American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Bird and Sherwin - B+, Inc.

                   "Oppenheimer gave us atomic fire. But then, when he tried to control it, when he sought to make us aware of it's terrible dangers, the powers-that-be, like Zeus, rose up in anger to punish him." This superb two decade old biography of the Father of the Atomic bomb won the Pulitzer Prize.  

                   He was born in 1904 to a family of German immigrants striving to be American. Ethnically and culturally Jewish, they sought a secular humanistic identity. He was clearly gifted and interested in books and science, with de minimus social involvement with boys his own age. He received a progressive education at the Ethical Culture School and attended Harvard in 1922. He graduated summa cum laude in chemistry. when he went to Cambridge, he was so disappointed in experimental physics that he considered suicide. After he snapped out of it, he turned to theoretical physics. When invited to study at Georgia Augusta University in Gottingen, Germany where the foundation of "post-Newtonian physics" was being laid, he readily accepted. He fit in, loved it, thrived, and received his doctorate after nine months. Upon his return to America, he took up teaching positions at Berkeley, where he quickly established it as the place to be in the world of theoretical physics. One of the things that made Oppie intriguing to students, friends and colleagues was the breadth of his interests. Beyond physics, he could discuss the latest in French poetry, was thoroughly knowledgeable about Sanskrit, and familiar with a great many topics in between. He spoke multiple languages fluently, was wealthy and generous, charming and handsome.  

              In 1936, he fell in love with 22 year old Jean Tatlock, a brilliant, attractive med student, who was also a dues paying member of the Communist Party. They would remain friends and occasional lovers until her death in 1944. He joined a teacher's union, befriended a professor who also was a communist, and supported the Republican side in Spain's civil war. Oppenheimer contributed to the Republicans, and the man who handled his gifts was a communist.  He joined a number of organizations that were later characterized as communist fronts. Frank, his younger brother, married a firebrand member of the CP and joined up himself.  Oppenheimer opposed his brothers involvement and swore that he never was a communist. "The FBI would never resolve the question of whether Robert was a CP member - which is to say there was scant evidence he was." Nonetheless, they had a 7,000 page file on him.  In 1940, he married Kitty Harrison, a woman whose late husband died a communist hero in Spain, and she also was a former member of the CP.

                 When America entered the war and the administration began examining the possibility of a uranium bomb, it was evident to many that Oppie's brilliance would be needed.  In May of 1942, he was appointed to head fast neutron research at Berkeley.  Many thought he should supervise the entire project, but the Army would not issue him a security clearance. General Leslie Groves, the man in charge of the Manhattan Project, met with Oppenheimer in the fall.  Groves wanted him as director and brought him on board. 

                 Having read Richard Rhodes' book on the Manhattan Project and finding myself worn down by the incredible detail of these authors, I'm moving on to his post-war problems.

                 Oppenheimer was a national hero, feted on the covers of Time and Life and hailed as the father of the atomic bomb. He was hopeful that the UN could control the technology and proscribe an arms race. He took up the position of director of the Institute For Advanced Studies at Princeton. He held the position until 1966. He joined the Atomic Energy Commission when it was created in 1947 and advocated for arms control. He opposed the development of the H-bomb and he left the commission when his term expired . He was an exponent of disarmament, wished that the US and the USSR could de-escalate, and preached openness and candor about our nuclear weapon programs. His opposition to the H-bomb attracted the enmity of many in the establishment. 

                "By the autumn of 1953, Washington was a city in the grip of a witch-hunt."Oppenheimer had been under the scrutiny of the FBI for over a decade. They had illegally wiretapped him as early as his time in Berkeley and continued through his residency in Princeton. An important member of the AEC, who held a grudge against Oppenheimer, suspended his security clearance when he was again accused of being a communist.  Ike ordered an inquiry, even though he realized the charges might be "scurrilous." The AEC went after Oppenheimer with a vengeance, although there was absolutely nothing new in the latest FBI report. Indeed, the only new item the AEC articulated was Oppenheimer's opposition to the H-bomb. The hearing, a full-blown kangaroo court, took place in the spring of 1954. Many scientists and military men testified to his fitness and loyalty, but Edmund Teller, the father of the H-bomb stated that he did not trust Oppenheimer. The findings upheld the revocation of his clearance because he was a security risk.  

               He returned to Princeton, where his phone continued to be tapped, and six full time FBI men were assigned to surveil him. "Many Americans began to regard Oppenheimer as a scientist-martyr, a victim of the era's McCarthyite excesses." His management of the Institute was a resounding success, and although he refrained from discussing strategic issues, he remained the darling of the world's intellectual elites. He soon was, once again, an international celebrity. When JFK became president, Robert was invited to a gala at the White House. Kennedy decided to give him the Fermi medal, an honorific that came with an attached tax-free $50,000 grant. It was a public rehabilitation. Kennedy, while a senator, had ended the public career of the AEC executive who had gone after Oppenheimer.  On December 2, 1963, President Johnson, with Jackie Kennedy in attendance, gave Oppenheimer the medal. A few years later,  he was diagnosed with cancer of the throat and died at sixty-two in early 1967.