The Atomic Energy Commission's Historical Advisory Committee was established in February 1958, when the

United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by the U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President Harry ...

was a decade old and continued until 1974 when the

Energy Research and Development Administration The United States Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) was a United States government organization formed from the split of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in 1975. It assumed the functi ...

(ERDA) and later the

United States Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear w ...

replaced the commission.

History

In 1957, the United States Atomic Energy Commission appointed Dr Richard G. Hewlett to be the historian of the Atomic Energy Commission. Upon taking up this post, Hewlett proposed the creation of an historical advisory committee for the AEC. His proposal was referred to historians

James Phinney Baxter III James Phinney Baxter III (February 15, 1893 in Portland, Maine – June 17, 1975 in Williamstown, Massachusetts) was an American historian, educator, and academic, who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book ''Scientists Against Ti ...

and

Samuel Eliot Morison Samuel Eliot Morison (July 9, 1887 – May 15, 1976) was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history and American history that were both authoritative and popular. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and tau ...

and Nobel Prize–winning physicist Isidor I. Rabi. These three men recommended the approval of Hewlett's proposal as a means of giving credibility of the AEC Historical Office's work and avoiding self-serving official history.

Chairman

The following is a chronological list of chairmen, 1958–1974. In cases where a chairman also served as a regular member of the committee, his dates of such service are listed in the alphabetical listing of members. *

, 1958-1967 * George E. Mowry, 1967-1969 * Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., 1969-1974

Members

The following is an alphabetical listing of members who served on this committee: *

John Morton Blum John Morton Blum (; April 29, 1921 – October 17, 2011) was an American historian, active from 1948 to 1991. He was a specialist in 20th-century American political history, and was a senior advisor to Yale officials. Life and career Blum was b ...

, 1958-1962 *

James L. Cate James Lea Cate (November 16, 1899 – November 1, 1981) was a professor of history at the University of Chicago, an intelligence officer in the United States Army Air Forces with the rank of major, and part of the Air Force Historical Division d ...

, 1958-1969 * Thomas C. Cochran, 1973-1974 * A. Hunter Dupree, 1968-1973 * Constance McL. Green, 1964-1969 * Ralph W. Hiddy, 1962-1969 *

Thomas P. Hughes Thomas Hughes (1822–1896) was an English lawyer, author, and member of parliament (MP) for Lambeth, and for Frome. Thomas, Tom, or Tommy Hughes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Thomas Hughes (dramatist) (fl. 1571–1623), 16th-centur ...

, 1973-1974 * Richard S. Kirkendall, 1973-1974 * Richard W. Leopold, 1973-1974 * Ernest R. May, 1969-1973 * George E. Mowry, 1962-1967 * Robert P. Multhauf, 1969-1973

Sources

* Richard W. Leopold, "Historians and the Federal Government: Historical Advisory Committees: State, Defense, and the Atomic Energy Commission," ''The Pacific Historical Review'', vol. 44, No. 3. (Aug 1975), pp. 373–385. History organizations based in the United States Defunct agencies of the United States government United States Department of Energy History of science organizations