Assassins, Spies & the Manhattan Project Walking Tour
The New Mexico History Museum and Friends of History invite you to step into the world of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Soviet spies that infiltrated the Manhattan project during World War II.
Your escort is a Friends of History docent, the only walking tour guides in Santa Fe trained under the auspices of the official history museum of New Mexico.
Discover the Manhattan Project
with Museum-Trained Docents
You're invited to step out into Santa Fe and step back in time with us. Over two hours, we'll take you to the back-room office for the Manhattan Project during World War II, where gate passes were issued and transportation was arranged to take arriving scientists and their families “up the hill” to Los Alamos.
We'll stand near the bridge where German physicist Klaus Fuchs met American chemist Harry Gold in 1945 to deliver atomic secrets taken from Los Alamos. And we'll walk part of the very route used by Edward Lee Howard, a fired CIA operative turned Soviet informer, during his escape to Moscow in 1985.
Along the way, You'll learn about spy craft techniques which were actually used to coordinate meetings, confirm identities, and transfer information between spies and their couriers during the Manhattan Project and Cold War.
You'll hear only true stories and genuine facts associated with Santa Fe's extraordinary connection with important historical events. Several anecdotes and vintages images also will bring out the human side of a critical and dangerous period in American history.
Money Well Spent
Your ticket supports educational programs and public exhibitions of the New Mexico History Museum. Our well-trained and experienced walking tour docents donate their time, knowledge, and skills.
Tour Times and Pricing
Tours are offered twice per month at 10:45 AM on select dates. Click “Get Ticket” to view the calendar, look for the “Assassins, Spies, and the Manhattan Project” event to make reservations, and purchase tickets. Note: This tour is different from the regular public tour which begins at 10:15am each day through November.
Tours start beside the entrance to the New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Avenue, one-half block north of the Santa Fe Plaza. We ask that you arrive at 10:30 AM so the tour can begin promptly.
Our tours are an amazing value! Fees are $25 for adults 18 and older, $15 for children 8 to 17, and no charge for children under 8.
Custom and Group Tours
Custom and group tours can be scheduled at your convenience (major holidays excepted). Regular tour fees apply with a $150 minimum. Dates and times are subject to docent availability. For information contact [email protected].
Friends of History members receive a 20% discount for themselves and the guests who accompany them; members, please email us at [email protected] to book.
Where to Park
Because many on-street parking meters have a two-hour limit, we recommend that you park in one of the public parking structures or lots. Click here for a map of parking areas.
Where to Meet
Meet your docent at the Lincoln Avenue entrance to the New Mexico History Museum, 113 Lincoln Avenue, outside in the covered area to the left of the blue door.
Highlights
Walking Tours of Historic Downtown Santa Fe will provide you with an overview of the Manhattan Project, introduce some of the scientists who contributed to the success of the Manhattan Project, and identify the Soviet agents and couriers who were able to pass critical atomic secrets from the Manhattan Project on to Moscow. Other sites connected with important Soviet espionage successes will also be visited and explained. On your tour, our well-trained and historically knowledgeable guides will lead you on an unforgettable journey of espionage in Santa Fe during World War II and the Cold War.
Tours visit several historic sites and structures. On our one-mile walk you will discover:
- Why Santa Fe became the base of operations for the 1940 assassination of Russian Marxist revolutionary Leon Trotsky in Mexico City.
- What the top-secret Manhattan Project was and how Los Alamos, New Mexico was selected to be one of its key sites.
- How General Leslie R. Groves was appointed to lead the Manhattan Project and why he selected J. Robert Oppenheimer as the Director for Site Y in Los Alamos focusing on the development of the “gadget”.
- Why an unassuming little office at 109 East Palace Avenue was crucial to the success of the Manhattan project and the birth of the Atomic Age.
- What security measures were in place during the Manhattan Project and why some of them did not always work.
- Who the spies and couriers were, their motivations for stealing atomic secrets, and what happened to them after the World War II.
- What secrets were delivered during a clandestine meeting at Castillo Bridge and the effect this had on the discussions between Harry Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference.
- Where you can have dinner in Santa Fe just as a fired CIA-operative turned Soviet-informer did before his elaborate escape to Moscow.
"Both the man of science and the man of action live always at the edge of mystery, surrounded by it." J. Robert Oppenheimer