Transcripts For CSPAN2 Jennet Conant The Great Secret 20240711

Jennet conant who was the granddaughter of administrative tractor the Manhattan Project and one of our nations leading scientists of the 20th century century pages the author of New York Times bestseller the regulars and tuxedo park a wall street tycoon and the secret palace of science that changed the course of world war ii. She will be speaking tonight about her new book the great secret the classified world war ii disaster that launched the war on cancer. Thank you for joining us jennet. Said thank you. I also want to thank you for inviting me to be with you tonight. Alas its virtually but im going to do my best. My first doom presentation so they are with me everyone. Ive had a lot of coffee and im thinking right now should have had a lot of wine but anyway here we go. Im going to start us off with a quote from winston churchill. He had a way with words. He once observed manic case only stumble across the truth but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened. Lieutenant colonel Stuart Francis alexander a remarkable hero of my book did not hurry off. In fact he refused to believe the scene of the military disaster even when churchill himself warned them to. He stayed and. Attention, he investigated and as a result he recognized the never before seen symptoms and a group of dying sailors that might have lifesaving implications for others in the future. This is a story of one intrepid army doctors alert mind and how it turned the chemical wallop weapons are poured into a stepping stone and a horrific world war ii tragedy into a medical triumph. Im going to take you back to the night of december 2, 1943. The old part port of bahrain was puzzling to the british had taken the capital in september and the front play 150 miles to the north with its massive cliffs cradling to see that escape the fighting almost unscathed. Only a few miles outside of town women and children were taking for black orchid food but in bari the shops were full of cakes of bread and rolls young couples strolled arm in arm like in the old days and Street Vendors were doing a brisk business. Bari was the critical mediterranean port and the allied forces majored state protected. It was flying both the american and British Eighth Army which comprised of the better part of 500,000 allied troops engaged in driving the germans out of italy. And if we can show that first slide of the baris waterfront. Liberating british tommys had chased the from the skies over italy in the british controlled the port and they were so confident they had won the air worth it marshals are Arthur Cunningham had announced he was all but immune from attack. I was regarded as a personal affront and insult if they should attempt any significant action in this area he announced earlier that day. The wartime port was teeming with activity. Four days earlier the american liberty ship pulled in with a convoy of dying merchant men 30 allied ships were cramming the harper pact against the seawall along the pier. Everything from food and medical gear to engines cargo for landing strips and tons of fuel oil. You could see on the upper decks were tanks armored personnel carriers jeeps ambulances everything. Bright lights and danced huge cranes hoisting equipment now. They were working aroundtheclock to unload the supplies for the next big push the advance on rome. Allied strategies hinged on making steady progress up the rugged mountain of peninsulas italy and culminating in amphibious attacks about are the two miles south of rome. All night long. It is 7 35 p. M. , a blinding flash was followed by a terrific thing. The ancient port single and liked craft battery then another and another is a german j you eight flew over the town dropping bombs. Smoke and flames rose from the city. The lead pathfinders, through window, new kind of jamming technique using filed strips designed to confuse la radars. As a result, they would shoot almost complete at a surprise. As a rain down in the harbor, interns night into day. The governors aboard the anchor ship scrambled, but it was too late. Theres virtually no opposition spreading the attack german planes holdout unchallenged by allies. Although it lasted less than 20 minutes from the results were devastating. A tremendous roar came from the harbor and exploding ammunition tankers said he is rolling massive flames thousand feet high. Reported the Time Magazine described a fiery panorama, eight ships were burning fiercely. The entire harbor was covered with burning oil. A ruptured fuel flying sent thousands of gallons gushing into the harbor where he ignited into a gigantic sheet of flames engulfing the entire north side of the court. With a prairie fire, the flames spread across the surface of the water, keeping from ship to ship in the crews worked frantically to save the vessels before the raging fires scorched or force them to jump and swim for safety. The cries of men yelling for help, the and echoed in the ruin harbor. The night raid, when the naval catastrophe of the war was heavily censored. The general eisenhower first communicated from air force headquarters. On a summer fourth, stated only pet damage was done. Adding insult to injury, the first real account of the air rain came from the germans, a propaganda broadcast on decemben spectacular success. In the crowded harbor was so poorly protected that the german bombers had been able to pick off the island ships exiting ducks. The sneak attack which the press dubbed the little pearl harbor shook the complacency of the allied forces. And the condensed to the air superiority in the area, all told the nothing sunk 17 allied ships and destroyed more than 31000 tons of vital cargo. More than 1000 american and british servicemen were killed outright. But almost as any wounded. An untold number of civilians. Rumors said that officials were covering up an embarrassing incident. There was a talk of a new german secretive weapon, a rocket on. Congressional concern of the debacle was underscored by eisenhowers announcement that he had asked the special Senate Subcommittee to investigate. Where admiral responsible for u. S. Merchant marine fleet across the seven seas, angrily told Time Magazine that you will have more about that rated before you hear less. But that was the last official word on the matter and the fiery incident made shrouded in mystery in the crucial days that followed, the task of treating the gravely injured sailors would be made even more difficult by wartime secrecy. And the determined efforts to the american and british governments to cover up the incidence so as not to endanger preparations for the most important operation of the war. The allied invasion of germany occupied france, plan for the spring. It would be almost 30 years before the world would learn the truth about what really took place on that fatal night. And even today, few are aware of the surprising consequences of the disaster and its impact on the lives of millions of americans. Lt. Col. Alexander was asleep in his headquarters. He was awake at the first jingle of the telephone. The summons came in the middle of the night. There appeared to be developing medical crisis in bari. Too any men were dying. Too quickly. Of unexplained causes. The symptoms were unlike anything the local military had seen before. They had began to suspect the germans and used an weapon, perhaps poison gas. With a number of deaths increasing rapidly with each day, the british place to rent call alerting air force headquarters, in algiers. It was urgent to press for assistance. Alexander was dispatched immediately to the scene of the disaster. He looked too young for combat person per he was hyphenated and skinny and only 29 years old and valentin the only air of authority he could claim. He was popular with the troops. In some patients kidded him that his gentle bedside manner, is best suited to a pediatrician. He was tougher than he looked. Been through the invasion of north africa under Major General george s thousand. Despite his quiet modesty, and his dimples, alexandra proven himself to be confident, determined and resourceful. It is. Is now he had a good head on his shoulders. He couldve set out the work and stateside hospital but the desire to serve randy and his family. He had descended from selfmade and aggressive and flood famine and persecution in europe for the United States in the 1880s. And were forever grateful for the opportunities afforded them in their new home. Alexanders father was popular Family Doctor in new jersey. It was his one ovation to follow in his fathers footsteps. It had excelled at military academy and entered a stand out at 15 and he was allowed to advance directly to medical school. And graduated the top of his class in 1935. Harrahs md at columbia. After completing his residency he went back home and he hung out a shingle next to his fathers full of pride. But in the spring of 1940, as hitler began pits march across your come alexander volunteered for duty. He felt strongly that this was a war in which he had to participate. He noted that he would be available at any time, he told the guy for that friday was called up in november and spent time with the 16th century regiment and Gun Powder Creek in maryland to. From Edgewood Arsenal. Its also happen to be home to the Chemical Warfare service. And before long, he decided to contact the Chemical Warfare service for the animated new design had come up with for spectacles that can fit inside of the face piece of a gas mask. He just happened that alexander suffered from extreme myopia. He was very nearsighted and actually flunked his first physical. When the army doctor went back to shuffle papers, he quickly memorized the first two lines of the eye chart and document to giving him the test again and passed. But he was. Fearful that if there was a gas attack during the war, would have to choose between wearing his glasses in the gas mask because the gas mak left over from previous work did not fit over his glasses that we came up with a new design. He was impressed his superiors with the Chemical Warfare service that they offered him a job. Transfer to arsenal, and with a crash course in gases. In the hurried pace of the war, he became a new expert in the field. He connected all kinds of experiments on animals to evaluate toxic agents and develop new forms of treatment and protective gear for soldiers. After pearl harbor, he started traveling around the country to the different Training Camps to determine medical personnel how to treat chemical casualties. He was promoted to director of the Chemical Warfare Services Medical research laboratory. And so in general eisenhower concerned about the heightened threat that hitler might launch a gas attack in europe, he would quest the doctor with the Chemical Warfare background of. And Young Alexander was sent to allied force headquarters in algeria. So now at 5 00 p. M. On december 7, 1943, 5 days after the attack on barry, the plane touched down on the battered airfield. Waiting for him for group of senior british doctors. Good see that they were immediately agitated and he was taken to the hospital at once he wrote in his diary. The situation was grim. All the equipment for five plan american field hospitals have been sunk in the air raid. Personally all the doctors were safe and they scrambled to open the 26 American General hospital the morning after the raid rowing benson bandages from the italians to help care for the scores of bombing victims. Think we have a picture of the hospital. Alexander knew the lack of medical supplies was going to compound the tragedy. The existing hospitals barry were written by the british prerace americo, the largest and 98 largest hospital, had been spared. But the place had taken a beating in the doors and the windows were shattered and ripped up. In the walls scattered the bricks like hail really concussion last night at the power so they were working by the flight. They were still sweeping up the glass from the first of the winded when they begin to arrive. Hundreds and hundreds of david and veteran sailors suffering from shock and burns find almost all of them are governance think black crude oil. He brought up the rear, carrying the most seriously injured. The sailors jumped from the blazing ships or song through fleming oil and were horribly burned. Death horn was set up in the mp back to room for those beyond help. In the basement, makeshift mortuary, local carpenter was knocking together offline conference as fast as he could. The town ran out of caskets and only the first few hours. With so any patients needing urgent attention, there was a time to get most of the women sailors out of the dirty and the nurses did with the god. The emerging cases, the seven boys when been fetched from the freezing waters receive standard emergency treatment of the time frame is shot, like is to keep them warm and strong hot sweet tea. And they were left to rest. If you complained of smarting eyes and stinging birds but that was attributed to the large fires in the fuel oil and they most just laid there quietly, where the cases would be given priority. The first unusual vindication the doctors all alexander was in casualties about to present typical symptoms or respondent in a manner. The main complaint that they were thirsty. Suddenly started ripping off their colas and bandages in a frenzy complaining that their skin was on fire. Overnight of the majority of these emerging cases, and develop threaded and inflamed skin and blisters as big as balloons. In this together with widespread nausea and vomiting, led the doctors to think this cost might be the poisonous fumes with fuel oil. Perhaps the explosives. About hours after the attack, patients began complaining of severe pain. By the end of the day, the wars were full of hundreds of men with their eyes swollen shut. As the staff deepen, headquarters and notification that there was a possibility of a blister gas exposure. But the information was bag and unconfirmed. Hundreds of burned patients with unusual symptoms were to be classified dermatitis ny d. Not yet diagnosed. Pending further instructions. Given the casualties the first night, and nonurgent cases who appeared to be in Good Conditions were sent away. Most of them were still in their uniforms. In the next morning they returned clearly needing treatments. There were in a horrible state. Made it worse was in so any of the boys were conscious throughout the ordeal. A young gunner aboard the american liberties ship could not understand why his vision was becoming blurrier with each passing hour. Thats when the rumors about that poison gas started to spread he recalled. He remembered feeling uneasy but an official looking group came to the hospital ward and confiscated all of the clothes. Shoes, belts, uniforms, everything. There is no explanation given. That created a panic among the patients he said. They feared their fates were sealed. The first unexplained death occurred in 18 hours after the attack. Within two days, there were 14. Alexander noted the downward spiral of the patients. The boys appear to be in rather Good Condition but in a matter of minutes appear to be dying. In british doctors were mystified. The symptoms did not fit any of those in the case histories of poisonous gas from world war i. They could find the similarities in the medical textbooks are the manuals. Issued by the Chemical Warfare service. In the toxic agent was mustard gas, so named because of it is on pleasant garlicky owner, than then the respiratory publications should been more prominent but they werent permitted as alexander locked the crowded board to examine the patients he gently would left blankets and would study to burns. But extraordinarily deli can see, he spoke with each man in turn asking how he had come by his injuries. Which ship was seen on. Did he receive any firstaid on the dock. What about when he got to the hospital. One sailor after another totally caught in the firestorm, of the pandemonium that followed of somehow making it to the hospital. There they had waited for as long as 12 and even 24 hours. In their wet uniforms before receiving treatment. Drying back the covers on one patient, alexander studied the birds in the otherwise healthy muscled body. The sailors and even aboard pt quote when the german bombers flew over and he heard a loud boom and he felt a spray of oily liquid land on his neck. A picture of this injury, is shown in alexanders report. Inside the outline of red raised skin trendy with ointment, as if the imprinted on the splash. The burns they sing another patients work very but already, he could distinguish between chemical burns and other burns, those caused by fire and heat. In certain patterns were present depending on how the individual had been exposed. It appeared alexander that the sailors had been thrown overboard and completely immersed in the harbor were burned extensively come over 90 percent of the bodys party compared to superficial birds. Wherever the toxic and hit them. Some men who had sat in the solution, like a lifeboat, and had only local birds of the buttocks and coins. A few lucky souls who wiped off the oily mixture of first night, howling minor injuries. As he made his rounds, it is increasingly clear the most of the patients had been exposed to a chemical agent. He had noticed something for the first moment he is jerk and entered the hospital. Some of their it just kept nagging away at him and he could pick it up at various places in various rooms. Anna stood out in unusual smells of urine and disinfectant and burns unconverted flesh. The other and implanted itself in his mind he wrote in his diary, was mustard gas. It had been five days since the initial exposure. And if there is any chance of saving the sailors lying in the beds, was that countless italians civilians he knew he needed to act very swiftly. They decided question hospitals director and but the question to him. He had his own suspicion so he asked my policeman may have been exposed to mustard in some manner col. Do you have any idea of this mightve happened. None came the directors reply. As a Chemical Warfare consultant to asq, alexander was cleared to the highest degree. He knew the allies had began secretly stockpiling poison gas in the mediterranean against germany with his back to the wall would go back to Chemical Warfare. But he was skeptical that the allies wouldve shipped mustard into this busy port so close to the local population. And then allow the toxic cargo to sit there the prime target for an enemy strike. So he could not afford to ruled out though so he tried again so he checked with the port authoritys. The shipping map. The ships in the harbor been carrying mustard. He was told again and again, that they did not have the information and that it was not possible. But alexander had his doubts. Sounded, with the british were trying to manage his investigation. He did not believe he was getting the full story or their full cooperation. In the burden of proof he realized was lifted on him. He ordered a series of test for the patients who are still alive and insistent on carefully complete autopsies of those who died under mysterious circumstances. He ordered samples of the harbor water collected and analyzed. He borrowed first nailed the hospital units and put them to work gathering data and performing lab tests on tissue samples and compiling pathology reports. Suspecting that the british officials were dodging his questions. Alexander visited the navy house, the british local headquarters. Then again, he demanded to be told that there was mustard gas and again, he was absolutely denied it. He was left unconvinced and he knew was truth. And that he also knew something else. This was not the familiar men that he had studied at Edgewood Arsenal party this was mustard gas poisoning through different guide then dont recognize from world war i. The first thing the next morning, alexander scanned the harbor and he wanted to do his own investigation with a little official interference as possible. He picked his way to the mounds of rubble and surveyed the twisted metal. And he looked at the burned out vessels. Admin towed out to sea and some of them could still be seen. Their master broken coking above the water. And the fly ash stunned his nostrils prayed in the dark water in the harbor, looked sinister. And taylor had recalled that the exploding oil had been thick in the service of the water after the paper. It was a mixture of high octane gasoline and fuel from to two dozen allen chips in alexanders suspected mustard gas. But he did not know what else might be in there. So we had to do more tests. He knew the allen cargo ships have been carrying other things. They been carrying a new separate weapon called the name phone. He cannot be sure what was in the chemicals two. He had also not be sure if it was a german aerial gas attack. In a spray attack, he reasons until liquid to mustard in most cases be transformed by the foot stream into tiny droplets resembling a vapor. It wouldve contaminated all of the ships and their harbor including the crippled vessels that still remained afloat friday and drenched all the men on the docks below. Even midnight on the water wouldve inhaled significant doses of the noxious vapor as it spread across the harbor. Some of the sinking in some burning and some mixing with the tons of oil floating on the surface and some evaporating in the clouds of smoke and flame. Yet alexander could find no evidence of mustard contamination. Any question the royal personnel, the Royal Navy Personnel in the docks, they seemed surprised. They shook their heads, no mustard had been released in the air raid the building. That is impossible. There is no mustard here. When he spoke to the british port authorities, they continued to state categorically that there was no mustard in the area. But undeterred alexander described in detail, the gas and birds that he had seen. He insisted there was no way those entries couldve been sustained by anything but chemical exposure. In 534 men admitted to the la hospital, justin the first night of the 280 were suffering from severe symptoms consistent with mustard. And one day 45 had died fighting and he told the british they could expect far more fataliti fatalities, the vast majority of their own countrymen. They happy about that. But at that point the port authorities began to waver and change their story. They began to say that perhaps there was mustard gas in the harbor party but he couldnt believe come from the germans. Sharpens sudden aboutface, alexander reconsidered and he did some more studying of the papers and the ramifications of the charge that hitler in a desperate gamble and wrist gas. But in the end after reviewing all of the evidence, he discounted it is unlikely. Coming after the authorities and strong denials of so much as a width of gas, he thought it was too much of an explanation of what had happened. He suspected now is much more complicated. Over the next two days, a part of the clinical records and autopsy reports. Reading reports erupt, a journey into the nightmare of the effects that of the chemical contamination. He came to an overwhelming conclusion. The serious consequences of mustard gas and be seen on most of the victims. Even though they were bruised by the blast and the explosions, the chemicals exposure was apparent. Alexander was not sure how to proceed when he received stunning news. A diver, ordered to search the harbor floor and found fractured shuttles. Test were immediately performed on site revealed traces of mustard. The ordinance officers from the u. S. Air force identified the casings as belonging to a 100pound cam for 78 mustard gas bomb. German gas bombs were always marked the distinctive yellow cross. And the bombs were definitely american. His instinct had been right all along. One of the ships in the harbor had been carrying mustard gas and the secret shipment had most likely been destined for a chemical subfile. 75 miles away. In order to improve the u. S. Capabilities of rape caliente in the event of the german gas attack. Alexander knew that the bombs were fragile and wouldve been fractured by the explosions in the bombing raid. Using a sketch of the harbor, city had as part of his investigation, he plotted the positions of the sunken ships by correlating them with a number of mustard gas victims for each ship, he was able to pinpoint the darn hungry and american liberty ship is the epicenter of the explosion. He found it hard to believe that the british officials did not know of the john harvey supercargo. In the circumstances of the accident now demanded further investigation. And he would have to explore the extent to which the military authorities had covered up the gas. By failing to alert the hospital staff to the risk of contamination, they had greatly added to the number of fatalities. But in the immediate moment, his first concern was the patients. Now that he actually knew that his suspicions were confirmed, and it was mustard gas, he advised the hospital staff how to treat the patients for mustard exposure and tried to reduce the number of deaths over the next couple of days read and instead of bringing that to a close, alexander discovered the mustard gas income from the allies own supply made a difficult job with that much more complicated. The British Foreign officials attempt to, but it paled in comparison to their effort to share the responsibility. It was not a harmless fabrication. Alexander worried that if theyre going to accuse the germans of dropping mustard when the germans had not done so, it could have political implications. The Previous Year president roosevelt had issued a warning that any german that uses a chemical weapon would be followed by the force possible retaliation. Churchill had echoed his remarks. The significance of any care in determining the source of mustard gas, alexander knew could be horrendous. Fela thought that the faulty conclusion that germans had deployed chemical weapons that they could provoke hitler into launching a gas attack and then they would have an allout chemical war. Adding to his anxiety, the daily death toll was raising rapidly. He decided he had to notify officials of what his findings were. The allied force headquarters, the burns in the hospitals in this area and the dermatitis it due to mustard gas the road. Their unusual the variety are due to mustard which have been mixed in for the surface soil and therefore went undiagnosed. He was feeling a growing sense of urgency. He said highpriority cables to the british Prime Minister informing them of the nature of the casualties. In the almost certain origin of the gas was an american ship. Roosevelt accepted his findings and responding, please keep me fully informed. Churchill however, sent reply, he did not believe it was mustard gas prayed in alexander, was speechless. He admired church open he realized that he had a question the commandant decision. He realized that churchill was mostly concerned that if he acknowledged it was poison gas in the area and the germans retaliated, the first place they would drop gas to be in england. So alexander sent a second telegram. He again said the findings much greater length stating that beyond any doubt these casualties are due to mustard a party to but he was informed of the church is maintained that the symptoms do not sound like mustard gas. It is instructions were the same to the doctor. Reexamine the patients. The lonely american medical officer was supposed to respondent, alexander appealed to a Liaison Officer for advice from the british officer advised him, when did not argue with the Prime Minister. After a sleepless night alexander returned to the hospital trying to prove his diagnosis was correct. Churchill was undoubtedly brilliant in an uncanny instinct for this fact. And put his finger in the most important question about that becomes. Why would toxic effects much more serious than ever in recorded history. Former patients were dying of mustard in the battlefields of world war i. When the fatality rate admin around 2 percent. The net rated barry was six times higher and climbing. The difference he believed was from the unprecedented intimate and likely contact as a result of being immersed in the oily water. The left to set in some uniforms. Fresh clothes they wouldve had a fair chance of survival. Instead the men had been allowed to emerge in their mustard soaked uniforms for hours. Itd been tantamount to a death sentence. But military secrecy had taken precedence. The rights of british and american officials who knew of the gas ship and on the john harvey were reluctant to release the highly classified information. There is plenty of blame to go around. But the bottom i said no official gas warning was given to the hospitals. The cup cover up any stonewalling alexander concluded came from not wanting to admit that heirs and judgment have been made. But then he made himself a nuisance and officials wanted him gone. He was bored if he did not stop insisting on the diagnosis of mustard gas he would risk or emotional. Of the investigation was over his medical inquiry had just begun. As he sat reviewing the case and pathology reports went recurring observation left out in the devastating effects of mustard on the patients white blood cells toward as he flipped to the records he saw to get it again the white blood cell counts fell sharply off. Hey notice the white blood cells found in the lymph organs and the importance of immune system were the first to disappear. When he saw made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Hitting its exact results before but never in humans. And march covid 1942 when he was training at edgewood they had received smuggled samples of german nitrogen mustard gas and had begun experimenting it. To their astonishment the white blood cell count of the rabbits they were experimenting on drop to zero points very close to zero. The deterioration of lymph nodes in bone marrow. The literature finds no report of the shocking kind of reduction for white blood cells. That never seen anything that it had the same effect. Alexanders first impulse was they had a bad batch of rabbits. They repeated the experiments time again the results were the same. Each time they achieve the same dramatic effect. Severe lymphopenia, lymph node depletion and marrow depression. After exposure the white blood cell counts rapidly disappeared and the live notes were left too shrunken little shelves. Alexander was fascinated by the impact of mustard on the body. Because of the dramatic and reproducible effects he could not help but wonder the possibility of using the compounds directly on human beings with diseases of the blood. Nitrogen mustard attacked white blood cells he reason perhaps it could be controlled most common type of cancer in children. By using different dosages of mustard destroyed some but not all of the cancer cells without hurting the patients. But when alexander proposed an ambitious set of experiments he was told by his chief and then by the National Research council that this was not the job Edgewood Arsenal. Theres not enough time or money to pursue medical lines of investigation. They were in the business of National Defense before he was ordered to put the project aside and returned to his work on mustard casualty management, treatment and decontamination. Merkel church would have to wait until after the war. But now sitting in a Military Hospital 6000 miles away, not even two years later alexander held up his hands, and convertible evidence. Mustard gas did in truth selectively destroy blood cells and blood forming organs, he wrote. Edit taken a freak accident and the massive exposure for time to verify in people the phenomenon demonstration and laboratory rabbits. Seen and more prewar work he wrote. Blood cells disappear, lymph nodes melted away. I remember thinking if mustard could do this, what could do for a person with ischemia . Alexander could not save the worst of the mustard gas casualties. He knew that perhaps a gimmick of death camp or something. As one in a million chance of landing him were the few doctors in the world who knew of the mustard potential in the middle of a disaster with a more full of case studies. I was at the complete rare chance to have a pioneering investigation into the toxins by the effects of the human body. The kind of the possible reliving mickey rando the hall running for more blood tests. Payments are to take special care to prepare the specimens hoping they make it across the long journey to america. Please to be scrupulous but this much data as possible in the short time he had left. He wanted his insight into the systemic of mustard to be entered into the medical record with that i toward seeing whether the harmful substance could be used not to destroy but to heal. On december 27 covid 1943 alexander submitted his preliminary report on his tenday investigation of the harbor catastrophe. In the report there are 617inch was suffered from gas exposure. Of those who document 83 clearly indicted poison gas. There are many, many others whose records would never be found. These were the first and only poison gas casualties of world war ii. His report was immediately classified. Eisenhower and churchill acted in concert to keep the findings secret so hitler could not use the incident as an excuse to launch a gas offensive. Any mention of mustard gas was stricken from the official record. There is a slide here dozens and dozens of cables that went backandforth between the headquarters. Censoring any mention of mustard gas and erect. Using stricken by the patients medical charts rate alexanders name was removed from the patients charts along with his diagnosis of tax exposure. It was replaced with a generic terminology for combat casualties. Ferns due to enemy action. The fear german chemical attack never came. The wehrmacht was deterred by logistical constraints combined with allied air superiority and the threat of massive brutality orate gas strikes. Ironically however the germans have known all along about the source of the poison gas in the harbor. Nancy spies in the port suspected the allies worshiping gas. After the airstrike the center of diver down and found the bomb casings which confirm the weapon was american. Axis sally up popular berlin radio host had even taunted the allies a few days after the air raid. I see you boys are getting gassed by your own poison gas, she cooed. British officials never acknowledged alexanders report. But it garnered high praise from eisenhowers advisors. They lauded exceptional job alexander had done under challenging conditions. But told him accommodation was withheld for fear of offending the Prime Minister. The officer most impressed with alexanders report was his boss. Kerner cornelius dusty rose. Chief of the medical division of the Chemical Warfare service who hailed alexanders meticulous investigation as so complete and of such immense value to medicine that it represented almost a landmark in the history of mustard poisoning. Rhodes was eager to explore the toxic agents therapeutic potential. Like alexander he believed the data pointed the way towards a promising new chemical targeting white blood cells that could be used as a weapon in the fight against cancer. Roesch, and his civilian life, was head of new york Memorial Hospital. It was the biggest Cancer Hospital in the world at the time. He sees the wealth of new information provided by the breakthrough. With ambitious plans for Memorial Hospital now converge with alexanders report and crystallize into a Single Mission to exploit the military research into poison gas, to find a chemical that could selectively kill cancer cells. Armed with the report and the result of a topsecret yale study, which demonstrated for the first time that a regiment of nitrogen mustard in tiny, carefully calibrated doses code resulting humor tumor regressio regression. They would in search of funny to develop experimental treatment known today as chemotherapy. He persuaded two men that made a fortune during the war, Albert P Sloan and Charles F Kettering the heads of General Motors to endow a new in situ that would bring together leading scientists to make a concentrated attack on cancer. On tuesday, august 7 covid 1945 the day the world learned an atom bomb had been dropped on japan they announced their plans for the strong Kettering Institute for cancer research. World war ii was over but the war on cancer had just begun. The official secrecy surrounding the disaster continued for decades. The military views Technology Chronic affect of exposure on hundreds of surviving sailors, navy personnel, doctors, nurses and civilians resulting in years of suffering, controversy and lawsuits for medical compensation in both the United States and in britain. In 1961 alexander even offered to help the National Academy of sciences conducted a study of the american survivors of the gas attack. But the project stalled when identifying victims of contamination proved too difficult. All their records had burns to enemy action he recalled for they could not tell who had been poisoned and who had been blasted. In the epilogue i explain in detail the truth about the incident finally emerged. It was no thanks to churchill to continue to deny the presence of poison gas and his voluminous world war ii memoir. Eisenhower was a little more forthcoming in his 1948 memoir but he stated only that one of the ships was loaded with a small quantity of mustard gas. Unfortunately the wind was offshore that day the escaping gas caused no casualties. The early attempts by writers to correct the record were not altogether successful as they did not have access to all the classified documents. Many of the early accounts are deeply flawed riddled with mistakes and lies. I found that even to this day the confusion persists. If you go online tonight for example and tried to search for photos of the disaster you will find many, many gruesome pictures. Unfortunately many of them are mislabeled and are affected not part of the air raid but a horrendous accident that displaced in 1945 another american liberty ship the ss Charles Henderson exploded. So it just goes to show the whole incident remains muddled by misinformation. Even in todays digital univers universe. Alexanders discharge in the Chemical Warfare service in june of 1945 and returned home with a chest full of metal and a new bride. He turned down rhodes offer to work at the fledgling Sloan Institute and instead kept the promise to his father to continue their Family Practice in park ridge, new jersey. He wanted to settle down and raise a family in the hometown where he had deep roots. Moved on to become much beloved physician and cardiologist and a highly respected director of medicine for 18 years at bergen pines county hospital. He never spoke of his wartime exploits. But he always took quiet pride in his unique contribution to medicine. He did not mind that the details of his investigation remained and shrouded in secrecy. In a story full of twists and turns i will not reveal the final twist and the unexpected series of events that led to alexander finally being honored by the army in 1988, 45 years after the fact for his work in saving lives. And for having a profound impact being a catalyst for the development of chemotherapy. Sadly, alexander died on december 6, 1991 of 8 malignant melanoma, skin cancer that he diagnosed himself. But over the years he watched with keen interest to many trials and tribulations of rhodes and his fellow cancer researchers. Many plucked from the ranks of Chemical Warfare service as a struggle to turn a potent chemical weapon into eight chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of cancer. Sloankettering had to mobilize an army of mice and men for the trial and error search of the most beneficial derivative of nitrogen mustard. A chemicals whose toxic effects can be harnessed to target abnormal or malignant cells without doing too much damage to the patient. The first nitrogen mustard extracts safe enough for clinical use was called mustard gin. I was quickly approved by the fda in 1949. Sloankettering doctors had their First Progress in treating adults with acute leukemia. In the earliers the remissions were few and fleeting and the nausea and vomiting caused by the aggressive treatment were terrible. Progress was slow and painful in their many setbacks. But alexander lived to see his wartime research into mustard gas lead too the creation of a new class of chemotherapeutic drugs. Many of which succeeded and look prolonging the lives of patients and are still in wide use. By 1953 the new medicine six mp were shown to produce remissions and children with acute leukemia. The most common childhood cance cancer. Today the use of combination of chemotherapy, more than 90 of those children can be cured of the once fatal disease. Nonhodgkins lymphoma, also a fatal disease in adults. Also now has more than a 95 cure rates. These medical triumphs led the American Cancer Society to credit the disaster with initiating quote the modern age of cancer chemotherapy. I believe that in the midst of this terrible pandemic and the race for a vaccine and a cure, alexander story is a reminder of how powerful the act of a single doctor with a keen eye can be. At the end of the book i write on the 60th anniversary of the first cancer chemotherapy trial, doctor jules hersey former physician and chief of Rockefeller University hospital paid tribute to doctor alexander in the journal of the american medical association. He reminded readers of the disaster and the inquisitive physician investigator who quot quote, sifted through the horse and extracted a gem, something potentially useful for the abatement of human disease. Thank you. Thank you jenny for a fascinating presentation. Its so important too. I spent much of micro working on the First World War and the powerful and disturbing experiences i have had walking on the western front and seeing these mustard gas canisters that are still lying out there on the ground in many places. They are still very dangerous. Sometimes people step on them and they get splashed by the staff. Yes they keep surfacing from the muck underneath the harbor. On dozens of italian fishermen happen sent to the emergency room with weird burns on their arms from bringing them up with the fish and their nets. Wow, wow, they have to be aware that danger to their i would think. Yes they have whole Group Setting it still until this day. Svetlana thanks its interesting to me in this case the mustard gas came out in a different way than it would have innate deliberate attack on the western front. I was wondering as you were talking in accounts that i have read of many thousands of soldiers when they would get burned by the mustard gas the effects were pretty immediate. Maybe not instantaneous. But they felt them within a short time of exposure. Whether burning within their uniforms are burning under their helmets, or something. That does not seem to have been the case this time if many of them were sitting in their uniforms and not noticing it when was that . You in hail it directly into the sensitive nasal and throat passages immediately have the effects. Most men men who were close enough that probably died of their other wounds. But the men who jumped ship and swim to safety were covered in this crude oil that had mustard oil leaked into it. And that weird mixture in their uniforms when they were wrapped in blankets and kept warm, their skin it was very slowly absorbed to their skin. So it had to penetrate their skin and then their organs. It was a slow lethal process. And you know one of the tragedies Alexander Burke pointed out in his report, have the proper steps been followed and the gas alarm given which is what military protocol calls for antimilitary attacks, they all wouldve been hosed down the minute they got to shore. And they probably wouldve almost all survived. But because of the enormous secrecy and the unprecedented nature of the attack, and in the chaos that ensued, that gas alarm is never sounded. And another thousand boys verbally died unnecessarily. Would it be safe to say that if science looked back professionals look back which i matchmaker data 19431945 those have been exposed to gas in world war i. Many had lived past the war they wouldve found many dying over the long terms from the same effects, right . After world war i they started doing all these studies of poison gas was so despised after world war i. It became such a hated subjects. Most of the laboratories lost funding. Nobody wanted to look into poison gas let alone its medical effects. Nobody wanted to talk about it. People turned away with with a vengeance after world war i. There almost on the brink of discovering some of its effects on cancer. There is no interest in that line of research and away. So all the sudden the report combined with a jail study made people go back to some those world war i things and go wait a minute. We are seeing that it was effective. And they looked at the world war i information with a new ui. It would make me think just as you have shown here these casualties were covered up. The men who died there deaths were to be did to other causes inaccurately so. This is yet another area in which there were forgotten dead from the First World War. Probably wouldve died within a few years after words from these causes. I go into it quite some length at the end of the book for the tragedy of the veterans. I mean there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of boys. They were 20, 21 years old that were exposed to mustard gas and lived. But their medical are charts is burns due to enemy action. Davids in their lives suffering from skin cancer, bronchial and comic glaucoma, you name it. All kinds of terrible diseases. And they not only never had them properly diagnosed, they could never receive proper treatment because there was no official recognition that there was a gas attack. It took these lawsuits in the late 80s and 1991 in america before the information was really confirmed by the government and acknowledged that medical compensation was due. Now by then obviously mostly veterans were dead or very, very old. It was really criminal what was done to those boys. They suffered twice. See one of so interested in your description of alexanders thought process after the disaster. And his beginning to suspect what had happened here identifying the similarity with mustard. I was little bit surprised though that he didnt immediately react to the assumption that this must have been enemy action. Which you would think under the tensions of the time that your first thought would be the germans have deployed poison gas. And only later when you look at the evidence you say no that could not of been true. In these cases seems have been a while before he considered that possibility. Is that so . I think you know there had been a german gas attack he wouldve been told that right away. The fact that he was told this was some kind of weird set of casualties. We are not sure, look into it, it was a very murky situation. He knew right away that something complicated was going on. It was not obvious. So the other thing is it was very clear to him almost immediately he had done a lot of studying avoided german aerial attack would look like. Any damage from those bombers would have been much more extensive. And so it was bizarre even though it was hundreds of cases that is only these men that workers on the docks did not seem to be affected. And so it was very puzzling and complicated situation. But he was deeply shocked when the british suddenly blame the germans. He had to kind of go back and review all of the evidence a second time to make sure he was not wrong. That is one of the many great things about your book is you bring alexanders personality and really out of here was missed too strong of a word up to the forefront. And what a shame it was was not only commended, but that it was covered up. We are at the top of the hour. I will end with this question from sam silverstein. Who asked, how did you come about the subject of the story. I came late to your presentation but what was your interest in the shocking story . My grandfathers were the directors of the Manhattan Project. In his particular responsibility was for all chemical weapons. The large chemical welcome being the atom bomb. He was also responsible for all poison gas. When i was writing my last book which was a biography of my grandfather called the man of the hour, i was looking through these papers. And i found reference to this group of poison gas casualties. And i was not aware there were any poison gas casualties in world war ii. I became kind of intrigued. As also intrigued by grandfather madeley went on the board of sloankettering which seemed very odd to me. So i did more research i really stumbled upon the disaster. And i became more and more intrigued. So i notify doctor alexanders family of my interest. And they said well we have all of his diaries and his records and the telegrams. [laughter] and therefore i was it was clear to me i had to write the book. Sue and thats one of the reasons you are such a popular author. I look over your list i knew choose great topics. You are to be commended for this one too. Thank you so much for your presentation. Author of the great secret classified world war ii disaster that launched the war on cancer. Thank you. Guest thank you. The u. S. Senate is not in session today dish the veterans day holiday. But senators will be meeting tomorrow morning at 11 eastern to continue judicial confirmation for theyll be considering president trumps District Court nominee for the Southern District of florida. The senate has confirmed 222 federal judges under federal shop so far and nominee eileen cannon of florida it would be first woman to join that court remain from administration. Watch live coverage of that debate here in cspan2. Weeknights this month we feature book tv programs as a preview of what is available every weekend on cspan2. This year marks the 20th anniversary of book tvs monthly Author Program in depth. And tonight highlights from past shows including our interviews david mccullough, shelby foote, tony vargas and tom wolfe, cornell west and many others that begins at eight eastern. Enjoy book tv this week and every week and on cspan2. But to be on cspan2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. That are net 1 00 p. M. Eastern from a recent virtual southern festival of books, authors sarris marsh, Thomas Burton and winkler were locked on life in appalachia. Boyd and pilgrim have the jim crow era in the south. And then 745 new york staff writer discusses his book joe biden, the life, the run and what matters now. On sunday, at 1 00 p. M. Eastern from the southern festival of books journalists math event beater talks about his book deep delta justice. About a civil rights case which help reaffirm the right too a trial by jury and most criminal cases. And author Stephanie Gordon and chris hamby offer their thoughts on Investigative Journalism and its role in the democracy. Then at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on after words talks about his book american contagions, epidemics and the law from smallpox to cobra 19. He is interviewed by Georgetown University law professor lawrence a gossip he watched book tv this weekend on cspan2. Some book tvs after words, the wall street journals gerald seib discusses how the conservative movement has evolved since the reagan era. He is interviewed by Washington Post columnist karen templeton. After words is a weekly Interview Program with relevant guest hosts representing top fiction authors about their latest work, all after words programs are also available as podcasts. Think its much for joining us today for our conversation with gerald seib about his terrific new book. We should have seen it coming. And jerry, i would like to start with what was my personal favorite moment in the book. Which was the first meeting between donald trump and steve bannon who would become a very influential political strategist in his world where he explains to trump that he cannot, efface thinking for a president cannot do it as a ad