THE MANHATTAN-ROCHESTER COALITION:
Lisa Martino-Taylor
Dr. Clarence Y. H. Lo, Dissertation Supervisor
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This piece analyzes a covert Manhattan Project spin-off organization referred to here as
the Manhattan-Rochester Coalition, and an obscure aerosol study in St. Louis, Missouri,
conducted under contract by the U.S. military from 1953-1954, and 1963-1965.
The militarysponsored studies targeted a segregated, high-density urban area, where low-income persons
of color predominantly resided. Examination of the Manhattan-Rochester Coalition and the St.
Louis aerosol studies, reveal their connections to each other, and to a much larger military project
that secretly tested humans, both alive and deceased, in an effort to understand the effects of
weaponized radiation.
Through this case study, the author explores how a large number of participants inside an organization
will willingly participate in organizational acts that are harmful to others, and how large numbers
of outsiders, who may or may not be victims of organizational activities, are unable to determine illegal
or harmful activity by an organization.
The author explains how ethical and observational lapses are engineered by the organization
through several specific mechanisms, in an effort to disable critical analysis, and prevent both
internal and external dissent of harmful organizational actions. Through studying the process of
complex organizational deviance, we can develop public policies that protect the public?s right to
know, and construct checks and methods to minimize the chance of covert projects that are
contrary to societal norms.
ABSTRACT
RESEARCH ON THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS,
AND TESTS ON VULNERABLE POPULATIONS WITHOUT CONSENT
IN ST. LOUIS, 1945-1970