On Christmas Eve, 1942, James C. White was in his office on State Street He was vice president of Tennessee Eastman Co., a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Co. His job was becoming increasingly difficult because Kodak was shifting entirely to war production work not only making film for the armed forces, but turning out high-precision telescopes, cameras, rangefinders, rocket launchers and bridge pontoons. Tennessee Eastman was rushing production of the new high explosive RDX 50 percent more effective than TNT at its Holston Ordnance Works near Kingsport, Term. « White’s phone rang. It was Lt CoL Leslie R. Groves, the Army Corps of Engineers officer in charge of the Manhattan Project Groves was impressed with Tennessee Eastman’s work on RDX.