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John Lansdale Jr.
John Lansdale Jr. (9 January 1912 – 22 August 2003) was a United States Army colonel who was in charge of intelligence and security for the Manhattan Project.
A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and Harvard Law School, Lansdale was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve in 1933. He was called up for active duty in June 1941, and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (military intelligence) of the War Department General Staff. He became involved with the Manhattan Project in 1942, eventually becoming Brigadier General Leslie Groves's special assistant for security. Lansdale coordinated the activities of the Manhattan Project's field security teams with those of other agencies such as the FBI.
In April 1945, Groves sent Lansdale to Europe, where he worked with the Alsos Mission to secure 1,000 tons of uranium ore from the German Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft (WiFO) plant in Stassfurt. He also participated in the planning and execution of Operation Harborage, in which a special Allied force went deep behind enemy lines, seized 1.5 tons of uranium ingots, and captured a number of German nuclear energy project scientists, including Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, Max von Laue, Karl Wirtz, Horst Korsching and Erich Bagge and Otto Hahn.
John Mannen (Jack) Lansdale was born in Oakland, California on 11 June 1912, the son of John Lansdale Sr. and his wife May Hamilton née Mannen. After his sister Sally Mannen Lansdale was born in 1921 he dropped his middle name and was henceforth known as John Lansdale Jr. He was educated at San Jacinto High School, from which he graduated in 1929. He entered the Virginia Military Institute, graduating in 1933, and then Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in June 1936. He took a job with a law firm, Squire, Sanders and Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs), initially in Cleveland, Ohio and later in Washington, D.C. He married Metta Virginia Tomlinson in Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas on 17 June 1936. They had five daughters.
After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute, Lansdale joined the United States Army Reserve. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the field artillery branch in 1933, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1937. He was called up for active duty in June 1941, a few months before the United States entered World War II, and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (military intelligence) of the War Department General Staff.
In February 1942, Lansdale, now a captain, met with James B. Conant. the Chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, who briefed him on efforts to create an atomic bomb, and charged him with responsibility for counterintelligence at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
When Colonel James C. Marshal established the Manhattan District in June 1942, he created a Protective Security Section as part of its staff, responsible for the security of its people, installations and information. He also arranged with the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Major General George V. Strong, for support from the Military Intelligence Service. Strong gave Lansdale special responsibility for the Manhattan District, and Lansdale, in turn, arranged with the G-2s of each of the service commands for officers to be assigned to report directly to him, thus bypassing both the service command G-2s and their commanders. He also organised a special counterintelligence group in Washington, D.C., headed by himself, that reported directly to both Strong and Brigadier General Leslie Groves, who became director of the Manhattan Project in September 1942.
Lansdale had security concerns about the head of the weapons laboratory, J. Robert Oppenheimer, because of his communist connections, but Lansdale and Groves agreed that Oppenheimer was loyal and cooperative on security matters. Nonetheless, Lansdale had Oppenheimer's movements followed, his telephones tapped, and his mail opened. Lansdale interrogated Oppenheimer over the latter's relationship with Haakon Chevalier.
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John Lansdale Jr.
John Lansdale Jr. (9 January 1912 – 22 August 2003) was a United States Army colonel who was in charge of intelligence and security for the Manhattan Project.
A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute and Harvard Law School, Lansdale was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve in 1933. He was called up for active duty in June 1941, and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (military intelligence) of the War Department General Staff. He became involved with the Manhattan Project in 1942, eventually becoming Brigadier General Leslie Groves's special assistant for security. Lansdale coordinated the activities of the Manhattan Project's field security teams with those of other agencies such as the FBI.
In April 1945, Groves sent Lansdale to Europe, where he worked with the Alsos Mission to secure 1,000 tons of uranium ore from the German Wirtschaftliche Forschungsgesellschaft (WiFO) plant in Stassfurt. He also participated in the planning and execution of Operation Harborage, in which a special Allied force went deep behind enemy lines, seized 1.5 tons of uranium ingots, and captured a number of German nuclear energy project scientists, including Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, Max von Laue, Karl Wirtz, Horst Korsching and Erich Bagge and Otto Hahn.
John Mannen (Jack) Lansdale was born in Oakland, California on 11 June 1912, the son of John Lansdale Sr. and his wife May Hamilton née Mannen. After his sister Sally Mannen Lansdale was born in 1921 he dropped his middle name and was henceforth known as John Lansdale Jr. He was educated at San Jacinto High School, from which he graduated in 1929. He entered the Virginia Military Institute, graduating in 1933, and then Harvard Law School, from which he graduated in June 1936. He took a job with a law firm, Squire, Sanders and Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs), initially in Cleveland, Ohio and later in Washington, D.C. He married Metta Virginia Tomlinson in Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas on 17 June 1936. They had five daughters.
After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute, Lansdale joined the United States Army Reserve. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the field artillery branch in 1933, and was promoted to first lieutenant in 1937. He was called up for active duty in June 1941, a few months before the United States entered World War II, and was assigned to the Investigations Branch in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (military intelligence) of the War Department General Staff.
In February 1942, Lansdale, now a captain, met with James B. Conant. the Chairman of the National Defense Research Committee, who briefed him on efforts to create an atomic bomb, and charged him with responsibility for counterintelligence at the Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
When Colonel James C. Marshal established the Manhattan District in June 1942, he created a Protective Security Section as part of its staff, responsible for the security of its people, installations and information. He also arranged with the Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2, Major General George V. Strong, for support from the Military Intelligence Service. Strong gave Lansdale special responsibility for the Manhattan District, and Lansdale, in turn, arranged with the G-2s of each of the service commands for officers to be assigned to report directly to him, thus bypassing both the service command G-2s and their commanders. He also organised a special counterintelligence group in Washington, D.C., headed by himself, that reported directly to both Strong and Brigadier General Leslie Groves, who became director of the Manhattan Project in September 1942.
Lansdale had security concerns about the head of the weapons laboratory, J. Robert Oppenheimer, because of his communist connections, but Lansdale and Groves agreed that Oppenheimer was loyal and cooperative on security matters. Nonetheless, Lansdale had Oppenheimer's movements followed, his telephones tapped, and his mail opened. Lansdale interrogated Oppenheimer over the latter's relationship with Haakon Chevalier.
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