Truman on "atomic bomb" & "Manhattan District Project" Only Signed Mention In Private Hands. Most
Harry Truman
Washington DC, ca. 1946
Truman on "atomic bomb" & "Manhattan District Project" Only Signed Mention In Private Hands. Most important Event of the 20th Century.
Archive
Exceptionally important World War II document signed as President "Harry S. Truman," awarding the Medal for Merit posthumously to Charles M. Hay, Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission. Truman states, "He took a personal interest in seeing that the manpower needs of the Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb were met." The document dates to the postwar period, when Truman was presenting Medals for Merit recognizing exceptional civilian wartime service; documented White House presentations of the award occurred throughout 1946. Truman would award the Medal for Merit to individuals whose work made significant contributions to the American war effort. Some foxing and expected age wear mentioned only for accuracy, boldly signed.
Leslie Groves directed the military organization of the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer led the scientific work at Los Alamos, and as Truman's own citation records, Charles M. Hay ensured that "the manpower needs of the Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb were met."
Very few signed Truman documents, yet alone documents signed as President, have surfaced with a direct mention of the Atomic bomb, and we have yet to see a direct mention of the Manhattan project in any document. We record 2 press releases, mimeographed documents on multiple pages, thus less displayable, that mention the bomb and were signed as souvenirs much later and which averaged $55,000 at auction. The most recent was Sotheby's way back in 2011. Heritage Auctions sold a letter signed in 1961 by Truman for $237,500. Significantly, Truman did not make the atomic bomb a subject upon which he frequently dwelled publicly. The decision was one he defended rather than celebrated. Unlike so many of the political controversies of his presidency, Hiroshima represented something unprecedented: the first presidential authorization of a nuclear weapon against a populated target. Truman later reflected upon the terrible solitude inherent in that authority—the President alone ultimately having to answer the question of whether such a weapon should be used.
Accompanying the Truman citation is an important archive of Charles M. Hay material documenting his wartime service and advancement within the War Manpower Commission. The group includes a December 16, 1944 TLS from Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall to Hay, thanking him for his note concerning a recent dinner for the Regional Directors of the War Manpower Commission and offering his good wishes; a fantastic Harris & Ewing photographic portrait of Harry S. Truman personally inscribed to Hay, "Best wishes to Hon. Chas. M. Hay, whom I greatly admire," and signed "Harry Truman, U.S.S. Mo."; two official personnel records documenting Hay's July 1943 appointment as General Counsel of the War Manpower Commission and his June 1944 transfer and reassignment to Deputy Chairman and Executive Director; an official U.S. Civil Service Commission Notice of Official Efficiency Rating recording Hay's performance as "Excellent"; and a War Manpower Commission Training Within Industry Job Relations Training card/certificate issued to Charles M. Hay. Together, these documents provide an unusually detailed record of Hay's wartime government service and place the posthumous Medal for Merit citation within the immediate personal and administrative context of the work for which Truman honored him. The Truman Medal for Merit citation measures 8" x 10.325"; the George C. Marshall TLS measures 6.875" x 8.75"; the War Manpower Commission card measures 4" x 2.5"; each of the two personnel documents measures 7.875" x 10.325"; the Efficiency Rating measures 8" x 5.125"; and the Truman signed photograph measures 9.25" x 13.25".
In full:
"CITATION TO ACCOMPANY THE AWARD OF? THE MEDAL FOR MERIT?
TO CHARLES M. HAY
CHARLES M. HAY, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the United States as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission from August, 1943 to the time of his death on January 16, 1945. Mr. Hay literally gave his life in the service of his country. So strongly did he feel about the issues at stake in the war and the necessity for each citizen to make his maximum contribution that he assumed heavy responsibilities with the War Manpower Commission despite warnings from his doctor to withdraw from active work because of a serious heart condition. Appointed as general counsel of the Commission in August, 1943, he functioned not only as a legal adviser but in a unique sense as a counsellor and guiding hand to the Commission in all of its activities. To Mr. Hay, more than to any one other individual goes the credit for the fact that, throughout its existence, the Commission enjoyed the wholehearted support and assistance of management and labor in its program. He took a personal interest in seeing that the manpower needs of the Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb were met. He guided the Commission through its most critical days, when it had a tremendous job to do and when there were great public pressures for national service legislation, which both management and labor vigorously opposed."
"Harry S. Truman"
The significance of Hay's citation becomes much clearer when placed within the Manhattan Project's enormous manpower challenge. General Leslie R. Groves selected J. Robert Oppenheimer to direct the secret laboratory at Los Alamos, but producing the atomic bomb required far more than its celebrated scientific leadership. The Department of Energy states that at its peak the Manhattan Project employed approximately 130,000 workers, illustrating the extraordinary scale of the labor force required to sustain the secret wartime enterprise.
The War Manpower Commission became an important part of the federal system responsible for allocating scarce civilian labor during the war. Against this background, the language of Hay's presidential citation is particularly significant: it specifically records his personal interest in ensuring that the Manhattan District Project received the manpower necessary for development of the atomic bomb. The surviving personnel documents in this archive now add direct administrative evidence of the positions from which Hay performed that work, tracing his appointment as General Counsel in 1943 and his subsequent reassignment as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director in 1944.
Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project more broadly required scientists, engineers, technicians, construction workers, plant operators, and many other categories of personnel while competing with the armed forces and essential wartime industries for manpower. The enormous scale of that undertaking is reflected in Department of Energy histories, which describe a nationwide secret enterprise encompassing numerous sites and a peak workforce of approximately 130,000.
It was within this extraordinary national manpower system that Charles M. Hay served at the highest levels of the War Manpower Commission, first as General Counsel and then as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director. His presidential citation credits him, "more than to any one other individual," with helping the Commission maintain the wholehearted support and assistance of management and labor. The newly added archive gives this language additional documentary depth: Hay's personnel papers establish his progression through the Commission, his efficiency rating records an official assessment of "Excellent," Marshall's December 1944 letter demonstrates his correspondence at the highest levels of the wartime military establishment, and Truman's personally inscribed portrait provides a striking association between Hay and the future President who would later sign his posthumous citation.
Hay never lived to see the culmination of the project he helped support. He died on January 16, 1945, months before the Trinity test and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman's citation movingly states that Hay continued his demanding wartime service despite warnings concerning his serious heart condition and concludes that "Mr. Hay literally gave his life in the service of his country.”
9.25" x 13.25"
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Harry Truman
Washington DC, ca. 1946
Truman on "atomic bomb" & "Manhattan District Project" Only Signed Mention In Private Hands. Most important Event of the 20th Century.
Archive
Exceptionally important World War II document signed as President "Harry S. Truman," awarding the Medal for Merit posthumously to Charles M. Hay, Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission. Truman states, "He took a personal interest in seeing that the manpower needs of the Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb were met." The document dates to the postwar period, when Truman was presenting Medals for Merit recognizing exceptional civilian wartime service; documented White House presentations of the award occurred throughout 1946. Truman would award the Medal for Merit to individuals whose work made significant contributions to the American war effort. Some foxing and expected age wear mentioned only for accuracy, boldly signed.
Leslie Groves directed the military organization of the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer led the scientific work at Los Alamos, and as Truman's own citation records, Charles M. Hay ensured that "the manpower needs of the Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb were met."
Very few signed Truman documents, yet alone documents signed as President, have surfaced with a direct mention of the Atomic bomb, and we have yet to see a direct mention of the Manhattan project in any document. We record 2 press releases, mimeographed documents on multiple pages, thus less displayable, that mention the bomb and were signed as souvenirs much later and which averaged $55,000 at auction. The most recent was Sotheby's way back in 2011. Heritage Auctions sold a letter signed in 1961 by Truman for $237,500. Significantly, Truman did not make the atomic bomb a subject upon which he frequently dwelled publicly. The decision was one he defended rather than celebrated. Unlike so many of the political controversies of his presidency, Hiroshima represented something unprecedented: the first presidential authorization of a nuclear weapon against a populated target. Truman later reflected upon the terrible solitude inherent in that authority—the President alone ultimately having to answer the question of whether such a weapon should be used.
Accompanying the Truman citation is an important archive of Charles M. Hay material documenting his wartime service and advancement within the War Manpower Commission. The group includes a December 16, 1944 TLS from Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall to Hay, thanking him for his note concerning a recent dinner for the Regional Directors of the War Manpower Commission and offering his good wishes; a fantastic Harris & Ewing photographic portrait of Harry S. Truman personally inscribed to Hay, "Best wishes to Hon. Chas. M. Hay, whom I greatly admire," and signed "Harry Truman, U.S.S. Mo."; two official personnel records documenting Hay's July 1943 appointment as General Counsel of the War Manpower Commission and his June 1944 transfer and reassignment to Deputy Chairman and Executive Director; an official U.S. Civil Service Commission Notice of Official Efficiency Rating recording Hay's performance as "Excellent"; and a War Manpower Commission Training Within Industry Job Relations Training card/certificate issued to Charles M. Hay. Together, these documents provide an unusually detailed record of Hay's wartime government service and place the posthumous Medal for Merit citation within the immediate personal and administrative context of the work for which Truman honored him. The Truman Medal for Merit citation measures 8" x 10.325"; the George C. Marshall TLS measures 6.875" x 8.75"; the War Manpower Commission card measures 4" x 2.5"; each of the two personnel documents measures 7.875" x 10.325"; the Efficiency Rating measures 8" x 5.125"; and the Truman signed photograph measures 9.25" x 13.25".
In full:
"CITATION TO ACCOMPANY THE AWARD OF? THE MEDAL FOR MERIT?
TO CHARLES M. HAY
CHARLES M. HAY, for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the United States as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director of the War Manpower Commission from August, 1943 to the time of his death on January 16, 1945. Mr. Hay literally gave his life in the service of his country. So strongly did he feel about the issues at stake in the war and the necessity for each citizen to make his maximum contribution that he assumed heavy responsibilities with the War Manpower Commission despite warnings from his doctor to withdraw from active work because of a serious heart condition. Appointed as general counsel of the Commission in August, 1943, he functioned not only as a legal adviser but in a unique sense as a counsellor and guiding hand to the Commission in all of its activities. To Mr. Hay, more than to any one other individual goes the credit for the fact that, throughout its existence, the Commission enjoyed the wholehearted support and assistance of management and labor in its program. He took a personal interest in seeing that the manpower needs of the Manhattan District Project in development of the atomic bomb were met. He guided the Commission through its most critical days, when it had a tremendous job to do and when there were great public pressures for national service legislation, which both management and labor vigorously opposed."
"Harry S. Truman"
The significance of Hay's citation becomes much clearer when placed within the Manhattan Project's enormous manpower challenge. General Leslie R. Groves selected J. Robert Oppenheimer to direct the secret laboratory at Los Alamos, but producing the atomic bomb required far more than its celebrated scientific leadership. The Department of Energy states that at its peak the Manhattan Project employed approximately 130,000 workers, illustrating the extraordinary scale of the labor force required to sustain the secret wartime enterprise.
The War Manpower Commission became an important part of the federal system responsible for allocating scarce civilian labor during the war. Against this background, the language of Hay's presidential citation is particularly significant: it specifically records his personal interest in ensuring that the Manhattan District Project received the manpower necessary for development of the atomic bomb. The surviving personnel documents in this archive now add direct administrative evidence of the positions from which Hay performed that work, tracing his appointment as General Counsel in 1943 and his subsequent reassignment as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director in 1944.
Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project more broadly required scientists, engineers, technicians, construction workers, plant operators, and many other categories of personnel while competing with the armed forces and essential wartime industries for manpower. The enormous scale of that undertaking is reflected in Department of Energy histories, which describe a nationwide secret enterprise encompassing numerous sites and a peak workforce of approximately 130,000.
It was within this extraordinary national manpower system that Charles M. Hay served at the highest levels of the War Manpower Commission, first as General Counsel and then as Deputy Chairman and Executive Director. His presidential citation credits him, "more than to any one other individual," with helping the Commission maintain the wholehearted support and assistance of management and labor. The newly added archive gives this language additional documentary depth: Hay's personnel papers establish his progression through the Commission, his efficiency rating records an official assessment of "Excellent," Marshall's December 1944 letter demonstrates his correspondence at the highest levels of the wartime military establishment, and Truman's personally inscribed portrait provides a striking association between Hay and the future President who would later sign his posthumous citation.
Hay never lived to see the culmination of the project he helped support. He died on January 16, 1945, months before the Trinity test and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman's citation movingly states that Hay continued his demanding wartime service despite warnings concerning his serious heart condition and concludes that "Mr. Hay literally gave his life in the service of his country.”
9.25" x 13.25"
Sale price
Estimate
Reserve
Time, Location
Auction House
