Brotherhood of the Bomb

by Gregg Herken

  58. Ibid., 265.

  59. “One extraordinary thing about this case is that, while I seem to occupy such an important role in it, no one has seen fit to ask me to contribute my two-bits worth,” Chevalier wrote to Oppie’s lawyer after the hearing. Chevalier to Garrison, Aug. 5, 1954, courtesy of Priscilla McMillan.

  60. The AEC’s historians remarked upon this fact in their account of the Oppenheimer hearing: “Curiously, Robb had been inexplicably gentle when it came to pressing Oppenheimer, Groves, and Lansdale for the facts concerning Frank Oppenheimer’s involvement in the Chevalier affair.” Hewlett and Holl (1989), 100. Garrison thought that Oppie was just “a bad liar and he got confused and the story bit by bit crystallized into something he had not intended to portray.… I tried to get him to let me argue this way to the Board, but for some reason which I have never quite understood he was reluctant to have me do so.” Garrison to Charles Curtis, Aug. 17, 1954, courtesy of Priscilla McMillan.

  61. Bernstein (1990), 1463.

  62. Belmont to Boardman, Apr. 17, 1954, sec. 26, JRO/FBI.

  63. Apr. 16, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  64. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 89–90; “Dr. Oppenheimer Suspended by AEC in Security Review,” New York Times, Apr. 13, 1954.

  65. Strauss was attempting to “head off” a Senate investigation of Oppenheimer, David Teeple informed the bureau. Belmont to Boardman, Apr. 22, 1954, sec. 30, JRO/FBI; Hoover to Waters, May 3, 1954, file C, vol. 9, box 3, JRO/AEC; Crouch to Jenner, n.d., sec. 32, JRO/FBI.

  66. Boardman to Hoover, Apr. 23, 1954, sec. 32, JRO/FBI; Waters to Hoover, May 1, 1954, box 3, JRO/AEC.

  67. In an attempt to prove that Oppenheimer could not have been at the Kenilworth Court meeting, Garrison produced Hans Bethe, who testified that he had been at Perro Caliente with the Oppenheimers in July 1941. As Dorothy McKibben’s notebooks confirm, however, Bethe spent only one day at the ranch, departing Friday morning, July 25, when Kitty drove Oppie to St. Vincent Hospital in Santa Fe. My thanks to Nancy Steeper for allowing me access to McKibben’s notebooks.

  68. Hoover later sent a transcript of the interview to the attorney general. Hoover to Brownell, Apr. 16, 1954, sec. 25, JRO/FBI.

  69. Apr. 19, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers. Wyman was on vacation in Italy when the hearing began. The diplomat, when finally located, refused to implicate Oppenheimer in a plot to assist Chevalier. Legal attaché, Paris to FBI, Apr. 17 and 19, 1954, sec. 30, JRO/FBI.

  70. The Oppenheimer wiretaps also prompted an internal debate within the FBI, but “Strauss requested that ‘tech’ be continued for about 2 weeks, till after hearing,” Belmont wrote. Branigan to Belmont, Apr. 9, 1954, sec. 25; Branigan to Belmont, Apr. 7, 1954, supplemental releases, and Feb. 2, 1954, memo, sec. 19, JRO/FBI.

  71. Belmont to Boardman, Apr. 21, 1954, sec. 28, JRO/FBI.

  72. Bush to Conant, June 17, 1954, Conant folder, box 27, Bush papers, MIT.

  73. ITMOJRO, 562–67. Transcript of Vannevar Bush interview, reel 10, Bush papers, MIT; Oppenheimer to Bush, n.d. [Jan. 1952?], box 23, JRO.

  74. Hershberg (1993), 680.

  75. Teletype, Apr. 23, 1954, sec. 31, JRO/FBI.

  76. Hennrich to Belmont, Apr. 23, 1954, supplemental releases, JRO/FBI.

  77. Apr. 23, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  78. “Summary for Apr. 6, 1954,” sec. 25, JRO/FBI.

  79. Apr. 23, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  80. Apr. 24, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  81. Strauss to Teller, June 6, 1961, folder 3, box 4, Edward Teller papers, Hoover Institutution Library, Stanford, Calif. Lawrence-Teller meeting: Lawrence day books, folder 9a, carton 11, EOL; Teller interview (July 30, 1993). Tolman affair: Molly Lawrence, May 20, 1997, personal communication. In 1957, following a conversation with Lawrence, Strauss wrote that Oppenheimer “first earned [Ernest’s] disapproval a number of years ago when he seduced the wife of Prof Tolman at Caltech. According to Dr. Lawrence, it was a notorious affair which lasted for enough time for it to become apparent to Dr. Tolman who died of a broken heart.” Strauss to file, Dec. 9, 1957, box 1, LLS/HHPL. Tolman died in Sept. 1948 at age 67, following a stroke.

  82. ITMOJRO, 468.

  83. Author interview with Clarence Larson, Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 1992, Rabi to Strauss, Aug. 24, 1953, no. 73455, CIC/DOE.

  84. Bethe to Oppenheimer, Apr. 22, 1954, box 20, JRO.

  85. Apr. 26, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  86. Transcript of Alvarez interview, box 1, Childs papers.

  87. Larson interview (1992); Childs, (1968), 471.

  88. Alvarez (1987), 180; Alvarez to Nichols, Apr. 27, 1954, folder 11, carton 32, EOL.

  89. ITMOJRO, 662.

  90. Teller interview (July 30, 1993); Teller (2001), 373.

  91. Teller interview (July 30, 1993).

  92. Jan. 31, 1954, TEM diary, Murray papers.

  93. Heslep to Strauss, May 3, 1954, LLS/HHPL.

  94. Apr. 24, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  95. Apr. 27, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers; Teller to Strauss, Dec. 15, 1963, LLS/HHPL; Robb, “Memorandum for the Files,” July 24, 1967, folder 80, box 4, Nichols papers.

  96. Hans Bethe’s hope that he might persuade Teller to speak on Oppenheimer’s behalf was promptly shattered that night, when Hans and Rose encountered Teller at the APS meeting, fresh from meeting with Robb. It was, Bethe would later recall, “the most unpleasant conversation of my whole life.” Cited in Freeman Dyson, Disturbing the Universe (Harper and Row, 1979), 90.

  97. ITMOJRO, 710.

  98. Ibid., 726; Teller (2001), 352–53, 396.

  99. ITMOJRO, 679.

  100. Ibid., 969.

  101. Belmont to Boardman, May 3, 1954, sec. 32, JRO/FBI.

  102. Belmont to Boardman, May 10, 1954, sec. 33, JRO/FBI.

  103. Hoover-SAC Newark, May 12, 1954, sec. 33, JRO/FBI.

  18: Like Going to a New Country

  1. Hoover to Waters, May 20, 1954, sec. 34, JRO/FBI.

  2. ITMOJRO, 981.

  3. Ibid. 887–88.

  4. Stern (1969), 303; Bernstein (1990), 1470.

  5. Hennrich to Belmont, May 20, 1954, sec. 40, JRO/FBI.

  6. Gray board to Nichols, May 27, 1954, sec. 37, JRO/FBI.

  7. Belmont to Boardman, June 2, 1954, sec. 37, JRO/FBI.

  8. Evans’s draft opinion was so poorly written and was so weak in argument that Gray feared it might discredit the whole proceeding. Accordingly, he asked Robb to rewrite it. Bernstein (1990), 1472–73; Stern (1969), 386–88.

  9. Belmont to Boardman, May 24, 1954, sec. 36, JRO/FBI.

  10. Transcript, May 12, 1954, sec. 36, JRO/FBI.

  11. Mitchell to Garrison, May 17, 1954, box 3, JRO/AEC.

  12. Oppenheimer to Hoover, July 17, 1954, Hoover folder, box 201, JRO.

  13. Hoover to Brownell, June 18, 1954, sec. 41, JRO/FBI. Ironically, the Russians did apparently consider sending an agent to sound Oppenheimer out about defecting, but nothing came of the plot. Goodchild (1980), 267–68; Weinstein and Vassiliev, 137.

  14. “Dissenting Opinion of Henry DeWolf Smyth,” June 29, 1954, box 30, Teller papers, Hoover Institution Library; Oppenheimer to Smyth, Jan. 15, 1964, “JRO, introduction of” folder, series 6, box 1, Smyth papers.

  15. Joseph Volpe, who observed Murray at many commission meetings, noted that “you never knew what the hell Murray would say.” Volpe interview (1996).

  16. “Concurring Opinion of Commissioner Thomas E. Murray,” June 29, 1954, box 30, Teller papers, Hoover Institution. “Murray felt that Oppenheimer was guilty of disloyalty—not in the sense of treason, but, rather, of not being on the team,” said one of his former aides. Gerard Smith, Sept. 12, 1992, personal communication. Strauss may also have “fixed” one or more commissioners’ votes. Zuckert worked for Strauss after the hearing, and Murray claimed that Strauss “subsidized” Glennan while the latter served on the commission, before the Oppenheimer hearing. Bernst
ein (1990), 1477; transcript, “LLS Confirmation” folder, series 3, box 2, Smyth papers; “Meeting with Dr. Smyth, Mr. Zuckert, and Keith Glennan,” Apr. 7, 1954, Murray papers.

  17. Nichols (1987), 320.

  18. Strauss deliberately left out of the AEC statement any mention of Oppenheimer’s role in the H-bomb controversy to avoid alienating other scientists. Strauss to Smyth, June 21, 1954, Smyth folder, LLS/HHL.

  19. The Justice Department concluded that “prosecution is not possible with regard to either the 1954 or the 1943 statements.” Tompkins to Hoover, July 14, 1954, supplemental releases, JRO/FBI.

  20. Hoover and the FBI continued to pursue the possibility of prosecuting some of Oppenheimer’s defenders. Various memoranda, sec. 35, JRO/FBI file. The FBI disconnected the wiretap on Oppenheimer in early June, but Hoover ordered it reinstalled later in the month, hoping that it might lead to evidence that would allow prosecution of Oppie.

  21. Abraham Pais, A Tale of Two Continents: A Physicist’s Life in a Turbulent World (Princeton University Press, 1997), 330.

  22. J. Oppenheimer to F. Oppenheimer, Jan. 1953, Frank Oppenheimer folder, box 294, and undated note, Bush folder, box 32, JRO.

  23. Strauss also lied when he claimed that he had tried to obtain a salary increase for Oppenheimer after the hearings. In fact, Strauss tried to get Oppie fired as director of Princeton’s institute, but he lacked the votes. “Atomic Gestapo,” Washington Post, June 9, 1954; Pfau (1984), 180, 184; entry of June 9, 1954, Nichols diary, Nichols papers; “Ex-U.S. Lawyer Says FBI Bugged Talks Between Oppenheimer and His Attorneys,” Los Angeles Times, Dec. 28, 1975.

  24. The Alsops’ articles were later published as a book, We Accuse! (Simon and Schuster, 1954).

  25. Rabi to DuBridge, June 21, 1954, box 111.3, DuBridge papers.

  26. Rabi interview (1983).

  27. Teller to Mayer, n.d. (summer 1954), box 3, Mayer papers; Teller (2001), 399–400.

  28. “Memorandum for Files…,” June 23, 1954, Teller folder, LLS/HHTL; Bernice Brode to Oppenheimer, Apr. 14, 1955, box 23, JRO.

  29. Surprised by the reaction to his testimony, Teller had second thoughts. But Strauss and Robb dissuaded him from issuing a statement attempting to explain his remarks. Teller to Strauss, July 2, 1954; Strauss to Teller, July 6, 1954; Robb to Teller, July 8, 1954, and Teller to Robb, July 30, 1954, Teller folder, LLS/HHL.

  30. Teller (1987), 123. Untitled notes, Sept. 3, 1954, “Lawrence Medical Records” folder, box 3, Childs papers.

  31. Childs (1968), 476.

  32. James Brady folder, box 1, Childs papers; Molly Lawrence interview (1992).

  33. Kamen (1986), 247; “Senator Hickenlooper Aide Is Ordered by Court to Give Testimony in Libel Suit,” Washington Post, Nov. 19, 1954, and “Ex-Aide of AEC Says He Saw A-Chemist with Red Consuls,” Washington Post, Dec. 5, 1954.

  34. Kamen to Cooksey, Feb. 2, 1954, folder 29, carton 4, EOL. The defamation suit that Kamen brought against the Washington Times-Herald and the Chicago Tribune in 1952 went to trial in Jan. 1955. Six months later the newspapers paid an undisclosed sum to Kamen. Kamen to Cooksey, Dec. 26, 1954, and Kamen to Cooksey, Feb. 23, 1955, folder 29, carton 4, EOL.

  35. Bethe to Oppenheimer, Feb. 9, 1956, box 20, JRO.

  36. “I hope I can speak about this interference in the past tense,” wrote Teller to Strauss concerning Oppenheimer. Teller to Strauss, May 13, 1954, Teller folder, LLS/HHPL.

  37. Strauss to Neylan, July 22, 1954, folder 5, box 171, Neylan papers.

  38. Blumberg and Owens (1976), 375–76; Teller interview (July 7, 1993).

  39. Teller’s article was also meant to be a response to a recent book, which mistakenly gave Livermore credit for the hydrogen bomb. In subsequent versions of the H-bomb story, Teller would discount Ulam’s contribution. Teller and Ulam: “Oct. 19, 1954,” Murray papers; Stanley Blumberg and Louis Panos, Edward Teller: Giant of the Golden Age of Physics (Scribners, 1990), 123–25; Teller (2001), 404; Teller to Strauss, Oct. 7, 1954, Teller folder, LLS/HHPL.

  40. Teller to Mayer, n.d. (late 1954), box 3, Mayer papers.

  41. Bradbury to Fields, Sept. 22, 1954, no. 125192, CIC/DOE; Hansen (1995), vol. 5, 22–29; Francis (1996), 93.

  42. Minutes, July 12–15, 1954, GAC no. 41, no. 73403, CIC/DOE.

  43. Francis (1996), 88.

  44. Hansen (1995), vol. 5, 60.

  45. Francis (1996), 94.

  46. Teller claimed that he agreed to the promotion only after those fired during the oath controversy had been offered their jobs back. Teller interview (July 30, 1993).

  47. Brown and Foster: York (1987), 71–72.

  48. Linear implosion: Hansen (1988), 172–76; Francis, 94–95; Defense Nuclear Agency, Report on Operation Teapot, Feb.–Mar. 1955 (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981), 1.

  49. Minutes, Dec. 22, 1954, GAC no. 43, no. 31045, CIC/DOE.

  50. Decker interview (1997).

  51. Tesla: Hansen (1995), vol. 5, 112; AEC press release, Mar. 1, 1955, no. 76635, CIC/DOE.

  52. Tesla/Turk: Chuck Hansen, Sept. 25, 2000, personal communication; Strauss to Anderson, Mar. 24, 1955, no. 31120, CIC/DOE.

  53. Mar. 8, 1955, entry, TEM diary, Murray papers.

  54. Transcript of Wally Decker interview (1983), LLNL.

  55. Lawrence to Fidler, Sept. 2, 1954, no. 73036, CIC/DOE.

  56. Francis (1996), 105.

  57. Ibid., 99.

  58. Ibid., 96.

  59. Teller to Mayer, Apr. 15, 1945, box 3, Mayer papers. The army program, abbreviated AFAP—artillery-fired atomic projectile—was also said to stand for “as far as possible” at the lab. “Teller … had a remarkable ability to find convergence between his own interests and those of potential sponsors,” Francis writes. AFAP: Francis (1996), 73, 76, 96; Teller to Strauss, May 13, 1954, Teller folder, LLS/HHPT; Gerald Johnson interview (1991); minutes, Oct. 15, 1955, AECP, UC records.

  60. Murray (1960), 76. Eisenhower to Strauss and enclosure, Jan. 4, 1954, no. 100815, CIC/DOE.

  61. Murray test-ban appeals: Murray (1960), 76; Hewlett and Holl (1989), 222–23.

  62. Murray (1960), 48–52; Murray to Strauss, Aug. 30, 1954, no. 72371, CIC/DOE.

  63. Hansen (1995), vol. 5, 350.

  64. Mar. 15, 1955, TEM diary, Murray papers; Thomas E. Murray, “God Meant Us to Find the Atom!,” Better Homes and Gardens, Apr. 1955.

  65. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 274; FRUS: 1952–1954, vol. 2, pt. 2, 1426.

  66. Ambrose (1984), 170.

  67. Mar. 3, 1955, TEM diary, Murray papers.

  68. Cole to Teller with enclosure, Apr. 6, 1954, Edward Teller papers, LLNL.

  69. FRUS: 1952–1954, vol. 2, pt. 2, 1387; May 19, 1954, entry, Nichols diary, Nichols papers.

  70. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 223–24, 274–75.

  71. Test ban: Ibid., 275–76; Charles Appleby, Eisenhower and Arms Control, 1953–1961: A Balance of Risks (University Microfilm, 1987), 162; FRUS: 1952–1954, vol. 2, pt. 2, 1465–70. The author thanks Charles Appleby for a copy of his dissertation.

  72. Teller to Strauss, June 16, 1954, Teller folder, LLS/HHPL; York to Fields, Nov. 9, 1954, no. 32159, CIC/DOE.

  73. Armstrong to Leahay, Aug. 25, 1954, no. 29988, CIC/DOE.

  74. Fields to Bradbury, Sept. 29, 1954, no. 125679, Murray to Strauss, Nov. 3, 1954, no. 74380, and Nichols to Quarles, Jan. 7, 1955, no. 71955, CIC/DOE.

  75. Clean and dirty bombs: Hansen (1995), vol. 5, 10–27, 88–89, 231; Mansfield to file, Oct. 26, 1954, JCAE; author interview with Gerald Johnson, La Jolla, Calif., June 6, 1991.

  76. Hansen (1995), vol. 5, 87–88.

  77. Ibid., 88.

  78. Nov. 26, 1954, and Mar. 3, 1955, entries, TEM diary, Murray papers.

  79. Herken (1992), 83; Gerard Smith, Sept. 12, 1992, personal communication.

  80. Murray to Eisenhower, Mar. 14, 1955, FRUS: 1955–57, vol. 20, 56–57; Rabi to Strauss, May 29, 1954, no. 73407, CIC/DOE.

  81. Appleby (1987), 171–72.

  82. FRUS:
1955–57, vol. 20, 60; Divine (1978), 60–61.

  83. Divine (1978), 11.

  84. Open Skies: Appleby (1987), 90–106.

  85. Stassen to Matteson, July 13, 1955, records of the U.S. Department of State (USDS/NARA), RG 59, lot file 58D-133, box 20; FRUS: 1955–57, vol. 20, 173–75.

  86. Larsen to Stassen, July 29, 1955, box 16, USDS/NARA.

  87. FRUS: 1955–57, vol. 20, 60.

  88. This time Ike simply ignored Strauss. Hewlett and Holl (1989), 299.

  89. The task force eventually expanded to twenty-one members; nine of the original dozen were from Livermore. Donkin to file, Aug. 19, 1955, and Donkin to Odom, Aug. 31, 1955, box 66, USDS/NARA.

  90. Donkin to Larsen, Sept. 6, 1955, box 20, USDS/NARA.

  91. There was no circumstance under which a test ban could be in our interest,” York later wrote of Teller’s views. York (1987), 82.

  92. Matteson to Stassen, Sept. 8, 1955, box 16, USDS/NARA; Panofsky interview (1993).

  93. “Agenda,” Oct. 14, 1955, box 64, USDS/NARA.

  94. Strauss did not send his letter to Lawrence. Appleby (1987), 148.

  95. Just a month later, the Russians demonstrated that they, too, had the radiation-implosion secret, exploding a 1.6-megaton H-bomb at their test site in Semipalatinsk. Soviet H-bomb: Holloway (1994), 314–15. Lawrence plan: Donkin to Stassen, Oct. 13, 1955, box 64, USDS/NARA; Appleby (1987), 145–48.

  96. Strauss was so confident that the Russians would reject on-site inspection that he endorsed the AEC study. Appleby (1987), 146–47; FRUS: 1955–57, vol. 20, 229.

  97. FRUS: 1955–57, vol. 20, 253.

  98. Ibid., 317.

  99. Veksler dinner: Holloway (1994), 114–15, 352; Childs (1968), 487–88.

  100. “Admiral Strauss felt that it was still something of a mystery as to why the Soviets had built it. It could have no military significance and was only useful for developments in the realm of pure basic science.” FRUS: 1955–57, vol. 20, 213.

  101. Childs (1968), 495.

  102. “The greatest possibility of practical value of the machine lies in uses not yet discovered,” Ernest argued. Lawrence to Johnson, Jan. 12, 1955, MTA folder, LBL.

  103. Cosmotron: Research Division to GAC, July 16, 1956, “Research Div. Activities, 1952–57” file, AEC/NARA.