TLS, one page, 7 x 9, War Department, Chief of Staff letterhead, March 11, 1946. Letter to J. P. Heinmuller, president of the Longines-Wittnauer Watch Company, in full: "I am in receipt of your recent telegram proposing the transfer of the forthcoming atomic bomb tests from Bikini Atoll to Greenland. While it is agreed that the development of such copper deposits as you describe would be of considerable economic importance, I would like to emphasize that the forthcoming tests are designed as a military experiment, with particular regard to the effect of the bomb on navel vessels, to obtain data which will be absolutely vital to our national security.
Bikini Atoll was chosen, after much consideration, as the site that best satisfied the requirements of safety to participating personnel, good anchorage facilities, and the availability of stable or determinable air and sea currents which are such as to guarantee that contaminated air or water will not be carried to any inhabited area. Much of the information to be gained from these tests will be extremely valuable in considering the application of atomic energy to projects such as you propose. I thank you for your interest in this subject and appreciate your desire to advance the welfare of our country." In fine condition.
The Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was the site of U.S. nuclear testing during the late 1940s and 1950s. Between 1946 and 1958, a total of 23 atomic and hydrogen bombs were detonated there as part of the Cold War-era weapons development program. The first atomic test at Bikini Atoll, codenamed 'Able,' took place on July 1, 1946, as part of a series designed to examine the effects of nuclear explosions on naval warships. The bomb was dropped from a B-29 bomber and detonated 520 feet above the lagoon, where a fleet of surplus and captured ships had been positioned as targets. Although the explosion caused significant damage, the test’s results were less dramatic than expected.
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