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When he joined the [[Manhattan Project]] in 1942,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> Oppenheimer wrote on his personal security questionnaire that he had been "a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast."<ref>"Filling in a security questionnaire, Oppie had lately admitted that he had been 'a member of just about every Communist-front organization on the West Coast'..." Peter Wyden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IlZ6AAAAIAAJ Day One: Before Hiroshima and After]'' (Simon and Schuster, 1984) ISBN 0671461427, p. 49. Cf. "As Oppenheimer was to write on a 1942 security questionnaire... : '...I have been a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast.'" Rachel Teukolsky, "[http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/articles/issue1/scientistx.pdf Regarding Scientist X]," ''Berkeley Science Review,'' Issue 1 (Spring 2001), p. 17; "When he joined the atomic bomb project he admitted in his security questionnaire that he had been 'a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast.'" [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX65.html J. Robert Oppenheimer, (1904 - 1967)], "Race for the Superbomb," ''American Experience'', PBS</ref> In September 1943, he repeated to Gen. Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, that he had "probably belonged to every Communist-front organization on the west coast."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 159 (PDF 169). Cf. Philip M. Stern with Harold P. Green, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=i_tBAAAAIAAJ The Oppenheimer Case: Security on Trial]'' (New York: Harper & Row, 1969) ISBN 0246640359, p. 15</ref> Later that month, Lt. Col. John Lansdale, Jr., head of Security and Intelligence for the Manhattan Project, interviewed Oppenheimer, stating: "You've probably belonged to every front organization on the coast"; Oppenheimer reiterated: "Just about."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 204 (PDF 214)</ref>

When he joined the [[Manhattan Project]] in 1942,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> Oppenheimer wrote on his personal security questionnaire that he had been "a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast."<ref>"Filling in a security questionnaire, Oppie had lately admitted that he had been 'a member of just about every Communist-front organization on the West Coast'..." Peter Wyden, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IlZ6AAAAIAAJ Day One: Before Hiroshima and After]'' (Simon and Schuster, 1984) ISBN 0671461427, p. 49. Cf. "As Oppenheimer was to write on a 1942 security questionnaire... : '...I have been a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast.'" Rachel Teukolsky, "[http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/articles/issue1/scientistx.pdf Regarding Scientist X]," ''Berkeley Science Review,'' Issue 1 (Spring 2001), p. 17; "When he joined the atomic bomb project he admitted in his security questionnaire that he had been 'a member of just about every Communist Front organization on the West Coast.'" [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX65.html J. Robert Oppenheimer, (1904 - 1967)], "Race for the Superbomb," ''American Experience'', PBS</ref> In September 1943, he repeated to Gen. Leslie Groves, head of the Manhattan Project, that he had "probably belonged to every Communist-front organization on the west coast."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 159 (PDF 169). Cf. Philip M. Stern with Harold P. Green, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=i_tBAAAAIAAJ The Oppenheimer Case: Security on Trial]'' (New York: Harper & Row, 1969) ISBN 0246640359, p. 15</ref> Later that month, Lt. Col. John Lansdale, Jr., head of Security and Intelligence for the Manhattan Project, interviewed Oppenheimer, stating: "You've probably belonged to every front organization on the coast"; Oppenheimer reiterated: "Just about."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 204 (PDF 214)</ref>

More than a decade later, when the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was considering whether to renew his security clearance, Oppenheimer would change his story, writing that he did not remember saying this, that it was not true, and that if he had said anything along those lines, it was “a half-jocular overstatement.”<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> Yet less than four months after writing this, when the AEC got Oppenheimer on the witness stand, he would again change his story: When asked, “If you said that to Colonel Lansdale, were you jocular?” Oppenheimer would admit under oath, “I don’t think I could have been jocular during this interview.”<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 204 (PDF 214)</ref>

More than a decade later, when the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was considering whether to renew his security clearance, Oppenheimer would change his story, writing that he did not remember saying this, that it was not true, and that if he had said anything along those lines, it was “a half-jocular overstatement.”<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> Yet less than four months after writing this, when the AEC got Oppenheimer on the witness stand, he would again change his story: Asked, “If you said that to Colonel Lansdale, were you jocular?” Oppenheimer would admit under oath, “I don’t think I could have been jocular during this interview.”<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 204 (PDF 214)</ref>

Oppenheimer confessed, "I was associated with the Communist movement,"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 110 (PDF 120)</ref> and admitted having subscribed to the [[Communist Party]] organ ''People's World''<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 8 (PDF 18)</ref> "for several years."<ref>According to the FBI, he was subscribed as early as 1938. ([[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 [PDF 236]) Asked if his subscription expired after he joined the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer said: "Since I don't know when it was, I can't answer that question." He admitted, "I think I paid for it" and "I don't believe I canceled the subscription." [[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 157 (PDF 167)</ref> Throughout the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]], when many other formerly stalwart Communists dropped out of the movement in disgust, Oppenheimer was, by his own admission, active in a number of [[Communist front]]s. He admitted having been a member of the western council of the Consumers Union<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> (according the FBI, he actually became a member of the Board of Counselors of this organization),<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF 236)</ref> which was designated as subversive by the [[HUAC|Dies committee]] in 1939,<ref>Paul Gray, Tom Curry and Jane Van Tessel, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982525,00.html Evaluating the Buyer's Bible]," ''Time'', February 20, 1995</ref> during the pact. In addition, from 1939 until at least 1942<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 158 (PDF 168)</ref> (throughout the duration of the pact), admitted Oppenheimer, he was a member of the American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, which was identified by [[HUAC]] as a Communist front in 1942 and by a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations as subversive and un-American the following year.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 3 (PDF 13)</ref> Oppenheimer claimed not to remember sponsoring the American Friends of the Chinese People<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> (identified as a Communist front by HUAC in 1944),<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 3 (PDF 13)</ref> but the organization listed him as a sponsor<ref>Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, California Legislature, [http://ia331325.us.archive.org/3/items/reportofsenatefa00calirich/reportofsenatefa00calirich.pdf Un-American Activities in California, 1948: Communist Front Organizations, Fourth Report] (Sacramento, 1948), p. 144 (PDF p. 154)</ref> in 1940,<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 124</ref> during the pact.

Oppenheimer confessed, "I was associated with the Communist movement,"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 110 (PDF 120)</ref> and admitted having subscribed to the [[Communist Party]] organ ''People's World''<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 8 (PDF 18)</ref> "for several years."<ref>According to the FBI, he was subscribed as early as 1938. ([[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 [PDF 236]) Asked if his subscription expired after he joined the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer said: "Since I don't know when it was, I can't answer that question." He admitted, "I think I paid for it" and "I don't believe I canceled the subscription." [[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 157 (PDF 167)</ref> Throughout the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]], when many other formerly stalwart Communists dropped out of the movement in disgust, Oppenheimer was, by his own admission, active in a number of [[Communist front]]s. He admitted having been a member of the western council of the Consumers Union<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> (according the FBI, he actually became a member of the Board of Counselors of this organization),<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF 236)</ref> which was designated as subversive by the [[HUAC|Dies committee]] in 1939,<ref>Paul Gray, Tom Curry and Jane Van Tessel, "[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982525,00.html Evaluating the Buyer's Bible]," ''Time'', February 20, 1995</ref> during the pact. In addition, from 1939 until at least 1942<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 158 (PDF 168)</ref> (throughout the duration of the pact), admitted Oppenheimer, he was a member of the American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, which was identified by [[HUAC]] as a Communist front in 1942 and by a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations as subversive and un-American the following year.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 3 (PDF 13)</ref> Oppenheimer claimed not to remember sponsoring the American Friends of the Chinese People<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9 (PDF 19)</ref> (identified as a Communist front by HUAC in 1944),<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 3 (PDF 13)</ref> but the organization listed him as a sponsor<ref>Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, California Legislature, [http://ia331325.us.archive.org/3/items/reportofsenatefa00calirich/reportofsenatefa00calirich.pdf Un-American Activities in California, 1948: Communist Front Organizations, Fourth Report] (Sacramento, 1948), p. 144 (PDF p. 154)</ref> in 1940,<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 124</ref> during the pact.