Oppenheimer was probably lucky to have gone through this, long term, to be accused by these clowns instead of endorsed. He saw it as the sham it was, and the characterization of a “broken man” is misleading. Had many years of lecturing, writing books, and leading the Institute for Advanced study after this, with deep support from the scientific community. Although it was deeply hurtful.. he was a loyal man, a soldier basically during the war, and his country betrayed him.
His consulting contract to the AEC was expiring in December 1953, but as a political takedown he was officially accused instead of simply not renewing. Oppenheimer had the option to compromise and resign, but he declined writing Strauss: “Under the circumstances, this course of action would mean that I accept and concur in the view that I am not fit to serve this government, that I have now served for some twelve years. This I cannot do. If I were thus unworthy I could hardly have served our country as I have tried, or been the Director of our Institute in Princeton, or have spoken, as on more than one occasion I have found myself speaking, in the name our science and our country”.*
He was found to be absolutely loyal, he was not even accused of violating any security regulations. But was accused of not being sufficiently enthusiastic about a crash program to build a hydrogen bomb, and that this lack of enthusiasm was a sign of a character flaw.
This “trial” marked an end of extremely wide public respect for scientists. And a new era where technical and scientific achievements are to be harvested by military industrial complex, and used by right wing strategists. It put scientists in their place..
I don't understand how the absolute power to mark any information secret is compatible with democracy. The way the constitution was designed was to try to balance powers and checks between branches. But there is no check on the executive's ability to mark things secret. In this case the secrecy seems to have just been about covering up an embarrassment. They should not have the power to cover up an embarrassment. Seems like this invented absolute power needs judicial review.
>In 1953, a former congressional aide charged in a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the celebrated physicist was a Soviet spy.
The congressional aide's name was William Liscum Borden. If Borden's views had been adopted by the US Government, it is likely that we would have had a nuclear world war[0], instead the US built its strategy on the views of Brodie[1].
undermining the idea that it was all somehow a plot by evil Republicans: Borden, the scum who initiated the witch-hunt against Oppenheimer, was a protégé of Democrat Senator McMahon, who was deeply in love with hydrogen bombs. [1]
The article just confirms to me the reasons that Groves chose Oppenheimer to lead the Manhattan project, Oppenheimer was able to see the bigger picture.
The thing I keep telling my younger, more idealistic friends: organizations created by politicians run on political value systems. What Oppenheimer did or not? Not relevant. How he fit into the larger political picture of the cold war? Critical.
Any organization with secrets worth keeping must try to detect spies and repel infiltrators.
It may reduce disastrous false negatives at the cost of an increase in false positives.
In the 1940s, the Soviet Union had hundreds of agents in the executive branch of the US government. KGB records opened in the last 20 years largely vindicate McCarthy (Edit: in that the threat was real; infiltration had happened; most of his targets were Soviet agents, Communists, or associated with Communists; and security risks had to be removed from positions in which they could do harm for the good of freedom-loving people everywhere).
[+] [-] schience|11 years ago|reply
His consulting contract to the AEC was expiring in December 1953, but as a political takedown he was officially accused instead of simply not renewing. Oppenheimer had the option to compromise and resign, but he declined writing Strauss: “Under the circumstances, this course of action would mean that I accept and concur in the view that I am not fit to serve this government, that I have now served for some twelve years. This I cannot do. If I were thus unworthy I could hardly have served our country as I have tried, or been the Director of our Institute in Princeton, or have spoken, as on more than one occasion I have found myself speaking, in the name our science and our country”.*
He was found to be absolutely loyal, he was not even accused of violating any security regulations. But was accused of not being sufficiently enthusiastic about a crash program to build a hydrogen bomb, and that this lack of enthusiasm was a sign of a character flaw.
This “trial” marked an end of extremely wide public respect for scientists. And a new era where technical and scientific achievements are to be harvested by military industrial complex, and used by right wing strategists. It put scientists in their place..
*American Prometheus - p484
[+] [-] gregd|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] guelo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] philwelch|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EthanHeilman|11 years ago|reply
>In 1953, a former congressional aide charged in a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation that the celebrated physicist was a Soviet spy.
The congressional aide's name was William Liscum Borden. If Borden's views had been adopted by the US Government, it is likely that we would have had a nuclear world war[0], instead the US built its strategy on the views of Brodie[1].
[0]: Borden's strategic views http://ethanheilman.tumblr.com/post/29405762446/there-will-b...
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Brodie_(military_strate...
[+] [-] mkempe|11 years ago|reply
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brien_McMahon
[+] [-] raldi|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rjsw|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] throwwit|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanielBMarkham|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aurelian|11 years ago|reply
It may reduce disastrous false negatives at the cost of an increase in false positives.
In the 1940s, the Soviet Union had hundreds of agents in the executive branch of the US government. KGB records opened in the last 20 years largely vindicate McCarthy (Edit: in that the threat was real; infiltration had happened; most of his targets were Soviet agents, Communists, or associated with Communists; and security risks had to be removed from positions in which they could do harm for the good of freedom-loving people everywhere).