TLS, one page, 6 x 7.5, The Institute for Advanced Study letterhead, March 24, 1965. Letter to General Leslie R. Groves, former the director of the Manhattan Project, in full: “Your ‘form letter’ of the 26th of February really calls for much more than a formal answer. It is, no doubt, improper for me to say so, but the name of Sylvanus Thayer has had and has my support. Beyond that, I wish I could remember the name of the photographer. I do not find it in Hewlett and Anderson; and I expect only Alvarez or maybe Tom Farrell would now remember. I had forgotten the pictures. I remember them now. At that point, for a little while it was enough for me that the war was over. Kitty and I send our warmest greetings.” In fine condition. Groves may have asked Oppenheimer about the photographer who took iconic pictures at the Trinity test site in September 1945 of Groves, Oppenheimer, and other scientists and military officials involved in the Manhattan Project.
Together, Groves and Oppenheimer selected Los Alamos for the site of their secret laboratory for the Manhattan Project. In July of 1943, when Oppenheimer’s Communist Party associations caused broad concern, Groves overrode them, declaring Oppenheimer was ‘absolutely essential to the project.’
In 1958, the United States Military Academy Association of Graduates established the Sylvanus Thayer Award in honor of Col. Sylvanus Thayer (1785-1872), the fifth superintendent of the academy. The recipient is an outstanding citizen whose service and accomplishments exemplify the Military Academy motto of ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’
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