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Szilard Petition, July 17, 1945 - Full-color Image

In a petition dated July 17, 1945, Leo Szilard and 69 co-signers at the Manhattan Project “Metallurgical Laboratory” at the University of Chicago urged President Harry S. Truman to consider his moral responsibilities in deciding whether to use the atomic bomb.

This is an image of Szilard’s petition, scanned by the U.S. National Archives. The remainder of the 70 signatures appeared on additional pages, which are not included here. A text version of the petition, including the names of all signers, is also available.

A black-and-white image of the petition was first placed on this page on July 17, 1995, to commemorate its 50th anniversary.

View full-size image (2069 x 3150 pixels) (1.13 MB)

Source: U.S. National Archives, Record Group 77, Records of the Chief of Engineers, Manhattan Engineer District, Harrison-Bundy File, folder #76. Scan by U.S. National Archives, ARC Identifier 6250638.