That I have done no weapons or other secret work since then is hardly significant. The last time I did any such work was in the late 1950s, and I have not been invited to do any since. (This reflects more a drying up of the free flow of Defense Department money to the aerospace industry for over-the-horizon projects than it does a judgment about my ability to contribute.) With or without my declaration, I would very likely have remained a non-participant in war work for all the years since Cloudcroft. Yet I felt good about the declaration, and hoped that it would make some other scientists think about how, if at all, their opposition to the Vietnam war should influence their decisions about their own careers.
Acknowledgments
To track down documents and references, I have had the invaluable help of Anthony Eames (my research assistant), Bill Reupke (a Los Alamos alumnus who channeled his keen curiosity on my behalf), and Alex Wellerstein (my rock in the world of physics history). Jeremy Bernstein provided a trove of data and leads, as did Dick Garwin and Carey Sublette. And the trove of all troves, The Swords of Armegeddon, was left behind by Chuck Hansen (1947–2003).
Like every author, I have leaned on many people for assistance of one kind or another. My benefactors include Alan Carr and Matthew Hopkins at Los Alamos, Kathy Olesko of George Washington University, and Gino Segrè, my Philadelphia neighbor whose physics writing has served as an inspiration. Martin Levin helped me navigate the tricky waters of information disclosure. Harris Mayer shared with me his recollections of the early days at Los Alamos. Frances Lennie taught me (again) how to prepare an index. Two Mashas have helped with translations: Masha Ford (German) and Masha Spektor (Russian).
It always helps to have friends in high places, and I have been fortunate to have a few: Representative Rush Holt (a physicist as well as a Member of Congress) and his assistant Sarah Steward; Bill Burr at the National Security Archive; Fletcher Whitworth at the Department of Energy; and Terry Fehner, also at DOE. Without their help, some of the once-secret documents that I needed could have been too long delayed to be useful.
Encouragement is important to every author, and I have had a lot of it: from my good physics friend Paul Hewitt (who also initiated the figures in Chapter 6); my wife, Joanne (52 years and counting); and my children Paul Ford, Sarah Ford, Nina Tannenwald, Caroline Richards, Adam Ford, Jason Ford, and Star Ford (balancing their morale-boosting cheers with perceptive critiques). One of my daughters, Nina, has also written about nuclear weapons. My son Adam designed this book.
There are lots of pictures in this book. Rebecca Collinsworth and Savannah Gignac have been of special help in securing many of them. Aimee Slaughter briefed me on Bathtub Row.
It’s been a pleasure working with the World Scientific team, notably Jessica Barrows in New Jersey and Alvin Chong in Singapore.
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