the Strategic Air Command (SAC). These records address the implementation of nuclear energy policies through the lens of "defense mobilization" and "disarmament."
In the world of war-planning, civil defense is often treated as a secondary concern to the primary mission of deterrence. However, the archival description shows that the AEC was deeply embedded in the logistical nightmare of surviving a nuclear exchange. The records cover "emergency relocation" and "civil aviation," indicating that the agency was not merely researching the atom but planning for the aftermath of its use. The inclusion of the Strategic Air Command in these files confirms that the civilian agency functioned as a critical node in the military's broader strategy for national survival.
John W. Gofman and the Biological Hazard
There is a darker current running through the related archival series. While the Secretariat handled the budgets and the "top policy making level," the "Medical Physics Research and Development Records of John W. Gofman" dealt with the biological cost. Gofman’s files focus on the "study of biological hazards associated with radiation," including "carcinogenesis, cancer theory, chromosomal pathways, chemotherapy, and lipoproteins."
This suggests a divide within the AEC. On one hand, the Secretariat managed the "community relations" and "industrial development" of nuclear energy. On the other, researchers like Gofman were documenting the cellular damage caused by the very materials the agency was promoting. This tension is mirrored in the "General Correspondence" series, which mentions "controversies concerning nuclear fallout and thermal pollution." It is a record of an agency trying to maintain a public face of "peacetime development" while its own scientists cataloged the hazards of radiation.
Other related archives, such as the "Atomic Energy Commission Chronological Files" (NAID 785978) and various State Department editorial notes on arms control, suggest a broader web of correspondence that the Secretariat files likely touched. There are even sound recordings—scientists telling stories of their personal contributions—that humanize the sterile administrative entries of the Secretariat.
The civil defense series notes that these records address "emergency relocation" and "civil aviation," though the catalogue description does not detail the specific protocols intended for the public.