Picture this: You’re a college-educated young adult living during a major economic downturn. The federal government, while controlled by progressive Democrats, could be doing more to help the working class. Around the world, far-right groups are gaining power and our leaders are failing to respond properly. You want to fight these trends. You join likeminded peers to take action as best you can. Some of your friends are heavily active in organizations related to your cause. Some are just there to listen. You sometimes wonder if Capitalism isn’t the perfect economic system for everyone.
In the 1930s, many Americans had similar experiences. The country’s economic system had collapsed. Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential victory represented a major shift in the role of the government, but it wasn’t enough to bring everyone out of poverty. The poor still struggled to get by. Big business still obstructed union organization. And workers still saw immigrants as unwelcome competition. Unsurprisingly, college campuses became hotbeds of political debate and activity. Intellectuals from all fields, such as physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, couldn’t help but form strong opinions on how the government could improve. Years later, when advancements in nuclear weapons brought about an existential battle for global supremacy, those same beliefs would be used against Oppenheimer and his peers by their political enemies.
Young Oppie
Julius Robert Oppenheimer was born in 1904 to a wealthy Jewish-American family. His father, and namesake, was a German immigrant who owned a successful textile business in New York City. Though his family did not practice religion, Robert received formative moral lessons from the innovative and progressive Ethical Culture Society School. He had a wide variety of intellectual interests, including mineralogy, literature, and philosophy. He majored in chemistry at Harvard, but soon found his true calling in theoretical physics. He continued his studies in Cambridge and at the University of Göttingen in Germany. As a young adult, Oppenheimer was extremely introverted and awkward. He was prone to depression and was resentful towards friends who had more fulfilling love lives. During one particularly disturbing episode, he attempted to poison the apple of one of his professors. His parents traveled to Europe to convince the university not to press charges. Oppenheimer eventually gained fame, and self-confidence, through his contributions to the newly-discovered field of quantum mechanics.
Upon his return to the United States, Oppenheimer worked at Caltech in Pasadena and the University of California, Berkeley. As a professor, he was patient and kind to his students, but he had a reputation to be short-tempered towards those whom he considered to be his intellectual peers. It was in California, during the Great Depression, that Oppenheimer became more politically active. Surrounded by wealthy business owners, farmers, and dock workers, he was living at the center of America’s class conflicts. Along with many of his coworkers and students, Oppenheimer became intensely supportive of working-class political movements. He attended, spoke at, and even hosted, progressive gatherings. Around the same time, he grew deeply concerned with the rise of Fascism in Europe. He donated a significant portion of his salary towards aid for immigrants fleeing Nazi Germany. He also supported the Republican Loyalists against the Fascist Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War.
Many of Oppenheimer’s friends at this time considered themselves to be Communists. His brother, Frank, his on-and-off-again girlfriend, Jean Tatlock, and his eventual wife, Kitty Puening, were all, at one time or another, official members of the American Communist Party. Those who were associated with the movement, but not card-carrying party members, were known as “fellow travelers.” Although he was prominently active in leftwing politics (so much so, that many of his friends assumed he was a party member), Oppenheimer was most likely a fellow traveler. Even before the Cold War, Communist Party membership was still taboo, and many followers kept their official status a secret. Their beliefs were not necessarily tied to messaging from the Soviet Union, though many American Communists believed that Russia’s economy policies had produced favorable results. Many simply believed that the New Deal needed to be taken a step further and did not consider that to be in opposition to the American patriotism.
I Am Become Death
The scientific discoveries made by Oppenheimer and his peers in the 1930s soon made it clear that nuclear weapons were possible. Due to Germany’s perceived lead in research, the American government believed that the Nazis would soon be capable of building an atomic bomb. Brigadier General Leslie Groves, best known for overseeing construction of the Pentagon, was put in charge of the Manhattan Project. While meeting with scientists about the project, Groves was impressed by Oppenheimer’s broad understanding of the scientific challenges at play. He was willing to overlook Oppenheimer’s political background and named him director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. Together, Groves and Oppenheimer staffed the remote base, turning it into a functioning city with thousands of workers.
Oppenheimer took his new position seriously. He wanted nothing more than to defeat Nazi Germany, and he was (mostly) willing to renounce his former Communist ties in order to keep his job. Many scientists, with similar political beliefs to Oppenheimer, were weary of the intense secrecy surrounding the project. They sympathized with the Russians, who, early in the war, were bearing the brunt of the Nazi onslaught. They felt that openness was essential to the spirit of science, and that the US should share knowledge of the bomb with their supposed allies. Of course, the American government felt differently. Suspicions ran high from the beginning of the project. Oppenheimer would be under supervision by the military and the FBI for the rest of his life.
In 1943, Oppenheimer’s past began causing complications. Intelligence agents followed him during a return visit to Berkeley, where he spent the night with his former girlfriend, and Communist, Jean Tatlock. Military officials immediately suspected that he was compromised. Due to Groves’ belief in Oppenheimer’s dedication to the Manhattan Project, he was not fired, but was instead used as a tool to gather information on potential Communist spies. Under pressure, Oppenheimer reported a conversation he had earlier in the year with a friend, French Professor Haakon Chevalier. After a dinner at Oppenheimer’s home, Chevalier inquired if Oppenheimer would be willing to share knowledge with the Soviets, adding that he had been approached by an intermediary, engineer George Eltenton, who could safely pass information. Oppenheimer quickly shot down the offer, and Chevalier agreed to never ask again. Unfortunately, out of loyalty to his friend, Oppenheimer intentionally added false details to his initial report in order to conceal Chevalier’s identity. He insisted that only Eltenton was a security risk. He later attempted to correct his story, but the conflicting details would haunt him. He was unaware that the audio of his accounts had been recorded.
In July 1945, the Manhattan Project finally produced a working nuclear bomb. The first explosion, known as the Trinity test, was detonated in the desert of New Mexico. Reactions amongst the scientists were mixed, but most, including Oppenheimer, felt triumphant. The next month, two nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Cold War
Oppenheimer and many of the scientists who worked for him soon felt regret over the bombs used against Japan. When they joined the Manhattan Project, they believed they were racing against the Nazis, who were sure to use such weapons against the Allies. Instead, they had been used on an enemy who was not believed to have similar engineering capabilities and, as they learned later, was likely only a few weeks away from surrendering. Oppenheimer quickly resigned from his position at Los Alamos. He returned to teaching and also spent a considerable amount of time in Washington, DC, consulting the government on nuclear research. His most notable role was as a member of the General Advisory Committee for the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). Using his newfound fame, he advocated for international openness regarding nuclear technology in order to prevent a Cold War with Russia. He also opposed the development of the even-more destructive Hydrogen Bomb (known as “The Super”). His recommendations were largely ignored by government officials and it soon became clear the the USSR was also not interested in international oversight of nuclear programs. In a meeting with President Truman, Oppenheimer admitted that he felt like he had “blood on [his] hands.” Truman was not moved. He later described Oppenheimer as a “cry-baby scientist.”
Oppenheimer’s opposition to the prevailing political trends earned him several enemies, none more hostile that Lewis Strauss (pronounced “Straws”). The two men first met when Oppenheimer was named director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (Albert Einstein’s postwar home), where Strauss was a trustee. They also both served on the AEC committee. Strauss believed deeply that Oppenheimer was a Communist and that his beliefs about nuclear weapons put the US at risk. He used his far-reaching political connections to repeatedly attack Oppenheimer’s reputation. In 1954, his efforts culminated in an AEC hearing to review Oppenheimer’s security clearance. The investigation put Oppenheimer on trial — though, importantly, because it was not an actual court case, he was not awarded many of the usual rights of a defendant, such as access to all of the evidence that would be presented against him. It was a long, embarrassing process. Oppenheimer freely admitted to his former ties to the Communist Party but insisted that he had never been an official member and that he had never passed confidential information. Of course, one of the main arguments against him was the “Chevalier Affair.” Even though both Chevalier and Eltenton had given matching accounts when interviewed by the FBI, Oppenheimer’s original, conflicting story proved he could not be trusted. The audio recordings of Oppenheimer’s report were permitted as evidence, even though he was unaware of their existence. Oppenheimer lost his case and his security clearance was revoked.
Later Years
Despite his public humiliation, Oppenheimer continued his successful career in Princeton. He traveled the world giving lectures on physics and nuclear weapons. Strauss’ behavior soon came back to haunt him. In 1959, his nomination as Secretary of Commerce by President Eisenhower was narrowly rejected by the Senate. One of the deciding votes was Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy, who was successfully lobbied by the scientific community on behalf of Oppenheimer. Kennedy remembered the incident as president. In an effort to rehabilitate Oppenheimer’s good name, Kennedy awarded him the Enrico Fermi Award for his contributions to science. The presentation of the award was scheduled for December 1963. It was instead presented by President Lyndon Johnson. A lifelong smoker, Oppenheimer died of throat cancer in 1967. In 2022, his security clearance was posthumously reinstated by Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm.
In quantum mechanics, two facts can be true at the same time. Robert Oppenheimer was a loyal patriot who also felt that America was not living up to its principles. Like anyone else, his political beliefs evolved throughout his life and were indicative of the times in which he lived. He never felt that his criticisms of the government lessened his patriotism. In a time of heightened fear and partisanship, his enemies were able to use his past against him. While the country soon moved on from the Red Scare, the Cold War was just getting started.
Images
1. J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Guest Lodge, Oak Ridge, 1946 — United States Department of Energy / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
2. Robert Oppenheimer, 1926/27 — Misha Shifman / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
3. Groves and Oppenheimer, 1942 — United States Department of Energy / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
4. Trinity Test – Oppenheimer and Groves at Ground Zero, 1945 — United States Department of Energy / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
5. Oppenheimer Pipe, 2023 — HauptmannSchlaf / Wikimedia Commons
Resources
Bird, Kai, and Martin J. Sherwin. American Prometheus. Vintage Books, 2005.
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