General Leslie Groves (1896-1970)

Groves was born in Albany, New York, August 17, 1896. He attended the University of Washington for one year and the Massachuetts Institute of Technology for two years before entering West Point from which he graduated in 1918.

By the summer of 1942, Groves was deputy to the chief of construction for the Army Corps of Engineers and had overseen construction of the Pentagon, the world's largest office building. In September 1942 he was placed in charge of the Manhattan Engineer Project, with the rank of Brigadier General. He was in charge of all phases of the project - scientific, production, security, and planning for use of the bomb. Under his direction, project plants were established at Oak Ridge, Hanford, and the secluded Los Alamos installation in New Mexico.

After the war, Groves continued to head the atomic establishment until January 1947, when atomic energy affairs were turned over to the newly created civilian Atomic Energy Commission. He retired from active duty on February 29, 1948, as a Lieutenant General. From that time until 1961 he worked as Vice President of Sperry Rand Corporation.

He died of heart disease on July 13, 1970 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.