Changes

337 bytes added , April 28

Line 10: Line 10:

| religion =

}}

−

'''Julius<ref>Although Oppenheimer always insisted that the initial J. in his name stood for "nothing" (Jeremy Bernstein, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kajvAAAAMAAJ Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma]'' [Ivan R. Dee, 2004] ISBN 1566635691, p. x), his birth certificate identifies him as "Julius Robert Oppenheimer." [[#refPK|Pais, Crease 2006]]: 355</ref> Robert Oppenheimer''' (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and administrative director of the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], one of four laboratories<ref>The others were the [http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/fermi.html Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago], under [http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Compton/Compton.html Arthur Compton];[https://web.archive.org/web/20130906064529/http://www.ornl.gov/ornl/news/communications/graphite-reactor Clinton Laboratories at Oak Ridge, Tennessee], under [http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev25-34/chapter1.shtml Martin Whitaker]; and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20111023190523/http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/WorldWarIIEra Hanford Engineer Works] in Hanford, Washington, under Crawford Greenewalt. S. L. Sanger, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tgjuoe2W4BoC Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford]'' (Continuing Education Press, 1995) ISBN 0876781156, p. 3. Cf. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100527133244/http://www.energy.gov/media/Manhattan_Project_Map.pdf Manhattan Project Map], United States Department of Energy</ref> involved in the [[Manhattan Project]] to develop the first [[atomic bomb]]. He was also a secret member of the [[Communist Party]].<ref>Alexander Vassiliev, tr. Philip Redko, Yellow notebook #1 (Cold War International History Center, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Yellow_Notebook_No._1_Original.pdf orig.], PDF p. 6; [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Yellow_Notebook_No.1_Translated.pdf trans.], p. 10. Cf. [[#refHaynes08|Haynes 2008]]: 120; [[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 49</ref>

+

'''Julius<ref>Although Oppenheimer always insisted that the initial J. in his name stood for "nothing" (Jeremy Bernstein, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kajvAAAAMAAJ Oppenheimer: Portrait of an Enigma]'' [Ivan R. Dee, 2004] ISBN 1566635691, p. x), his birth certificate identifies him as "Julius Robert Oppenheimer." [[#refPK|Pais, Crease 2006]]: 355</ref> Robert Oppenheimer''' (April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist and administrative director of the [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], one of four laboratories<ref>The others were the [http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/fermi.html Metallurgical Laboratory at the University of Chicago], under [http://www.aip.org/history/gap/Compton/Compton.html Arthur Compton];[https://web.archive.org/web/20130906064529/http://www.ornl.gov/ornl/news/communications/graphite-reactor Clinton Laboratories at Oak Ridge, Tennessee], under [http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev25-34/chapter1.shtml Martin Whitaker]; and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20111023190523/http://www.hanford.gov/page.cfm/WorldWarIIEra Hanford Engineer Works] in Hanford, Washington, under Crawford Greenewalt. S. L. Sanger, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tgjuoe2W4BoC Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford]'' (Continuing Education Press, 1995) ISBN 0876781156, p. 3. Cf. [https://web.archive.org/web/20100527133244/http://www.energy.gov/media/Manhattan_Project_Map.pdf Manhattan Project Map], United States Department of Energy</ref> involved in the [[Manhattan Project]] to develop the first [[atomic bomb]]. He was also a secret member of the [[Communist Party]].<ref>Alexander Vassiliev, tr. Philip Redko, Yellow notebook #1 (Cold War International History Center, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars), [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Yellow_Notebook_No._1_Original.pdf orig.], PDF p. 6; [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Yellow_Notebook_No.1_Translated.pdf trans.], p. 10. Cf. [[#refHaynes08|Haynes 2008]]: 120; [[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 49</ref><ref>[https://time.com/6898636/robert-oppenheimer-communist/ Time magazine]</ref>

−

Like other [[liberal]]s, Oppenheimer was not as smart as he wanted to be: he was rejected by [[Ernest Rutherford]] as a student, and was never at the high intellectual level of [[Enrico Fermi]], [[John von Neumann]], or [[Robert Dicke]]. Like a fellow communist later on, former [[CIA]] director [[John Brennan]], Oppenheimer's security clearance was permanently revoked by presidential directive for [[colluding]] with the [[KGB]] and sparking the [[Cold War]] nuclear arms race. In December 2022, [[Leftist]]s persuaded [[Biden]] to reinstate Oppenheimer's security clearance in a political stunt more than 55 years after he died.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/17/j-robert-oppenheimer-atomic-bomb-security-clearance</ref>

+

Like other [[liberal]]s, Oppenheimer was not as smart as he wanted to be: he was rejected by [[Ernest Rutherford]] as a student, and was never at the high intellectual level of [[Enrico Fermi]], [[John von Neumann]], or [[Robert Dicke]]. Like a fellow communist later on, former [[CIA]] director [[John Brennan]], Oppenheimer's security clearance was permanently revoked by presidential directive for [[colluding]] with the [[KGB]] and sparking the [[Cold War]] [[nuclear arms race]]. In December 2022, [[Leftist]]s persuaded [[Biden]] to reinstate Oppenheimer's security clearance in a political stunt more than 55 years after he died.<ref>https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/17/j-robert-oppenheimer-atomic-bomb-security-clearance</ref>

−

[[Leftist]] [[Hollywood]] produced a $100 million "[[Oppenheimer (film)|Oppenheimer]]" movie for release in 2023 that over-promotes, and is overly sympathetic to, Oppenheimer.<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_i_4</ref> The movie's intrigue about the [[Deep State]] and gratuitous sex scenes apparently attracted the larger-than-expected audience. ~~The film~~ downplays and distorts Oppenheimer's attempt to murder a smarter rival graduate student by trying to poison him.<ref>https://www.slashfilm.com/1346046/historical-facts-oppenheimer-ignores/</ref> This biased movie absurdly received 13 [[Academy Award]] ~~nominations~~ as [[Hollywood]] [[Leftist]]s try to rewrite history.

+

[[Leftist]] [[Hollywood]] produced a $100 million "[[Oppenheimer (film)|Oppenheimer]]" movie for release in 2023 that over-promotes, and is overly sympathetic to, Oppenheimer.<ref>https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_i_4</ref> The movie's intrigue about the [[Deep State]] and gratuitous sex scenes apparently attracted the larger-than-expected audience. '''''[[Hollywood]] downplays and distorts Oppenheimer's attempt to murder a smarter rival graduate student by trying to poison him'''''.<ref>https://www.slashfilm.com/1346046/historical-facts-oppenheimer-ignores/</ref> This biased movie absurdly received 7 [[Academy Award]]s as [[Hollywood]] [[Leftist]]s try to rewrite history.

== Early life ==

Oppenheimer was born in [[New York]] in 1904,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 7 (PDF 17)</ref> the eldest son of Julius and Ella (née Freedman) Oppenheimer. His father was a wealthy textile importer who had immigrated from [[Germany]] in 1895, while his mother was a scion of [[Philadelphia]] society who had studied painting in Paris.<ref>[http://www.lanl.gov/history/people/oppenheimer.shtml The Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945], Los Alamos National Laboratory</ref> They collected original art, including a Renoir and three Van Goghs; they also owned a 40-foot yacht,<ref>[[#refPK06|Pais, Crease 2006]]: 4</ref> and his father gave him his own 27-foot sloop.<ref>[[#refRhodes86|Rhodes 1986]]: 123</ref> Precocious but socially backward, Oppenheimer began collecting minerals at age five, was elected to the New York Minerological Club at eleven,<ref>[http://www.lanl.gov/history/people/oppenheimer.shtml The Oppenheimer Years, 1943-1945], Los Alamos National Laboratory</ref> and delivered his first paper there at age 12.<ref>Peter Goodchild, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=A4MgAQAAIAAJ J. Robert Oppenheimer: Shatterer of Worlds]'' (Fromm International Pub. Corp., 1985) ISBN 0880640219, p. 11</ref> His shy awkwardness earned him the nickname "Booby" Oppenheimer among his peers; he was bullied, culminating in being locked naked in an icehouse overnight as retribution for alleged tattling.<ref>[[#refSW95|Smith, Weiner 1995]]: 4</ref>

Line 32: Line 32:

Oppenheimer went to Paris for a rest. His boyhood friend Francis Fergusson visited him there, and mentioned that he had become engaged. For the second time, Oppenheimer committed an apparent attempted murder:

{{cquote|"I leaned over to pick up a book," Fergusson recalled, "and he jumped on me from behind with a trunk strap and wound it around my neck. I was quite scared for a little while. We must have made some noise. And then I managed to pull aside and he fell on the ground weeping."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 47</ref>}}

−

In 1926, Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen in Germany. He developed a reputation for obnoxiousness, once chiding a graduate student couple for what he called their "peasant" ways in not being able to afford a ~~baby-sitter~~.<ref>David Bodanis, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MmjreCHCq_gC E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation]'' (Random House, Inc., 2001) ISBN 0385258917, p. 147</ref> He had a habit of interrupting others (including his professor) and commandeering the blackboard; the future [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/mayer.html Nobel Prize-winner] Maria Göppart once presented Oppenheimer's faculty adviser, [[Max Born]], with a petition threatening a boycott of his seminar unless the "child prodigy" were reigned in.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 60</ref> Oppenheimer obtained a Ph.D. in physics in 1927, then obtained a National Research Council fellowship funded by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]].<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 68</ref> He did post-doctoral work at Harvard, then the California Institute of Technology, finally taking a position as an associate professor of physics at the [[University of California at Berkeley]].

+

In 1926, Oppenheimer left Cambridge for the University of Göttingen in Germany. He developed a reputation for obnoxiousness, once chiding a graduate student couple for what he called their "peasant" ways in not being able to afford a babysitter.<ref>David Bodanis, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=MmjreCHCq_gC E=mc2: A Biography of the World's Most Famous Equation]'' (Random House, Inc., 2001) ISBN 0385258917, p. 147</ref> He had a habit of interrupting others (including his professor) and commandeering the blackboard; the future [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1963/mayer.html Nobel Prize-winner] Maria Göppart once presented Oppenheimer's faculty adviser, [[Max Born]], with a petition threatening a boycott of his seminar unless the "child prodigy" were reigned in.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 60</ref> Oppenheimer obtained a Ph.D. in physics in 1927, then obtained a National Research Council fellowship funded by the [[Rockefeller Foundation]].<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 68</ref> He did post-doctoral work at Harvard, then the California Institute of Technology, finally taking a position as an associate professor of physics at the [[University of California at Berkeley]].

== Scientific contributions ==

Line 38: Line 38:

== Personal life and Communist affiliation ==

−

At Caltech, Oppenheimer had befriended [[Linus Pauling]], and wrote him poems Pauling found "troubling," which included allusions to pederasty. Pauling broke off the friendship after Oppenheimer made a pass at his wife, Ava Helen Pauling, who told her husband, "I think he was in love with you."<ref>Thomas Hager, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=FNXaAAAAMAAJ Force of nature: the life of Linus Pauling]'' (Simon & Schuster, 1995) ISBN 0684809095, pp. 150-152</ref> At Berkeley, rumors circulated of an affair between Oppenheimer and a homosexual student who lived with him,<ref>Silvan S. Schweber, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pBNpeh2BaG4C In the shadow of the bomb: Bethe, Oppenheimer, and the moral responsibility of the scientist]'' (Princeton University Press, 2000) ISBN 0691049890, p. 203, n. 69. Oppenheimer's colleague ~~Abrahaim~~ Pais wrote that "I was convinced that strong latent homosexuality was an important ingredient in Robert's emotional makeup." (Abraham Pais, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XrYrAAAAYAAJ A tale of two continents: a physicist's life in a turbulent world]'' [Oxford University Press, 1997] ISBN 0198501994, p. 241) One biographer comments, "it seems fairly likely that sexual ambivalence was one aspect of Oppenheimer's youthful problems of identity." Charles Thorpe, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=BWek8zJ-U7IC Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect]'' (University of Chicago Press, 2006) ISBN 0226798453, p. 51</ref> but in 1936 he began an affair with Jean Tatlock, a medical student at Stanford<ref>Ted Morgan, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4ijWhgff9XEC Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America]'' (Random House, Inc., 2004) ISBN 081297302X, p. 236</ref> and daughter of Oppenheimer's fellow Berkeley professor John S.P. Tatlock,<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 109</ref> a contributor to ''[[Nation (magazine)|The Nation]]''.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/authors/john-s-p-tatlock Author Bios: John S.P. Tatlock, thenation.com]</ref> Then, In 1939, Oppenheimer began an affair with [http://foia.fbi.gov/oppenheimer_katherine/oppenheimer_katherine_part01.pdf Katherine "Kitty" Puening Dallet Harrison]. After moving in with Oppenheimer and becoming pregnant,<ref>David Cassidy, ''J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century'' (Pi Press: 2004) ISBN 0-13-147996-2, pp. 186-187</ref> Kitty abandoned her third husband,<ref>Richard Rhodes, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/review/15RHODESL.html Nuclear Options]," ''The New York Times'', May 15, 2005</ref> a cancer researcher at Caltech,<ref>[[#refSW95|Smith, Weiner 1995]]: 214</ref> to marry Oppenheimer in 1940, though he continued his affair with Tatlock until at least June 1943. During [[World War II]], while married to Kitty, Oppenheimer began an affair with another married woman, Ruth Tolman, the wife of Caltech physicist Richard Tolman, whom Oppenheimer testified was "a very close and dear friend of mine."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 363</ref> The affair "devastated Richard Tolman,"<ref>C. Mott Woolley, "[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HE10Aa02.html The tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer]," ''Asia Times'', May 10, 2006</ref> who died, according to [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1939/lawrence.html Nobel Prize-winning] physicist Ernest Lawrence, "of a broken heart."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 365</ref> Kitty took to drinking.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 407-409</ref>

+

At Caltech, Oppenheimer had befriended [[Linus Pauling]], and wrote him poems Pauling found "troubling," which included allusions to pederasty. Pauling broke off the friendship after Oppenheimer made a pass at his wife, Ava Helen Pauling, who told her husband, "I think he was in love with you."<ref>Thomas Hager, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=FNXaAAAAMAAJ Force of nature: the life of Linus Pauling]'' (Simon & Schuster, 1995) ISBN 0684809095, pp. 150-152</ref> At Berkeley, rumors circulated of an affair between Oppenheimer and a homosexual student who lived with him,<ref>Silvan S. Schweber, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pBNpeh2BaG4C In the shadow of the bomb: Bethe, Oppenheimer, and the moral responsibility of the scientist]'' (Princeton University Press, 2000) ISBN 0691049890, p. 203, n. 69. Oppenheimer's colleague Abraham Pais wrote that "I was convinced that strong latent homosexuality was an important ingredient in Robert's emotional makeup." (Abraham Pais, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=XrYrAAAAYAAJ A tale of two continents: a physicist's life in a turbulent world]'' [Oxford University Press, 1997] ISBN 0198501994, p. 241) One biographer comments, "it seems fairly likely that sexual ambivalence was one aspect of Oppenheimer's youthful problems of identity." Charles Thorpe, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=BWek8zJ-U7IC Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect]'' (University of Chicago Press, 2006) ISBN 0226798453, p. 51</ref> but in 1936 he began an affair with Jean Tatlock, a medical student at Stanford<ref>Ted Morgan, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4ijWhgff9XEC Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America]'' (Random House, Inc., 2004) ISBN 081297302X, p. 236</ref> and daughter of Oppenheimer's fellow Berkeley professor John S.P. Tatlock,<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 109</ref> a contributor to ''[[Nation (magazine)|The Nation]]''.<ref>[http://www.thenation.com/authors/john-s-p-tatlock Author Bios: John S.P. Tatlock, thenation.com]</ref> Then, In 1939, Oppenheimer began an affair with [http://foia.fbi.gov/oppenheimer_katherine/oppenheimer_katherine_part01.pdf Katherine "Kitty" Puening Dallet Harrison]. After moving in with Oppenheimer and becoming pregnant,<ref>David Cassidy, ''J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century'' (Pi Press: 2004) ISBN 0-13-147996-2, pp. 186-187</ref> Kitty abandoned her third husband,<ref>Richard Rhodes, "[https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/books/review/15RHODESL.html Nuclear Options]," ''The New York Times'', May 15, 2005</ref> a cancer researcher at Caltech,<ref>[[#refSW95|Smith, Weiner 1995]]: 214</ref> to marry Oppenheimer in 1940, though he continued his affair with Tatlock until at least June 1943. During [[World War II]], while married to Kitty, Oppenheimer began an affair with another married woman, Ruth Tolman, the wife of Caltech physicist Richard Tolman, whom Oppenheimer testified was "a very close and dear friend of mine."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 363</ref> The affair "devastated Richard Tolman,"<ref>C. Mott Woolley, "[http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/HE10Aa02.html The tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer]," ''Asia Times'', May 10, 2006</ref> who died, according to [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1939/lawrence.html Nobel Prize-winning] physicist Ernest Lawrence, "of a broken heart."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 365</ref> Kitty took to drinking.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 407-409</ref>

Oppenheimer had a history of pro-Communist associations, starting at Caltech with Pauling, a "long-serving [[USSR|Soviet]] tool."<ref>Stephen Schwartz, "[http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=23794 Communists and Islamic Extremists - Then and Now]," FrontPageMagazine.com, July 8, 2002. A 1951 investigation by HUAC, then chaired by Democrat John Stephens Wood, concluded that Pauling was "primarily engrossed in placing his scientific attainments at the service of a host of organizations which have in common their complete subservience to the Communist Party, USA, and the Soviet Union. Professor Pauling has not deviated a hair's breadth from this pattern of loyalty to the Communist cause since 1946." (House Committee on Un-American Activities, ''[http://ia700404.us.archive.org/14/items/reportoncommunis00unit/reportoncommunis00unit_bw.pdf Report on the Communist "Peace" Offensive, the Attempt to Disarm and Defeat America]'' [Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1951], p. 86) In 1970, the Soviet government would reward Pauling for his long service [http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/peace/newsclips/1970n.13.html with the Lenin prize].</ref> Later, at Berkeley, Oppenheimer's mistress Tatlock was a [[Communist]],<ref>[[#refPK06|Pais, Crease 2006]]: 36</ref> as was his wife Kitty,<ref>[[#refRhodes96|Rhodes 1996]]: 122. Cf. [[#refHB2000|Romerstein, Breindel 2000]]: 270</ref> [http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/alba_032/bioghist.html widow of Communist political commissar Joe Dallet], killed in the [[Spanish Civil War]]<ref>[http://foia.fbi.gov/filelink.html?file=/oppenheimer_katherine/oppenheimer_katherine_part01.pdf Hoover to Lansdale], May 23, 1944 (FBI file: Katherine Oppenheimer, PDF p. 2)</ref> (perhaps by his Soviet superiors, or fragged by his own men, according to various rumors).<ref>William Herrick, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=vKWZ9Vo69GwC Jumping the Line: The Adventures and Misadventures of an American Radical]'' (AK Press, 2001) ISBN 1902593421, p. 237</ref> In January 1944, Tatlock would be found drowned in her bathtub, in circumstances termed "suspicious."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 232, 253.</ref> Some writers suspect Soviet involvement in Tatlock's death. Stephen Schwartz mentions "Khyron"—the Cyrillic transliteration of Chyron, ferryman of the dead in ancient Greek mythology<ref>Stephen Schwartz, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PvoUAAAAYAAJ From West To East: California and the Making of the American Mind]'' (Free Press, 1998) ISBN 0684831341, p. 380. Cf. Cornell Simpson, ''[https://www.amazon.com/death-James-Forrestal-Cornell-Simpson/dp/B0006BOU86 The Death of James Forrestal]'' (Western Islands, 1966. ASIN B0006BOU86)</ref>—which was also [[Grigory Kheifets|Kheifets]]' [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/Venona-San%20Francisco-KGB.pdf code name].

Line 58: Line 58:

===Communist Party membership===

−

But Oppenheimer “was not simply a casual [[Popular Front]] liberal who ignorantly bumped up against the [[CPUSA]] in some of the areas in which it operated," according to John Earl Haynes, a Soviet espionage expert in the Manuscript Division of the [[Library of Congress]]:<ref>Patricia Villamil, "2009-2010 Kluge Staff Fellow," [http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/newsletters/KlugeNewsletteFall2009.pdf ''Newsletter'', the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, Vol. 2, No. 2 (November 2009)], p. 6</ref> "He was, in fact, a concealed member of the CPUSA in the late 1930s," ~~write~~ Haynes, [[Emory University]] Professor Harvey Klehr and ex-[[KGB]] agent Alexander Vassiliev.<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 58</ref> “Robert Oppenheimer was a member of a so-called closed unit of the Communist Party's professional section in Berkeley, from 1938 to 1942,” agrees Gregg Herken, a former senior Historian at the [[Smithsonian Institution]].<ref>Gregg Herken, [http://www.brotherhoodofthebomb.com/bhbsource/documents.html Documents], Brotherhood of the Bomb</ref> Stanford University historian Barton Bernstein, an expert on Oppenheimer, concurs that "it seems to me far more likely than not from the amalgam of evidence that Oppenheimer was a member, at least covert, for a few years."<ref>Charles Burress, "[http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-04-23/news/17423704_1_communist-party-oppenheimer-uc-berkeley The Oppenheimer Riddle: New evidence of Communist membership debated by scholars of Berkeley scientist]," ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', April 23, 2004</ref>

+

But Oppenheimer “was not simply a casual [[Popular Front]] liberal who ignorantly bumped up against the [[CPUSA]] in some of the areas in which it operated," according to John Earl Haynes, a Soviet espionage expert in the Manuscript Division of the [[Library of Congress]]:<ref>Patricia Villamil, "2009-2010 Kluge Staff Fellow," [http://www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/newsletters/KlugeNewsletteFall2009.pdf ''Newsletter'', the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, Vol. 2, No. 2 (November 2009)], p. 6</ref> "He was, in fact, a concealed member of the CPUSA in the late 1930s," wrote Haynes, [[Emory University]] Professor Harvey Klehr and ex-[[KGB]] agent [[Alexander Vassiliev]].<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 58</ref> “Robert Oppenheimer was a member of a so-called closed unit of the Communist Party's professional section in Berkeley, from 1938 to 1942,” agrees Gregg Herken, a former senior Historian at the [[Smithsonian Institution]].<ref>Gregg Herken, [http://www.brotherhoodofthebomb.com/bhbsource/documents.html Documents], Brotherhood of the Bomb</ref> Stanford University historian Barton Bernstein, an expert on Oppenheimer, concurs that "it seems to me far more likely than not from the amalgam of evidence that Oppenheimer was a member, at least covert, for a few years."<ref>Charles Burress, "[http://articles.sfgate.com/2004-04-23/news/17423704_1_communist-party-oppenheimer-uc-berkeley The Oppenheimer Riddle: New evidence of Communist membership debated by scholars of Berkeley scientist]," ''The San Francisco Chronicle'', April 23, 2004</ref>

====Berkeley cell====

Line 75: Line 75:

====Soviet intelligence====

−

If Oppenheimer was not a Communist, he not only convinced the Communist Party he was, he convinced Soviet intelligence itself. A 1944 report by [[NKVD]] [[San Francisco]] ''[[rezident]]'' (station chief) [[Grigory Kheifetz]]<ref>Robert L. Benson, ''[http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/coldwar/venona_story.pdf The Venona Story]'' (Fort George G. Meade, Md.: National Security Agency, Center for Cryptologic History, 2001), p. 41</ref> states: “According to 'Uncle' ([[Isaac Folkoff]]),<ref>[[#refHaynes08|Haynes 2008]]: 56</ref> both brothers [Robert and Frank Oppenheimer] were associated with the fellowcountrymen,"<ref>Alexandr Vassiliev, [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/White_Notebook_No.1_Translated1.pdf White Notebook #1] (tr. Steve Shabad), p. 138</ref> [[NKVD]] code name for the Communist Party.<ref>[[#refHaynes08|Haynes 2008]]: 36</ref> That year, NKVD agents [[Gaik Ovakimian]] and Andrei Graur reported to NKVD chief Boris Merkulov, identifying the code name "Chester" as "Robert Oppenheimer, b. 1906, an Amer. Jew, secret member of the ~~fellowcountryman~~ org., a professor at the U. of California, works on ‘En-s’,"<ref>Vassiliev Yellow Notebook #1 ([http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/Yellow_Notebook_No._1_Original.pdf Orig.]), PDF p. 6; ([http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/Yellow_Notebook_No.1_Translated.pdf Trans].), p. 10. Cf. [[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 45</ref> i.e., 'Enormoz,' Soviet code name for the Manhattan Project.<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 87</ref> Merkulov, reporting in turn to Soviet Commissar for Internal Affairs [[Lavrenty Beria]], identified “one of the leaders of scientific work on uranium in the USA, Professor R. Oppenheimer,” as “an unlisted [''nglastny'']<ref>Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFoAAAAMAAJ Sacred secrets: how Soviet intelligence operations changed American history]'' (Brassey's, 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 50</ref> member of the apparatus of Comrade [[Earl Browder|Browder]],” General Secretary of the [[CPUSA]].<ref>[http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111512 Merkulov to Beria, 2 October 1944], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars</ref> Oppenheimer is also mentioned as an unlisted member of the CPUSA in a January 7, 1946, Soviet intelligence document from the Russian Presidential Archives and Ministry of Atomic Energy.<ref>"The State of Work in the Utilization of Atomic Energy in Capitalist Countries," in "Atomic Project in the USSR, Volume II, 1938-54" (Moscow: Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia, 2000). See Jerrold and Leona Schechter, "[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0210&week=c&msg=VJUrY5l1Cc7MVWpd5C6O1g&user=&pw= Clarification of Steven Aftergood's posting of August 30, 2002]," H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, October 14, 2002</ref>

+

If Oppenheimer was not a Communist, he not only convinced the Communist Party he was, he convinced Soviet intelligence itself. A 1944 report by [[NKVD]] [[San Francisco]] ''[[rezident]]'' (station chief) [[Grigory Kheifetz]]<ref>Robert L. Benson, ''[http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/coldwar/venona_story.pdf The Venona Story]'' (Fort George G. Meade, Md.: National Security Agency, Center for Cryptologic History, 2001), p. 41</ref> states: “According to 'Uncle' ([[Isaac Folkoff]]),<ref>[[#refHaynes08|Haynes 2008]]: 56</ref> both brothers [Robert and Frank Oppenheimer] were associated with the fellowcountrymen,"<ref>Alexandr Vassiliev, [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/White_Notebook_No.1_Translated1.pdf White Notebook #1] (tr. Steve Shabad), p. 138</ref> [[NKVD]] code name for the Communist Party.<ref>[[#refHaynes08|Haynes 2008]]: 36</ref> That year, NKVD agents [[Gaik Ovakimian]] and Andrei Graur reported to NKVD chief Boris Merkulov, identifying the code name "Chester" as "Robert Oppenheimer, b. 1906, an Amer. Jew, secret member of the fellow countryman org., a professor at the U. of California, works on ‘En-s’,"<ref>Vassiliev Yellow Notebook #1 ([http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/Yellow_Notebook_No._1_Original.pdf Orig.]), PDF p. 6; ([http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/Yellow_Notebook_No.1_Translated.pdf Trans].), p. 10. Cf. [[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 45</ref> i.e., '[[Enormoz]],' Soviet code name for the Manhattan Project.<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 87</ref> Merkulov, reporting in turn to Soviet Commissar for Internal Affairs [[Lavrenty Beria]], identified “one of the leaders of scientific work on uranium in the USA, Professor R. Oppenheimer,” as “an unlisted [''nglastny'']<ref>Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFoAAAAMAAJ Sacred secrets: how Soviet intelligence operations changed American history]'' (Brassey's, 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. 50</ref> member of the apparatus of Comrade [[Earl Browder|Browder]],” General Secretary of the [[CPUSA]].<ref>[http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/111512 Merkulov to Beria, 2 October 1944], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars</ref> Oppenheimer is also mentioned as an unlisted member of the CPUSA in a January 7, 1946, Soviet intelligence document from the Russian Presidential Archives and Ministry of Atomic Energy.<ref>"The State of Work in the Utilization of Atomic Energy in Capitalist Countries," in "Atomic Project in the USSR, Volume II, 1938-54" (Moscow: Ministry of Atomic Energy of Russia, 2000). See Jerrold and Leona Schechter, "[http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-diplo&month=0210&week=c&msg=VJUrY5l1Cc7MVWpd5C6O1g&user=&pw= Clarification of Steven Aftergood's posting of August 30, 2002]," H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, October 14, 2002</ref>

====Cover-up====

Line 83: Line 83:

According to [[Grigory Kheifetz|Kheifetz]], "due to their special military work, the connection with them [Robert and Frank Oppenheimer] was suspended.”<ref>Alexandr Vassiliev, [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/docs/White_Notebook_No.1_Translated1.pdf White Notebook #1] (tr. Steve Shabad), p. 138</ref> Ovakimian and Graur reported to Merkulov: “In view of the special significance and importance of the work he does... the fellowcountryman organization received orders from its center to break off relations with ‘Ch.’ [i.e., "Chester," Oppenheimer's code name] to avoid his exposure.”<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 45</ref> Merkulov summarized:

−

{{cquote|Due to complications of the operational situation in the USA, dissolution of the [[Comintern]]<ref>In 1943, Stalin officially dissolved the [[Comintern]] ([http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/dissolution.htm Dissolution of the Communist International], Marxists Internet Archive), forcing Soviet intelligence to reorganize its espionage channels in the United States. ([http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.publications&doc_id=43900&group_id=13349 Was Oppenheimer a Soviet Spy? A Roundtable Discussion with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, Gregg Herken and Hayden Peake], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars). The International Department of the [[CPSU]] Central Committee was created that year essentially to carry out functions previously performed by the Comintern ([http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+su0271%29 Departments of the Central Committee], Soviet Union, Country Studies, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1989), which included “control over the CPUSA,” (Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Kirill Mikhaĭlovich Anderson, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=nHKvFVnBLGYC The Soviet World of American Communism]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), ISBN 0300071507, p. 48)—gradually transferring Comintern assets and networks to direct NKVD control. [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/preface.htm Preface], Robert Louis Benson and Michael Warner, eds., ''[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/venona.htm Venona: Soviet Espionage and The American Response, 1939-1957]'' (NSA/CIA, 1996)</ref> and explanations of Comrades Zarubin and Kheifets on the Mironov affair<ref>In 1943, Lt. Col. Vasili Mironov, an NKVD officer in the Washington, DC ''rezidentura'', sent an [http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2005/august/history_082605 unsigned letter] to [[J. Edgar Hoover]], exposing the intelligence activities of the [[Vasily Zarubin|Zarubin]]s and [[Grigory Kheifets|Kheifets]].</ref> it is expedient to immediately sever contacts of leaders and activists of the American Communist Party with scientists and specialists engaged in work on uranium.<ref>[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.document&identifier=5034E2FB-96B6-175C-967BCF8290DD3AD9&sort=Collection&item=Intelligence%20Operations%20in%20the%20Cold%20War Merkulov to Beria, 2 October 1944], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars</ref>}}

+

{{cquote|Due to complications of the operational situation in the USA, dissolution of the [[Comintern]]<ref>In 1943, Stalin officially dissolved the [[Comintern]] ([http://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/dissolution.htm Dissolution of the Communist International], Marxists Internet Archive), forcing Soviet intelligence to reorganize its espionage channels in the United States. ([http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.publications&doc_id=43900&group_id=13349 Was Oppenheimer a Soviet Spy? A Roundtable Discussion with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, Gregg Herken and Hayden Peake], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars). The International Department of the [[CPSU]] Central Committee was created that year essentially to carry out functions previously performed by the Comintern ([http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+su0271%29 Departments of the Central Committee], Soviet Union, Country Studies, Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, 1989), which included “control over the CPUSA,” (Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Kirill Mikhaĭlovich Anderson, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=nHKvFVnBLGYC The Soviet World of American Communism]'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), ISBN 0300071507, p. 48)—gradually transferring Comintern assets and networks to direct NKVD control. [https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/preface.htm Preface], [[Robert Louis Benson]] and [[Michael Warner]], eds., ''[https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/books-and-monographs/venona-soviet-espionage-and-the-american-response-1939-1957/venona.htm Venona: Soviet Espionage and The American Response, 1939-1957]'' (NSA/CIA, 1996)</ref> and explanations of Comrades Zarubin and Kheifets on the Mironov affair<ref>In 1943, Lt. Col. Vasili Mironov, an NKVD officer in the Washington, DC ''rezidentura'', sent an [http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2005/august/history_082605 unsigned letter] to [[J. Edgar Hoover]], exposing the intelligence activities of the [[Vasily Zarubin|Zarubin]]s and [[Grigory Kheifets|Kheifets]].</ref> it is expedient to immediately sever contacts of leaders and activists of the American Communist Party with scientists and specialists engaged in work on uranium.<ref>[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=va2.document&identifier=5034E2FB-96B6-175C-967BCF8290DD3AD9&sort=Collection&item=Intelligence%20Operations%20in%20the%20Cold%20War Merkulov to Beria, 2 October 1944], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars</ref>}}

−

According to Sudoplatov, "My deputy, Leonid Eitingon, and I also instructed Kheifetz and Semyonov to turn over to our old moles all their confidential contacts with friendly sources around Oppenheimer in California."<ref>George J. Church, "[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980756,00.html Did Oppenheimer Really Help Moscow?]" ''Time'', Vol. 143, No. 21 (May 23, 1994), p. 68</ref> A 1945 Soviet code-message refers to instructions to “send GURON [‘Huron’]<ref>Huron was identified in the [[Gorsky memo]] in 1948 by [[Anatoly Gorsky]] (NKVD ''rezident'' in Washington in 1945) as Byron T. Darling, who would be fired from a post as associate professor of physics at Ohio State University in 1953 when he refused to answer a question about his Communist Party ties before HUAC.</ref> to CHICAGO to re-establish contact with VEKSEL....” The National Security Agency’s [[Venona project]] analysts identified VEKSEL as “Probably Dr. Julius Robert Oppenheimer.”<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/21_Mar_1945_R1_p2.gif Venona 256 Moscow to New York], 21 March 1945</ref>

+

According to Sudoplatov, "My deputy, Leonid Eitingon, and I also instructed Kheifetz and Semyonov to turn over to our old moles all their confidential contacts with friendly sources around Oppenheimer in California."<ref>George J. Church, "[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,980756,00.html Did Oppenheimer Really Help Moscow?]" ''Time'', Vol. 143, No. 21 (May 23, 1994), p. 68</ref> A 1945 Soviet code message refers to instructions to “send GURON [‘Huron’]<ref>Huron was identified in the [[Gorsky memo]] in 1948 by [[Anatoly Gorsky]] (NKVD ''rezident'' in Washington in 1945) as Byron T. Darling, who would be fired from a post as associate professor of physics at Ohio State University in 1953 when he refused to answer a question about his Communist Party ties before HUAC.</ref> to CHICAGO to re-establish contact with VEKSEL....” The National Security Agency’s [[Venona project]] analysts identified VEKSEL as “Probably Dr. Julius Robert Oppenheimer.”<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/venona/releases/21_Mar_1945_R1_p2.gif Venona 256 Moscow to New York], 21 March 1945</ref>

== Espionage at Los Alamos ==

Line 107: Line 107:

In 1949, just before Lomanitz was to testify before HUAC, Oppenheimer met him on a sidewalk in Princeton, N.J., (where presumably "the FBI found it difficult to monitor his conversations"),<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,935123,00.html THE ATOM: A Matter of Character]," ''Time'', June 14, 1954</ref> and discussed what he would say to the committee. Oppenheimer testified that the meeting was by chance, and that he only advised Lomanitz to tell the truth. But when he testified, Lomanitz refused on grounds of potential self-incrimination to answer whether or not he had been a Communist.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 151 (PDF 161)</ref>

−

Oppenheimer also testified that he knew "for a fact" by August 1943 that Weinberg was a Communist Party member<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 875 (PDF 887). Cf. [[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 245; [[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 111</ref> and had heard even at Berkeley that Weinberg had been a member of the Young Communist League.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 194 (PDF 204)</ref> FBI surveillance recorded Weinberg, who had gotten into the Manhattan ~~project~~ using Oppenheimer as a reference, telling Nelson he had been a Communist Party member since 1938.<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 14 (PDF 16)</ref> Nelson warned Weinberg to burn his party membership book.<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 148</ref> In 1943, FBI surveillance recorded Weinberg ("[http://ia341038.us.archive.org/1/items/hearingsregardin194902unit/hearingsregardin194902unit_bw.pdf Scientist X]") reading to Nelson "what appeared to be a technical formula used in the Project," which Nelson copied down.<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 6 (PDF 8)</ref> Weinberg told Nelson he had to return the formula to the University of California Radiation Laboratories in the morning. Several days later Nelson met with Peter Ivanov (a [[GRU]] agent operating out of the Soviet consulate in San Francisco,<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]</ref> where [[Grigory Kheifetz|Kheifetz]] was undercover as vice consul),<ref>[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?doc_id=43900&fuseaction=topics.publications&group_id=13349&topic_id=1409 Was Oppenheimer a Soviet Spy? A Roundtable Discussion with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, Gregg Herken and Hayden Peake], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars</ref> and gave him a package.<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 325</ref> A few days later, "Zubilin" ([[Vasily Zarubin]], NKVD station chief in the U.S. from 1941 to 1944) was transferred from the Soviet Embassy in Washington to the San Francisco consulate. Shortly thereafter, Zubilin gave Nelson ten bills of unknown denominations.<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, 81st Cong., 1st sess., [http://ia311304.us.archive.org/1/items/hearingsregarding1949unit/hearingsregarding1949unit_bw.pdf Hearings Regarding Steve Nelson] (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949), pp. VIII-IX (PDF pp. 12-13)</ref>

+

Oppenheimer also testified that he knew "for a fact" by August 1943 that Weinberg was a Communist Party member<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 875 (PDF 887). Cf. [[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 245; [[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 111</ref> and had heard even at Berkeley that Weinberg had been a member of the Young Communist League.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 194 (PDF 204)</ref> FBI surveillance recorded Weinberg, who had gotten into the [[Manhattan Project]] using Oppenheimer as a reference, telling Nelson he had been a Communist Party member since 1938.<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 14 (PDF 16)</ref> Nelson warned Weinberg to burn his party membership book.<ref>[[#refHK06|Haynes, Klehr 2006]]: 148</ref> In 1943, FBI surveillance recorded Weinberg ("[http://ia341038.us.archive.org/1/items/hearingsregardin194902unit/hearingsregardin194902unit_bw.pdf Scientist X]") reading to Nelson "what appeared to be a technical formula used in the Project," which Nelson copied down.<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 6 (PDF 8)</ref> Weinberg told Nelson he had to return the formula to the University of California Radiation Laboratories in the morning. Several days later Nelson met with Peter Ivanov (a [[GRU]] agent operating out of the Soviet consulate in San Francisco,<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]</ref> where [[Grigory Kheifetz|Kheifetz]] was undercover as vice consul),<ref>[http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?doc_id=43900&fuseaction=topics.publications&group_id=13349&topic_id=1409 Was Oppenheimer a Soviet Spy? A Roundtable Discussion with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, Gregg Herken and Hayden Peake], Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars</ref> and gave him a package.<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 325</ref> A few days later, "Zubilin" ([[Vasily Zarubin]], NKVD station chief in the U.S. from 1941 to 1944) was transferred from the Soviet Embassy in Washington to the San Francisco consulate. Shortly thereafter, Zubilin gave Nelson ten bills of unknown denominations.<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, 81st Cong., 1st sess., [http://ia311304.us.archive.org/1/items/hearingsregarding1949unit/hearingsregarding1949unit_bw.pdf Hearings Regarding Steve Nelson] (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1949), pp. VIII-IX (PDF pp. 12-13)</ref>

At least three of the five scientists under Oppenheimer's direct supervision [[leak]]ed secret information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. These include [[Klaus Fuchs]], [[Theodore Hall]], and [[David Greenglass]].<ref>For '''Karl Fuchs''', see: {{hnb|Andrew & Mitrokhin|1999|Ref=CITEREFAndrewMitrokhin1999|p=114-115, 127-128, 131-132, 155, 164, 397}} Noting that Klaus Fuchs, a committed Stalinist, began spying while in Great Britain after fleeing Nazi Germany, and continued when he came to the United States to work on the Manhattan Project. For '''Theodore Hall''', see: {{hnb|Andrew & Mitrokhin|1999|Ref=CITEREFAndrewMitrokhin1999|p=128-129, 131-132, 147-48, 164-65, 205}} (Cf. "[http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sanders/214/other/news/obit-hall-ap.html Scientist, Spy for Soviets Dies]," The Associated Press, November 10, 1999). For '''David Greenglass''', see {{hnb|Andrew & Mitrokhin|1999|Ref=CITEREFAndrewMitrokhin1999|p=128, 131}}. For all see also also {{hnb|LANL|2007}}</ref> KGB archival data smuggled out by Vassiliev reveal that two more spies, Boris Podolsky (code-named Quantum) and Russell McNutt (code-named Fogel, later changed to Pers), were also at Los Alamos during Oppenheimer's tenure.<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 73, 339</ref>

===Allegations against Oppenheimer===

−

"The secrets in KGB memoirs, Soviet archival records and translations, and NSA ~~decrpytions~~ of Soviet ~~war time~~ cable traffic, codenamed VENONA, reveal: The cooperation of J. Robert Oppenheimer in atomic espionage from 1942 to 1944...." writes Schecter.<ref>Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFoAAAAMAAJ Sacred secrets: how Soviet intelligence operations changed American history]'' (Brassey's, 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. xxvi</ref> Herbert Romerstein, former chief of the U.S. Information Agency's Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation and Active Measures,<ref>[http://0-www.gpo.gov.library.colby.edu/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1996-10-21/html/CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgS12411.htm ''Congressional Record'', Vol. 142, Iss. 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996), p. S12415]</ref> agrees: "Atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer performed work on behalf of the Soviet Union."<ref>[[#refHB2000|Romerstein, Breindel 2000]]: 449</ref> Oppenheimer supplied the Soviets with classified reports on atom bomb development—in part via [[Elizabeth Zarubina]] (wife of [[Vasily Zarubin]]), who was in direct contact with Oppenheimer's wife, Kitty—according to Pavel Sudoplatov, Moscow-based overseer of Soviet atom-bomb espionage. In his 1994 memoir, Sudoplatov wrote:

+

"The secrets in KGB memoirs, Soviet archival records and translations, and NSA decryptions of Soviet wartime cable traffic, codenamed VENONA, reveal: The cooperation of J. Robert Oppenheimer in atomic espionage from 1942 to 1944...." writes Schecter.<ref>Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFoAAAAMAAJ Sacred secrets: how Soviet intelligence operations changed American history]'' (Brassey's, 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. xxvi</ref> Herbert Romerstein, former chief of the U.S. Information Agency's Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation and Active Measures,<ref>[http://0-www.gpo.gov.library.colby.edu/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1996-10-21/html/CREC-1996-10-21-pt1-PgS12411.htm ''Congressional Record'', Vol. 142, Iss. 143 (Monday, October 21, 1996), p. S12415]</ref> agrees: "Atomic scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer performed work on behalf of the Soviet Union."<ref>[[#refHB2000|Romerstein, Breindel 2000]]: 449</ref> Oppenheimer supplied the Soviets with classified reports on atom bomb development—in part via [[Elizabeth Zarubina]] (wife of [[Vasily Zarubin]]), who was in direct contact with Oppenheimer's wife, Kitty—according to [[Pavel Sudoplatov]], Moscow-based overseer of Soviet atom-bomb espionage. In his 1994 memoir, Sudoplatov wrote:

{{cquote|I set up a network of illegals who convinced Robert Oppenheimer, [[Enrico Fermi]], [[Leo Szilard]], [[Bruno Pontecorvo]], Alan Nunn May, [[Klaus Fuchs]] and other scientists in America and Great Britain to share atomic secrets with us..... We received reports on the progress of the Manhattan Project from Oppenheimer and his friends in oral form, through comments and asides, and from documents transferred through clandestine methods with their full knowledge that the information they were sharing would be passed on. One agent cited Oppenheimer's stressing that information should be leaked so as not to be traceable to those who worked in Los Alamos. In all, there were five classified reports made available by Oppenheimer describing the progress of work on the atomic bomb.<ref>Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatoli Sudoplatov, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_uExfHdLb8UC Special Tasks]'' (London: Little Brown and Company, 1994) ISBN 0316821152, pp. 192, 196, 206-207</ref>}}

Sudoplatov's allegations are corroborated by a 1982 letter he wrote to then-Soviet Premier [[Yuri Andropov]], stating: "Department S [Sudoplatov's department] rendered considerable help to our scientists by giving them the latest materials on atom bomb research, obtained from such sources as the famous nuclear physicists R. Oppenheimer, E. Fermi, [[Klaus Fuchs|K. Fuchs]] and others."<ref>Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatoli Sudoplatov, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_uExfHdLb8UC Special Tasks]'' (London: Little Brown and Company, 1994) ISBN 0316821152, Appendix.</ref> Romerstein and Breindel comment: "It would have made no sense for Sudoplatov to lie to Andropov, the former head of KGB and dictator of the Soviet Union, who would have easily found him out."<ref>[[#refHB2000|Romerstein, Breindel 2000]]: 275</ref>

Line 149: Line 149:

{{cquote|that there was an approach made, that Dr. Oppenheimer knew of this approach, that at some point he was involved in that the approach was made to him—I don't mean involved in the sense that he gave anything—I mean he just knew about it personally from the fact that he was in the chain, and that he didn't report it in its entirety as he should have done.}}

Groves did not believe Oppenheimer's new story, testifying that he "had the very definite impression that Dr. Oppenheimer

−

wanted to protect his friends of long standing, possibly his brother."<ref>[[#refAEC|AEC Hearing]]: 167 (PDF 177)</ref>

+

wanted to protect his friends of long-standing, possibly his brother."<ref>[[#refAEC|AEC Hearing]]: 167 (PDF 177)</ref>

But Oppenheimer insisted that what he had told Pash about the three contacts was actually just “a cock-and-bull story.”<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 137 (PDF 147)</ref> "This whole thing was a pure fabrication except for the one name Eltenton," testified Oppenheimer, who called his previous story "a piece of idiocy" that was "wholly false."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 149 (PDF 159)</ref> Asked "You lied to him?" Oppenheimer answered "Yes." Asked under oath for an explanation of why he had lied, the brilliant physicist testified, “Because I was an idiot.”<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 137 (PDF 147)</ref> Despite this incident, Oppenheimer was still meeting with Chevalier a decade later, including once in Paris,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 150 (PDF 140)</ref> where, again, presumably "the FBI found it difficult to monitor his conversations."<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,935123,00.html THE ATOM: A Matter of Character]," ''Time'', June 14, 1954</ref>

Line 165: Line 165:

{{cquote|Putin had words of praise for the American scientists who willingly helped the USSR develop its own A-bomb. They were not traitors to their country, he said. Rather, they were serving the cause of international peace.<ref>Jerrold L. Schecter and Leona Schecter, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=ftFoAAAAMAAJ Sacred secrets: how Soviet intelligence operations changed American history]'' (Brassey's, 2002) ISBN 1574883275, p. xix</ref>}}

In 2012, according to Russia's government news agency Itar-Tass, Putin amplified these remarks:

−

{{cquote|You know, when the States already had nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union was only building them, we got a significant amount of information through Soviet foreign intelligence channels ... They were carrying the information away not on microfilm but literally in suitcases. Suitcases! ... It was the cream of the scientific world that was gathered in America, and I personally have gotten the impression that they consciously gave us information on the atom bomb ... They did this consciously because the atom bomb had been used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and scientists from mankind’s intellectual elite at the time understood what unilateral possession of such a weapon might lead to.<ref>"[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/putin-praises-cold-war-spies.aspx?pageID=238&nID=14477&NewsCatID=353 Putin praises Cold War spies], ''Hurriyet Daily News'' (Turkey), February 22, 2012</ref>}}

+

{{cquote|You know, when the States already had nuclear weapons and the Soviet Union was only building them, we got a significant amount of information through Soviet foreign intelligence channels ... They were carrying the information away not on microfilm but literally in suitcases. Suitcases! ... It was the cream of the scientific world that was gathered in America, and I personally have gotten the impression that they consciously gave us information on the atom bomb ... They did this consciously because the atom bomb had been used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and scientists from mankind’s intellectual elite at the time understood what [[unilateral]] possession of such a weapon might lead to.<ref>"[http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/putin-praises-cold-war-spies.aspx?pageID=238&nID=14477&NewsCatID=353 Putin praises Cold War spies], ''Hurriyet Daily News'' (Turkey), February 22, 2012</ref>}}

====The H-bomb====

Line 218: Line 218:

==Death and Legacy==

−

Oppenheimer died in Princeton, New Jersey on February 18, 1967 from throat cancer.<ref>[http://history1900s.about.com/cs/robertoppenheimer/p/oppenheimer.htm J. Robert Oppenheimer]</ref>

+

Oppenheimer died in Princeton, New Jersey on February 18, 1967, from throat cancer.<ref>"[http://history1900s.about.com/cs/robertoppenheimer/p/oppenheimer.htm J. Robert Oppenheimer]</ref> He had a habit of smoking "about 100 cigarettes a day."<ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1255958/#:~:text=Robert%20Oppenheimer%2C%20the%20scientific%20director,named%20it%20the%20Manhattan%20Project.</ref>

In 1963, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson|Johnson]] reinstated Oppenheimer's clearance, and the AEC awarded him the Enrico Fermi Award.<ref>[http://dsd.lbl.gov/ImgLib/COLLECTIONS/BERKELEY-LAB/SEABORG-ARCHIVE/index/96B05399.html J. Robert Oppenheimer receiving the AEC Enrico Fermi Award], photograph and description, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory</ref>

−

In June 1997, the KGB ~~museum~~ in Moscow featured an exhibit of "leading atomic espionage agents and espionage documents." The exhibit featured Oppenheimer's image, displayed along with a photograph of convicted Soviet atomic spy Klaus Fuchs, and a shot of a Manhattan Project laboratory site. "Oppenheimer and other top scientists cooperated with us," former KGB official Yuri Kolesnikov told reporter Michael Chapman of ''[http://humanevents.com Human Events]''. They weren't Soviet agents, Kolesnikov said. But they "gave us information about the atom bomb," first because they were fearful that Hitler might defeat the Soviet Union in World War II and later because "Oppenheimer and the other scientists wanted to create a balance of power between the United States, which had the bomb, and the USSR, which didn't."<ref>Stephen Goode, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n37_v13/ai_19836506/ We Told You So: Secret Venona Intercepts]," ''Insight on the News'', Vol. 13, No. 37 (October 6–13, 1997)</ref> "Oppenheimer was not a Soviet agent like Fuchs," the museum's director told Chapman. "But, yes, he did cooperate with Soviet intelligence. That's why his picture is here."<ref>"[http://old.nationalreview.com/14july97/week.html The Week]," ''National Review'', July 14, 1997; "[http://old.nationalreview.com/28july97/week.html The Week]," ''National Review'', July 28, 1997</ref>

+

In June 1997, the KGB Museum in Moscow featured an exhibit of "leading atomic espionage agents and espionage documents." The exhibit featured Oppenheimer's image, displayed along with a photograph of convicted Soviet atomic spy Klaus Fuchs, and a shot of a Manhattan Project laboratory site. "Oppenheimer and other top scientists cooperated with us," former KGB official Yuri Kolesnikov told reporter Michael Chapman of ''[http://humanevents.com Human Events]''. They weren't Soviet agents, Kolesnikov said. But they "gave us information about the atom bomb," first because they were fearful that Hitler might defeat the Soviet Union in World War II and later because "Oppenheimer and the other scientists wanted to create a balance of power between the United States, which had the bomb, and the USSR, which didn't."<ref>Stephen Goode, "[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_n37_v13/ai_19836506/ We Told You So: Secret Venona Intercepts]," ''Insight on the News'', Vol. 13, No. 37 (October 6–13, 1997)</ref> "Oppenheimer was not a Soviet agent like Fuchs," the museum's director told Chapman. "But, yes, he did cooperate with Soviet intelligence. That's why his picture is here."<ref>"[http://old.nationalreview.com/14july97/week.html The Week]," ''National Review'', July 14, 1997; "[http://old.nationalreview.com/28july97/week.html The Week]," ''National Review'', July 28, 1997</ref>

According to Haynes and Klehr, "Throughout his life Oppenheimer declined to provide a detailed or accurate accounting of his relationship with the CPUSA in the late 1930s and early 1940s and of his knowledge of Communists who worked on the Manhattan Project."<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 330</ref>

RobSmith

Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template

292,430

edits

Changes

J. Robert Oppenheimer (view source)

Revision as of 14:39, April 28, 2026

Navigation menu

Search