By Denise Kiernan. It was important, the doctor told her, and the young nurse followed without question. There, a small group of hospital staff gathered around a radio to listen to President Truman address the nation. There was a remarkable new development in the ongoing war, one many felt would end it once and for all.
It was a new weapon, and it had just been deployed against Japan. Word spread rapidly through the outpost by mouth and media, shockwaves of revelation rippling throughout offices and homes. The secret was out. That secret — the development of the atomic bomb — was kept not only from those who lived outside the secured gates of Oak Ridge, but also from tens of thousands of individuals who served as integral parts of what is now known as the Manhattan Project.
Geniuses and generals. But their efforts would have amounted to nothing without the female workforce that helped transform their theory into reality. With legions of American men away fighting, women entered the work world in astonishing numbers and numerous capacities. Oak Ridge employed men and women, young and old, all of whom served as a crucial element in the development of a weapon that would forever change the face of warfare, medicine, international politics, and the environment.
Most of these workers had no inkling of their role in this historic event until the first atomic bomb ever used in combat detonated over Hiroshima, Japan. The decision to create and to use the bomb was not theirs. But they would be forever linked to that very choice and its aftermath. Many of them were women. Many of them were still in their teens. I wanted to see this world-altering event through their eyes and unique experiences. At first, they were baffled at my interest.
Why would you want to talk to me? But as we spoke, I became enthralled by their viewpoints and inspired by their sense of adventure. They chose to go to a site they knew nothing about, to do jobs that were not fully described to them. They faced uncertainty and secrecy in order to help the war effort and to make a living. In doing so, they helped change the course of history. Toni Peters, who grew up a few miles down the road in Clinton, watched with her high school friends as a city erupted out of the red Tennessee clay seemingly overnight.
