Ed vs. the Military-Industrial Complex

Los Alamos is a strange place. This small sleepy town on the New Mexican plateau glows an eerie red at night, and odd rumbling sounds can be heard at unpredictable times of the day. Why? Los Alamos is home to LANL, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where for the last 60 years, thousands of scientists and technologists have worked day and night to build and maintain the United States' nuclear defense arsenal.

Ed Grothus worked at LANL for 20 years, helping to increase the efficiency and destructive power of Nuclear Warheads. During the Vietnam war, Ed left LANL and began a campaign to change the hearts and minds of the leaders and decision-makers towards peace and nuclear disarmament. I met Ed, now perhaps in his 80s, when Brenna took me to visit the Black Hole. This old converted supermarket is now an incredible and macabre junk-shop, stacked floor to ceiling with salvaged equipment, materials, and other objects from LANL.



Ed's campaign for peace is earnest and heartfelt. When he heard I was from New Zealand, he pulled out all stops, giving me and Brenna a dedicated tour and shpiel for a good 45 minutes. First, he showed us a 10-minute video which was never meant to be screened outside LANL, in which the department's then head of nuclear development gave a presentation to new staff about the types and destructive capabilities of each of the nuclear bombs and warheads produced in Los Alamos. He (the guy on the video) lectured on the "principle of deterrance", and why it was important to have weapons that could completely and utterly destroy a country. To paraphrase his words: "Don't be stupid, don't mess with the United States, or your country will go away". Ed shook his head in sadness, gripping my arm as he told us the story of his past at the lab and his disillusionment with his governmment's "defence deterrance" mentality.


Ed's campaign for peace struck a suprising piece of good luck recently, when he bought a box of old books at an estate sale. Amongst the books was an original manuscript from the Manhattan Project, hand signed by almost every major scientist who worked on the project: Feynmann, Oppenheimer, and dozens more. Ed auctioned the book through Sotheby's and netted $USD28,000. The proceeds are helping to fund his newest project, a peace sculpture which commemorates,but does not celebrate or glorify, the incredibly desctructive potential of the nuclear bomb. He showed us a scale model; the sculpture will comprise two 30-ft white granite obelisks, each one set upon a "doomsday stone" which tells the story of Los Alamos in 15 different langauges. Sitting atop each obelisks will be a huge black granite sphere, etched to show the soccer-ball shape of a nuclear warhead. Ed showed us photos from his visit to the Chinese stonecutting factory where his sculpture was carved. Then, as the final stage of our personal tour, he took us out front to where two enormous cargo containers sat on the grass verge. Inside were the obelisks, smooth shiny granite forms lying quietly in wait until a site can be determined for their placement.


As you can see, each face of the Obelisk is engraved with Albert Einstein's name and dates of birth and death. Where will Ed's sculpture be placed? It is hard to imagine the city of Los Alamos wanting this in their face, but with Ed's determination, I have no doubt that it will find a home somewhere.