Manhattan (2014–2015): Season 2, Episode 6 - 33 - full transcript
The scientists and the Army battle for control of the bomb.
Previously on "Manhattan"...
There is no Nazi bomb.
The army manipulated us.
There is a war on three continents
and a madman rounding up Jews.
Enlistment papers?
You'll stay right here
as a private in the army.
Frank: The bomb is inevitable.
If I help build it, I might
get some say in how it's used.
Congratulations, Paul.
I've decided you will
be the Site X liaison.
You want me to steal for you?
For king and country.
Liza: Pesticides didn't kill the
bees and it wasn't the army.
Do you think it could be
something from the tech area?
There were 127 pregnancies
on the Hill last year
and one miscarriage.
There isn't always a medical
explanation in these cases.
So it was an act of God?
The longer that it takes
anyone to deliver a weapon,
the less chance anyone has of
dropping it over a city full of kids.
( knocks on door )
Sorry.
We have to set some ground rules.
We can't be seen like this.
I want to apologize
while you're still of sound mind and body.
The Germans or Soviets?
( gunshot )
♪ All day I faced
a barren waste ♪
♪ Without the
taste of water... ♪
Ronnie: Look at the early
wire photos of the Arizona
before the newspapers touched them up.
They blew the damn thing
up from inside the hull.
Dwight: Ronnie, if I wanted an earful,
I'd stay home with Margaret.
Pearl Harbor was an inside job.
Roosevelt needed an excuse
to drag us into the war.
( laughing )
♪ He's a devil, not a man ♪
♪ And he spread the
burning sand with water ♪
♪ Dan, you can see with
that big, green tree ♪
♪ Where the water's
running free ♪
♪ And it's waiting there
for me and you... ♪
Steady.
( men shouting )
- Man: You okay?
- Man #2: Yeah, she just snapped on me.
( coughs )
Look at this.
( coughing )
( theme music playing )
Because the fact is people
get hurt around here.
- Yeah.
- 68 accidents in the tech area
since the start of 1945.
If this were a factory floor,
the union would've shut us down months ago.
And now, now we're doing our most
dangerous work yet... criticality.
Pushing the gadget to the brink
of an explosive chain reaction.
And we've already had one mere catastrophe.
This is what happens
when matters of science
are left in the hands of
politicians and soldiers.
We are the ones who are bringing this thing
down off the blackboard and into the world,
and we deserve better.
All: Yeah! Yeah!
- We need strict exposure limits.
- Yes!
- And hazard pay!
- And we're going to demand it.
But first I want to tell you
about something that's happening right now
in Washington, DC.
While we are risking our necks,
President Roosevelt is
assembling a committee.
It's going to decide how the gadget's used,
if and when it's dropped,
and who it's going to be dropped on.
And this committee includes
no scientists or engineers.
- Wait, is this a safety board?
- No.
- Are they setting new health standards?
- No, no, no.
It's called the Target Committee,
and as it stands, no one
who helped build the bomb
will have any say in how
or where it's deployed.
But... but if we'd all write
a letter to our supervisor...
Let them deploy it up Eva Braun's ass.
We have bigger problems here on the Hill.
You didn't even read them my sample letter.
These guys don't care about sample letters.
They care about getting their balls
fried off in a criticality experiment.
You're supposed to make them care, Helen.
You're supposed to make them see
it's all part of the same question.
Well, you know what Mussolini says,
"If you want something
done right, do it yourself."
Well, I can't do that right now.
Not while I'm wearing this uniform.
They already look at
me like I'm a secretary.
And you want me to stand up
there, lecture them about politics?
You should find an inside man
who's actually on the inside.
Or a man.
Helen.
( horn honking )
You missed the L & O meeting.
The metal shortage could
cost us a week, maybe more.
Sorry, I'll... I'll get the minutes.
Uh, breakfast with the wife,
if you know what I mean.
You and the other 18 guys
who missed work this morning?
I know about your little meeting.
- What's the hay for?
- Horses.
Horses? Are we Amish?
We have jeeps on the site.
Oh, a corps of engineers
set up a polo league.
- It's good for morale, I guess.
- Jesus.
Well, make sure they clean up the shit.
I want the site spit-shined by Thursday.
Mm, you know it's a desert, right?
What happens Thursday?
Just, um, make sure it doesn't
look like a rodeo out there.
Aye, aye.
Um, I was thinking...
after our
not-so-secret meeting,
we should be studying
the radiological effects of the test.
On what?
The planet. People.
I swallowed 24 micrograms
of plutonium in 1943.
Now it's 1945. I still make
the Geiger counter sing.
Find me a PhD-level subject matter expert
who's already on the Hill.
If he's willing to run the study
during his free time,
you have my blessing.
Thank you.
You meet Charlie's qualifications...
that's the good news.
I asked for the bad news first.
Security clearance for the test site.
Holiest of Holies.
The only person who
can authorize that is...
- The colonel.
- Correct.
He's got to listen to reason, right?
Fritzy, this is a man who
sent a boy to his death
to stop me from speaking to my husband.
I don't think he's gonna turn around
and hand me a security badge.
Look, we need you.
Last week three engineers
nearly barbecued themselves
doing the criticality experiment.
Blammo, a month's exposure
in three seconds flat.
- In the tech area?
- Yeah.
We're lucky this whole place
doesn't glow in the dark.
( music playing )
♪ If you want to know who we are ♪
♪ We are gentlemen of Japan ♪
♪ On many a vase and jar ♪
♪ On many a screen and fan... ♪
All right, all right, all right, all right!
Posture. You're gentlemen from Japan,
not stevedores.
Uh, if I can have everyone's
attention for a minute?
Eugene has been assigned
to a post off-site.
Which means the role of Ko-Ko
is gonna have to be recast.
If they give it to Dale,
I'm gonna commit hara-kiri.
Fortunately, we do
have a man in the wings
who has really stepped up
and become a fine thespian
over the last year.
So, let's hear it for our new Ko-Ko...
Jim Meeks.
How about that?
Oh!
( chuckles )
Well...
( door opens )
( closes door )
Abby?
Did someone end the war
and forget to tell me?
They're for the family that's
liberated from Buchenwald.
My lucky tie?
Do you think they'll be attending
a lot of cocktail parties?
Can I please do my part
without being mocked?
Yes, of course. I'm sorry.
You said to find a way to move on.
Abby, I thought we could do that together.
You know, maybe we give it another shot.
I don't think we're supposed to.
Doc said a couple of months was plenty.
Maybe we lost the baby for a reason.
- What?
- Don't know.
Do you think that God
still punishes people?
Like the plagues in Egypt?
What have you ever done wrong?
Did you know that there
aren't just 10 Commandments?
There's 613.
- Really?
- Mm.
- Abby?
- Yes?
This is, uh... this is a fairytale.
It's a bedtime story.
Things don't happen for a
reason. They just happen.
Or maybe God was punishing
the families in those camps.
First you don't want to help them,
and now you're blaming them.
Sorry, I don't want to help them?
Wh-Why do you think I'm still here, Abby?
What do you think I do all day?
I don't know, Charlie. Play with numbers?
You know what, I'm gonna go, um,
play with numbers somewhere else.
- ( music playing )
- ( indistinct chatter )
Oh, I'm sorry, I... I didn't order this.
You dropped something.
Oh, Jesus, Helen!
You owe me a lot more than a whiskey sour.
Uh, that drink was actually from me.
But I hope you enjoyed it.
- Oh, thank you.
- Thanks.
Just... With Hogarth on one side
and Theodore on the other,
it's like being stuck between
Saturday night and Sunday morning.
The problem with Little Boy
is all the little boys.
You shouldn't be part
of anyone's backup plan.
Yeah, well, that's why
I like working in here.
It's a professional environment.
Oh, yeah, very professional.
I said I was sorry.
I guess we all have
things to atone for, right?
Something you want to say to me, Charlie?
I would like to...
address an injustice.
( screams ) No!
You bastard.
You were right.
I kept you off the test
group for personal reasons.
It had nothing to do with your talent.
What personal reasons?
Come to G group.
Don't screw around with me, Charlie.
We need you.
I need you.
Why now?
The test is three months off,
we're shorthanded and underbrained,
and this Thursday...
Jesus, as if we didn't
have enough to worry about.
What? What happens Thursday?
- Someone's coming.
- Who?
Vannevar Bush.
F.D.R.'s science advisor
is coming to the Hill?
Sits at the right tire of God the Father.
Here to review the test preparations.
You can't tell anyone.
The job doesn't come with a raise.
Okay, boss.
( Helen chuckles )
I heard they liberated another camp.
That must put a spring in your step.
Yes.
And to think we're on the other
side of the world doing our bit.
( board buzzes)
Operator.
Paul: I want to make you wetter
than Dartmoor in November.
Yes, sir. I'll put you right through.
Put me right through? Patience, Constance.
Roll your skirt up
first. Give us a forecast.
( line ringing )
Bingham here. Clear?
Clear as a bell, Site
X. Stand by one chorus?
"Roast Beef of Old England."
( machine humming )
_
So it's an assistant directorship
out at the test site.
I'm going to be refining lens design.
There's still some asymmetries to work out.
Isaacs just threw you a bone.
What happened?
Nothing happened.
He just realized he made a mistake.
Well, that's great, Helen. You deserve it.
Enjoy your last day
under the British Empire.
Hey, Frank?
F.D.R.'s science advisor is
touring the test site this week.
Vannevar Bush is coming west?
Yes.
No one can find out I told you.
Hey, you have to... well,
you have to get him alone.
He's Roosevelt's brain.
He can get us a seat
on the Target Committee.
I can't do that, Frank. I mean...
I need some time to settle it.
The test is in 90 days.
You need time to, what, climb the ladder?
I can't petition the White
House on my first day of the job.
I'll wind up straight back where I started.
Yeah. You're right.
Don't make me regret telling you.
_
_
_
_
_
Liza: I have followed
your orders to the letter.
I haven't spoken to my
husband in months, as you know.
Please send him my best next time you do.
But you're still a known
agitator, Mrs. Winter.
I prefer "rogue botanist."
And you want me to grant you access
to the most secure site
in the Western Hemisphere
- so that you can...
- Determine the health effects
of atomic radiation and debris.
I think the Axis is gonna
find that out soon enough.
Colonel, it's not the
Axis I'm worried about.
What am I looking at?
Well, this is your office here,
and right here,
only 20 yards away, is Building E.
Now, do you know what
happens in Building E?
Something above your clearance.
Well, that wouldn't stop it from
killing me if it went fast critical
and I was sitting in your chair.
I heard you had an event last week...
a couple of graduate students
set off a fast-neutron chain reaction.
I believe they call it
"tickling the dragon's tail."
I know what it's called.
The dragons I know
don't like to be tickled.
Four seconds longer, and it
would have become self-sustaining.
So now let's assume
fast criticality sustained
for two to three minutes.
Radiant intensity is the
inverse square of distance.
Factoring in the lack of concrete walls
that mitigate exposure...
you and your staff would most likely be...
well, dead.
I say "most likely" because, Colonel,
we don't actually know, but we could.
( music playing )
♪ As some day it may happen
that a victim must be found ♪
♪ I've got a little list ♪
♪ I've got a little list
of society offenders... ♪
Director: Hold on.
Okay, everybody, let's take five.
It's a little higher. It's a G, right?
Try a flat on that.
Hi, um...
you want to help me memorize?
Oh, I'm just a stagehand.
Well, we're on a desert island here.
Not enough girls to go around. Please?
Please.
"I have loved you with
a white-hot passion.
Shrink not away from me."
We have rules for a reason.
If people see us talking...
The Samurai gird for battle.
Not with swords, but with pens.
There's a petition going around.
F.D.R. is forming a committee
to decide how the gadget gets used.
We want a seat at the table.
We?
You didn't sign it, did you?
This is a good thing.
No. No, not for you, it's not.
You don't sign anything.
You don't stand for anything.
You need to earn Charlie Isaacs' trust.
That is your role.
Stick to the script.
Well...
you didn't congratulate me, by the way.
For what? Getting the
lead in a racialist play?
Well, "The Mikado" isn't really about Japan.
It's a satire of British social mores.
You need to lay off that pitch pipe.
It's cutting off the
oxygen to your brain.
( knocking on door )
- ( knocking )
- Yeah?
There's something you ought to know.
He's circulating some
kind of protest screed.
Is that right?
It's a petition, Colonel,
advancing the revolutionary idea
that the people who built the gadget
might have some say in how it's used.
You're a physicist,
not an expert in geopolitics.
You think the guys why
designed the B-29 bomber
got to pick their targets?
He doesn't just want a seat at the table.
He wants to shut down the project.
Let Dr. Winter run his
BVDs up the flagpole.
We'll see who salutes.
Now, if we're done
second-guessing democracy,
you're both dismissed.
You can't dismiss me. I'm not a soldier.
Why don't you go focus on
your criticality experiments?
It sounds like you have your hands full
not blowing us to kingdom come.
( slams door )
Get me an outside line.
Justice Department.
Colonel Emmett Darrow for Director Hoover.
I told you to be discreet!
Now you're unionizing the tech area?
I didn't involve you.
What, you think Charlie won't figure out
who told you that Bush was coming?
A couple of my bunk mates
are acting as his military escort.
Maybe I heard it from them.
Helen, we won't get another chance.
Well, neither will I.
The colonel's running
some kind of game on me.
Isaacs won't let me
anywhere near Vannevar Bush.
So, here, you have to give it to him.
Or burn it on Isaacs' altar.
Keep your chair in G group.
I know you'll do the right thing.
( man speaking over P.A. )
Hang back there, Private.
Look, if the colonel sent you, I
already kissed the ring, all right?
No, not the colonel, soldier.
You're on the head of the tech area's dime.
Pack your bivouac gear, Winter.
You'll be spending a couple
nights in the desert.
Let me guess...
I'm not returning until the weekend
after our distinguished visitor is gone.
What are we gonna do out
there, water some cactus?
You're gonna tickle the dragon's tail.
Engineer: Shit.
That's the spook's car.
You know I heard they found
him floating in the back
just like a canned sardine?
( clicking )
So, you beat Tosa.
Got out of Texas.
Congratulations.
Although if I'm here,
that means you're not all there.
So, maybe Tosa beat you after all.
Let's go.
Some lady biologist got
in the colonel's craw.
He banned criticality
work inside the gates.
- You say lady biologist?
- Yeah.
Now you got to irradiate yourself
30 miles from the nearest doctor.
How close did we get to fast critical
before the incident?
Uh, 88%.
The goal today is to get to 90
without waking the dragon
and killing yourself.
Well, let's hope that happens.
- You're not coming?
- Doctor's orders.
Last week... five roentgens, three seconds.
Whole team maxed out
exposure for the month.
That's why you're here.
"Tickling the dragon's tail."
Nice phrase, very evocative.
Your wife's boyfriend would love it.
This is how you
double-check a critical mass?
Play chicken with an
unshielded atomic pile?
Me, I'd go AWOL
before I hit 60% of fast
critical on the neutron counter.
I preferred the trunk of my car.
( buzzes )
Operator.
Paul: I want to write
a sonnet with my tongue
on your inner thigh.
Excuse me?
Constance?
- Who is this?
- ( line clicks )
No wonder you jump when 135 lights up.
Sounds like Paul Crosley.
Oh, uh, it's not... I'm a married woman.
Dr. Crosley has a scheduled call.
I'd best put him through.
Operator. I have Site X for you.
Yes, sir. Go ahead.
( printer clacking )
Oh! Oh, dear.
Oh.
Carry your books, Mrs. Isaacs?
Yes, please. Thank you.
Oh!
- I'll get these.
- Thank you.
- You get that.
- Oh!
( chuckles ) Paul Crosley.
Yes, I remember.
Long day crossing wires?
Uh, it's better than sitting at home.
Tom Lancefield's wife used to work
at the switchboard, didn't she?
Attractive girl. French, of course,
but that's a venial sin nowadays.
You two were friendly, weren't you?
Yes, well, we were very sad to see her go.
But then Constance
Faraday joined our ranks,
and she's just wonderful.
Do you know Constance?
Mm...
I just assumed that all
you Brits know each other.
Well, the empire has dwindled, to be sure,
but it's not a Shropshire village just yet.
- Yes.
- Fancy a ride, Mrs. Isaacs?
Uh...
Hey, I didn't see your
name on the petition.
- What gives?
- Oh, uh...
maybe I don't agree with Frank.
- Really?
- What did I miss?
Oh, just guy stuff.
Baseball, Ava Gardner, you know?
Oh, well, speaking of Mickey Rooney,
another toast to our newly
minted star of the stage.
- Yeah. Hear, hear.
- Oh.
Thank you.
Do you guys, uh... do you guys think
that Gilbert and Sullivan were racialists?
No, just different times.
Are there any good geishas in the chorus?
Wait till they hear that
plummy baritone of yours, huh?
Jimmy, I've never heard you sing.
That's a crime. Will you, please?
- Oh, yeah. Sing. Sing.
- I couldn't possibly.
- Okay!
- Come here, wife.
- Oh. Oh.
- Sit. Sit.
Could do that for you here.
It's in the key of A. ( blows )
Whoa. Watch where you point that A.
This is my wife.
( blows )
♪ Daisy, Daisy ♪
♪ Give me your answer, do ♪
♪ I'm half crazy ♪
♪ Over the love of you... ♪
Thank you.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Glass of water?
Glass of anything. I'm at your mercy.
This used to be the Winters' palace, no?
- Mm.
- Yeah.
You've certainly warmed the place up.
- Cheers.
- Mm.
( glasses clink )
I know what you're doing.
Line 135.
I haven't the foggiest idea what you mean.
Sorry.
Wait, your scheduled calls.
Clicks and clacks.
Mrs. Isaacs, the clicks
and clacks are technical.
They're rather tedious, I'm
afraid. It's part of the work.
The telephone isn't just for
gossip and grocery lists, you know?
- I'm not sure what Constance has told you.
- So, you do know Constance?
- Well, of course, uh...
- Of-Of course you know her.
She connects your calls every day.
And what are the chances of that, I wonder.
- She's not assigned to that line.
- I misspoke.
When you were writing
sonnets with your tongue.
There's no record of those
calls in the logbooks.
Even Dr. Oppenheimer's calls are logged.
Mrs. Isaacs... Abby... sorry, if I may,
if you think I've done something
wrong, why lure me here?
Am I to, what, confess?
Is Inspector Lestrade going
to jump out, pistol drawn?
I don't mean to sound flip.
( clears throat )
Truth is you've caught me.
I'm on a mission...
of vengeance.
Not that she seems to
have noticed, of course.
Constance?
Helen Prins.
And I won't pretend that you don't know
what she did to both of us.
Switchboard girl knows everything.
Where your husband was
last evening, for example.
Ah...
you didn't know.
Well, seems that he and Helen
have fallen back into one another's orbit.
I'm so sorry.
Marriage is a bit of business
in this part of the world.
I mean, ask Constance's husband.
I'm not proud.
But I'm baffled, frankly, by your husband.
How he manages to keep straying
so far afield with you at home?
These great minds...
and I'm not one, I don't flatter myself...
they're quite mad, you know?
Always chasing after the invisible.
And they're missing what's
right in front of them.
( door opens )
Dr. Crosley just helped
me... he gave me a ride home.
I heard you dried out, Paul.
Right, yes.
Gosh, I knew I'd forgotten something.
- Thank you, Mrs. Isaacs.
- Thank you.
Mr. Isaacs.
( counter clicking )
86.
( clicking continues )
87.
Well, look at the bright side...
if you poke the dragon,
we boil together.
Stop it. Stop talking.
You know, there were times
that I envied the spies.
They never worked alone.
Rendezvouses, meetings,
signals, betrayals...
one big, happy family.
- Wanna hear a joke?
- No.
How do you catch a Communist?
Hold a meeting.
Not a joke, actually, a real tactic.
The FBI... a bunch of amateurs...
but even they know how
to read a hotel registry
or a passenger manifest.
Or a petition.
The best blacklists, Frank,
are the ones the traitors sign
all by themselves.
Darrow wanted to see
who signed the petition
so... so he could use it against us.
And you thought I abused my badge.
Devil you knew.
( clicking continues )
Where do you think you're going, Frank?
Do you think those fellas out there
are going to let you go back?
With Bush in town and all
this work here left to do?
Sorry, Cinderella, no ball for you.
Now, Frank,
now, that might be the worst
idea you've had all year,
and that is saying something.
What, poke the dragon, get a sick-out?
Medical evacuation back to the Hill?
Save the day? No.
No, Frank, no. Don't, don't, don't, don't.
Frank, don't.
88! Jesus, Frank. Every
time you nudge the thing,
the temperature jumps
another three degrees.
90!
93!
97!
( beeping )
Oh, shit, let's go.
This is it. Come on, guys, go!
( grunting )
( panting )
What was that, 99%?
Get the car.
Morning. Thank you.
Excuse me. I'm sorry.
- Where's Frank Winter, please?
- This is his room.
Get the staff...
all of them.
Colonel, may we have a word in private?
My office.
I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir,
but I have something to report.
I... I work the switchboard, you know.
Well, of course you know,
and, um, sometimes we hear things.
Paul Crosley... Dr. Crosley.
Well, I had to employ
some fairly unorthodox tactics
to draw him out.
But he and Constance Faraday,
our new British transfer,
are involved in something
with the telephone,
line 135, every day like clockwork
with some kind of signal on the other line.
Thank you, Mrs. Isaacs.
America is strongest when
her citizens do their duty.
Well...
all right, then. Thank you, sir.
- I was so glad to see you at the Seder.
- Yes.
This Hill suffers from a lack
of faith, you may have noticed.
- I blame all the scientists.
- So do I.
We have such great need of
faith in these difficult times.
Yes.
Yes. It's...
been a very hard year
with the war and the camp.
And the baby.
- Yes.
- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.
No, you didn't really. It's, um...
I... I... I can't hear it again.
Hear what?
That these things just happen.
And that there's no reason for it.
Of course there's a reason.
You're in pain.
Don't fight it.
Pain is His voice,
reminding you that you're alive
and at His mercy.
In difficult times most of all,
His voice is everywhere.
My wife was thrown through
the windshield of a car.
- Oh...
- She lived, Mrs. Isaacs.
And her pain is constant
for a reason.
We can know His reason
if we have the strength to listen.
Will you?
Listen?
With me?
( knocks )
Sir? M.I.T. is landing.
( overlapping chatter )
We're all here for a reason.
We're all here for a reason.
We all know what that reason is.
To drop an atomic weapon
on a Japanese city,
killing 30 to 50 thousand people.
Mostly civilians, women and children.
If that's not why you're here,
you're in the wrong room.
If you thought you were racing
the Nazis to a super weapon,
your ignorance has been engineered.
You've been sold a comic book.
Charlie: Frank?
There is no German bomb.
The Army has known that for a long time
and so has Dr. Isaacs.
Is there a German bomb, Dr. Isaacs?
- I don't know.
- You don't know.
- And how long have you not known?
- It doesn't matter.
The gadget is gonna end this war.
It's gonna save lives.
Hitler is finished.
Every industrial center
in Germany is an ash heap.
The Russians are rolling in.
Yet I haven't noticed
a second sun over Moscow
or Stalingrad or London, have you?
What does that tell you as a scientist?
Ignorance is forgivable.
It's what comes next that is not.
Less than a quarter of
you signed this petition.
I don't blame anybody who didn't.
For one thing, I've been a son of a bitch.
I've disrespected half
the people in this room.
A lot of you have good reasons
not to put your names on something I wrote.
For another thing...
this petition...
this petition is a blacklist.
Anybody know the half-life of an FBI file?
It's longer than any of our natural lives.
Heaven.
They've been using me to divide us.
But instead...
instead we're going to surprise them.
All of us or none.
F.D.R.'s scientific
advisor is here on the Hill.
This is our last chance to
send the president a message.
They can build this bomb without...
without statesmen, without generals,
but they can't build it without us.
So I'm...
I'm gonna walk out the door right now.
I'm probably gonna wind up in the brig.
But I'm asking you to follow me.
If you believe we have
a moral responsibility
for the future of what we
are building here, follow me.
If you believe Japan deserves
whatever it gets, follow me.
Follow me no matter what you
believe so long as you believe
the scientists who designed this gadget
should have some say in how it is used!
All of us or none.
But any ignorance from
here on out is willful.
And won't be forgiven.
Not by any God worth inventing.
Not by any democracy worth fighting for.
( murmuring )
( whispers ) Sir, the president is dead.
Man on radio: We interrupt this
program with a "World News" update.
President Roosevelt has died.
Reports have emerged suggesting
he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
The president was
sitting for a portrait
when he complained of
a "terrific headache."
Vice President Harry S. Truman
received the news at the Capitol,
whereupon the Secret Service
rushed him to the White House
and he was sworn in by
Chief Justice Harlan Stone.
Man #2: He has been one of the
greatest leaders of this country.
He has been one of the
greatest leaders of humanity.
And his name will be left
to us as a lover of men,
as a servant of their freedom,
and as a wise and patient leader
in the greatest war
ever fought for freedom.
Man: What we know at this hour
is that the president
died at his home
in Warm Springs, Georgia.
Man #2: Mr. Roosevelt
has piloted the nation,
if not through victory, to
within sight of victory.
Lincoln's death removed
him from leadership
in the time of Reconstruction.
President Roosevelt's
death has removed him
from the greatest
task ever faced by men
of making peace and
building a secure
and neighborly world.
( theme music playing )
There is no Nazi bomb.
The army manipulated us.
There is a war on three continents
and a madman rounding up Jews.
Enlistment papers?
You'll stay right here
as a private in the army.
Frank: The bomb is inevitable.
If I help build it, I might
get some say in how it's used.
Congratulations, Paul.
I've decided you will
be the Site X liaison.
You want me to steal for you?
For king and country.
Liza: Pesticides didn't kill the
bees and it wasn't the army.
Do you think it could be
something from the tech area?
There were 127 pregnancies
on the Hill last year
and one miscarriage.
There isn't always a medical
explanation in these cases.
So it was an act of God?
The longer that it takes
anyone to deliver a weapon,
the less chance anyone has of
dropping it over a city full of kids.
( knocks on door )
Sorry.
We have to set some ground rules.
We can't be seen like this.
I want to apologize
while you're still of sound mind and body.
The Germans or Soviets?
( gunshot )
♪ All day I faced
a barren waste ♪
♪ Without the
taste of water... ♪
Ronnie: Look at the early
wire photos of the Arizona
before the newspapers touched them up.
They blew the damn thing
up from inside the hull.
Dwight: Ronnie, if I wanted an earful,
I'd stay home with Margaret.
Pearl Harbor was an inside job.
Roosevelt needed an excuse
to drag us into the war.
( laughing )
♪ He's a devil, not a man ♪
♪ And he spread the
burning sand with water ♪
♪ Dan, you can see with
that big, green tree ♪
♪ Where the water's
running free ♪
♪ And it's waiting there
for me and you... ♪
Steady.
( men shouting )
- Man: You okay?
- Man #2: Yeah, she just snapped on me.
( coughs )
Look at this.
( coughing )
( theme music playing )
Because the fact is people
get hurt around here.
- Yeah.
- 68 accidents in the tech area
since the start of 1945.
If this were a factory floor,
the union would've shut us down months ago.
And now, now we're doing our most
dangerous work yet... criticality.
Pushing the gadget to the brink
of an explosive chain reaction.
And we've already had one mere catastrophe.
This is what happens
when matters of science
are left in the hands of
politicians and soldiers.
We are the ones who are bringing this thing
down off the blackboard and into the world,
and we deserve better.
All: Yeah! Yeah!
- We need strict exposure limits.
- Yes!
- And hazard pay!
- And we're going to demand it.
But first I want to tell you
about something that's happening right now
in Washington, DC.
While we are risking our necks,
President Roosevelt is
assembling a committee.
It's going to decide how the gadget's used,
if and when it's dropped,
and who it's going to be dropped on.
And this committee includes
no scientists or engineers.
- Wait, is this a safety board?
- No.
- Are they setting new health standards?
- No, no, no.
It's called the Target Committee,
and as it stands, no one
who helped build the bomb
will have any say in how
or where it's deployed.
But... but if we'd all write
a letter to our supervisor...
Let them deploy it up Eva Braun's ass.
We have bigger problems here on the Hill.
You didn't even read them my sample letter.
These guys don't care about sample letters.
They care about getting their balls
fried off in a criticality experiment.
You're supposed to make them care, Helen.
You're supposed to make them see
it's all part of the same question.
Well, you know what Mussolini says,
"If you want something
done right, do it yourself."
Well, I can't do that right now.
Not while I'm wearing this uniform.
They already look at
me like I'm a secretary.
And you want me to stand up
there, lecture them about politics?
You should find an inside man
who's actually on the inside.
Or a man.
Helen.
( horn honking )
You missed the L & O meeting.
The metal shortage could
cost us a week, maybe more.
Sorry, I'll... I'll get the minutes.
Uh, breakfast with the wife,
if you know what I mean.
You and the other 18 guys
who missed work this morning?
I know about your little meeting.
- What's the hay for?
- Horses.
Horses? Are we Amish?
We have jeeps on the site.
Oh, a corps of engineers
set up a polo league.
- It's good for morale, I guess.
- Jesus.
Well, make sure they clean up the shit.
I want the site spit-shined by Thursday.
Mm, you know it's a desert, right?
What happens Thursday?
Just, um, make sure it doesn't
look like a rodeo out there.
Aye, aye.
Um, I was thinking...
after our
not-so-secret meeting,
we should be studying
the radiological effects of the test.
On what?
The planet. People.
I swallowed 24 micrograms
of plutonium in 1943.
Now it's 1945. I still make
the Geiger counter sing.
Find me a PhD-level subject matter expert
who's already on the Hill.
If he's willing to run the study
during his free time,
you have my blessing.
Thank you.
You meet Charlie's qualifications...
that's the good news.
I asked for the bad news first.
Security clearance for the test site.
Holiest of Holies.
The only person who
can authorize that is...
- The colonel.
- Correct.
He's got to listen to reason, right?
Fritzy, this is a man who
sent a boy to his death
to stop me from speaking to my husband.
I don't think he's gonna turn around
and hand me a security badge.
Look, we need you.
Last week three engineers
nearly barbecued themselves
doing the criticality experiment.
Blammo, a month's exposure
in three seconds flat.
- In the tech area?
- Yeah.
We're lucky this whole place
doesn't glow in the dark.
( music playing )
♪ If you want to know who we are ♪
♪ We are gentlemen of Japan ♪
♪ On many a vase and jar ♪
♪ On many a screen and fan... ♪
All right, all right, all right, all right!
Posture. You're gentlemen from Japan,
not stevedores.
Uh, if I can have everyone's
attention for a minute?
Eugene has been assigned
to a post off-site.
Which means the role of Ko-Ko
is gonna have to be recast.
If they give it to Dale,
I'm gonna commit hara-kiri.
Fortunately, we do
have a man in the wings
who has really stepped up
and become a fine thespian
over the last year.
So, let's hear it for our new Ko-Ko...
Jim Meeks.
How about that?
Oh!
( chuckles )
Well...
( door opens )
( closes door )
Abby?
Did someone end the war
and forget to tell me?
They're for the family that's
liberated from Buchenwald.
My lucky tie?
Do you think they'll be attending
a lot of cocktail parties?
Can I please do my part
without being mocked?
Yes, of course. I'm sorry.
You said to find a way to move on.
Abby, I thought we could do that together.
You know, maybe we give it another shot.
I don't think we're supposed to.
Doc said a couple of months was plenty.
Maybe we lost the baby for a reason.
- What?
- Don't know.
Do you think that God
still punishes people?
Like the plagues in Egypt?
What have you ever done wrong?
Did you know that there
aren't just 10 Commandments?
There's 613.
- Really?
- Mm.
- Abby?
- Yes?
This is, uh... this is a fairytale.
It's a bedtime story.
Things don't happen for a
reason. They just happen.
Or maybe God was punishing
the families in those camps.
First you don't want to help them,
and now you're blaming them.
Sorry, I don't want to help them?
Wh-Why do you think I'm still here, Abby?
What do you think I do all day?
I don't know, Charlie. Play with numbers?
You know what, I'm gonna go, um,
play with numbers somewhere else.
- ( music playing )
- ( indistinct chatter )
Oh, I'm sorry, I... I didn't order this.
You dropped something.
Oh, Jesus, Helen!
You owe me a lot more than a whiskey sour.
Uh, that drink was actually from me.
But I hope you enjoyed it.
- Oh, thank you.
- Thanks.
Just... With Hogarth on one side
and Theodore on the other,
it's like being stuck between
Saturday night and Sunday morning.
The problem with Little Boy
is all the little boys.
You shouldn't be part
of anyone's backup plan.
Yeah, well, that's why
I like working in here.
It's a professional environment.
Oh, yeah, very professional.
I said I was sorry.
I guess we all have
things to atone for, right?
Something you want to say to me, Charlie?
I would like to...
address an injustice.
( screams ) No!
You bastard.
You were right.
I kept you off the test
group for personal reasons.
It had nothing to do with your talent.
What personal reasons?
Come to G group.
Don't screw around with me, Charlie.
We need you.
I need you.
Why now?
The test is three months off,
we're shorthanded and underbrained,
and this Thursday...
Jesus, as if we didn't
have enough to worry about.
What? What happens Thursday?
- Someone's coming.
- Who?
Vannevar Bush.
F.D.R.'s science advisor
is coming to the Hill?
Sits at the right tire of God the Father.
Here to review the test preparations.
You can't tell anyone.
The job doesn't come with a raise.
Okay, boss.
( Helen chuckles )
I heard they liberated another camp.
That must put a spring in your step.
Yes.
And to think we're on the other
side of the world doing our bit.
( board buzzes)
Operator.
Paul: I want to make you wetter
than Dartmoor in November.
Yes, sir. I'll put you right through.
Put me right through? Patience, Constance.
Roll your skirt up
first. Give us a forecast.
( line ringing )
Bingham here. Clear?
Clear as a bell, Site
X. Stand by one chorus?
"Roast Beef of Old England."
( machine humming )
_
So it's an assistant directorship
out at the test site.
I'm going to be refining lens design.
There's still some asymmetries to work out.
Isaacs just threw you a bone.
What happened?
Nothing happened.
He just realized he made a mistake.
Well, that's great, Helen. You deserve it.
Enjoy your last day
under the British Empire.
Hey, Frank?
F.D.R.'s science advisor is
touring the test site this week.
Vannevar Bush is coming west?
Yes.
No one can find out I told you.
Hey, you have to... well,
you have to get him alone.
He's Roosevelt's brain.
He can get us a seat
on the Target Committee.
I can't do that, Frank. I mean...
I need some time to settle it.
The test is in 90 days.
You need time to, what, climb the ladder?
I can't petition the White
House on my first day of the job.
I'll wind up straight back where I started.
Yeah. You're right.
Don't make me regret telling you.
_
_
_
_
_
Liza: I have followed
your orders to the letter.
I haven't spoken to my
husband in months, as you know.
Please send him my best next time you do.
But you're still a known
agitator, Mrs. Winter.
I prefer "rogue botanist."
And you want me to grant you access
to the most secure site
in the Western Hemisphere
- so that you can...
- Determine the health effects
of atomic radiation and debris.
I think the Axis is gonna
find that out soon enough.
Colonel, it's not the
Axis I'm worried about.
What am I looking at?
Well, this is your office here,
and right here,
only 20 yards away, is Building E.
Now, do you know what
happens in Building E?
Something above your clearance.
Well, that wouldn't stop it from
killing me if it went fast critical
and I was sitting in your chair.
I heard you had an event last week...
a couple of graduate students
set off a fast-neutron chain reaction.
I believe they call it
"tickling the dragon's tail."
I know what it's called.
The dragons I know
don't like to be tickled.
Four seconds longer, and it
would have become self-sustaining.
So now let's assume
fast criticality sustained
for two to three minutes.
Radiant intensity is the
inverse square of distance.
Factoring in the lack of concrete walls
that mitigate exposure...
you and your staff would most likely be...
well, dead.
I say "most likely" because, Colonel,
we don't actually know, but we could.
( music playing )
♪ As some day it may happen
that a victim must be found ♪
♪ I've got a little list ♪
♪ I've got a little list
of society offenders... ♪
Director: Hold on.
Okay, everybody, let's take five.
It's a little higher. It's a G, right?
Try a flat on that.
Hi, um...
you want to help me memorize?
Oh, I'm just a stagehand.
Well, we're on a desert island here.
Not enough girls to go around. Please?
Please.
"I have loved you with
a white-hot passion.
Shrink not away from me."
We have rules for a reason.
If people see us talking...
The Samurai gird for battle.
Not with swords, but with pens.
There's a petition going around.
F.D.R. is forming a committee
to decide how the gadget gets used.
We want a seat at the table.
We?
You didn't sign it, did you?
This is a good thing.
No. No, not for you, it's not.
You don't sign anything.
You don't stand for anything.
You need to earn Charlie Isaacs' trust.
That is your role.
Stick to the script.
Well...
you didn't congratulate me, by the way.
For what? Getting the
lead in a racialist play?
Well, "The Mikado" isn't really about Japan.
It's a satire of British social mores.
You need to lay off that pitch pipe.
It's cutting off the
oxygen to your brain.
( knocking on door )
- ( knocking )
- Yeah?
There's something you ought to know.
He's circulating some
kind of protest screed.
Is that right?
It's a petition, Colonel,
advancing the revolutionary idea
that the people who built the gadget
might have some say in how it's used.
You're a physicist,
not an expert in geopolitics.
You think the guys why
designed the B-29 bomber
got to pick their targets?
He doesn't just want a seat at the table.
He wants to shut down the project.
Let Dr. Winter run his
BVDs up the flagpole.
We'll see who salutes.
Now, if we're done
second-guessing democracy,
you're both dismissed.
You can't dismiss me. I'm not a soldier.
Why don't you go focus on
your criticality experiments?
It sounds like you have your hands full
not blowing us to kingdom come.
( slams door )
Get me an outside line.
Justice Department.
Colonel Emmett Darrow for Director Hoover.
I told you to be discreet!
Now you're unionizing the tech area?
I didn't involve you.
What, you think Charlie won't figure out
who told you that Bush was coming?
A couple of my bunk mates
are acting as his military escort.
Maybe I heard it from them.
Helen, we won't get another chance.
Well, neither will I.
The colonel's running
some kind of game on me.
Isaacs won't let me
anywhere near Vannevar Bush.
So, here, you have to give it to him.
Or burn it on Isaacs' altar.
Keep your chair in G group.
I know you'll do the right thing.
( man speaking over P.A. )
Hang back there, Private.
Look, if the colonel sent you, I
already kissed the ring, all right?
No, not the colonel, soldier.
You're on the head of the tech area's dime.
Pack your bivouac gear, Winter.
You'll be spending a couple
nights in the desert.
Let me guess...
I'm not returning until the weekend
after our distinguished visitor is gone.
What are we gonna do out
there, water some cactus?
You're gonna tickle the dragon's tail.
Engineer: Shit.
That's the spook's car.
You know I heard they found
him floating in the back
just like a canned sardine?
( clicking )
So, you beat Tosa.
Got out of Texas.
Congratulations.
Although if I'm here,
that means you're not all there.
So, maybe Tosa beat you after all.
Let's go.
Some lady biologist got
in the colonel's craw.
He banned criticality
work inside the gates.
- You say lady biologist?
- Yeah.
Now you got to irradiate yourself
30 miles from the nearest doctor.
How close did we get to fast critical
before the incident?
Uh, 88%.
The goal today is to get to 90
without waking the dragon
and killing yourself.
Well, let's hope that happens.
- You're not coming?
- Doctor's orders.
Last week... five roentgens, three seconds.
Whole team maxed out
exposure for the month.
That's why you're here.
"Tickling the dragon's tail."
Nice phrase, very evocative.
Your wife's boyfriend would love it.
This is how you
double-check a critical mass?
Play chicken with an
unshielded atomic pile?
Me, I'd go AWOL
before I hit 60% of fast
critical on the neutron counter.
I preferred the trunk of my car.
( buzzes )
Operator.
Paul: I want to write
a sonnet with my tongue
on your inner thigh.
Excuse me?
Constance?
- Who is this?
- ( line clicks )
No wonder you jump when 135 lights up.
Sounds like Paul Crosley.
Oh, uh, it's not... I'm a married woman.
Dr. Crosley has a scheduled call.
I'd best put him through.
Operator. I have Site X for you.
Yes, sir. Go ahead.
( printer clacking )
Oh! Oh, dear.
Oh.
Carry your books, Mrs. Isaacs?
Yes, please. Thank you.
Oh!
- I'll get these.
- Thank you.
- You get that.
- Oh!
( chuckles ) Paul Crosley.
Yes, I remember.
Long day crossing wires?
Uh, it's better than sitting at home.
Tom Lancefield's wife used to work
at the switchboard, didn't she?
Attractive girl. French, of course,
but that's a venial sin nowadays.
You two were friendly, weren't you?
Yes, well, we were very sad to see her go.
But then Constance
Faraday joined our ranks,
and she's just wonderful.
Do you know Constance?
Mm...
I just assumed that all
you Brits know each other.
Well, the empire has dwindled, to be sure,
but it's not a Shropshire village just yet.
- Yes.
- Fancy a ride, Mrs. Isaacs?
Uh...
Hey, I didn't see your
name on the petition.
- What gives?
- Oh, uh...
maybe I don't agree with Frank.
- Really?
- What did I miss?
Oh, just guy stuff.
Baseball, Ava Gardner, you know?
Oh, well, speaking of Mickey Rooney,
another toast to our newly
minted star of the stage.
- Yeah. Hear, hear.
- Oh.
Thank you.
Do you guys, uh... do you guys think
that Gilbert and Sullivan were racialists?
No, just different times.
Are there any good geishas in the chorus?
Wait till they hear that
plummy baritone of yours, huh?
Jimmy, I've never heard you sing.
That's a crime. Will you, please?
- Oh, yeah. Sing. Sing.
- I couldn't possibly.
- Okay!
- Come here, wife.
- Oh. Oh.
- Sit. Sit.
Could do that for you here.
It's in the key of A. ( blows )
Whoa. Watch where you point that A.
This is my wife.
( blows )
♪ Daisy, Daisy ♪
♪ Give me your answer, do ♪
♪ I'm half crazy ♪
♪ Over the love of you... ♪
Thank you.
We'll see you tomorrow.
Glass of water?
Glass of anything. I'm at your mercy.
This used to be the Winters' palace, no?
- Mm.
- Yeah.
You've certainly warmed the place up.
- Cheers.
- Mm.
( glasses clink )
I know what you're doing.
Line 135.
I haven't the foggiest idea what you mean.
Sorry.
Wait, your scheduled calls.
Clicks and clacks.
Mrs. Isaacs, the clicks
and clacks are technical.
They're rather tedious, I'm
afraid. It's part of the work.
The telephone isn't just for
gossip and grocery lists, you know?
- I'm not sure what Constance has told you.
- So, you do know Constance?
- Well, of course, uh...
- Of-Of course you know her.
She connects your calls every day.
And what are the chances of that, I wonder.
- She's not assigned to that line.
- I misspoke.
When you were writing
sonnets with your tongue.
There's no record of those
calls in the logbooks.
Even Dr. Oppenheimer's calls are logged.
Mrs. Isaacs... Abby... sorry, if I may,
if you think I've done something
wrong, why lure me here?
Am I to, what, confess?
Is Inspector Lestrade going
to jump out, pistol drawn?
I don't mean to sound flip.
( clears throat )
Truth is you've caught me.
I'm on a mission...
of vengeance.
Not that she seems to
have noticed, of course.
Constance?
Helen Prins.
And I won't pretend that you don't know
what she did to both of us.
Switchboard girl knows everything.
Where your husband was
last evening, for example.
Ah...
you didn't know.
Well, seems that he and Helen
have fallen back into one another's orbit.
I'm so sorry.
Marriage is a bit of business
in this part of the world.
I mean, ask Constance's husband.
I'm not proud.
But I'm baffled, frankly, by your husband.
How he manages to keep straying
so far afield with you at home?
These great minds...
and I'm not one, I don't flatter myself...
they're quite mad, you know?
Always chasing after the invisible.
And they're missing what's
right in front of them.
( door opens )
Dr. Crosley just helped
me... he gave me a ride home.
I heard you dried out, Paul.
Right, yes.
Gosh, I knew I'd forgotten something.
- Thank you, Mrs. Isaacs.
- Thank you.
Mr. Isaacs.
( counter clicking )
86.
( clicking continues )
87.
Well, look at the bright side...
if you poke the dragon,
we boil together.
Stop it. Stop talking.
You know, there were times
that I envied the spies.
They never worked alone.
Rendezvouses, meetings,
signals, betrayals...
one big, happy family.
- Wanna hear a joke?
- No.
How do you catch a Communist?
Hold a meeting.
Not a joke, actually, a real tactic.
The FBI... a bunch of amateurs...
but even they know how
to read a hotel registry
or a passenger manifest.
Or a petition.
The best blacklists, Frank,
are the ones the traitors sign
all by themselves.
Darrow wanted to see
who signed the petition
so... so he could use it against us.
And you thought I abused my badge.
Devil you knew.
( clicking continues )
Where do you think you're going, Frank?
Do you think those fellas out there
are going to let you go back?
With Bush in town and all
this work here left to do?
Sorry, Cinderella, no ball for you.
Now, Frank,
now, that might be the worst
idea you've had all year,
and that is saying something.
What, poke the dragon, get a sick-out?
Medical evacuation back to the Hill?
Save the day? No.
No, Frank, no. Don't, don't, don't, don't.
Frank, don't.
88! Jesus, Frank. Every
time you nudge the thing,
the temperature jumps
another three degrees.
90!
93!
97!
( beeping )
Oh, shit, let's go.
This is it. Come on, guys, go!
( grunting )
( panting )
What was that, 99%?
Get the car.
Morning. Thank you.
Excuse me. I'm sorry.
- Where's Frank Winter, please?
- This is his room.
Get the staff...
all of them.
Colonel, may we have a word in private?
My office.
I'm sorry to interrupt you, sir,
but I have something to report.
I... I work the switchboard, you know.
Well, of course you know,
and, um, sometimes we hear things.
Paul Crosley... Dr. Crosley.
Well, I had to employ
some fairly unorthodox tactics
to draw him out.
But he and Constance Faraday,
our new British transfer,
are involved in something
with the telephone,
line 135, every day like clockwork
with some kind of signal on the other line.
Thank you, Mrs. Isaacs.
America is strongest when
her citizens do their duty.
Well...
all right, then. Thank you, sir.
- I was so glad to see you at the Seder.
- Yes.
This Hill suffers from a lack
of faith, you may have noticed.
- I blame all the scientists.
- So do I.
We have such great need of
faith in these difficult times.
Yes.
Yes. It's...
been a very hard year
with the war and the camp.
And the baby.
- Yes.
- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.
No, you didn't really. It's, um...
I... I... I can't hear it again.
Hear what?
That these things just happen.
And that there's no reason for it.
Of course there's a reason.
You're in pain.
Don't fight it.
Pain is His voice,
reminding you that you're alive
and at His mercy.
In difficult times most of all,
His voice is everywhere.
My wife was thrown through
the windshield of a car.
- Oh...
- She lived, Mrs. Isaacs.
And her pain is constant
for a reason.
We can know His reason
if we have the strength to listen.
Will you?
Listen?
With me?
( knocks )
Sir? M.I.T. is landing.
( overlapping chatter )
We're all here for a reason.
We're all here for a reason.
We all know what that reason is.
To drop an atomic weapon
on a Japanese city,
killing 30 to 50 thousand people.
Mostly civilians, women and children.
If that's not why you're here,
you're in the wrong room.
If you thought you were racing
the Nazis to a super weapon,
your ignorance has been engineered.
You've been sold a comic book.
Charlie: Frank?
There is no German bomb.
The Army has known that for a long time
and so has Dr. Isaacs.
Is there a German bomb, Dr. Isaacs?
- I don't know.
- You don't know.
- And how long have you not known?
- It doesn't matter.
The gadget is gonna end this war.
It's gonna save lives.
Hitler is finished.
Every industrial center
in Germany is an ash heap.
The Russians are rolling in.
Yet I haven't noticed
a second sun over Moscow
or Stalingrad or London, have you?
What does that tell you as a scientist?
Ignorance is forgivable.
It's what comes next that is not.
Less than a quarter of
you signed this petition.
I don't blame anybody who didn't.
For one thing, I've been a son of a bitch.
I've disrespected half
the people in this room.
A lot of you have good reasons
not to put your names on something I wrote.
For another thing...
this petition...
this petition is a blacklist.
Anybody know the half-life of an FBI file?
It's longer than any of our natural lives.
Heaven.
They've been using me to divide us.
But instead...
instead we're going to surprise them.
All of us or none.
F.D.R.'s scientific
advisor is here on the Hill.
This is our last chance to
send the president a message.
They can build this bomb without...
without statesmen, without generals,
but they can't build it without us.
So I'm...
I'm gonna walk out the door right now.
I'm probably gonna wind up in the brig.
But I'm asking you to follow me.
If you believe we have
a moral responsibility
for the future of what we
are building here, follow me.
If you believe Japan deserves
whatever it gets, follow me.
Follow me no matter what you
believe so long as you believe
the scientists who designed this gadget
should have some say in how it is used!
All of us or none.
But any ignorance from
here on out is willful.
And won't be forgiven.
Not by any God worth inventing.
Not by any democracy worth fighting for.
( murmuring )
( whispers ) Sir, the president is dead.
Man on radio: We interrupt this
program with a "World News" update.
President Roosevelt has died.
Reports have emerged suggesting
he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.
The president was
sitting for a portrait
when he complained of
a "terrific headache."
Vice President Harry S. Truman
received the news at the Capitol,
whereupon the Secret Service
rushed him to the White House
and he was sworn in by
Chief Justice Harlan Stone.
Man #2: He has been one of the
greatest leaders of this country.
He has been one of the
greatest leaders of humanity.
And his name will be left
to us as a lover of men,
as a servant of their freedom,
and as a wise and patient leader
in the greatest war
ever fought for freedom.
Man: What we know at this hour
is that the president
died at his home
in Warm Springs, Georgia.
Man #2: Mr. Roosevelt
has piloted the nation,
if not through victory, to
within sight of victory.
Lincoln's death removed
him from leadership
in the time of Reconstruction.
President Roosevelt's
death has removed him
from the greatest
task ever faced by men
of making peace and
building a secure
and neighborly world.
( theme music playing )