by Janet Beard
Roosevelt commissions the Advisory Committee on Uranium.
1940
March
John R. Dunning and his colleagues at Columbia University verify Niels Bohr’s hypothesis thatfission is more readily produced in the rare uranium-235 isotope than the abundant uranium-238.
April
Germany invades Norway and Denmark.
May
Germany initiates attacks on Western Europe and soon takes control of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France.
June
Italy enters the war, joining the Axis powers.
July
Germany begins air attacks on Great Britain.
In response to a memorandum from University of Birmingham scientists Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls concerning the possibility of creating an atomic bomb, Winston Churchill establishes the MAUD Committee to further investigate.
In the U.S., the Advisory Committee on Uranium becomes part of the newly established National Defense Research Committee (NDRC).
1941
February
Glenn Seaborg’s research group discovers plutonium.
June
Axis forces invade the Soviet Union.
Roosevelt creates the Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), which is headed by Vannevar Bush and absorbs the NDRC.
July
The MAUD Committee issues a report concluding that an atomic bomb is feasible. Bush receives a copy.
October
Bush briefs Roosevelt on the MAUD Report. The president approves a project to confirm the findings.
December
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and the U.S. enters World War II.
First meeting of the S-1 Uranium Committee (part of the OSRD) dedicated to developing nuclear weapons.
1942
January
Roosevelt authorizes production of an atomic bomb.
February
Japan captures Singapore.
April
The U.S. strikes Japan from the air for the first time.
May
Japan captures the Philippines and Burma.
Allied bombing of Germany begins.
June
The Allies defeat Japan in the Battle of Midway.
The S-1 Executive Committee is formed, consisting of Bush, James Conant, Arthur Compton, Ernest Lawrence, and Harold Urey. Roosevelt approves their recommendation to move to the pilot plant stage and build piles to produce plutonium and electromagnetic, centrifuge, and gaseous diffusion plants to produce uranium-235.
Production pile designs are developed at the Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago.
August
The Manhattan Engineering District is established by the Army Corps of Engineers.
September
Colonel Leslie Groves is appointed director of the Manhattan Engineering District and promoted to brigadier general.
The Army Corps of Engineers moves to acquire 56,000 acres in East Tennessee.
November
The Allies defeat Japan in the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Groves chooses J. Robert Oppenheimer to head the research into the design of a weapon. Together they decide on Los Alamos, New Mexico, as the site for the laboratory.
June’s grandfather is forced to sell his farm to the U.S. Army.
December
The first nuclear reactor goes critical at the University of Chicago, creating a self-sustained nuclear reaction, under the direction of Enrico Fermi.
1943
January
Groves selects a third Manhattan Engineering District site, Hanford, Washington, for plutonium production.
February
The Soviets defeat Germany in the Battle of Stalingrad.
Construction of the electromagnetic separation plant Y-12 and pilot plutonium production plant X-10 begins in Oak Ridge.
April
The laboratory at Los Alamos begins operations.
May
Axis forces in Tunisia surrender, ending the North African campaign.
July
Allied troops invade Sicily.
Joe and Ralph arrive in Oak Ridge.
September
Italy surrenders to the Allied forces.
Construction of the gaseous diffusion production facility K-25 begins in Oak Ridge.
November
U.S. forces invade Tarawa.
The X-10 graphite reactor goes critical.
Sam arrives in Oak Ridge.
1944
February
Y-12 sends 200 grams of enriched uranium to Los Alamos.
May
June’s friend Ronnie joins the Army and asks her to marry him.
June
Allied forces invade Normandy on D-Day.
August
The Allies liberate Paris.
September
June’s fiancé Ronnie is killed in Saint-Malo, France.
October
U.S. troops land in the Philippines.
Cici arrives in Oak Ridge.
November
June arrives in Oak Ridge.
December
Germany launches its last major offensive, the Battle of the Bulge.
Cici and Tom meet.
June and Sam meet.
1945
March
The Allies capture the Japanese island of Iwo Jima.
K-25 begins production.
April
Roosevelt dies, and Harry Truman becomes president.
Joe is offered a job as a janitor.
The Soviets encircle Berlin, and Hitler commits suicide.
May
Sam is promoted, and June becomes his secretary.
Germany surrenders, bringing an end to the war in Europe.
Joe’s family joins him in Oak Ridge.
June
The Allies capture Okinawa.
Cici becomes engaged to Tom.
July
Los Alamos scientists successfully explode the first atomic bomb at the Trinity test in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Truman informs Stalin that the U.S. has an atomic bomb, unaware that the Soviet leader has already learned of the nuclear program through espionage.
The Allies issue the Potsdam Declaration, demanding Japan’s surrender.
August
Ralph disappears.
The B-29 Enola Gay drops Little Boy, a uranium weapon, on the city of Hiroshima.
The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.
Fat Man, a plutonium weapon, is dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
Japan surrenders, bringing World War II to an end.
June leaves Oak Ridge.
Playlists
Music was a vital part of life in Oak Ridge. Radios were almost always on, both in public and private spaces. And live performances, whether by professional bands at dances or amateurs entertaining themselves and others in the recreation centers, were commonplace. These playlists give a taste of what might have been playing.
Big bands, inflected with swing jazz rhythms, ruled the airwaves, often accompanied by big vocals. The war informed the popular music of the 1940s as it did all aspects of life. Many songs dealt directly with world events (“G.I. Jive,” “When the Lights Go On Again”) and love songs were preoccupied with separation and faithfulness (“I’ll Be Seeing You,” “I’ll Walk Alone”).
Strong folk traditions flourished in the rural communities where many Oak Ridge workers originated, though change was in the air. Old time or “hillbilly” music was still played throughout the South at the same time as modern country and bluegrass were being born. Meanwhile, African American blues, jazz, and gospel were blending and evolving into what was soon to become rock and roll.
THE RECREATION CENTER
* * *
“Chattanooga Choo Choo”—Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
“Long Ago (And Far Away)”—Dick Haymes & Helen Forrest
“G.I. Jive”—Johnny Mercer w
ith Paul Weston & His Orchestra
“I’ll Be Seeing You”—Bing Crosby with John Scott Trotter & His Orchestra
“Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”—The Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen & His Orchestra
“I Don’t Want to Walk Without You”—Harry James & His Orchestra, featuring Helen Forrest
“Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”—The Ink Spots
“When the Lights Go On Again”—Vaughn Moore & His Orchestra
“Kiss the Boys Goodbye”—Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra, featuring Connie Haines
“What a Difference a Day Made”—Andy Russell with Paul Weston & His Orchestra
“Besame Mucho”—Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra, featuring Bob Eberly & Kitty Kallen
“Sentimental Journey”—Les Brown & His Band of Renown, featuring Doris Day
“Don’t Fence Me In”—Bing Crosby & the Andrews Sisters
“I’ll Walk Alone”—Dinah Shore
“Paper Doll”—The Mills Brothers
“I’ll Get By”—Harry James & His Orchestra, featuring Dick Haymes
“Moonlight Serenade”—Glenn Miller & His Orchestra
“Accentuate the Positive”—Johnny Mercer & The Pied Pipers
THE “COLORED” RECREATION CENTER
* * *
“Tippin’ In”—Erskine Hawkins & His Orchestra
“Lover Man”—Billie Holiday
“What’s the Use of Getting Sober”—Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
“I Wonder”—Cecil Gant
“I Will Be Home Again”—The Golden Gate Quartet
“Stormy Weather”—Lena Horne
“In Love Again”—Lonnie Johnson
“Don’t Stop Now”—Bonnie Davis
“35th and Dearborn”—Jimmy Yancey
“Trav’lin’ Light”—Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra, featuring Billie Holiday
“Me and My Chauffeur Blues”—Memphis Minnie
“Straighten Up and Fly Right”—The King Cole Trio
“Do Nothin’ Till You Hear From Me”—Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra
“Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well”—Lucky Millinder & His Orchestra
“When My Man Comes Home”—Buddy Johnson & His Band, featuring Ella Johnson
“Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall”—Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots
“Take It and Git”—Andy Kirk & His Clouds of Joy
“See See Rider Blues”—Bea Booze
“Hamp’s Boogie Woogie”—Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
“Somebody’s Gotta Go”—Cootie Williams & His Orchestra
“Five Guys Named Moe”—Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five
CHARLIE’S HOUSE
* * *
“Cotton Tail”—Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra
“Blues in the Night”—Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
“Clarinet a la King”—Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
“God Bless the Child”—Billie Holiday
“Woodchopper’s Ball”—Woody Herman & His Orchestra
“Snowfall”—Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra
“Jumpin’ at the Woodside”—Count Basie & His Orchestra
“Nuages”—Django Reinhardt & the Quintet of the Hot Club of France
“Flying Home”—Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra
“Why Don’t You Do Right”—Benny Goodman & His Orchestra, featuring Peggy Lee
“Take the ‘A’ Train”—Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra
“Stardust”—Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
JUNE’S PARENTS’ HOUSE
* * *
“Keep on the Sunny Side”—The Carter Family
“New San Antonio Rose”—Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
“Smoke on the Water”—Red Foley
“Mule Skinner Blues”—Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
“I’m Walking the Floor Over You”—Ernest Tubb
“At Mail Call Today”—Gene Autry
“They Took the Stars Out of Heaven”—Floyd Tillman
“Poor Wayfaring Stranger”—Burl Ives
“I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You”—Tex Ritter & His Texans
“When the World’s On Fire”—The Carter Family
“You Are My Sunshine”—Jimmie Davis
“Rocky Road Blues”—Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
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Acknowledgments
MY FIRST AND ALWAYS MOST ENCOURAGING READER WAS MY dad, Bill Beard, to whom I owe limitless thanks.
I was lucky to meet Raelee Chapman in the early stages of writing, who not only provided excellent criticism but also organized a writing group and insisted they read my entire first draft. Many thanks to her and those other readers, Katie Snell, Nick Smith, Melody Ellis, and Emma Rooksby.
Meghan Formel and Erin Coffey read later drafts and both gave excellent advice. I am also grateful to those who assisted me as I found my way in the publishing world, including Michelle Andelman and Victoria Lowes.
I am endlessly indebted to my agent, Rayhané Sanders, for her enthusiasm, tenacity, and wisdom. And I am beyond grateful that she found the perfect editor for this novel, Lucia Macro. Huge thanks to her and everyone at William Morrow who has helped turn my words into a book.
Thanks always to my husband, Declan Smithies, for understanding and supporting my need to write.
Though the characters in this novel are fictional, the real people who worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge inspired them. I hope I have done justice to their memories.
(Courtesy of the Department of Energy)
Credits
Cover design by Mumtaz Mustafa
Cover photographs: © Lee Avison / Trevillion Images (women); Courtesy of Library of Congress (fence); © Chicago History Museum / Getty Images (houses)
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.TM is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE ATOMIC CITY GIRLS. Copyright © 2018 by Janet Beard. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition FEBRUARY 2018 ISBN 978-0-06-266672-7
Print ISBN 978-0-06-266671-0
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ic City Girls: A Novel
