The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the John L. Balderston, Jr. Collection 1945-1947
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| Title: | Balderston, John L., Jr. Collection |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1945-1947 |
| Size: | 1 linear foot (2 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Documents the Letters on World Government project, conducted by nuclear scientists John L. Balderston, Jr., Dieter M. Gruen, W.J. McLean, and David B. Wehmeyer. Includes letters from prominent intellectual, political, and entertainment figures discussing the creation of a world government to ensure peaceful control of atomic energy and a report summarizing the letters. |
This collection is open for research.
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Balderston, John L., Jr. Collection, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.
In August, 1945, groups of scientists throughout the United States who had worked on the Manhattan Project, and others who were aware of the military and political consequences of atomic energy, began to form into local and national organizations. Their intent was to impress upon the public and the government the necessity of formulating suitable municipal and international agencies and laws for its control and development.
Between 1945 and 1952 these organizations waged an intensive co-operative campaign to this end and were largely responsible for the passage for the McMahon Act, creating the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. They also aided in the adoption of the international control of atomic energy as a goal of American foreign policy and the creation of the National Science Foundation.
Scientists at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, took a particular interest in the development of a world federal government, as advocated by Edith Wynner and Mortimer Adler, forming a World Government Committee. A group of four Oak Ridge scientists, John L. Balderston, Jr., Dieter M. Gruen, W.J. McLean, and David B. Wehmeyer, undertook the “Letters on World Government” project, which appears to have been loosely associated with the larger committee. The group wrote to 154 primarily American and British leaders in science, culture, and politics, soliciting their opinions and advice about the establishment of a world government. Over the next year, as more than 100 responses were received to the letter, the committee compiled a report that was released in 1947. The report was distributed primarily to interested staff at Oak Ridge facilities, by now consolidated into the Association of Oak Ridge Engineers and Scientists.
This collection primarily comprises John L. Balderston, Jr.’s records of the World Government letters project. The records are divided into three series: Series I, World Government Correspondence; Series II, Publication Correspondence and Final Report; and Series III, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
Series I, World Government Correspondence consists of the solicitation letter that was sent out in 1945 and the responses to that letter. The responses and any attached documents were originally bound into three alphabetically organized volumes. They are now organized into folders, but the alphabetical arrangement remains intact.
Series II, Publication Correspondence and Final Report contains correspondence regarding the use of quotations from letters in the final report and responses to the report. It also includes the final report that was compiled and distributed in 1947.
Series III comprises a bound volume of Volumes 1-3 of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, first published on December 10, 1945 as the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists of Chicago.
Association of Oak Ridge Engineers and Scientists. Records
Series I: World Government Correspondence |
| Box 1 Folder 1 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 1- Solicitation Letter, 1945 |
| Box 1 Folder 2 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 1- "A," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 3 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 1- "B," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 4 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 1- "C," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 5 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 1- "D," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 6 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 1- "E," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 7 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- List of Letters Received, 1947 |
| Box 1 Folder 8 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "F," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 9 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "G," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 10 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "H," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 11 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "I," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 12 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "J," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 13 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "K," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 14 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "L," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 15 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "M," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 16 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "Mc," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 17 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "O," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 18 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 2- "P," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 19 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- List of Letters Received, 1947 |
| Box 1 Folder 20 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "R," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 21 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "S," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 22 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "T," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 23 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "U," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 24 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "V," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 25 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "W," 1945
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| Box 1 Folder 26 | World Government Correspondence- Volume 3- "Y," 1945
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Series II: Permission Correspondence and Final Report |
| Box 2 Folder 1 | Permission Correspondence- Letter to Bing Crosby, 1946 |
| Box 2 Folder 2 | Permission Correspondence- Handwritten List, undated |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Permission Correspondence "A," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 4 | Permission Correspondence "B," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 5 | Permission Correspondence "C," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 6 | Permission Correspondence "D," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 7 | Permission Correspondence "F," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 8 | Permission Correspondence "H," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 9 | Permission Correspondence "J," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 10 | Permission Correspondence "K," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 11 | Permission Correspondence "L," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 12 | Permission Correspondence "M," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 13 | Permission Correspondence "R," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 14 | Permission Correspondence "S," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 15 | Permission Correspondence "T," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 16 | Permission Correspondence "V," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 17 | Permission Correspondence "W," 1946
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| Box 2 Folder 18 | Final Report- Memo to Committee, 1947 |
| Box 2 Folder 19 | Final Report- Report on World Government Master Copy, 1947 |
| Box 2 Folder 20 | Final Report- Report on World Government, 1947 |
Series III: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |
| Box 2 Folder 21 | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Vols. 1-3, 1945-1947 |