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{{short description|United States Army general and engineer}}
{{For|the Irish academic|Kenneth Nicholls}}
{{good article}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Kenneth Nichols
| honorific_suffix = [[CBE]]
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1907|11|13|df=yes}}
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2000|2|21|1907|11|13|df=yes}}
| birth_place   = [[Cleveland]], Ohio, U.S.
| death_place   = [[Bethesda, Maryland]], U.S.
| placeofburial = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| placeofburial_label = Place of burial
| image         = Kenneth D. Nichols.jpeg
| alt           = Head and shoulders of man in uniform with peaked cap and thin mustache.
| caption       = Major General Kenneth D. Nichols
| alma_mater    = [[Cornell University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Master of Science|MS]])<br>[[University of Iowa]] ([[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]])
| allegiance    = {{flag|United States}}
| branch        = [[United States Army]]
| serviceyears  = 1929–1953
| rank          = [[Major general (United States)|Major General]]
| commands      = [[Armed Forces Special Weapons Project]]<br />[[Manhattan Engineer District]]
| battles       = [[Occupation of Nicaragua]]<br />[[World War II]]
| awards        = [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] (2)<br />United States Atomic Energy Commission Distinguished Service Award<br />[[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]], ([[Great Britain]])<br />Medal of Merit ([[Nicaragua]])
}}
'''Kenneth David Nichols''' [[CBE]] (13 November 1907 – 21 February 2000) was an [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] in the [[United States Army]], and a [[Civil engineering|civil engineer]] who worked on the secret [[Manhattan Project]], which developed the [[Atomic Bomb|atomic bomb]] during [[World War II]]. He served as Deputy District Engineer to [[James C. Marshall]], and from 13 August 1943 as the District Engineer of the [[Manhattan Engineer District]]. Nichols led both the uranium production facility at the [[Clinton Engineer Works]] at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]], and the plutonium production facility at [[Hanford Engineer Works]] in [[Washington (state)|Washington state]].

Nichols remained with the Manhattan Project after the war until it was taken over by the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] in 1947. He was the military liaison officer with the Atomic Energy Commission from 1946 to 1947. After briefly teaching at the [[United States Military Academy]] at West Point, he was promoted to major general and became chief of the [[Armed Forces Special Weapons Project]], responsible for the military aspects of atomic weapons, including logistics, handling and training. He was deputy director for the Atomic Energy Matters, Plans and Operations Division of the Army's general staff, and was the senior Army member of the military liaison committee that worked with the Atomic Energy Commission.

In 1950, General Nichols became deputy director of the Guided Missiles Division of the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]. He was appointed chief of research and development when it was reorganized in 1952. In 1953, he became the general manager of the Atomic Energy Commission, where he promoted the construction of nuclear power plants. He played a key role in the [[Oppenheimer security hearing|proceedings]] brought against [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]] that resulted in Oppenheimer's security clearance being revoked. In later life, Nichols became an engineering consultant on private nuclear power plants.

== Early life ==
Kenneth David Nichols was born on 13 November 1907 in [[West Park, Cleveland|West Park, Ohio]], which later became part of [[Cleveland]], Ohio, one of four children of Wilbur L. Nichols and his wife Minnie May Colbrunn.<ref name="genealogy">[https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/timeline/LT3P-1NZ] Familysearch.org</ref> He graduated fifth in his class at the [[United States Military Academy]] at West Point in 1929 and was commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]]. In 1929, Nichols went to [[Nicaragua]] as part of an expedition led by [[Lieutenant Colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Daniel I. Sultan]] whose purpose was to conduct a survey for the [[Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal]].<ref name="Cullum 1940">{{harvnb|Cullum|1940|p=778}}</ref> A fellow officer in the expedition, who would later figure prominently in Nichols's career, was [[First Lieutenant]] [[Leslie Groves]].<ref name="Nichols, pp. 25-26">{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=25–26}}</ref> For his service on the expedition, Nichols was awarded the Nicaraguan Medal of Merit "for exceptional service rendered [to] the Republic of Nicaragua."<ref name="Cullum 1940" />

Nichols returned to the United States in 1931 and went to [[Cornell University]], where he received a [[bachelor's degree]] in [[civil engineering]]. He became assistant to the Director of the [[Waterways Experiment Station]] in [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], in June 1932. In August he continued his studies at Cornell, where he completed his [[master's degree]] in civil engineering on 10 June 1933.<ref name="Cullum 1940" />

While at Cornell he married Jacqueline (Jackie) Darrieulat.<ref name="Nichols, pp. 25-26" /> Their marriage produced a daughter (Jan) and a son (David).<ref name="genealogy" />{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=249,257}}

He returned to the Waterways Experiment Station in 1933. The next year he received a fellowship awarded by the Institute of International Education to study European Hydraulic Research Methods for a year at the ''[[Technische Hochschule]]'' in [[Berlin]]. While there he was promoted to first lieutenant on 1 October 1934. The thesis he wrote won an [[American Society of Civil Engineers]] award.<ref name="Nichols, pp. 25-26" /> On returning to the United States he received another one-year posting to the Waterways Experiment Station. From September 1936 to June 1937 he was a student officer at [[Fort Belvoir, Virginia]].<ref name="Cullum 1940" /> He then became a student again, using his ''Technische Hochschule'' thesis as the basis for a [[Doctor of Philosophy]] degree from the [[State University of Iowa]].<ref name="Nichols, pp. 25-26" /> He became an instructor at West Point in August 1937, where he was promoted to [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] on 13 June 1939.<ref name="Cullum 1940" />

== World War II ==

[[File:Argonne aerial.jpg|thumb|right|[[Argonne National Laboratory]] established in 1946, in [[DuPage County, Illinois]]|alt=aerial view of a cluster of buildings surrounded by forest.]]
In June 1941, [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[James C. Marshall]] summoned Nichols to the [[Syracuse, New York|Syracuse]] Engineer District to become area engineer in charge of construction of the [[Rome, New York|Rome]] [[Griffiss Air Force Base|Air Depot]].<ref name="Nichols, pp. 28-29">{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=28–29}}</ref> He was promoted to [[Major (United States)|major]] on 10 October 1941 and lieutenant colonel on 1 February 1942,<ref name="Cullum 1950">{{harvnb|Cullum|1950|p=593}}</ref> when Marshall asked him to take on additional responsibility as area engineer in charge of construction of a new [[Trinitrotoluene|TNT]] plant, the Pennsylvania Ordnance Works, in [[Williamsport, Pennsylvania]]. On this project, Nichols worked with [[DuPont]] and [[Stone & Webster]] as major contractors, and dealt with Leslie Groves, now the colonel in charge of military construction.<ref name="Nichols, pp. 28-29" />

In June 1942, Nichols was again summoned by Marshall, this time to [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|p=31}}</ref> Marshall had recently been appointed as district engineer of the new [[Manhattan Engineer District]] (MED), and had received authorization to staff it by drawing on officers and civilians working for the Syracuse Engineer District, which was now winding down as the major part of its construction program was nearing completion. Marshall started by designating Nichols as his Deputy District Engineer, which became effective when the Manhattan District was officially formed on 16 August 1942.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=42–44}}</ref>

[[File:Y-12 Aerial.jpg|thumb|[[Y-12 National Security Complex]] established 1943 at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]]|alt=aerial view of a cluster of buildings on a wooded mountainside]]
The first major decision confronting the new district, which unlike other engineer districts had no geographic limits, was the choice of construction site. On 30 June Nichols and Marshall set out for [[Tennessee]], where they met with officials of the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] and looked over prospective sites in the foothills of the [[Cumberland Mountains]] that had been identified (by scouts from the [[Office of Scientific Research and Development]]) as possessing the desirable attributes of abundant electric power, water and transportation with sparse population. A site at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee]] was chosen, but Marshall delayed purchase while he awaited scientific results that justified a full-scale plant. Afterwards, Nichols visited the [[Metallurgical Laboratory]], or "Met Lab", at the [[University of Chicago]], where he met with [[Arthur Compton]]. Seeing the problems of overcrowding there, Nichols, on his own authority, arranged for a new experimental site to be established in the [[Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve|Argonne Forest]] which would eventually become the [[Argonne National Laboratory]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fine|Remington|1972|pp=655–658}}</ref>

Nichols took charge of ore procurement. He arranged with the [[State Department]] for export controls to be placed on [[uranium oxide]] and negotiated with [[Edgar Sengier]] for the purchase of 1,200 tons of ore from the [[Belgian Congo]] that was being stored in a warehouse on [[Staten Island]]. Nichols arranged with the [[Eldorado Mining and Refining]] Company for the purchase of ore from its mine in [[Port Hope, Ontario]], and its shipment in 100-ton lots.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=85–86}}</ref> Nichols met with [[United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury|Undersecretary of the Treasury]] [[Daniel W. Bell]] and arranged for the transfer of 14,700 tons of [[silver]] from the West Point Depository for use in the [[Y-12 National Security Complex]] in place of [[copper]], which was in desperately short supply in wartime.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=153}}</ref> When Nichols initially said he needed six thousand tons of silver, neither of them could initially convert the weight to troy ounces. When Nichols said ''What difference does it make how we express the quantity'' Bell replied ''Young man, you may think of silver in tons, but the Treasury will always think of silver in troy ounces''.<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|p=42}}</ref>

In September 1942, Groves, now a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]], became director of the [[Manhattan Project]].<ref>{{harvnb|Fine|Remington|1972|pp=659–661}}</ref> Groves immediately moved on the most urgent issues. He promptly approved the purchase of the site at Oak Ridge and negotiated for the project to be given a AAA priority rating.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|pp=78–82}}</ref> Groves soon decided to establish his project headquarters on the fifth floor of the [[Harry S. Truman Building|New War Department Building]] in Washington, D.C., where Marshall had maintained a liaison office.<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=27–28}}</ref>

Nichols, who concentrated his attention on ore procurement, feed materials and the [[plutonium]] project,<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|p=67}}</ref> was promoted to colonel on 22 May 1943.<ref name="Cullum 1950" /> On 13 August, he replaced Marshall as District Engineer of the Manhattan Engineer District.<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=99–101}}</ref> As District Engineer, Nichols was responsible for both the uranium production facility at the [[Clinton Engineer Works]] at [[Oak Ridge, Tennessee|Oak Ridge]] and the plutonium production facility at the [[Hanford Site]]. One of his first tasks as district engineer was to move the district headquarters to Oak Ridge, although its name did not change.<ref>{{harvnb|Jones|1985|p=88}}</ref> For his wartime work on the Manhattan Project, Nichols was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Medal (U.S. Army)|Distinguished Service Medal]] by the [[United States Secretary of War]], [[Robert P. Patterson]].<ref name="Nichols, pp. 226-229" />

== Post war ==
[[File:Kenneth D. Nichols.jpg|thumb|Nichols at his desk in 1945|alt=Man in shirt and tie sits at a desk. His shirt is neatly ironed. A telephone and writing pens are on the table. In the background is a US Army Corps of Engineers flag.]]
Nichols was promoted to brigadier general on 22 January 1946.<ref name="Cullum 1950" /> Following the departure of [[Major general (United States)|Major General]] [[Thomas Farrell (general)|Thomas Farrell]], Nichols became Groves' deputy, although he also continued as district engineer. Asked to spend more time on weapons production and storage, Nichols established a new underground assembly plant at the [[Mound Laboratories]] in [[Miamisburg, Ohio]], and recommended that [[Sandia Base]] be transferred from the [[United States Army Air Corps]] to the Manhattan District.<ref name="Nichols, pp. 226-229">{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=226–229}}</ref>

[[File:Operation Crossroads - Able 001.jpg|thumb|alt=Aerial view of the mushroom cloud.|Aerial view of the ''Able'' mushroom cloud rising from the lagoon with the Bikini Island visible in the background.]] In June 1946, Nichols went to [[Bikini Atoll]] to represent the Manhattan Project at [[Operation Crossroads]], a series of [[nuclear weapon]]s tests conducted to investigate their effects on warships.<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=232–233}}</ref> Like many of his contemporaries in an Army that was dramatically reduced in size as it rapidly demobilized, Nichols was reduced in rank, reverting to his substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 30 June 1946.<ref name="Cullum 1950" /> On return from Bikini, he found that he had been made an honorary [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]].<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=243–244}}</ref>

The [[Atomic Energy Act of 1946]] created the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission|Atomic Energy Commission]] (AEC) to take over the functions and assets of the Manhattan Project. [[President of the United States|President]] [[Harry S. Truman]] appointed its five commissioners on 28 October 1946, and Groves appointed Nichols as the military liaison officer to the AEC. Nichols's main responsibility was to help organize an orderly transfer of assets and responsibilities from the MED to the AEC.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=243-244}} Military aspects were taken over by the [[Armed Forces Special Weapons Project]] (AFSWP).<ref>{{harvnb|Groves|1962|pp=394–398}}.</ref> It was generally assumed that Nichols would become the AEC's Director of Military Application, but while Nichol's relationship with the AEC was cordial and the commissioners were impressed with his administrative skills, it also became clear that Nichols did not agree with the commissioners' concept of the Director of Military Application as a staff rather than a line function.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|pp=648–651}}</ref>

In December 1946, Nichols recommended the closing down of the alpha tracks of the Y-12 plant, thereby cutting the Tennessee Eastman payroll from 8,600 to 1,500 and saving $2 million a month. Henceforth, [[uranium enrichment]] would be performed by the [[gaseous diffusion]] plants, the wartime [[K-25]] and the new K-27,<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=646}}</ref> which had commenced operation in January 1946.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Anderson|1962|p=630}}</ref> AEC Chairman [[David E. Lilienthal]] objected, but Nichols pointed out that the proposal had been included in their briefing when the commission visited Oak Ridge in November.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=244-247}}

Nichols kept the [[United States Department of Energy National Laboratories|national laboratories]] operating with $60 million worth of research grants for [[fiscal year]] 1947.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Duncan|1969|p=28}}</ref> He helped Captain [[Hyman G. Rickover]] train a team of naval engineers at Oak Ridge in nuclear propulsion.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Duncan|1969|pp=74–76}}</ref> 

In February 1947 Nichols was appointed Professor of Mechanics at West Point, a move mooted in November 1946. He had been rejected for a new position at the AEC by Lilienthal; though he agreed to be available for consultation on atomic matters as Groves was planning to retire (although he then accepted a new military position). Nichols wished the military, rather than the AEC, to have custody of (atomic) weapons. Lilienthal's opponents in Congress objected to the departure of the two men best informed about atomic matters. With a retirement age of 65 he looked forward to almost 26 years of "pleasant and comfortable" academic life with a house on the Hudson, and to Jackie "a wonderful place to raise Jan and David". He was to leave as deputy manager of the AEC in January 1947.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=244-247}} 
 
But in January 1948 he returned to the army to replace Groves as chief of the [[Armed Forces Special Weapons Project]] (AFSWP), as the Navy and Air Force were vetoing each other's candidate. On 11 March he and Lilienthal were summoned to the White House where Truman told them, "I know you two hate each other’s guts." Truman directed that "the primary objective of the AEC was to develop and produce atomic weapons". Lilienthal was told he would have to "forgo your desire to place a bottle of milk on every doorstop and get down to the business of producing atomic weapons". Nichols had been looking forward to "a long relaxing career as a professor during a long period of peace" but saw increased tension with the Soviet Union in February and March.{{sfn|Nichols|1987|pp=257-259}}

In April 1948, Nichols was appointed to command the AFSWP, with the rank of major general,<ref name="Cullum 1950" /> becoming the youngest major general in the Army at the time. Although his rank entitled him to quarters at [[Fort Myer, Virginia]], the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]], General [[Omar Bradley]] advised him not to ask for them as there had been criticism from some senior colonels.<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|p=258}}</ref> Nichols also became Senior Army Member of the Military Liaison Committee to the AEC, and Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army (G-3) for Atomic Energy.<ref name="Cullum 1950" />

In his new role Nichols clashed with the AEC over the issue of whether it or the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] should have custody of nuclear weapons. The administration's policy remained firmly in favor of AEC control. This was tested during the [[Berlin Blockade]], when Truman ordered [[B-29]] bombers to Europe.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Duncan|1969|pp=169–172, 354–355}}</ref> For a time there was talk of calling off the [[Operation Sandstone]] nuclear weapons tests, but Nichols successfully argued for their continuation.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Duncan|1969|p=159}}</ref> In 1950, he became deputy director of the [[Guided Missile]]s Division of the Department of Defense, overseeing the [[Nike (rocket)|Nike Project]].<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=280–284}}</ref> He was appointed Chief of Research and Development when it was reorganized in 1952.<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=288–291}}</ref> Nichols retired from the Army on 31 October 1953. For his services from 1948 to 1953, he was belatedly awarded a second Distinguished Service Medal in 1956.<ref name="Nicols, pp. 298-299">{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=298–299}}</ref>

Nichols became General Manager of the AEC on 2 November 1953.<ref name="Nicols, pp. 298-299" /> In this capacity he initiated the AEC [[Oppenheimer security hearing|Personnel Security Board hearing]] on the loyalty and trustworthiness of atomic scientist [[J. Robert Oppenheimer]]. In a harshly worded memorandum to the AEC on 12 June 1954, subsequent to the hearing, Nichols recommended that Oppenheimer's security clearance not be reinstated. In five "security findings", Nichols said that Oppenheimer was "a Communist in every sense except that he did not carry a party card," and that he "is not reliable or trustworthy."<ref name="Stern">{{harvnb|Stern|Green|1969|pp=394–398, 400–401}}</ref> The commission agreed, and Oppenheimer was stripped of his security clearance.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Holl|1989|pp=64–65,102–108}}</ref> A second scandal was the [[Dixon-Yates contract]], a political controversy that became a major issue in the [[1954 United States House of Representatives elections|1954 elections]], resulting in Nichols appearing before a [[United States Senate]] subcommittee.<ref>{{harvnb|Hewlett|Holl|1989|pp=127–133}}</ref>

== Later life ==
Nichols left the Atomic Energy Commission in 1955 and opened a consulting firm on [[K Street (Washington, D.C.)|K Street]], specializing in commercial atomic energy research and development. His clients included [[Alcoa]], [[Gulf Oil]], [[Westinghouse Electric Corporation]] and the [[Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station]].<ref name="Arlington" /> Nichols was involved with the construction of the Yankee Rowe Nuclear Power Station, the first privately owned pressurized-water plant, and the [[Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant]], which commenced operation in 1961 and 1968 respectively. They were both experimental and not expected to be competitive with coal and oil, but later became more so due to inflation and large increases in coal and oil prices. He was critical of over-regulation and protracted hearings, which meant that by the 1980s similar boiling-water or pressurized-water plants took almost twice as long to build in the United States as in France, Japan, Taiwan or South Korea.<ref>{{harvnb|Nichols|1987|pp=343–345}}</ref>

Nichols died of respiratory failure on 21 February 2000 at the Brighton Gardens retirement home in [[Bethesda, Maryland]]. He was buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]].<ref name="Arlington">{{citation |url=http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/kdnichols.htm |title=Kenneth David Nichols |publisher=[[Arlington National Cemetery]] |access-date=16 October 2010}}</ref>

==Portrayals==
Nichols is played by Christopher Muncke in the BBC presentation ''[[Oppenheimer (TV series)|Oppenheimer]]'' (1980)<ref>{{cite web |title=Christopher Muncke  |publisher= BFI |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba32e3137 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112030622/https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba32e3137 |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2022 |access-date=29 July 2023}}</ref> and by [[Dane DeHaan]] in [[Christopher Nolan]]'s ''[[Oppenheimer (film)|Oppenheimer]]'' (2023).<ref>{{cite magazine |first1=Molly |last1=Moss |first2=Lewis |last2=Knight |date=July 22, 2023 |title=Oppenheimer cast: Full list of actors in Christopher Nolan film  |magazine=Radio Times |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movies/oppenheimer-cast-christopher-nolan-murphy/ |access-date=July 24, 2023}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist}}

== References ==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
  | title = Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point New York Since Its Establishment in 1802: Supplement Volume VIII 1930–1940
  | last = Cullum
  | first = George W.
  | author-link = George Washington Cullum
  | publisher = R. R. Donnelly and Sons, The Lakeside Press
  | location = Chicago
  | year = 1940
  | url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16919coll3/id/19424/rec/9
  | access-date=6 October 2015
}}
*{{cite book
  | title = Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point New York Since Its Establishment in 1802: Supplement Volume IX 1940–1950
  | last = Cullum
  | first = George W.
  | author-link = George Washington Cullum
  | publisher = R. R. Donnelly and Sons, The Lakeside Press
  | location = Chicago
  | year = 1950
  | url=http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p16919coll3/id/22314/rec/10
  | access-date=6 October 2015
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1 = Fine
  | first1 = Lenore
  | last2 = Remington
  | first2 = Jesse A.
  | title = The Corps of Engineers: Construction in the United States
  | publisher = [[United States Army Center of Military History]]
  | location = Washington, D.C.
  | url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/010/10-5/index.html
  | access-date = 10 March 2012
  | oclc = 834187
  | year = 1972
}}
*{{cite book
  | last = Groves
  | first = Leslie
  | author-link = Leslie Groves
  | title = Now it Can be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project
  | url = https://archive.org/details/nowitcanbetolds00grov
  | url-access = registration
  | location = New York
  | publisher = Harper
  | year = 1962
  | isbn = 0-306-70738-1
  | oclc = 537684
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1 = Hewlett
  | first1 = Richard G.
  | author-link = Richard G. Hewlett
  | last2 = Anderson
  | first2 = Oscar E.
  | title = The New World, Volume I, 1939–1946
  | series = A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
  | publisher = Pennsylvania State University Press
  | location = University Park, Pennsylvania
  | year = 1962
  | isbn = 0-520-07186-7
  | oclc = 26583399
  | url=https://www.governmentattic.org/5docs/TheNewWorld1939-1946.pdf
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1 = Hewlett
  | first1 = Richard G.
  | author-link = Richard G. Hewlett
  | last2 = Duncan
  | first2 = Francis
  | title = Atomic Shield, Volume II, 1947–1952
  | series = A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
  | publisher = Pennsylvania State University Press
  | location = University Park, Pennsylvania
  | year = 1969
  | isbn = 0-520-07187-5
  | oclc = 3717478
}}
*{{cite book
  | last1 = Hewlett
  | first1 = Richard G.
  | author-link = Richard G. Hewlett
  | last2 = Holl
  | first2 = Jack M.
  | title = Atoms for Peace and War, Volume III, 1953–1961 Eisenhower and the Atomic Energy Commission
  | series = A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission
  | publisher = Pennsylvania State University Press
  | location = University Park, Pennsylvania
  | year = 1989
  | isbn = 0-520-06018-0
  | oclc = 82275622
}}
*{{cite book
  | last = Jones
  | first = Vincent
  | title = Manhattan: The Army and the Atomic Bomb
  | publisher = [[United States Army Center of Military History]]
  | location = Washington, D.C.
  | url = http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/011/11-10/index.html
  | access-date = 10 March 2012
  | year = 1985
  | oclc = 10913875
}}
*{{cite book
 | last = Nichols
 | first = Kenneth D.
 | author-link = Kenneth Nichols
 | title = The Road to Trinity: A Personal Account of How America's Nuclear Policies Were Made
 | year = 1987
 | publisher = William Morrow and Company
 | location = New York
 | isbn =  0-688-06910-X
 | oclc = 15223648
}}
*{{cite book
 | last1 = Stern
 | first1 = Philip
 | last2= Green
 | first2 = Harold P.
 | title = The Oppenheimer Case: Security on Trial
 | url = https://archive.org/details/oppenheimercases00sterrich
 | url-access = registration
 | year = 1969
 | publisher = Harper & Row
 | location = New York, New York
 | isbn = 0-06-014101-8
 | oclc = 31389
}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{refbegin}}
*[http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/kenneth-nichols-interview-part-1 1965 Audio Interview with Colonel Kenneth Nichols by Stephane Groueff] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205001106/http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/oral-histories/kenneth-nichols-interview-part-1 |date=5 February 2015 }} Voices of the Manhattan Project
*[http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_3A889F1B35964127A80F51E4464A738D War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Dawn; Interview with Kenneth Nichols, 1986]
{{refend}}

{{Manhattan Project}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Kenneth}}
[[Category:1907 births]]
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[[Category:Burials at Arlington National Cemetery]]
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[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)]]
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