Little Known Facts About the History of Chemical Testing at AU

History of the Chemical Testing:

In 1917, AU’s Board of Trustees President B.F. Leighton gave the campus to President Woodrow Wilson for use at the government’s discretion.

During this time, the Army tested numerous chemicals on human and animal subjects to develop them into deadly weapons they could use against the Germans.

When the war ended in 1918, the Army was faced with the problem of how to dispose of the leftover chemicals.

AU, which at that time had only a few buildings, released the Army from its cleanup responsibilities in exchange for the buildings the Corps had built. In a memorandum of agreement dated June 21 1920:

“The University agrees to release and does hereby release and forever discharge the United States of America from any and all claims and demands arising out of the use and occupancy of the entire tract of land.”

The Army merely had to remove the munitions from eyesight, so they decided to dump them underground. According to Arthur Osbourne, AU Trustee Secretary, writing in the April 1921 edition of the American University Courier:

“permission was given to go far back on the University acres, to dig a pit deeper than the one into which Joseph was cast, bury the munitions there and cover them up to wait until the elements shall met with fervent heat, when the earth and the works therein shall be burned up.”

Osbourne described the munitions as “multiplex gas and an invented explosive many times dynamite, valued at $800,000.”