Szilard Petition, July 17, 1945

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, and not merely expediency, in deciding whether to use the atomic bomb.

This is an image of Szilard's historic petition, scanned from a copy of the original in 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.

To view this image properly, your monitor must support at least 800 x 600 resolution.

This page was placed on the World-Wide Web July 17, 1995, to commemorate the petition's 50th anniversary.