Measures for Progress: A History of the National Bureau of Standards

492 THE NEW WORLD OF SCIENCE (1946-51)
Despite the failure of the subcommittee to prove its charges, despite
vindication in the press and by the security procedures of the Departments
of Commerce and Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission, and the
wide support of his fellow scientists, Dr. Condon came to feel that he might
best serve Bureau interests by resigning.
Accepting an appointment as director of research at Corning Glass
Works, Dr. Condon submitted his resignation to President Truman, effective
September 30. The resignation was regretfully accepted.
You have served [said the President] in a most critical position
with continued and loyal attention to your duties as director, and
by reason of your standing among scientists and the supervision
you have given to the bureau's activities, you have made of it a
more important agency than it ever has been before.'5°
After presiding over the semicentennial symposia that month on mass
spectroscopy, on electrochemical constants, and on polymer degradation
mechanisms, Dr. Condon left the Bureau. Confronting the new Acting Direc.
the civilian Atomic Energy Commission. Also, rumor were widespread of domestic
Communist activities in connection with the development of the bomb.
Dr. Condon had been at Los Alamos, and was scientific adviser to the McMahon committee
that had obtained enactment of the law for civilian control of atomic energy. He
now directed, according to Mr. Thomas, "one of the most important national defense
research organizations in the United States, the target of espionage agents of numerous
foreign powers."
Then in a statement handed to the press on Mar. 1, 1948, the Thomas subcommittee
charged that "the Soviet Union and her satellite nations have been desperately attempting
to * * secure our complete atomic knowledge. * From the evidence at hand, it
appears that Dr. Condon is one of the weakest links in our atomic security." He had,
Thomas said, "knowingly or unknowingly, entertained and associated with persons who
are alleged Soviet espionage agents."
From the first, Dr. Condon expressed his willingness to appear for a bearing but was
ignored. Almost unanimously the press, the world of science, and other members of
Congress questioned the charges and the procedure of the House Committee. Although
he was cleared by the Loyalty Board of the Department of Commerce and by W. Averell
Harriman and Charles Sawyer, the Secretaries under whom he served, the criticism of
the Director of the Bureau by this committee of Congress continued.
See Stephen K. Bailey and Howard D. Samuel, Congress at Work (New York: Henry
Holt, 1952), pp. 321—336, 487; "Trial by Newspaper," Sci. Am. 180, 16 (1949); and
congressional documents and newspaper accounts in NBS Historical File.
"New York Times," Aug. 11, 1951, p. 1.