TLS as president signed “Dwight Eisenhower,” one page, 7 x 10.25, White House letterhead, May 14, 1960. Letter to Dr. John H. Williams accepting his resignation from the Atomic Energy Commission, in full: “While I regret exceedingly to learn that for reasons of health you have decided to resign from the Atomic Energy Commission, I must, of course, accede to your wishes. Accordingly, as tendered in your recent letter, I am accepting your resignation, effective June 30, 1960. I hope that, relieved of your present responsibilities, your recuperation from your present illness will be a rapid one. For the service you have rendered the Government, both as a member of the commission and as a scientist, including your war-time contributions at Los Alamos, you have earned the gratitude of your fellow Americans. In addition to your loss at the Commission, your advice on the Federal Council for Science and Technology, with which you have worked so diligently, will be sorely missed. There, your effective guidance in the fields of high energy physics and materials research has been especially commendable. I am sure that the contributions that you have made to the scientific strength of this Nation will always be a source of well-deserved pride and trust that you will find it possible to continue your useful and highly important work in the fields of science and education.” In fine condition, with two file holes to the top edge.
Williams, originally a Canadian citizen, began working on projects related to the atomic bomb for the U. S. Defense Department in 1942 upon obtaining his citizenship. Among the first group of scientists to arrive at Los Alamos in early 1943, he joined the Experimental Physics Division as head of the Electrostatic Generator Group. As referenced in this letter, Williams was instrumental in the preparation for the first atomic bomb test and was among only a few men who, at two miles, were relatively close to the blast. On the sixth anniversary of the Trinity test in 1951, at the age of 43, Williams was diagnosed with cancer, a disease that he fought for the next 14 years. Appointed director of the Atomic Energy Commission’s Research Division in 1958, he was quickly promoted to an Atomic Energy Commissioner by Eisenhower. Throughout this time Williams was undergoing experimental treatments and risky surgeries in an attempt to eradicate the cancer. However, as this letter indicates, Williams was forced to resign from the commission in 1960. He later returned to the Atomic Energy Commission as a consultant, a position that he held until his death in 1966. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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