Gordon Evans Dean (1905-1958) was the second chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) (1950-1953). He was press spokesperson for Robert H. Jackson, who was the chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg Trials (1945-1946). Dean was instrumental in the appointment of a Presidential Science Advisor, a post which still exists today.
During his tenure as AEC Chairman, Dean defended J. Robert Oppenheimer at Los Alamos against McCarthy-era accusations. As Cold War tensions heightened and the Korean War raged on, Dean led a massive industrialization of the United States nuclear facilities. The hydrogen bomb, a nuclear weapon of massive and unprecedented force, was perfected during his tenure.
On leaving government service, Dean joined Lehman Brothers and later General Dynamics. He was killed in a commercial aviation accident on August 15, 1958.
Gordon E. Dean appears in the following:
Gordon Dean
Friday, January 13, 1950
