Some photographers snap picturesque landscapes or evocative portraits; others capture some of the most defining moments in human history. James Edward “Ed” Westcott (1922-2019) was one of the latter.
As one of only three official government photographers assigned to the top-secret Manhattan Project, Westcott photographed not only the development of the atomic bomb – the weapon that would ultimately end World War II – but also the bomb’s principal creator, J Robert Oppenheimer.
Westcott grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, and began taking photos at the age of 12, when he received his first camera. In 1941, aged 19, he joined the US Army Corps of Engineers as a photographer before being assigned to the Manhattan Project site at Oak Ridge the following year.
Dubbed the “Secret City”, Oak Ridge was constructed for the Manhattan Project and became the location of the Clinton Engineer Works: the site responsible for enriching uranium-235 at the K-25 and Y-12 plants, and producing plutonium at the X-10 plant.
As the only person officially authorized to take photos at these top-secret sites, Westcott created a historic archive of over 15,000 images documenting the city’s construction, operations and daily civilian life. So secret was his work that armed guards stood at the entrance to his darkroom.
While Westcott snapped images of the vital work that went into creating the first atomic bomb, it is perhaps the candid portrait he took of Manhattan Project colleague Julius Robert Oppenheimer that became his most famous.
Oppenheimer (1904-1967) was the principal scientist and scientific director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory (codenamed Project Y) from 1943-1945. Often referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb”, he was responsible for overseeing the research and design of the first nuclear weapon.
At the end of the war, Westcott took another of his iconic shots. On August 14 1945, then-President Harry S Truman announced victory over Japan (V-J Day) just days after the second atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, over the city of Nagasaki.
As Oak Ridge residents packed Jackson Square to celebrate the announcement, many of them held up newspapers featuring the headline “War ends". Westcott immortalized the profound moment with his camera, with the photo later becoming known for the monumental newspaper headline visible.
Shortly after the US dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima (06 August 1945), the government allowed a selection of Westcott’s Secret City photos to be published to share the story of the Manhattan Project with the American people.
However, it wasn't until the years following 1945 that a significant amount of his work became publicly available – and subsequently recognized as the official visual documentation of the role that Oak Ridge played in the development of the atomic bomb.
After the war, Westcott continued his career as the official government photographer in Oak Ridge, covering the transition of the Secret City from wartime production to post-war atomic research.
He worked for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and its successor agencies (ERDA and the Department of Energy) until his retirement in 1977.
Wescott died in 2019 but this month, following years of fundraising led by the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association (of which Wescott’s son-in-law, Don Hunnicutt, is vice president), a statue of the late photographer was unveiled.
The statue was erected outside the Oak Ridge History Museum, which displays a series of Westcott’s photographs of the city and its atomic history. You can watch the unveiling of the statue below.
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Westcott used some of the best medium format cameras as well as the best Nikon cameras throughout his career – including, later in life, the Nikon D850.
