Through the process of joining and found out that i could not married. I was so, i had a decision to make and i chose marriage. Ok then. About a year later, i graduated after being interviewed by Eastman Kodak to go to some unknown location to help the war effort. And found outd up that we would be going to oak ridge. So, we purchased the car for 150 and loaded up what little belongings we had, and after graduation in august of 1943, we traveled to tennessee. My wifes decision was to go with me, even though she was pregnant by three months. On the way down, we came to the beautiful town of noris, which shangrila. R we loved it so well that we were able to find an attic to live in which had no bathroom or anything like that, but it was a blessing for my wife because she was in a peaceful locale. And the wonderful friends that we made was a big plus. Came forthe time delivering our son, i started talking with the housing people because we could no longer live in the attic. The indecision well, maybe, maybe not. Well, the friday before she was to come home from the hospital from knoxville on the following tuesday, i went into the Housing Office and i told them, well, make up your mind. The ambulance is going to bring this son to your doorsteps on tuesday morning. Later that afternoon, i have the choice of three houses. [laughter] so, we moved to oak ridge and that is how we came. Cynthia thats a great story. What your assignment was. Assigned to i was be an engineer in the Engineering Department at y12. Design. Rked in machine also with some knowledge of electronics. So, i was privileged to get to and helpbeta design that. I count that is one of the highlights of my experiences at y12. Below the friends that i made and maybe the opportunity to witness for human rights during the time i stayed at y12. Oak ridge, it was such a different cause mythology and facility, there were different ideas about living and people and mixing, and we had sundays without Grocery Stores opening we had thees and racial issues at that time. I guess the one instance i that in so vividly was writing the buses riding the well which were so provided, we had sold our 150 automobile at that time and were riding buses. On the way to knoxville, i happen to get on incident in the last remaining seat, and a negro was sitting there, halfway back in the bus. We started after, at, the bus driver noted that black man was not sitting on the back row where he was supposed to be. And he stopped the bus along the side of the road, and i can still see him getting up and walking back, almost grabbing the guy to make them get back to where he was supposed to be. And of course, i had to get up let him out, and though and so, it kind of angered me very much for my background. So, i went back to the back row with him and set down with him. Thats just one instance of what i mean. Cynthia great story. Do you have any other remembrances along those lines . Did racial segregation or integration work . Mr. Wheatley i thought it worked very well in general. I know of very few instances where there were problems. I just saw a small part of it. Were were there any there any blacks in the area where you worked . Mr. Wheatley yes, well, there were lots of blacks in the y12 area. I guess the majority of the have labor jobs. Of course, they had a segregated in the area where they lived, which is, i think, unfortunate. Just a part of life in this area at that time. Did you ever go to the alexander inn and have dessert . Womans whose grandmother was the desert girl at the alexander inn. Mr. Wheatley i knew about the alexander inn, but i never did go there, i guess just because it was not in our path to do so. Furnished, prefab house on east drive near the radio station. Quite a rudead awakening when she had to move there because of the problems that she had to face as a new mother. She had to wash all of her washing on a washboard i the sinkn. She had poison ivy all through the backyard where she tried to hang her clothes. She had to go to the Grocery Store by walking or hitchhiking since we had sold the car. Things like that. So, i guess we both during this period graduated from the remnants of adolescence into young adulthood. Me more about your job. You were an engineer. You are helping design the beta calutron. What did you have to work with . Describe what you did every day. The Engineering Department is where i started to work. For a very fine supervisor who had come from Mississippi State university. Inwas over about 20 people our group that was assigned for design work on the beta project. And at that time, it had a lot toe than just the calutron work with. Parts of the process, piping. In my job was essentially to design and improve valves, which was a vital part of the process. And then later, i moved with a small group of about 12 people across the street up on the hill in a building to work on the itself. F the calutron and i was happy to be selected we that job because primarily worked on the collector end of the calutron and designs that portion of it where it collected the isotopes, separated them from each other. Build and thento to follow up, and my time was spent between the design of it and the building of the prototype, and testing was the next step. And then the production stage. Carehat pretty well took of the rest of my time quite well. I left y12 after the war ended 1946, when a lot of people were leaving. Work, i wasarted assigned to the engineering 9731, i believe, and it was a unique experience because of the size of the drafting room that i worked in, and that was only part of the building. The metallurgical consultants from the navy had a portion where they were in an entirely Different Group that we could go on questionsance about metals and how it could be worked together. Ae group i went with was thep of about 20 people in northern end of the building, i believe. And then there were other groups next to us, in the middle of the building, and on down to the probably, which consisted of im just guessing, 200 people or more, which was a fantastic effort that we produced to get things done fast and make them work. The i came in august and first alpha building was starting to be built or finished , the process would not work. Reallyrybody then was pulled off of there not everybody, but a lot of the were pulled off their regular tasks to figure out why the production building did not go. It would not work. I did not have as much input one of my carpool members who later became pretty , and hes a scientist figured out exactly what the problem was in the obstruction of the cooling system by the iron filings that got into the copper cooling system. But everybody was really concerned and doing what they could from that standpoint. Cynthia did you know they suspected sabotage . They thought that they might have been sabotaged . Mr. Wheatley yes, i heard that was a possibility. What did you think [indiscernible] mr. Wheatley oh, i see. During this effort to get the alpha1 building going, there was a lot of ideas of what might have happened, and one of the that possiblyd sabotage was involved, but i never heard definitely that that was true or not. Cynthia thank you. Else, toewed someone other people, who were hired as part of counterintelligence to keep an eye on mr. Wheatley oh. Thats interesting. [laughter] cynthia can you talk about security . Thingsatley one of the that was interesting to me was handled security was throughout my work. People that lot of were hired as guards had to be trained because of the number and i had one personal experience where i was involved because wee in a way were instructed in wearing our badges to put the badge on our caller cap on our collar, clip it on. The metal used in the badges created really dirty spots on the collar. Since all of the engineers who were not in the military were did to wear white shirt and thighs, i clipped it onto my type in to protect my shirt , i flipped and ties it on to my tie pin, i clicked my tie pin to protect my shirt. But the security had very strict instructions. The guard told me very shortly, put it on your collar. Being a young squirt, i said what is wrong with where it is . His revolver and said, put it on your collar. [laughter] security is. Is how but there were a lot of people that are known me were doing work in security and occasionally we would see somebody missing from the work place and never come back and we hear a his tory story about well, he had done interruptedong that their plans. I believe that. And later, i seem to feel there were more people than i thought in the general populace really keeping track of everybody areas of everybody. Slanted asd you feel as an engineer that compartmentalization was a . Roblem in your work there are keeping everyone in the dark about the project . Mr. Wheatley when i started work, the first week or so, we were giving a training up in the training buildings up in the duringof oak ridge, and this first week, i met one of my real great friends that later became lifelong wrens. What theyed privately were doing, because i had no policynd of course the was to only teach people what they needed to know. Goodnk the policy was a one, but i was fortunate that my friends came from the university of minnesota and graduated about and worked under a professor who was in on the oak ridge and at work at the university of operation ofthe uranium and he confided in me what was going on, so i knew and , the time i got here, what was going on, but a lot of people never did know, i suppose. At i think the policy was good. My feeling was it did not interfere with progress. Cynthia good. Lets see. What about funny stories . Can you think of any mr. Wheatley is it ok to work those in . Cynthia absolutely. Its wonderful. The more of those you have mr. Wheatley ok, i didnt know. Cynthia it really helps it come to life. Ok, do you want to hear the story of my 1937 ford, the reason i sold it . Cynthia sure. Mr. Wheatley when we lived in noris at first, as i mentioned, we lived there seven months in the attic on pine road. Charge. S in i had good neighbors, but with my 150 forward, i had to spend 300 or 400 to get it takes so it would be reliable and i had a pool for seven months and lets see. We had three other people this 1937self, but ford, even with new brakes would go out of adjustment. At that particular year was noted for that. We wouldhree days drive with the brakes and the last three days we would drive with the emergency brake only. So, i would spend my time on the weekends getting the cables so it would run next week. None of my carpool never left me and i never understood why with some of the experiences we had. Three notable ones. I almost ran a fire truck off the road. The second one was, on the old road going into clinton, you have to go down in the center of the city and we would shift gears into second as we started down the hill and as we came up over the hill, there was a stoplight at the bottom right where the court houses, and one automatically it shifted into second. And then it backed up here to the top of the hill. And i could not stop. At so i had to go into the left lane way nobody was going to, the left. Ane while we were going down but things like that, you never forget. Cynthia how do you feel when the work was ended and the atom bomb had gone off . The day we learned bomb had been dropped, the second adam bomb had been dropped and the war was of course there is a lot of elation throughout the Engineering Department. And i suppose all over the world even though we were instructed to come in the next morning and work as usual, i dont think half of the people came in and i was one of them that didnt. I went fishing instead. It was just like a burden lifted off of your shoulders. And also, i went to the barbershop. Got the morning paper this was after the first one was dropped. That is when i went to the barbershop. And the headline said in the headline it said atomic bomb. I cant remember just what is said, but the barber of worsted not know anything about what was going on, and i remember him what and i knew what an atomic was. [laughter] i thought that was interesting. Cynthia [indiscernible] good story. Lets see. Wife manage . Tell me more about her life. Ell, my wife w the job to raise a young baby and when we moved to take prefab, she had the role of like a pioneer woman, because she had to walk to the Grocery Store or even hitchhike. Everybody was so friendly. The picks up people to help each other. So, that was a big help. , withd to do the washing a scrub board, and do it in the sink, and she had to hang out her clothes on a line in the back. Tops in the summer got so hot the interior in the house would go over 90 degrees, and as an engineer, i said i thought evaporated cooling to help, so i got a step ladder and started pouring buckets of water over the roof, the flat top roof, which really helped cool the house. Some of the neighbors saw what i was doing and pretty soon all up and down the street, everyone theiruring water on roof to get cool. So, she had to put up with those kinds of living conditions. We were in a lower place, being at the bottom of the hill, where if it rained the front yard was my. We had the wooden sidewalk. Which rat inhabited underneath the sidewalks. She had few outlets because of being a mother, where is a lot of the single women had places to do things together. So, she was sort of isolated after being at our shangrila in noris. So, at the age of two months, and our new son, he was not doing well at all, and we went to we took him to the hospital. She is been going to an army doctor where she is been taking him. We had i do not know about others he did not know much about babies. Out he had severe malnutrition and she thought he was being fed, but he was not getting enough to eat. So, it ended up that we had to take the baby back to my home,. Y parents home in indiana so, she had as soon as they got him up there, he responded to treatment very rapidly, and hefor about three months, had a turnaround in his health and was able to come back to oak ridge. Thingsade friends, improved greatly. I think the salvation for my great friends that we had his neighbors who had from virginia. He had come down from the munitions plant and other virginia and transferred. They were about our age and had a new girl that was less than a year old, so then my wife had someone to relate to. One of the interesting stories about these new neighbors, he worked in one of the alpha buildings as an electrician. Day, he was inside the and wask on the latter adder and was a l working on the electrical system and some other worker shortcircuited the safety preventing electricity be going to the system to go into the system where he was working, and 35,000 volt of current, electric current hitting him through his hands, came out his elbows and his chest. The big bruises. The only thing that saved his beingreading on a on a ladder, i guess. A secretout later that service man followed him for a few days after he got out of the hospital because they did not know exactly how he lived and they did not know what would happen over the short term from this accident. It was a very unfortunate to hist, but he lived 70s. He was a friend for life also. But he was also very fortunate to be alive after that. He went back to virginia and he went into dairy farming their dairy farming threre. Cynthia were there many safety problems like that . Way . Harms the question of to allwas of importance personnel. Rvisory the pressure to get everything causes thet though emission the omission of things that are done for safety. But i did not hear a lot of instances where there were affectedoblems that peoples lives. I dont know the statistics. Im sure there are. What else can you think of . You have some great anecdotes. Mr. Wheatley thank you. Cynthia you really do. Something else i should try to make sure i record . Mr. Wheatley can i look at my notes . Cynthia oh definitely. Mr. Wheatley just a moment. Anytime. Mr. Wheatley anytime . I mentioned about enjoying my supervisor very much and his direction. Probably in his mid20s, or maybe late 20s, and loved to drink scotch whiskey. The city of oak ridge said booze was prohibited, but i have forgotten that when my wife and i took a trip home at christmas. I remembered how he liked scotch and i thought, well, i will just take him a bottle. So, i bought the bottle, and we whoour infant son with us was at that time about nine months old. Back, we got off the horribleclinton the thought came to my mind, i cannot take the scotch into oak ridge. We wereonly way waiting for the bus to go to oak ridge, but like all friendly oak said, im fellow going that way. Just ride with us. So, we got in the back seat, my wife and i and the baby, and we rode, and as we came to the gates of oak ridge, i didnt know what to do with the bottle of scotch. , we were instructed to get out of the car and they opened the trunk of and checked all of our luggage, and i guess thats about the only time i remember wasg something that probably not approved, but what and hiss hold the baby blanket it was cold weather and i put the bottle of scotch and with the baby, and they checked the luggage and they did not find the bottle of scotch. So, my boss got his bottle of scotch. Cynthia great. Terrific. Only othery the story is, i think for people who friend thatow, this was from minnesota, and another allnd, the three of us liked music. Play vpn is somewhat played the piano somewhat. The three of us would come out. My wife and i had bought a piano. The first two pieces of furniture we had was a piano of all things, because she liked music, and we bought a floor lamp, because the rest of the house was furnished. So, our recreation consisted of them coming out to the house and the three of us would compose music as a hobby. I would compose the music and they would supply most of the later, two of our sons we got copyright on, and the point that i want to mention went on toter become the first owners of the music box in oak ridge. And most people do not know that that was true. Because they did not have it only a couple years before they passed it on to horace and bill. Thats about all i have there. Did you write any pieces about oak ridge . Mr. Wheatley no, no, we didnt do that. It was more popular music. One of the three new dinah shore , and we became interested in that popular type music. Cynthia do you have recordings of it . Mr. Wheatley yes, my wife still has recordings of music that we compose together. Because when they started the music box, we would go down then, we would go down to their store, and it was in Jackson Square for many, many years up until the last few years read we would record there. At that time, horace, who rather bought it you later audit, was working with them. Of fun together that way. My wife liked music, too. That worked out very well. With the singing. Because she had done a lot of singing during her career years. With live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the senate on cspan2, here on cspan3, we complement that coverage showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and Public Affairs events. On the weekends, cspan3 is the home to American History tv, including six unique series. The civil wars 150th anniversary. During usetifacts, the ms and historic sites. History bookshelf, with the bestknown American History writers. Looking at the policies and legacies of our nations commanders in chief. Lectures in history, with top College Professors delving into americas past. And our new series reel america. Cspan3, created by the cable industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. In hd, like us on facebook, and follow us on twitter. Week, America History a brings youeric archival films that bring context to issues. Tell us what the situation is right now. The move. His one the greater part it must be right here, right now. Im telling you, it is blowing and the trees are shaking. 46, all power failed at the new orleans weather bureau. Knocking out power lines all over town. By midnight, overwhelming the city. Winds reaching over 100 Miles Per Hour. [bells ringing] baton rouge is next in line. This is the baton rouge area. Byds over 100 Miles Per Hour 1 30 a. M. Mckinnon andohn his staff is asked to coordinate , working with red cross, public health, and salvation army. In the national guard. Emergency calls are pouring in from all over the state, including one from the National Heart headquarters at new orleans. [indiscernible] baton rouge. Trouble at the jackson barracks. Youre kidding. No, not kidding. Betsy is pushing a 15foot wall of water, the greatest title tidal surge. Levees, into the southwest section of new orleans. In betsys wake, theres only darkness, confusion, and death. Devastation. The church bells are quiet now. Hurricane winds and have done their worst. Surge has topped them. The Fatality List as follows her body was found in the franklin ditch. She was swept away by floodwaters. Small bunker. They passed the house. [indiscernible] my husband. My brother. Getcreamed, tell them to out the levees broke they lifted us into the boat. Of [indiscernible] refugeesr 25,000 swarming already overcrowded shelters. A Landmark Court case, loving versus virginia, ruled it was unconstitutional to prohibit interracial marriage. Up next on American History tv, author and professor Peter Wallenstein examines the context of loving versus virginia. He discusses the complexities of the case. The Virginia Historical society was not a white woman. Richard loving, all agreed, was a white man. Virginia state law not only rendered their 1958 marriage illegal, but also required a penalty of at least a year in prison for it. Choset court judge leon to suspend their prison ifces is they agree they agreed to leave the state. After years of exile,