World War I ended in 1918. Most Americans wanted to move on and forget rationing, the draft, chemical weapons and international affairs. The Lakehurst Chemical proving grounds were sold to the Navy as a home for airships, and thoughts of what had been done there quickly faded. Unfortunately, some problems caused by World War I would remain for the next hundred years. In May 1921, The New York Times ran a story that would haunt the nation for the rest of the 20th century and into the next.

“Guarded night and day and far out of human reach, on a pedestal at the Interior Department Exposition here, is a tiny…