TRIAL of OPPENHEIMER Eduard Roth

15 October 2012

TRIAL OF OPPENHEIMER

(Nuclear fantasy in 4 weeks)

All characters are invented. Any similarity with historical events is purely incidental.

Eduard Roth

1 Main characters

LEWIS STRAUSS: Chairman of the AEC ROGER ROBB: Prosecutor ROBERT OPPENHEIMER: Defendant LLOYD GARRISON: Oppenheimer’s attorney GORDON GREY: Chairman of AEC Security Board G.GREY, T.MORGAN, W.EVANS: Members of the panel

Oppenheimer’s witnesses: L.GROVES, K.GLENNAN, K.COMPTON, J.LANDSDALE, H.BETHE, G.DEAN, G.KENNAN, D.LILIENTHAL, J.CONANT, E.FERMI, N.RAMSAY, I.RABI, N.BRADBURY, W.WHITMAN, L.DUBRIDGE, V.BUSCH, R.BACHER, J.VON NEUMANN

Prosecutor’s witnesses: L.ALVAREZ, K.PITZER, E.TELLER, R.WILSON, W.BORDEN, E.LAWRENCE

All action takes place in room 2022 of AEC building, Washington D.C. AEC=Atomic Energy Commission.

2 Week 1 - day 1 (12 april 1954)

(Enter Grey)

Grey: I open these hearings by reading a letter from the AEC general manager, Kenneth Nichols, dating december 1953, mentioning requirements in the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, charging the commissioners to determine ‘character, associations and loyalty’ of individuals who work for the commission and referring especially to section 10 of the Act that AEC employers do not endanger the common defense and security and requiring that individuals be suspended if any information exists that employment would not be clearly consistent with the interests of national security. A panel will decide whether Dr. Oppenheimer can maintain his clearance or it has to be revoked. This panel is composed by myself, as chairman of the AEC Security Board, Thomas Morgan, industrialist, and Ward Evans, from the Chemistry Dpt. of Northwestern University in Chicago. The prosecutor is Roger Robb, Chief Counsel of the AEC, born in 1909 in Baltimore (Maryland) and with a law degree at Yale in 1933. Oppenheimer’s attorney is Lloyd Garrison, born in 1897 in New York, graduate at Harvard University Law School, Dean of Winsconsin University Law School since 1920 and member of the board of directors of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, since 1953.

Week 1 - day 2

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: Dr. Oppenheimer, can you tell us your name, profession and past activities ? Oppenheimer: I am Julius Robert Oppenheimer, born in a jewish family in 1904. I studied Physics at Harvard University and went to complete studies to G¨ottingen and Z¨urich. I came back and became professor at both Caltech and Berkeley, where I formed the best theoretical physics group in the US at the time. From 1942 until 1945 I was director of Los Alamos National Lab, New Mexico, as part of the Manhattan Project. In 1947 I was appointed director of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton. I have served as advisor for nuclear energy matters, in particular as chairman of the AEC.

3 Robb: Members of the panel, I will demonstrate that the statements of Dr. Oppenheimer are in contradiction with existing documents. These contra- dictions are not simple errors but are more deliberate, extensive and sinister than previously thought. Oppenheimer’s opposition to the Super made him an unacceptable risk. Moreover, this risk originates in Oppenheimer’s wan- derings with left organizations, falsehoods, evasions and misrepresentations. I advocate zero tolerance for this behaviour and ask to remove the clearance of Dr. Oppenheimer to consult secret information regarding our atomic energy program. Garrison: Members of the panel, I will prove that Dr. Oppenheimer has always been loyal to his country. That the services rendered by him to this country are outstanding, and his advice in nuclear matters is invaluable. That he is one of the most clever minds in this country and that removing his clearance would be an unjustiﬁed error, only possible in the context of hysteria and witch hunting triggered by senator McCarthy and coworkers. Oppenheimer: What impression made on you, members of the panel, the prosecutor ? I don’t know. In listening to him, I have almost forgotten who I am, so convincing was his speech. However, I assure you, he did not tell you a single word of truth. What amazed me, among so many lies, is that you should be warned against me because of my skills to make a speech. But what they call skill to make a speech is simply telling the truth. If this is what they call a good speaker, I am that one, but not in the manner they believe. You will not hear from me a speech with selected and well ordered words, but a speech without art, with the ﬁrst words that come to my mind. But my speech will be fair, don’t expect anything else from me. Let’s go back at the origin and examine these accusations against me, written by Lewis Strauss and Teller. What did they say at the end ? They claim that Oppenheimer is guilty on earth and heaven, that he makes a good cause from a bad one, that he teaches young people to behave like him. You are all my witnesses and I ask you to inform yourself and report what you know, what you heard, you who followed all my actions. Tell me if I ever behaved as the prosecutor claims. You will realize that all these rumors they spread about me are false. Young people attached to me were my students. They took pleasure in listening to me and imitating me rather than other people who believe to know something but know nothing in reality. These people who know nothing take pleasure to say that there is a certain Oppenheimer who is misleading them. But what do I say that is so harmful ? They simply don’t know. They claim that I don’t do science, that I don’t believe in my country,

4 that I transform a bad political cause into a good one. They pretend to know the truth, but are ignorant and harmful. They are full of calumnies against me. These calumnies fuel the hate of Lewis Strauss and Teller against me. I would be amazed if I could remove so much hate from your minds, when it is so deeply rooted. Their calumnies are on my pursuit. Make an enquiry and you will not ﬁnd anything true in them.

Week 1 - day 3

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: Dr. Oppenheimer, do you know Giovanni Lomanitz, Bernard Peters, Joseph Weinberg and Philip Morrison ? Oppenheimer: Yes, they were all former students of mine at Berkeley. Robb: Are they communists ? Oppenheimer: I believe so. Robb: What about your brother Franck and his wife, are they communists ? Oppenheimer: yes. Robb: What about your wife Kitty, is she a communist ? Oppenheimer: yes, she is the widow of Joe Dallet, who died during the Span- ish Civil War. Robb: Don’t you think that there are too many communists around you ? Would you have employed them in the Manhattan Project ? Oppenheimer: I employ people on their scientiﬁc skills not on their political views. Robb: Were you a member of the communist party ? Oppenheimer: I never had a party card, but I was member of about every communist front in the West Coast before 1942. Robb: Did you give money to support the cause of communists during the Spanish Civil War ? Oppenheimer: I contributed $ 150 per month (about $ 2000 in present days). Robb: Did you inform general Groves and colonel Landsdale about these activities ? Oppenheimer: Of course, I ﬁlled a security questionnaire for the Manhattan project where I included all this. I personally informed general Groves and the head of security Colonel Landsdale in 1943.

5 Garrison: How were the relations between the USA and communist Russia at the time, 1942-45 ? Oppenheimer: We were allied against nazi Germany. Garrison: Why so many communists in California in the 1930’s ? Oppenheimer: Because the great depression had created large masses of people in total poverty. Garrison: Why did you contribute to the cause of Spanish Republicans during the Civil War ? Oppenheimer: Spain was a democratic country that was abandoned by powerful democracies like the USA, England or France, into the hands of the nazis and fascists. The only countries that helped Spain were communist Russia and Mexico.

Week 1 - day 4

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: Late in june 1943, did you spend a night with your old girlfriend Jean Tatlock ? Oppenheimer: yes. Robb: That was when you were working on a secret project ? Oppenheimer: yes. Robb: Was she a member of the communist party ? Oppenheimer: yes. Robb: Do you think this is compatible with security ? Oppenheimer: yes, we talked love not war. Robb: Let’s now talk about Haakon Chevalier. Did he belong to the same secret unit of the communist party as you ? Oppenheimer: To the same tea party meeting, yes. Robb: What were you discussing ? Oppenheimer: Les fleurs du mal, le bateau ivre and jadis et naguère. Robb: What is all that rubbish ? Oppenheimer: It’s neither rubbish nor reddish. Robb: You told us four different versions of your incident with Chevalier in the winter 1942-43. Which one is correct ?

6 Oppenheimer: Chevalier asked me to spy for the Soviet Union and I refused. Robb: Did you tell the truth to Colonel Pasch ? Oppenheimer: No. Robb: Why ? Oppenheimer: I was an idiot. Garrison: Were you trying to protect Chevalier ? Oppenheimer: Yes. Garrison: Why not simply omitting the incident to general Groves ? Oppenheimer: I wanted to demonstrate to general Groves that I had broken with my communist past.

Week 1 - day 5

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Groves)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Groves: I am General Leslie Groves, born in Albany (NY) in 1986. I graduated at West Point in 1918. I belong to the US Army Corps of Engineers. In 1942 I was appointed director of the Manhattan Project and supervised the construction of installations at Los Alamos, Tennessee, Hanford and Ooak Ridge. Robb: What is your opinion on Oppenheimer ? Groves: A hard working person. Sometimes I was afraid he would brake down. Robb: General, in the light of your experience with security matters and of the ﬁle pertaining to Oppenheimer, would you clear him today ? Groves: In the view of present evidence I would not clear him. Garrison: If we were back in 1942, would you appoint Dr.Oppenheimer ? Groves: Of course. Garrison: Dr.Oppenheimer had no experience in the management of any major project at the time, why did you appoint him ? Groves: I had this brilliant intuition and I proved to be right.

(Exit Groves, enter Glennan)

7 Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Glennan: I am Keith Glennan, born in 1905 in Ederlin (North Dakota). I studied electrical engineering at Yale. In 1942 I worked at Columbia for the Navy. In 1950-52 I was member of the AEC. Robb: Would you clear Oppenheimer ? Glennan: Yes. Robb: Why ? Glennan: Because, as chairman of the AEC, his decisions were also the result of scientiﬁc evidence and not irrational fanaticism. Garrison: Which work do you intend to do in the future ? Glennan: Aeronautics and Spacecraft technologies.

Week 1 - day 6 (Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Compton)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Compton: I am Karl Compton, born in Wooster (Ohio) in 1897. In 1948 I became professor at Harvard University. In 1930 I moved to MIT as president of the university. I occupied this post in 1930-48 and in the period 1933-49, I was also science advisor of presidents Roosevelt and Truman. Robb: Would you clear Oppenheimer ? Compton: Yes. Robb: Why ? Compton: Because he is a real physicist, like me, and a real physicist cannot be wrong, and in case he is, he knows to rectify. Garrison: Have you anything to do with Arthur Compton, our Physics Nobel Prize winner in 1927 ? Compton: Yes, he is my brother.

(Exit Compton, enter Landsdale)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Landsdale: I am Lieutenant Colonel John Landsdale, graduate at VMI (Vir- ginia Military Institute). I was appointed by general Groves Chief Security

8 of Los Alamos Project. I went to Germany in 1945 to prevent that nuclear material fall into russian hands. Robb: Would you clear Oppenheimer ? Landsdale: Yes. Robb: Colonel, as a lawyer you know that ‘Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus’. Landsdale: Yes, I use one A-model Ford but not the bus. Robb: If you demonstrate that a witness has lied, don’t you argue to the jury that they should disregard his evidence ? Landsdale: ‘Quosque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra ?’. Robb: Da Silva was a professional, was he ? Landsdale: Yes, we were all professionals. Robb: More than you ? Landsdale: He was West Point and I was VMI, the same as general Patton. Do you want to argue about that ?

Telegram from the Institute of Advances Studies arriving at Oppenheimer’s house in Princeton: ALL OF US IN PRINCETON TODAY WANT TO EXPRESS OUR AD- MIRATION FOR YOU, BOTH AS COLLEAGUES AND FRIENDS, WE ASSUME OUR ENTIRE CONFIDENCE ON YOUR LOYALTY. SIGNED, Abraham Pais, Freeman Dyson, Kurt Godel, Erwin Panofsky.

End of week 1

9 Week 2 - day 1

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Bethe)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Bethe: I am Hans Bethe, born in 1906 in Strasbourg, at the time belonging to the German Empire. My mother was jewish. I took my doctorate with Sommerfeld in Munich. In 1933, when Hitler took power, I had to leave Germany and, after a short stay in England, I became professor of theoretical physics at Cornell. During 1943-45, I was head of the theory division of Los Alamos. In 1967 I will receive the Nobel Prize for my contributions to explain the production of energy by nuclear reactions in the sun. Robb: What is your opinion of Dr.Oppenheimer ? Bethe: He is absolutely loyal to his country, that he served very long and very well. I have absolute faith in him. Robb: How many divisions were there at Los Alamos ? Bethe: Seven or eight. Robb: Which division was Klaus Fuchs in ? Bethe: In mine. Garrison: Did you have any role in the appointment of Fuchs ? Bethe: No, he was part of the british contingent. Garrison: Who else was part of this contingent ? Bethe: Some 20 physicists, among them Chadwick, Nobel Prize laureate, Peierls, Frisch and Oliphant. Garrison: Were Frisch and Peierls german jew refugees like you ? Bethe: Yes, Frisch explained with Meitner the ﬁssion of uranium and Peierls was the ﬁrst to calculate the critical mass of uranium.

(Exit Bethe, enter Dean)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Dean: I am Gordon Dean, born in 1905 in Seattle, graduate at Duke Uni- versity Law School in 1932. I joined the Dpt. of Justice under Roosevelt Administration. I was spokesman of the Chief Prosecutor at Nuremberg, Robet Jackson. I was appointed chairman of the AEC in 1950-53. Robb: Do you believe in massive nuclear rearmament of the US to win wars ?

10 Dean: Yes. Robb: So would you clear someone like Oppenheimer ? Dean: I would clear him because we have our arsenal of conventional nuclear bombs thanks to him. Robb: Did you talk to Lewis Strauss ? Dean: No, I have my own criteria. Garrison: Was this nuclear arsenal of any use in Korea ? Dean: No, only foolish generals like McArthur wanted to make use of it. Garrison: How many people died in this war ? Dean: Nobody knows, maybe one million. Garrison: And what was the outcome of this war ? Dean: The border between North and South Korea stayed exactly at the same position as at war start. Garrison: And to achieve this, one million dead ? Dean: Yes.

(Exit Dean, enter Kennan)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Kennan: I am George Kennan, born in 1905 in Milwaukee. I am diplomat and work in the Dpt. of State. I am in favor of a policy of appeasement with the Soviet Union and I have strongly supported the Marshall Plan. In 1951, I was appointed ambassador in Moscow but soon after became ‘persona non grata’. I am presently expert in international aﬀairs at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton. Robb: Are you in favor of the thermonuclear program ? Kennan: No. Robb: Would you clear Dr.Oppenheimer ? Keenan: Yes. Robb: Despite his numerous communist friends ? Keenan: We all have friends whose associations we regret. We cannot turn them abruptly, it’s just christian charity. Garrison: It seems you regret the large number of hispanic inhabitants in the south and west of the US. Keenan: Yes, they are outside the traditions that made America. Garrison: Do you know that the Spanish arrived to California around 1600, much before what you call the Americans ?

11 Keenan: No. Garrison: Do you know the origin of american cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco or Santa Monica ? Keenan: No. Garrison: I hate every inch of you.

Week 2 - day 2

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Lilienthal)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Lilienthal: I am David Lilienthal, born 1899 in Morton, Illinois, in a jewish family. I graduated at the Harvard Law School in 1946. In 1946 I was appointed by the Secretary of State Dean Acheson to advice on nuclear energy matters. I advised to put nuclear weapons under international control. I was later appointed chairman of the AEC. Robb: Are you in favor of the thermonuclear program ? Lilienthal: No, I am in favor of civil nuclear power. Robb: Would you clear Dr.Oppenheimer ? Lilienthal: Yes, because his views and mine are similar. Garrison: Are you aware of the waste problem in civil use of nuclear power ? Lilienthal: I was the ﬁrst to discuss this problem.

(Exit Lilienthal, enter Conant)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Conant: I am James Conant, born 1893 in Dorchester, Mass. I am a chemist and President of Harvard University since 1933. In 1919 I was appointed professor of Chemistry at Harvard and in 1941 chairman of the National Re- search Committee under Roosevelt administration. Since 1946 I participate in AEC activities. Robb: Would you clear Dr.Oppenheimer ? Conant: Yes, since I opposed the H-bomb as much as he did. Robb: Did you try to convince Lilienthal that Oppenheimer was not a communist ? Conant: Yes, I told him that all the information about his past activities were known, and that he was not any more under soviet control.

12 Robb: Would you clear him in case of any doubt about his communist relations ? Conant: No, I would not clear him under these circumstances. Garrison: Do you know about the ﬁfth amendment ? Conant: Yes, I have myself endorsed the dismissal of academics that invoke the ﬁfth amendment. Garrison: Do you know who are Bertolt Brecht, Joseph Losey, Orson Welles, Charles Chaplin, Arthur Miller, Dashiel Hammett, Leonard Bernstein and Peter Seegers ? Conant: They are not academics.

(Exit Conant, enter Fermi)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Fermi: I am Enrico Fermi, born in 1901 in Rome. I studied at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa. In 1925 I became professor at Rome University. I formed one of the best nuclear physics experimental groups in Europe, com- petitive with Cavendish Lab., Curie Lab., and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute (KWI) at Dahlem (Berlin), where nuclear fission was discovered. In 1934 I elaborated the first theory of β-decay. In the 30’s I performed neutron bom- bardment on nuclei and found many new unstable isotopes. I was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1938 for proving that the cross-sections increase dramat- ically for slowed neutrons. As my wife was jew, I decided to quit Italy for the US and became professor at Columbia first, and since 1942 at Chicago. I constructed there the first atomic pile and worked at Los Alamos as a consultant. After the war I became interested in particle physics. I formed a group at Chicago with five future Nobel laureates, in both theory and experiment: Chamberlain, Steinberger, Gell-Mann,Yang and Lee. Unfortunately I am going to die of cancer a few months after these hearings. Robb: No more questions. Garrison: Are you the best physicist of the XXth century ? Fermi: We can argue about that. Garrison: What was your view about the thermonuclear program ? Fermi: I was concerned because it could weaken the conventional nuclear program. Garrison: Were the discussions lead by Oppenheimer on the thermonuclear program fair ?

13 Fermi: Yes. Garrison: Did Oppenheimer give everyone the opportunity to express his views ? Fermi: Of course. Garrison: Which are your political views ? Fermi: I am conservative, but independent. Garrison: Would you vote for a red like Oppenheimer ? Fermi: Without any doubt. Garrison: Do you have more communist friends ? Fermi: Yes, Bruno Pontecorvo, a jew born in Pisa in 1913, and member of my Rome group. He was not accepted at Los Alamos due to his political views, and ﬁnally went to Russia in 1950. He is the only physicist capable to defeat me at tennis Garrison: What about Emilio Segr`e? Fermi: He is very good friend of mine. He is italian jew of spanish origins. He worked in my Rome group and escaped in 1938 to the US. At Los Alamos he performed a brilliant experiment to demonstrate that the gun design of the Pu239 bomb would not work due to Pu240 impurities. But the implosion type design did work. In 1946 he became professor at Berkeley and will soon discover antiprotons and get the Nobel Prize in 1959 for this discovery. He will write the best biography about me, and an excellent textbook in Nuclear Physics.

Week 2 - day 3

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Ramsay)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Ramsay: I am Norman Ramsay, born in 1915 in Washington DC. In 1915 I graduated in physics at Columbia and later went to Cavendish in Cambridge. On returning to the US, I collaborated with Rabi on molecular and neutron beams. In 1943-45 I worked at Los Alamos experimental division. In 1947 I was appointed professor of Experimental Physics at Harvard University. In 1989 I will get the Nobel Prize for my work on atomic clocks. Robb: I suppose you share the views by Rabi on Oppenheimer. Ramsay: Absolutely. Robb: So, let’s wait for Rabi.

14 Garrison: In 1951 you made a magniﬁcent experiment with Purcell. Can you explain what was it about ? Ramsay: We set for the ﬁrst time an upper limit for the electric dipole moment of the neutron. Garrison: How can elementary particles have a non-vanishing electric dipole moment ? Ramsay: Due to loop corrections, or to the quark substructure in the case of neutrons.

(Exit Ramsay, enter Rabi)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Rabi: I am Isaac Rabi, born in 1898 in Rymanow, Poland, then in the Austro- Hungarian Empire. My family spoke Yiddish. To escape antisemitism, my family moved to Brooklyn in 1907 and I studied at Cornell electrical engineering. I worked then with Otto Stern in Hamburg on molecular beams. In 1929 I was appointed professor of experimental physics at Columbia. I discovered the nuclear magnetic resonance in 1937 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1944. I helped to the foundation of BNL and CERN. I was chairman of the AEC in 1950-54, following Oppie. Robb: Give your opinion on Dr.Oppenheimer. Rabi: He is loyal and by no means a security risk. Robb: Have you spoken with our present chairman Lewis Strauss ? Rabi: Yes, I have never hidden to him that I found this procedure unfortu- nate. Oppie is a simple consultant. If you don’t want his opinion, don’t ask him. Period. Why should you go to all these hearings ? Oppie has a positive record. He got for us the bomb. What more do you want, mermaids ? The end of this road will be humiliating for him. This is a pretty bad show. Garrison: You said you helped the foundation of BNL. Was there any important physics done there ? Rabi: Yes, the discovery of the two neutrino especies by Schwartz, Stein- berger and Ledermann in 1961. Garrison: What about CERN ? Rabi: The discovery of neutral currents in 1973, of the W and Z bosons in 1983-84 and the Higgs boson in 2012.

15 (Exit Rabi, enter Bradbury)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Bradbury: I am Norris Bradbury, born in 1909 in Santa Barbara. I graduated in CALTECH and did a PhD in experimental physics at Berkeley. In 1943 I went to Los Alamos to work in the experimental division, in particular in the test of the ‘gadget’. In the Trinity Test (at Alamogordo), I was responsible for its assembly. Since 1945 I am director of Los Alamos, replacing Dr. Oppenheimer. Robb: I suppose you are in favor of clearing him. Bradbury: Certainly, Los Alamos would not exist without him. Garrison: Can you explain to us what the ‘gadget’ means ? Bradbury: It’s the plutonium bomb. It is formed by a sphere of subcritical plutonium shells, to avoid predetonation, surrounded by high explosives. On detonation of these, the shells are projected inwards by shock waves to obtain a critical mass. The idea came from Seth Neddermeyer. The explosive setup was worked out by George Kristiakowski, and Kenneth Bainbridge was responsible of the Trinity test. Garrison: Do you know what ‘Los Alamos’ means ? Bradbury: Poplar trees. Garrison: Volver´an a ﬂorecer las verdes alamedas por donde pasa el hombre libre.

Week 2 - day 4

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Whitman)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Whitman: I am Walter Whitman, born in 1985 in Winthop (Mass). I graduated in chemistry at MIT in 1917, and become in 1917 professor and head of the chemical engineering Dpt. at MIT. During the war I worked on aircraft fuel and jet propulsion. Then I became consultant of the US defense Dpt. Robb: What are your views on Dr. Oppenheimer ? Whitman: A great scientist. Garrison: Do you know George Kristiakowski ? Whitman: Of course, he is professor of physical chemistry at Harvard. He

16 comes from Kiev, where he fought against the communists as member of the White Army. Garrison: Was he employed by Oppenheimer ? Whitman: Yes, he played a major role in the design of the ‘gadget’. Garrison: So a communist like Oppie employed an anti-communist ? Whitman: And there were excellent relations between them. Garrison: I think Kristiskowski made some evaluation of the US Air Force under Kennedy’s administration. Whitman: That’s correct, he concluded that the display of the Strategic Air Command was crazy. Garrison: Who was in charge of this Command ? Whitman: Curtis LeMay

(Exit Whitman, enter Dubridge)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Dubridge: I am Lee Dubridge, born in 1910 in Terre Haute, Indiana. In 1924 I obtained my degree in physics at Winsconsin University, Madison. I moved to CALTECH in 1925 and became its president in 1946. I have been scientific advisor of president Truman. Robb: Your opinion on Dr. Oppenheimer ? Dubridge: I know him since he came to CALTECH to teach quantum mechanics in early 30’s. He is an excellent physicist. Robb: Would you clear him ? Dubridge: Yes. Robb: It doesn’t hurt you that he is a communist ? Dubridge: No, but I have a lot of trouble with Pauling at CALTECH. Garrison: What kind of trouble do you have with Pauling ? Dubridge: Pauling is always fighting for unpopular causes, now you call them ‘civil rights’, and has a stupid lawyer that enjoys defending those left wing dangerous ideals. I had to fight hard to keep Pauling in the faculty against the trustees of the governing board who tried to dump him away. Garrison: Did it help that he got the Nobel Prize for chemistry this year ? Dubridge: Yes, but they became more furious because they had already with- drawn his passport and they had to give him back. Garrison: If he was a communist, why did he turn off the proposal to work at Los Alamos as head of the chemistry division ?

17 Dubridge: Because he was a communist against atomic bombs, not in favor of them like Oppenheimer. Garrison: What’s going on now with Pauling ? Dubridge: This guy can’t stay quiet and will bring more problems. He is going to sign a ridiculous manifesto against nuclear bombs with ten other stupid communists. Garrison: Who are these stupid communists ? Dubridge: Born, Bridgman, Einstein, Infeld, Joliot-Curie, Muller, Powell, Rotblat, Russell and Yukawa. Garrison: Are they all Nobel laureates ? Dubridge: Except Infeld. Garrison: It seems nothing will save Pauling this time. Dubridge: Only that he will get the Nobel Prize for peace.

(Exit Dubridge, enter Bush)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Bush: I am Vannebar Bush, born in 1890 in Everett (Mass). In 1919 I joined the Dpt. of electrical engineering of MIT. I became president of MIT and dean of the school of engineering in 1932, then main science advisor in Roosevelt and Truman administrations from 1938. After the war I was appointed member of the board of ATT. Robb: Your opinion on Dr.Oppenheimer ? Bush: He is a genius. After the success of Trinity on july 16th 1945, I took oﬀ my hat in tribute to him. Robb: But he is a communist ! Bush: I am going to write a letter to the New York Times to claim that the opponents to Dr.Oppenheimer are the most ridiculous and miserable beings on earth. Garrison: Whom are you talking about ? Bush: Teller and Lewis Strauss, both reactionary jews.

End of week 2

18 Week 3 - day 1

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Bacher)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Bacher: I am Robert Bacher, born in 1905 in Loudonville (Ohio). I graduated in Michigan University in experimental physics and then went to Cornell. In 1942 I was appointed head of the experimental division of Los Alamos and developed the mechanical design for both the uranium and the plutonium bomb. I was also in charge of the experimental tests. In 1949 I became professor at CALTECH. Robb: Your opinion about Dr.Oppenheimer ? Bacher: An excellent physicist and an excellent manager of Los Alamos project. He is one of the few theorists who really understand physics. Robb: I suppose you would clear him ? Bacher: Yes, but my advice to him would be to abandon this physics for killing and try something else. Garrison: I think you did the ﬁnal assembly for the Trinity test at Alam- ogordo. Bacher: Yes, I was the only person to keep his nerves and found a way to as- semble the various plutonium pieces that had expanded due to heat released by the natural radioactivity of plutonium. This is real experimental work. Garrison: Is it fair to say that you really worked out the bomb ? Bacher: Yes, the real work is done by experimentalists, but theorists get the credit.

(Exit Bacher, enter Von Neumann)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Von Neumann: My name is John Von Neumann, but I was born Janos Lu- jos in 1903, Budapest, in a jewish family. I studied mathematics and made signiﬁcant contributions to quantum mechanics in G¨ottingen and Berlin in the years 1926-30. In 1933, I was appointed by the Institude of Advanced Studies in Princeton, together with Albert Einstein and Kurt Godel. In 1950, I invented a computer for thermonuclear calculations called ENIAC. This computer made possible the design of fusion bombs (H-bomb also called Super)

19 Robb: Would you clear Dr.Oppenheimer ? Von Neumann: Yes. Robb: Why ? Von Neumann: I don’t agree with him on the matter of the H-bomb. I have supported this project since 1949. For some people it takes two months, for others two years to reach the correct decision. For Oppie it might take longer, but he will ﬁnally join us. Garrison: What is the meaning of ENIAC ? Von Neumann: Electrical And Numerical Integrator and Computer. Garrison: Some people call it MANIAC. Von Neumann: This is a joke by my friend Gamow: Metropolis And Neu- mann Invent Awful Contraption.

Week 3 - day 2

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Alvarez)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Alvarez: My name is Luis Alvarez, born in 1911 in San Francisco. I am professor of experimental physics at Berkeley since 1940. In 1940-43, I worked on radar development at MIT and in 1943-44 in the metallurgy lab at Chicago. In 1945 I joined the atomic bomb project at Los Alamos. I will discover hadron resonances with a bubble chamber and get the Physics Nobel Prize in 1968. Robb: Would you clear Dr.Oppenheimer ? Alvarez: I support the point of view of Teller concerning the H-bomb development. Dr.Oppenheimer stupidly opposed this program and should be excluded from AEC activities. I don’t claim he is not a patriot but his mind is too confused to play any important role in these important matters. Garrison: I think you participated in the Hiroshima attack, is that correct ? Alvarez: Yes, I was in a plane following Enola Gay. Garrison: Just for the pleasure to see how 50 000 people can be killed in a few seconds ? Alvarez: No, I was in charge of measuring the energy yield of the explosion. Garrison: And what was this yield ? Alvarez: It was a U-235 bomb of 15 ktons (15000 tons of TNT) called ‘Little Boy’. The Almogordo and Nagasaki bombs contained plutonium. Garrison: So 3000 persons per kton, not bad.

20 (Exit Alvarez, enter Pitzer)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Pitzer: My name is Kenneth Pitzer, born in 1914. I graduated at CALTECH in chemistry in 1935. I was appointed by the chemistry Dpt. of Berkeley in 1937 and later became professor. In 1949-51, I was director of research of the AEC. Robb: What do you think of Dr.Oppenheimer ? Pitzer: My views on the thermonuclear program were in complete opposition to him. Robb: Would you clear him ? Pitzer: Never. Garrison: What do you think of the loyalty oath applied at Berkeley in 1941- 51 ? Pitzer: That was a good thing. People with obedience to a foreign country cannot be appointed by american universities. Garrison: So you agree with the exclusion of the 31 faculty members at Berkeley University ? Pitzer: Of course ! Garrison: Do you know Wolfgang Panofsky or Jack Steinberger ? Pitzer: No.

Week 3 - day 3

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Teller)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Teller: My name is Edward Teller, born in Budapest in 1908 inside a jewish family. I studied theoretical physics with Heisenberg at Leipzig. When Hitler took power in 1933, I emigrated to the US and became professor at the G.Washington University. At Los Alamos I worked on the Super. I am the father of the Super (H-bomb), that I invented in 1950. Robb: What is your opinion on Dr.Oppenheimer management of Los Alamos project ? Teller: A disaster. He appointed Bethe as director of the theory division instead of me. Robb: Were you more qualiﬁed than Bethe ?

21 Teller: Of course, Bethe was only interested in the uranium bomb, a child’s game. I was a visionary only interested in the Super. Robb: What was the attitude of Oppenheimer on the Super ? Teller: He sabotaged all my eﬀorts to produce the Super. He convinced Bethe to put my project aside. In total coherence with what I said before, I could not work on the Super without Bethe’s help. Robb: Would you give clearance to Dr.Oppenheimer ? Teller: Oppenheimer gave a great deal of bad advice on the Super, and in the future his advice should not be considered. Therefore his clearance should be lifted. I would like to see the vital interests of my country in hands that I understand better and therefore trust more.

(Exit Teller, Dr. Bethe is recalled at the defendant’s request)

Garrison: What is your opinion about Teller at Los Alamos? Bethe: He waisted the eﬀorts of the theory division on an impossible device. Garrison: What was the device and why was it impossible ? Bethe: It was a deuterium fusion bomb created by a primary nuclear explosion with uranium. All his calculations were wrong because when deuterium heats up, the energy is radiated and absorbed by matter via Compton scattering. It can’t work even if you add a lot of tritium. Garrison: Did Teller produce anything useful at Los Alamos ? Bethe: He did not produce a single correct result. For example, in 1945 he wanted to convince us that the explosion of the uranium bomb would ignite the whole atmosphere. I found that all his nitrogen cross-sections were wrong. Garrison: He claims to be the father of the H-bomb, true ? Bethe: Not at all. He stole the design from Stanislas Ulam in 1951. As a joke I said that Ulam was the father of the bomb and Teller the mother because he bore the child. Garrison: What is your opinion on the H-bomb test program? Bethe: On 5 august 1951, the ‘George’ device exploded with a yield of 225 ktons in the Eniwetok atoll, Marshall Islands. On 1st november the ‘Mike’ devise was exploded with a yields of 10.4 Mtons, 40 times more that ‘George’. Both used liquid deuterium and a complicated cryogenic installation, and are therefore of no military use. Garrison: If there is no military use, what for ? Bethe: Well, they found lithium deuterate, a solid, and produced a disaster.

22 Garrison: What kind of disaster ? Bethe: They tested a month ago the ‘Bravo’ device in the Bikini atoll. The result was an unprecedented radiological catastrophe. The yield, 15 Mtons, exceeded by a factor 3 the expectations. The radioactive waste, pushed by contrary winds, contaminated all islands in a radius of 100 km, and aﬀected the population of those islands, the same as the sailors and scientists that were in control of the explosion. Garrison: What caused the error ? Bethe: They did not realize that Li-6 can be regenerated by neutron collisions with Li-7, and lithium-6 can produce Tritium with very large cross-sections in fusion reactions. Garrison: What is your conclusion on the H-bomb ? Bethe: It’s madness. Garrison: Do they have any strategic value ? Bethe: They only serve to create terror.

Week 3 - day 4

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel, Wilson)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Wilson: My name is general Roscoe Wilson, born in 1905 in Contralia, Penn- sylvania. In 1928 I graduated at West Point. During WW II I was chief of development engineering at USAF. In 1944 I was based in Okinawa under the command of Curtis LeMay to erase Japon from the map by air bombings. Robb: Would you clear Dr.Oppenheimer ? Wilson: No. Robb: Why ? Wilson: He is not fully capable of objectivity in war matters. In war, we have an enemy to destroy by any means. Garrison: General, how many enemies did you kill in 1944-45 ? Wilson: Our B-29 Superfortress, using napalm and incendiary bombs, killed 500 000 japonese and destroyed 64 cities. Garrison: What happened to Tokyo ? Wilson: It was bombed on 9-10 march 1945 causing some 100 000 casualties. Garrison: Was it necessary to use any means ? Wilson: Not only necessary, it was even insuﬃcient. We needed to drop in

23 addition two atomic bombs, that killed 100 000 more people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Only then Japan surrendered Garrison: And what would have been the result if you drop just one atomic bomb and spare all the other cities ? Wilson: It is up to the President of the United States to take this decision. Garrison: General, I believe you inspected the sites of the atomic targets after the war. Wilson: Indeed. Garrison: And what did you feel ? Wilson: We did a great job.

(Exit Wilson, enter Borden)

Robb: Give your name, profession and past activities. Borden: I am William Borden, american attorney. I was born in 1921 and graduated at Yale Law School. In 1942 I enlisted the USAF. After the war I entered the Justice Dpt. in Washington DC. I joined later AEC where I became the executive director until 1953. Robb: What is your opinion on Dr. Oppenheimer ? Borden: Between 1929 and 1942, more probably than not, Dr. Oppenheimer was a hardened communist. More probably than not he has been a soviet spy. More probably than not he has inﬂuenced US military policy, atomic energy policies and diplomacy under soviet directives. Robb: What do you propose then ? Borden: To place a blank wall between Dr. Oppenheimer and all areas of our government operation. Garrison: Where did you obtain the information that Dr. Oppenheimer is a spy ? Borden: I can’t tell you, it’s secret. Garrison: Secret means FBI ﬁles and you must have opened them illegally. Borden: Prove it if you can. Garrison: If Dr. Oppenheimer is a soviet spy, you should request his arrest, not to put a ridiculous blank wall. Borden: This we did with the Rosembergs, but we are too coward to do it with Oppenheimer.

Week 3 - day 5

24 (Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: I call Dr. Lawrence. Robb: (after a few minutes) I just learn that he cannot attend these hearings due to an attack of colitis. Garrison: Better for him. History will not remember him as a reactionary like Alvarez or Teller. Robb: Since the opinion of Dr. Lawrence in this matter is well known, let me introduce him anyway. Ernest Lawrence was born in 1901 in Canton, South Dakota. In 1928 he was appointed professor at Berkeley and invented the cyclotron in 1931. He built the Radiation Lab and became its director. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1939. Garrison: What opinion are you talking about ? Robb: Lawrence and Alvarez share the same opinion concerning the H-bomb. They also hate Oppenheimer because he is a communist. Garrison: Then why did Professor Lawrence appoint Oppenheimer for the physics faculty at Berkeley, and also his communist brother Franck at the Radiation Lab ? Robb: That was before the H-bomb project. Garrison: Professor Lawrence admired professor Oppenheimer and appointed him as director of Los Alamos. It was his merit and note the merit of the stupid general Groves to do that. But he was furious when Oppenheimer left Berkeley for Princeton. Robb: Professor Lawrence hates the Russians and is convinced that the US needs a superiority in nuclear power. Garrison: Then why will he go to Geneva in 1958 to negotiate with the Russians the ban of nuclear weapon tests ? Robb: I think he will not succeed. Garrison: Indeed he will die before in Palo Alto. Robb: What do you mean by Palo Alto ? Garrison: The seat of SLAC, the Stanford Linear accelerator where the J/psi resonance will be discovered in 1973 by B.Richter and coworkers. Richter will be Nobel Laureate in 1976.

End of week 3

25 Week 4 - day 1

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: I want to go back to the Chevalier incident. Which story was fabrica- tion and which was truth ? Oppenheimer: On the accusations against me by Teller, I have already justi- ﬁed myself suﬃciently. Now it is to Lewis Strauss, such devoted man to our country, that I will respond. He claims Oppenheimer is guilty to mislead the opinion with his communist ideas, that he does not honor his country, that he substitutes a version of his encounter with Chevalier by another one. Let’s examine these accusations one after the other. I am accused of misleading the opinion, but I tell you it’s Lewis Strauss that misleads the opinion, when he accuses unduly and trivially all kind of persons and claims to be interested in things he never cared for. Lewis Strauss, do you want to tell me that I don’t honor my country, that I substitute one version by another ? Do you want to tell me that I don’t believe in any of these versions. That is what I believe, that there is no version at all. No truth. And you, which version do you believe in ? I believe, members of the panel, that Lewis Strauss and Teller are hypocrite men and they have started this procedure just to humil- iate me. They have constructed an enigma to prove that I was a communist. They said: ‘Let us see if this wise man, Oppenheimer, will enter into contra- dictions and we will catch him, with all his followers’. But their accusation is contradictory: ‘Oppenheimer has many versions of the Chevalier incident, but at the same time he has none’. It’s simply a joke.

Week 4 - day 2

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: Doctor, do you think now that perhaps you went beyond the scope of your functions as a scientist in undertaking to counsel in matters of military strategy and tactics ? Oppenheimer: Probably, members of the panel, you should condemn me. If I escaped, all my followers will behave like me and become as liberal as me. If you clear me, I will acknowledge that, but I will rather follow my own ideas than yours, and as long as I live, I will keep my political ideas. You would tell

26 me: ‘You, excellent and wealthy citizen of this great and powerful country, why you don’t look for its reputation and honor?’ But If you condemn me, you will condemn yourselves at the same time, and your country with you. Therefore I don’t defend myself for love of myself, but for love of my country. You know as well as me that the prosecutor, who cumulates so many charges against me, has not produced a single witness to prove that I betrayed my country.

Week 4 - day 3

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Robb: Doctor, what kind of relations did you maintain with Linus Pauling ? Oppenheimer: I met him at CALTECH around 1930 and we became good friends. Robb: Did you write love letters to him ? Oppenheimer: yes. Robb: Did you have a homosexual relation with a student at Berkeley before you met Jean Tatlock in 1936 ? Oppenheimer: yes. Robb: Are you homosexual ? Oppenheimer: maybe. Garrison: Have you read the following authors: Homer, Plato, Herodotus, Xenophon, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Petronius, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Proust, Gide, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Byron, Oscar Wilde, Auden, Garcia Lorca, Goethe, Thomas and Klaus Mann, Wittgenstein, Henry James, Walt Whitman, Paul Bowles, Gogol ? Oppenheimer: Yes, I read them all. Garrison: Did you read Plato’s Apology of Socrates ?

27 Week 4 - day 4: ﬁnal day, 6 may 1954

(Enter Robb, Oppenheimer, Garrison, panel)

Garrison: The legal framework for charges raised by general Nichols has to be evaluated. There are two documents, the AEC Act of 1946 and executive order 10410. The first speaks of dangers to the ‘common defense and security’ and the second of ‘interests of the national security’. The basic question is whether, in the handling of restricted data, Dr.Oppenheimer is to be trusted. That is, it seems, what confronts this board. In deciding this issue, the relevant guidelines speak of ‘character, associations and loyalty’. If a man is loyal and loves his country in his heart, he would not be willing to do anything to injure its security and then associations and character become unimportant. In judging the man himself, the basic question is that since more than a decade Dr. Oppenheimer has shared secrets of the atomic energy program and held them inviolable. Oppenheimer has not failed out trust, that is in my judgement the most persuasive evidence that you possibly have. What is behind all this case ? Oppenheimer’s opposition to the H- bomb in 1949 and left-wing associations before 1942 ? The first is difference of opinion and the second was known to american authorities and the AEC itself when he was cleared in 1947. The Chevalier incident must be judged in perspective. At that time Russia was our ally. You must beware above all of judging by today’s standards things that happened in a different time and era. We have seen in this trial many brilliant physicists who said ‘I know that man, I worked with him and I trusted him’. This is the very reason we confide in the character and loyalty of this man. Now you asked the question whether if he continues to have access to restricted data he may injure the USA and make improper use of that. There is more than one man in trial in this room. The government of the USA is also on trial. America must not devore his children, Mr.Chairman. We must not devore the best and more gifted among us in some mechanical application of security procedures, I am confident, members of the panel, that you will answer to the question whether he is fit to be trusted with restricted data with the affirmative. By doing so, you will save the interests of the USA. Thank you very much. Oppenheimer: Members of the panel, there is only one certain thing: there is no harm possible for a good man, neither before nor after death, and that fortune will not be encountered in my destiny. I don’t want any harm to my

28 prosecutors, but by accusing me, they wanted to harm me, and in this respect they should be blamed. I have something to tell you in addition of that: my ideal will prevail in the future. My prosecutors will be considered incapable, cruel tyrants, and my followers illustrated and clever liberals. That makes the diﬀerence. In our sleep, pain which we cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our despair, against our will, wisdom comes to us through the awful grace of God. Now it is time for me to leave and for you to live.

End of the trial

Addendum: The Grey Panel members reconvened on may 17, 1954. Gray and Morgan voted not to reinstate Oppenheimer’s clearance. Evans dis- sented. The panel members wrote up their ﬁndings to general Kenneth Nichols, AEC general manager.