by American Prometheus: The Triumph;Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
524 “I didn’t give a damn”: John J. McCloy, interview by Bird, 7/10/86.
524 “I am very distressed: Bird, The Chairman, p. 423; McCloy, to Eisenhower, 4/16/54 and 4/23/54, DDEL.
525 “I don’t just know exactly” and subsequent quotes: Bird, The Chairman, pp. 424–25.
526 “one of the great minds”: JRO hearing, p. 357; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 140–41.
526 “Dr. Oppenheimer is smiling”: JRO hearing, p. 372; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 147–48.
527 “In other words”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 162–63.
527 “the surprise production”: JRO hearing, pp. 419–20; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 165.
527 “so steamed up”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 156.
527 “I never hid my opinion”: JRO hearing, p. 468.
528 “I am naturally a truthful” and subsequent quotes: Ibid., pp. 469–70; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 178–79.
528 “You are back now”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 173.
528 “He was a very adaptable”: Bernstein, Oppenheimer, p. 62.
528 “I felt strongly” and subsequent quotes: JRO hearing, pp. 560–67.
529 As a young girl: Verna Hobson, interview by Sherwin, 7/31/79, p. 18.
530 “There are two answers”: JRO hearing, p. 576.
530 “This would affect me” and subsequent quotes: JRO hearing, pp. 643–56; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 231–37.
531 “unless ordered to do so”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 196.
532 Sure that Lawrence was making: Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 291 (Herken is citing Childs’ interview with Luis Alvarez, box 1, Childs Papers).
532 “he should never again”: Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, p. 87.
532 “Teller regrets the case”: Charter Heslep to Lewis Strauss, memo 5/3/54, Teller folder, AEC Series, box 111, Strauss papers, HHL.
533 “defrock him in his own”: Teller, Memoirs, pp. 374–81; Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, p. 93; Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, pp. 292–93.
533 “To simplify the issues” and subsequent quotes: JRO hearing, pp. 710, 726.
533 “I could hear a tape”: Ecker interview by Sherwin, 7/16/91, p. 13.
534 “After what you’ve just said”: Goodchild, J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 254–55.
534 “I won’t shake”: Ibid., p. 286; Herken, Brotherhood of the Bomb, p. 298.
534 “I stopped having” and subsequent quotes: JRO hearing, pp. 915–18.
535 “I did not subscribe”: Ibid., p. 919.
536 “I am grateful to”: Ibid., p. 961.
536 “I remember a kind of sinking”: Ibid., pp. 971–72; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 347.
536 “Russia was our so-called”: JRO hearing, pp. 971–92; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 351.
537 “There is more than”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 351–52.
537 “Security Clearance Procedures”: U.S. AEC, Security Clearance Procedures, Code of Federal Regulations, title 10, chap. 1, pa. 4, adopted 9/12/50, Federal Register, 9/19/50, p. 6243, cited in Newman, “The Oppenheimer Case,” dissertation, chapter 5, note 60; McMillan, The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Chap. 21.
Chapter Thirty-seven: “A Black Mark on the Escutcheon of Our Country”
538 “he believes he will never”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. xv; FBI summary of wiretap for 5/7/54 and 5/12/54, doc. 1548, JRO FBI file.
539 “It is my present conviction” and subsequent quotes: “Memorandum for Mr. Gordon Gray’s files re: Oppenheimer Case,” 5/7/54, Oppenheimer Correspondence Dictation folder, box 4, Gordon Gray Papers, DDEL.
539 “from the beginning”: Ibid.
540 thought “it extremely important”: C. E. Hennrich to Belmont, FBI memo, 5/20/54, doc. 1690, JRO FBI file; Goodchild, J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 259–61.
540 “I didn’t want”: Goodchild, J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 261.
540 “The following considerations”: JRO hearing, p. 1019.
541 “Loyalty to one’s friends”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 361.
541 “Most of the derogatory”: Ibid., p. 1020; Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 365.
543 “His relations with these”: Polenberg, ed., In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 372.
544 “If we give”: Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, p. 103.
544 At one point, Smyth wondered: Goodchild, J. Robert Oppenheimer, p. 265.
544 “Gene Zuckert would welcome”: Handwritten note from McKay Dunkin, 5/19/54, Zuckert folder, Strauss Papers, HHL; Harold P. Green, interview by Barton J. Bernstein, 1984 (Bernstein, phone interview by Bird, 2/13/04). See also Bernstein, “The Oppenheimer Loyalty-Security Case Reconsidered,” Stanford Law Review, p. 1477. Zuckert later said, “I had a difficult time under Lewis Strauss.” He called the Oppenheimer hearing a “dog fight. . . . It was not a pleasant year. I still consider myself a friend of Lewis’ but it was no fun.” (Eugene Zuckert oral history interview, 9/27/71, HSTL.) See also Burch, Elites in American History, vol. 2, p. 178.
545 “personal adviser and consultant”: In May 1959, Strauss confirmed to Smyth that “Mr. Zuckert signed a contract with me as my personal adviser and consultant, after his term of office expired” (LLS Confirmation folder, series 3, box 2, Smyth Papers, American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, cited by Herken, notes for chap. 18, note 16, posted at www.brotherhoodofthebomb.com). See also, McMillan, The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer, postlude.
545 “Lewis, the difference”: Strauss, memo to file, 5/4/54, “Memos for the Record, 1954,” box 66, Strauss Papers, HHL.
545 “You know, it’s funny”: Goodchild, J. Robert Oppenheimer, pp. 264–65.
546 “The record shows”: JRO hearing, p. 1050.
546 “It is sad beyond words”: Lilenthal, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 3, p. 528.
546 “Atomic Extermination Conspiracy”: NYT, 4/24/04.
546 “Oppenheimer’s testimony”: Walter Winchell, 6/7/54, New York Mirror; FBI memo, 6/8/54, sect. 40, doc. 1691, JRO FBI file.
547 “longtime glamour-boy”: Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 587.
547 When the Commission’s ruling: Eric Sevareid, Small Sounds in the Night, p. 224.
547 Ironically, publicity surrounding the trial: For example, see “Le Risque de Securité,” Le Monde, 6/8/54, p. 1.
547 “a hard one, but”: “We the undersigned . . . ,” 6/7/54, petition to AEC, doc. 1804, sect. 44, JRO FBI file; New York Post, 7/10/54. Hewlett and Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, p. 111. The decision generated such controversy that Attorney General Herbert Brownell quietly asked Assistant Attorney General Warren Burger to review the record. The future Supreme Court chief justice did so and reported back that he had come to “the personal conclusion that if we were at war, Oppenheimer should have been hung.” (Strauss, memo to file, 3/27/69; Warren Burger to Strauss, 5/14/69, Strauss Papers, HHL.)
547 “He [Oppenheimer] will no longer”: Sevareid, Small Sounds in the Night, p. 223.
547 “By a single foolish”: Joe Alsop to Gordon Gray, 6/2/54, Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1951–57 folder, box 1, Gordon Gray Papers, DDEL.
547 “We accuse!”: Joseph and Stewart Alsop, We Accuse, p. 59; Robert W. Merry, Taking on the World, pp. 262–63.
548 “you opened a good many”: Bird, The Chairman, p. 425.
548 “The case was ultimately”: Bernstein, “The Oppenheimer Loyalty-Security Case Reconsidered,” Stanford Law Review, July 1990, p. 1388.
54
8 “I can think of no”: Eisenhower to Strauss, 6/16/54, Ann Whitman DDE Diaries, June 1954 folder (1), box 7, DDEL.
548 “the problem of how far”: McGrath, Scientists, Business, and the State, 1890–1960, p. 167.
549 Mortified, Zuckert beat: Strauss, memo to file, 12/5/57, box 67, Strauss Papers, HHL.
549 “it is probably quite impossible”: Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 588.
549 “messianic role of the scientists”: Daniel Bell, The Coming of Post-Industrial Society, p. 400; Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 551.
549 “Scientists and administrators”: Ambrose, Eisenhower, p. 612; McGrath, Scientists, Business, and the State, 1890–1960, p. 4.
Chapter Thirty-eight: “I Can Still Feel the Warm Blood on My Hands”
551 “Robert and I”: Jane Wilson to Kitty Oppenheimer, 6/20/54, Robert Wilson folder, box 78, JRO Papers.
551 “Aren’t you tired”: Babette Oppenheimer Langsdorf to Philip Stern, 7/10/67, Stern Papers, JFKL.
551 known “all the time”: FBI “Summary for July 8, 1954,” sect. 45, doc. 1858, JRO FBI file.
551 “One day he would”: Harold Cherniss, interview by Alice Smith, 4/21/76, p. 24.
551 “damn fool”: Francis Fergusson, interview by Sherwin, 6/23/79, pp. 6–8.
552 “He was like”: Ibid.
552 “dry crucifixion”: Brown, Through These Men, p. 288.
552 “Much of his previous”: The Day After Trinity, Jon Else, transcript, p. 76, Sherwin Collection.
552 “a sad man”: Serber, Peace and War, p. 183.
552 “looking actually happy”: Lilienthal, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 3, p. 594 (diary entry of 12/24/54).
552 “a greater understanding of”: Harold Cherniss, interview by Alice Smith, 4/21/76, p. 23.
552 In July, Strauss told the FBI: Roach to Belmont, FBI memo, 7/14/54, sect. 46, doc. 1866, JRO FBI file.
553 This, however, proved to be: Oppenheimer’s old friend Harold Cherniss took a lead in organizing the petition effort. After talking with a couple of trustees, Cherniss had realized that Oppie’s job was in doubt. (Cherniss, interview by Sherwin, 5/23/79, p. 16.)
553 “He cannot tell the truth”: Strauss, memo to file, 1/5/55, Strauss Papers, HHL.
553 “an unconscionable liar”: Strauss, memos to file, 5/7/68 and 5/12/67, Strauss Papers, HHL; Merry, Taking on the World, pp. 360–63; Yoder, Joe Alsop’s Cold War, pp. 153–55.
553 “We were sound asleep”: Sherr, interview by Sherwin, p. 24.
553 In early July: Hoover, ltr., 7/15/54, sect. 46, doc. 1869, JRO FBI file.
553 “a very difficult time”: Harold Cherniss, interview by Alice Smith, 4/21/76, p. 19; Stern, The Oppenheimer Case, p. 393.
553 “The American Government is unfair”: Peter wrote these words (spelling corrected) on 6/9/54; Brown, Through These Men, p. 228.
554 “if that corner isn’t”: FBI memo, 7/14/54, sect. 46, doc. 1888, JRO FBI file.
554 FBI technical surveillance: Newark FBI bureau, memo to Hoover, 7/13/54, sect. 46, doc. 1880, JRO FBI file.
554 “key security officials”: FBI summary of surveillance, 7/15/54, sect. 46, doc. 1893, JRO FBI file.
554 “The letter,” the FBI summary: JRO to Hoover, 7/15/54, doc. 1891; FBI summary of surveillance, 7/17/54, 1899, sect. 46, JRO FBI file.
554 The island’s one village: Susan Barry, “Sis Frank,” St. John People, pp. 89–90.
555 “They were sort of”: Irva Clair Denham, interview by Sherwin, 2/20/82, p. 4.
555 When Kitty was in a foul mood: Inga Hiilivirta, interview by Sherwin, 1/16/82, p. 19.
555 “According to the plan”: FBI, JRO files, sect. 49, 8/23/54 and 8/25/54.
555 “were damn fools”: FBI, JRO files, 8/30/54, sect. 49, docs. 1981, 2002.
555 Incredibly, the FBI: Lilienthal, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 3, p. 615. Lilienthal had visited St. John that spring and learned of the FBI’s visit from Ralph Boulon, coproprietor of the hotel on Trunk Bay.
556 “How can the independent”: Ferenc M. Szasz, “Great Britain and the Saga of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” War in History, vol. 2, no. 3 (1995), p. 327; News Statesman and Nation, 10/23/54, p. 525. The French press reacted equally critically. On June 8, 1954, Le Monde editorialized, “The obsession with security is in the process of leading the United States toward a mental and moral crisis of the first order. It is pushing them to forge the chains of that totalitarianism that they wish precisely to combat. No one wants to risk being accused of being soft on communism. And the views of Senator McCarthy unconsciously have wound up being imposed upon the majority.”
556 “The trouble was”: Chevalier, Oppenheimer, p. 116.
556 “After the security hearings”: Coughlan, “The Equivocal Hero of Science: Robert Oppenheimer,” Life, February 1967, p. 34A; see also Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 572.
556 “The glorification of Teller”: Jeremy Gundel, “Heroes and Villains: Cold War Images of Oppenheimer and Teller in Mainstream American Magazines” (July 1992), Occasional Paper 92-1, Nuclear Age History and Humanities Center, Tufts University, p. 56.
556 “slanted favorably toward”: W. A. Branigan to Belmont, FBI memo, 7/27/54, sect. 47, doc. 1912, JRO FBI file; WP, 7/25/54.
557 “This is a world”: Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 608; JRO, The Open Mind, pp. 144–45.
557 “The trouble with secrecy”: See It Now, transcript, 1/4/55, CBS News Documentary Library, New York City.
558 “apologists for totalitarianism” and subsequent quotes: Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, pp. 581–84; Jane A. Sanders, “The University of Washington and the Controversy Over J. Robert Oppenheimer,” Pacific Northwest Quarterly, January 1979, pp. 8–19.
558 But then to Lilienthal’s surprise: Lilienthal, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 3, pp. 618–19.
559 “A lot of nonsense”: Ibid., vol. 5, p. 156.
559 “somewhat troubled”: Bertrand Russell to JRO, 2/8/57; JRO to Russell, 2/18/57; Russell to JRO, 3/11/57, box 62, JRO Papers; Lanouette, Genius in the Shadows, p. 369.
559 “excommunicated from the inner”: Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, pp. 619–20.
559 Indeed, his name was conspicuously: Max Born, et al., “The Peril of Universal Death,” 7/9/55, reprinted in Bird and Lifschultz, eds., Hiroshima’s Shadow, pp. 485–87.
560 “Oppenheimer offered to weep”: Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, pp. 617–18.
560 “He wanted to get back”: The Day After Trinity, Jon Else, transcript, p. 76.
560 “a tragic mistake”: “A-Bomb Use Questioned,” 6/9/56, United Press International.
560 “It is satisfying”: Max Born, My Life and My Views, p. 110; JRO to Born, 4/16/64, courtesy of Nancy Greenspan.
560 Only a year after: JRO, The Open Mind, pp. 50–51.
560 “the minimization of secrecy”: Ibid., p. 54.
561 “We don’t believe”: New York Herald Tribune, 3/26/56; Bird, The Color of Truth, p. 147. Professor Morton White of the philosophy department initiated the invitation. M. White interview by Sherwin, 10/27/04.
561 As Oppenheimer rose: “Requiescat,” Harvard Magazine, May–June 2004.
561 “nervously shifting his arms”: Edmund Wilson, The Fifties, pp. 411–12. Bernstein, Oppenheimer, p. 174.
562 “given way to a kind”: Lilienthal, The Journals of David E. Lilienthal, vol. 4, p. 259.
562 “quite too dogmatic”: Nasar, A Beautiful Mind, pp. 220–21.
563 “That’s something no one”: Ibid., pp. 221, 294. Oppe
nheimer had Nash back to the institute in 1961–62 and 1963–64.
563 “What is new and firm”: Bernstein, Oppenheimer, pp. 187–88.
563 “endlessly fascinating”: Ibid., p. 189; Jeremy Bernstein to Sherwin, memo, April 2004.
563 “What are we to make”: Peter Coleman, The Liberal Conspiracy, pp. 120–21.
564 “Who didn’t know”: Frances Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War, pp. 378–79, 394–95; NYT, 5/9/66; Coleman, The Liberal Conspiracy, pp. 177, 297.
564 “I do not regret”: Michelmore, The Swift Years, pp. 241–42. For Japanese newspaper articles on Oppenheimer’s visit, we thank Mikio Kato of International House, Tokyo, Japan.
564 “contradiction between Oppenheimer’s”: Lilienthal, interview by Sherwin, 10/17/78.
564 “He kept them on a tight”: Ibid.
565 Francis Fergusson: Francis Fergusson, interview by Sherwin, 7/7/79, p. 10.
565 “He is still in a very”: JRO to Frank Oppenheimer, 4/2/58, Alice Smith Collection.
565 “What a slap”: Verna Hobson, interview by Sherwin, 7/31/79; Francis Fergusson, interview by Sherwin, 7/7/79, p. 8.
Chapter Thirty-nine: “It Was Really Like a Never-Never-Land”
566 In 1958, Robert hired: Nancy Gibney, “Finding Out Different,” in St. John People, p. 151.
566 When finally built: Sabra Ericson, interview by Sherwin, 1/13/82, p. 6; Francis Fergusson, interview by Sherwin, 7/7/79, p. 1.
567 “Easter Rock”: Sis Frank, interview by Sherwin, 1/18/82, p. 1.
567 A hundred yards up: Nancy Gibney initially sold one acre to a couple from St. Louis—who then sold their acre to Oppenheimer. A year later, Oppenheimer persuaded the Gibneys to sell him a second acre. (Eleanor Gibney, interview by Bird, 3/27/01.)
567 The Gibneys had been living: Ericson, interview by Sherwin, 1/13/82, p. 6.
567 A former editor: Ibid., p. 7; Irva Claire Denham, interview by Sherwin, 2/20/82, p. 20.
568 “seven hideous, hilarious weeks” prior and subsequent quotes: Gibney, “Finding Out Different,” in St. John People, pp. 153–55.
568 “Private Property” signs: Ed Gibney, interview by Bird, 3/26/01.
