Conversations: 1951

March 14, 1951

MEMORANDUM FOR THE FILE

SUBJECT: Telephone conversation with Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer

I called Dr. Oppenheimer on the telephone to tell him of the status of matters concerning the Advisory Committee on Defense Scientific Research with particular reference to the chairmanship. I told him briefly of my [March 10] telephone conversation with Dr. Buckley. My call to him was in view of the fact that he would be seeing Dr. Buckley tomorrow, I expected, at the meeting of' the General Advisory Committee to the AEC in Chicago.

He said that he expected that on the train going out to Chicago this evening he would meet with Dr. Buckley, Rabi, Conant, DuBridge and perhaps one or two others of the GAC. He mentioned that Dr. DuBridge was coming in to see him in a few minutes. He thought that, and so did I, Dr. Buckley would undoubtedly discuss the matter with these individuals.

We talked about the alternative of a half-time Chairman with a full-time Executive Officer in the event that Dr. Buckley declined the chairmanship. We also talked about a full-time Executive Officer in the event that Dr. Buckley did undertake the job. He said that he had heard Dr. Buckley say some good things about Larry Hafstad [Atomic Energy Commission] but that he doubted that Hafstad would be his choice for this position and that he would surely, at any rate, have ideas of his own. Oppenheimer said, with respect to a half-time chairman when I asked, that he did not know Dr. Killian at all well.

William T. Golden