Brien McMahon, born James O'Brien McMahon was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States Senate from 1945 to 1952.
17 Facts About Brien McMahon
2.
Brien McMahon served as chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, and the first chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.
3.
Brien McMahon was a key figure in the early years of atomic weapons development and an advocate for the civilian control of nuclear development in the USA.
4.
Also, in 1952, Brien McMahon proposed an "army" of young Americans to act as "missionaries of democracy", which sowed the seeds for what later became the Peace Corps.
5.
Brien McMahon graduated Fordham University in 1924 and then Yale Law School in 1927.
6.
However, Brien McMahon quickly resigned to become special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States in 1933.
7.
In 1935, Brien McMahon was appointed as United States Assistant Attorney General overseeing the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.
8.
In 1939, Brien McMahon left government service and resumed his law practice.
9.
In February 1940 Brien McMahon married Rosemary Turner, and they had a daughter, Patricia.
10.
On December 20,1945, Brien McMahon introduced into the Senate legislation for an alternative atomic energy bill, which was quickly known as the McMahon Bill.
11.
Brien McMahon himself framed the controversy as a question of military versus civilian control of atomic energy, even though the War Department bill was primarily a civilian bill as well.
12.
The first atomic bomb test by the Soviet Union in August 1949 came earlier than expected by Americans, and Brien McMahon immediately urged that US production of atomic weapons be substantially increased.
13.
Brien McMahon was strongly in favor of going ahead with the Super, and argued as much in a series of letters he wrote to President Truman.
14.
Brien McMahon served in the United States Senate until his death at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC, on July 28,1952, at age 48.
15.
Brien McMahon's obituary was given front page, above the fold treatment in The New York Times.
16.
Brien McMahon is buried in St Mary's Cemetery in Norwalk.
17.
The stamp features a portrait of Brien McMahon facing a rendition of an atomic symbol.