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J. Robert Oppenheimer (view source)

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Oppenheimer's parents were of [[Jewish]] descent, but did not observe religious traditions, sending him (via limousine)<ref>Jonathan Beard, "[http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18424793.500 Biographies: J. Robert Oppenheimer and Patrick Blackett]," ''New Scientist'', December 25, 2004</ref> to New York's elite<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 431</ref> Ethical Culture<ref>Sean McManus, "[http://nymag.com/news/features/46214/ If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?]" ''New York'', April 21, 2008</ref> Society School.<ref>[http://www.atomicarchive.com/Bios/Oppenheimer.shtml J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904 - 1967)], atomicarchive.com</ref> Ethical Culture, a [[Secular Humanism|secular humanist]] religion,<ref>[http://openjurist.org/249/f2d/127 Washington Ethical Society v. District of Columbia], 101 U.S. App. D.C. 371, 249 F.2d 127. Cf. Jone Johnson Lewis, [http://aeuleaders.net/web/content/ethical-culture-religion Ethical Culture as Religion], American Ethical Union Library, 2003; Tom Flynn, [http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?section=main&page=sh_defined2 Secular Humanism Defined], Council for Secular Humanism; [http://www.americanhumanist.org/Who_We_Are/About_Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II Humanist Manifesto II], American Humanist Association</ref> is indifferent to the existence of [[God]], replacing the [[Ten Commandments]]<ref>[http://www.ethicalsociety.org/article.php?id=30 Is Ethical Culture based on Judaism and the Ten Commandments?], Washington Ethical Society</ref> with a commitment to "social justice."<ref>Joseph Chuman, [http://www.ethicalfocus.org/dr-joe-chuman/chuman-platforms/113-ethical-culture-and-the-ongoing-quest-for-social-justice Ethical Culture and the Ongoing Quest for Social Justice], The Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County</ref> Such an education conditions students to yield to "the totalitarian temptation,"<ref>An "unacknowledged desire to live under Stalinism, not in spite of what it is, but because of what it is." Jean François Revel, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=HTqFAAAAMAAJ The Totalitarian Temptation]'' (Doubleday, 1977) ISBN 0385122748, p. 25</ref> as [http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1974/hayek.html Nobel Prize-winning] economist [[Friedrich Hayek]] observed:

{{cquote|'Social justice' can be given a meaning only in a directed or 'command' economy (such as an army) in which the individuals are ordered what to do; and any particular conception of 'social justice' could be realized only in such a centrally-directed system.<ref>Friedrich August Hayek, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qq6p11NPdOoC Law, Legislation and Liberty: The Mirage of Social Justice]'' (University of Chicago Press, 1978) ISBN 0226320839, p. 69</ref>}}

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Oppenheimer never did embrace [[Judaism]], turning instead to philosophical [[Hinduism]]. He apparently never studied [[Hebrew]] but learned [[Sanskrit]] and read the Bhavagad Gita in the original language; he would later list it as one of ~~the~~ the ten books that did most to shape his “philosophy of life.”<ref>''[http://www.christiancentury.org/ Christian Century]'', May 15, 1963, p. 647, cited in James A. Hijiya, "[http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/Hijiya.pdf The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer]," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,'' Vol. 144, No. 2 (June 2000), p. 130 (PDF p. 8)</ref> What flashed through his mind upon witnessing the [[Trinity explosion]], he said, was a line from this Hindu scripture:

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Oppenheimer never did embrace [[Judaism]], turning instead to philosophical [[Hinduism]]. He apparently never studied [[Hebrew]] but learned [[Sanskrit]] and read the Bhavagad Gita in the original language; he would later list it as one of the ten books that did most to shape his “philosophy of life.”<ref>''[http://www.christiancentury.org/ Christian Century]'', May 15, 1963, p. 647, cited in James A. Hijiya, "[http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/Hijiya.pdf The Gita of Robert Oppenheimer]," ''Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society,'' Vol. 144, No. 2 (June 2000), p. 130 (PDF p. 8)</ref> What flashed through his mind upon witnessing the [[Trinity explosion]], he said, was a line from this Hindu scripture:

{{cquote|I am become death, the shatterer of worlds.<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,853367,00.html The Eternal Apprentice]," ''Time'', November 8, 1948</ref>}}

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=== Communist front activity ===

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Upon his father's death in 1937, Oppenheimer inherited more than $300,000<ref>“[http://ohst.berkeley.edu/oppenheimer/exhibit/text/ch2page2.html Oppenheimer: A Life],” Office for History of Science and Technology, University of California, Berkeley</ref> (equivalent to more than $4.5 million today),<ref>[http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl Inflation Calculator], United States Bureau of Labor Statistics</ref> and began contributing approximately $150 a month<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 185 (PDF 195)</ref> (equivalent to more than $2,000 a month today),<ref>[http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl Inflation Calculator], United States Bureau of Labor Statistics</ref> at first via [[Communist front]]s<ref>Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 1311 on the CIO Political Action Committee, March 29, 1944, pp. 82, 140, and 180; Attorney General Tom Clark, letter to Loyalty Review Board, released April 27, 1949; both cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 69 (PDF p. 85)</ref> such as the Spanish Aid Committee<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF 236)</ref> (aiding the [[Soviet]]-armed forces in the [[Spanish Civil War]]), then directly to [[Isaac Folkoff|Folkoff]] or [[Communist Party]] official Thomas Addis.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 123. Cf. [[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 352</ref>

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Upon his father's death in 1937, Oppenheimer inherited more than $300,000<ref>“[http://ohst.berkeley.edu/oppenheimer/exhibit/text/ch2page2.html Oppenheimer: A Life],” Office for History of Science and Technology, University of California, Berkeley</ref> (equivalent to more than $4.5 million today),<ref>[http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl Inflation Calculator], United States Bureau of Labor Statistics</ref> and began contributing approximately $150 a month<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 185 (PDF 195)</ref> (equivalent to more than $2,000 a month today),<ref>[http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl Inflation Calculator], United States Bureau of Labor Statistics</ref> at first via [[Communist front]]s<ref>Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 1311 on the CIO Political Action Committee, March 29, 1944, pp. 82, 140, and 180; Attorney General Tom Clark, letter to Loyalty Review Board, released April 27, 1949; both cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 69 (PDF p. 85)</ref> such as the Spanish Aid Committee<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF 236)</ref> (aiding the [[Soviet]]-armed forces in the [[Spanish Civil War]]), then directly to [[Isaac Folkoff|Folkoff]] or Communist Party official Thomas Addis.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 123. Cf. [[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 352</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>

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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>

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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.

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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.

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In addition, according to the FBI, Oppenheimer reportedly co-founded the Berkeley Conference for Civic Betterment (identified by the FBI as a “[[Communist front|front group]]”); was “a member of the Executive Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union, a Communist Party front group [in 1939, during the pact]”;<ref>Under threat of being listed by [[HUAC]] in the wake of the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]], the ACLU purged any "member of any political organization which supports totalitarian dictatorship in any country, or who by his public declaration and connections indicates his support of [http://content.cdlib.org/view?query=&docId=kt396n99b3&chunk.id=d0e2699&toc.depth=1&toc.id=0&brand=oac&x=0&y=0 such a principle]" (including future CPUSA Chairman Elizabeth Gurley Flynn) from its Executive Committee in 1940, although its continued front activity caused it to be listed as a Communist front by a joint committee of the California Legislature in 1943: “The American Civil Liberties Union may be definitely classed as a Communist front or ‘transmission belt’ organization.” [http://ia331324.us.archive.org/3/items/reportofsenatefa00calirich/reportofsenatefa00calirich.pdf Communist Front Organizations], Fourth Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee On Un-American Activities, California Legislature, 1948, p. 107 (PDF p. 117)</ref> a member of the Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy<ref>Oppenheimer was listed as a donor to this organization in ''People's World'', January 29, 1938, cited in [[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF p. 236)</ref> (identified by [[HUAC]] in 1944 as one in a "series of Communist enterprises");<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, Annual Report, House Report 2233, June 7, 1946, p. 27; Cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 55 (PDF p. 71)</ref> a member of the National Emergency Conference for Democratic Rights (identified as as subversive and un-American by a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations in 1943, and as a Communist front by HUAC the following year);<ref>Special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, Report, April 21, 1943, p. 3; Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 1311 on the CIO Political Action Committee, March 29, 1944, VV- 48 and 102; both cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 62 (PDF p. 78)</ref> and a donor to the Spanish Aid Committee,<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF 236)</ref> identified as a Communist front by HUAC in 1944 and as Communist by [[Harry Truman|Truman]] administration [[Attorney General]] [[Tom Clark]] in 1949.<ref>Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 1311 on the CIO Political Action Committee, March 29, 1944, pp. 82, 140, and 180; Attorney General Tom Clark, letter to Loyalty Review Board, released April 27, 1949; both cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 69 (PDF p. 85)</ref>

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In addition, according to the FBI, Oppenheimer reportedly co-founded the Berkeley Conference for Civic Betterment (identified by the FBI as a “[[Communist front|front group]]”); was “a member of the Executive Committee of the American Civil Liberties Union, a Communist Party front group [in 1939, during the pact]”;<ref>Under threat of being listed by HUAC in the wake of the Nazi-Soviet pact, the ACLU purged any "member of any political organization which supports totalitarian dictatorship in any country, or who by his public declaration and connections indicates his support of [http://content.cdlib.org/view?query=&docId=kt396n99b3&chunk.id=d0e2699&toc.depth=1&toc.id=0&brand=oac&x=0&y=0 such a principle]" (including future CPUSA Chairman Elizabeth Gurley Flynn) from its Executive Committee in 1940, although its continued front activity caused it to be listed as a Communist front by a joint committee of the California Legislature in 1943: “The American Civil Liberties Union may be definitely classed as a Communist front or ‘transmission belt’ organization.” [http://ia331324.us.archive.org/3/items/reportofsenatefa00calirich/reportofsenatefa00calirich.pdf Communist Front Organizations], Fourth Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee On Un-American Activities, California Legislature, 1948, p. 107 (PDF p. 117)</ref> a member of the Medical Bureau to Aid Spanish Democracy<ref>Oppenheimer was listed as a donor to this organization in ''People's World'', January 29, 1938, cited in [[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF p. 236)</ref> (identified by [[HUAC]] in 1944 as one in a "series of Communist enterprises");<ref>Committee on Un-American Activities, Annual Report, House Report 2233, June 7, 1946, p. 27; Cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 55 (PDF p. 71)</ref> a member of the National Emergency Conference for Democratic Rights (identified as subversive and un-American by a special subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations in 1943, and as a Communist front by HUAC the following year);<ref>Special Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, Report, April 21, 1943, p. 3; Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 1311 on the CIO Political Action Committee, March 29, 1944, VV- 48 and 102; both cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 62 (PDF p. 78)</ref> and a donor to the Spanish Aid Committee,<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 227 (PDF 236)</ref> identified as a Communist front by HUAC in 1944 and as Communist by [[Harry Truman|Truman]] administration [[Attorney General]] [[Tom Clark]] in 1949.<ref>Special Committee on Un-American Activities, House Report 1311 on the CIO Political Action Committee, March 29, 1944, pp. 82, 140, and 180; Attorney General Tom Clark, letter to Loyalty Review Board, released April 27, 1949; both cited in 85th Congress, 1st Session House Document No. 226, [http://ia360641.us.archive.org/2/items/guidetosubversiv1957unit/guidetosubversiv1957unit_bw.pdf Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publications] (Washington: US GPO, 1957), p. 69 (PDF p. 85)</ref>

===Communist Party membership===

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In addition, if he was not a Communist, Oppenheimer fooled his close friends in this small, secretive group into thinking he was. According to Chevalier, “O. had been, from 1937 to 1943, a CP member, which I knew directly.”<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 431</ref> He added that he and Oppenheimer belonged to “the same unit of the CP from 1938 to 1942.”<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 341, n. 35</ref> Griffiths, who served as the Communist Party's “liaison with the Faculty group at the University of California,” confirmed that among the “members of the communist group” at Berkeley were “[[Haakon Chevalier]] of the French Department and Robert Oppenheimer of Physics.”<ref>Gordon Griffiths' ''[http://brotherhoodofthebomb.com/bhbsource/new_evidence_3.html Venturing Outside the Ivory Tower: The Political Autobiography of a College Professor]'' (excerpts), Brothehood of the Bomb</ref>

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Oppenheimer was the primary author of a report signed “College Faculties Committee, Communist Party of California,” which he also paid to have printed, said Chevalier.<ref>Ted Morgan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=4ijWhgff9XEC Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America]'' (Random House, Inc., 2004) ISBN 081297302X, p. 267</ref> It defended the Soviet invasion of Finland (during the [[Nazi-Soviet pact]]), calling [[President]] [[Roosevelt]] a "counter-revolutionary war-monger."<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 31-32</ref> The report contains unusual wording characteristic of Oppenheimer’s writing, suggesting that Oppenheimer might at least have "had a hand in editing a draft," according to [http://www.tufts.edu/home/feature/?p=sherwin historian] Martin J. Sherwin.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 144-145</ref> [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] physics professor emeritus (and former Oppenheimer pupil) Philip Morrison, an ex-Communist,<ref>Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 82d Cong., 2d sess., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=SB65AAAAIAAJ Subversive Influence in the Educational Process'', Parts 7-14] (Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1955), p. 899</ref> confirmed that in 1939 (during the Pact) he delivered to the printers a pamphlet Oppenheimer wrote (and paid for) taking “the strict Party line in defending the Soviet invasion of Finland.”<ref>Gregg Herken, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17008 The Oppenheimer Case: An Exchange]," ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 51, No. 5 (March 25, 2004)</ref>

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Oppenheimer was the primary author of a report signed “College Faculties Committee, Communist Party of California,” which he also paid to have printed, said Chevalier.<ref>Ted Morgan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=4ijWhgff9XEC Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America]'' (Random House, Inc., 2004) ISBN 081297302X, p. 267</ref> It defended the Soviet invasion of Finland (during the Nazi-Soviet pact), calling [[President]] [[Roosevelt]] a "counter-revolutionary war-monger."<ref>[[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 31-32</ref> The report contains unusual wording characteristic of Oppenheimer’s writing, suggesting that Oppenheimer might at least have "had a hand in editing a draft," according to [http://www.tufts.edu/home/feature/?p=sherwin historian] Martin J. Sherwin.<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 144-145</ref> [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] physics professor emeritus (and former Oppenheimer pupil) Philip Morrison, an ex-Communist,<ref>Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. Senate, 82d Cong., 2d sess., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=SB65AAAAIAAJ Subversive Influence in the Educational Process'', Parts 7-14] (Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1955), p. 899</ref> confirmed that in 1939 (during the Pact) he delivered to the printers a pamphlet Oppenheimer wrote (and paid for) taking “the strict Party line in defending the Soviet invasion of Finland.”<ref>Gregg Herken, "[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17008 The Oppenheimer Case: An Exchange]," ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 51, No. 5 (March 25, 2004)</ref>

====Alameda County Communist Party====

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====Soviet intelligence====

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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, ''[http://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>

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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, ''[http://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====

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In April 1942 Oppenheimer's name was formally submitted for security clearance for the [[Manhattan Project]]; the following month, observed William L. Borden, executive director of the congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE), Oppenheimer "either stopped contributing funds to the Communist Party or else made his contributions through a new channel not yet discovered."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 837 (PDF 849)</ref> Oppenheimer "appears to have dropped out of the party in early 1942,” write Haynes, Klehr and Vassiliev.<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 58</ref> According to Jerrold L. Schecter, spokesman for the National Security Administration in the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration, “Robert Oppenheimer’s long time membership in the Communist Party of the United States was made secret in 1942.”<ref>[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</ref>

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In April 1942 Oppenheimer's name was formally submitted for security clearance for the Manhattan Project; the following month, observed William L. Borden, executive director of the congressional Joint Committee on Atomic Energy (JCAE), Oppenheimer "either stopped contributing funds to the Communist Party or else made his contributions through a new channel not yet discovered."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 837 (PDF 849)</ref> Oppenheimer "appears to have dropped out of the party in early 1942,” write Haynes, Klehr and Vassiliev.<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 58</ref> According to Jerrold L. Schecter, spokesman for the National Security Administration in the [[Jimmy Carter|Carter]] administration, “Robert Oppenheimer’s long time membership in the Communist Party of the United States was made secret in 1942.”<ref>[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</ref>

FBI surveillance in 1942-43 reported that Alameda County Communist Party Secretary Bernadette Doyle told John Murra, a “suspected intelligence agent of the USSR,” that “OPPENHEIMER was a party member but that his name should be removed from any mailing lists in John Murra’s possession and he should not mention it in any way,” and told [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/e-dossier-no-11-was-oppenheimer-soviet-spy-roundtable-discussion Comintern agent] "[[Steve Nelson]]" (Stjepan Mesaros), according to a telephone intercept,<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 234</ref> “that she believes the matter should be taken up with the state committee regarding the two OPPIES, inasmuch as they were regularly registered [as members of the Communist Party] and everyone in the county knew they were Communists."<ref>The FBI report adds: "It is believed that the two OPPIES mentioned above had reference to subject J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER and his brother FRANK OPPENHEIMER." FBI report: J. Robert Oppenheimer, December 2, 1943, FBI file: J. Robert Oppenheimer, Internal Security - C, Sec. 1 (not paginated). Cf. [[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 229 (PDF 238); M. Stanton Evans, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vz42rDYmf3wC Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies]'' (New York: Crown Forum, 2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, p. 316-318</ref>

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:

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{{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, ''[http://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>}}

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{{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, ''[http://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>

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In 1942, FBI surveillance recorded Lomanitz telling Nelson he was working on a highly secret weapon; Nelson advised Lomanitz to keep his Party activity quiet<ref>Katherine A. S. Sibley, "[http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a713757446 Soviet Military-Industrial Espionage in the United States and the Emergence of an Espionage Paradigm in US-Soviet Relations, 1941-45]," ''American Communist History'', Vol. 2, Iss. 1 (June 2003), pp. 21-51</ref> as he was now considered a member of the underground.<ref>San Francisco FBI report 15 March 1947, COMRAP file. Cf. [[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 325; Ted Morgan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=4ijWhgff9XEC Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America]'' (Random House, Inc., 2004) ISBN 081297302X, p. 267</ref> Oppenheimer said he knew "for a fact" by August 1943 that Lomanitz was a Communist Party member.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 875 (PDF 887). Cf. [[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 245; [[#refHerken|Herken 2003]]: 111</ref> Yet when, following an espionage investigation,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 128 (PDF 138)</ref> the Army released Lomanitz from Berkeley, causing him to lose his draft deferment, Oppenheimer sent an "urgent request" by telegram, urging Lomanitz' "continued availability to project,"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 123 (PDF 133)</ref> and subsequently attempted to get the Army to release Lomanitz to return to the Radiation Laboratory.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 124 (PDF 134)</ref>

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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>

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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 under cover 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>

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"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, ''[http://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, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=_uExfHdLb8UC Special Tasks]'' (London: Little Brown and Company, 1994) ISBN 0316821152, pp. 192, 196, 206-207</ref>}}

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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, ~~[[Enrico Fermi|~~E. Fermi]], [[Klaus Fuchs|K. Fuchs]] and others."<ref>Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatoli Sudoplatov, ''[http://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>

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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, ''[http://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>

According to FBI surveillance in 1943, Nelson (who often visited Oppenheimer's wife in Berkeley)<ref>Rachel Teukolsky, "[http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/articles/issue1/scientistx.pdf Regarding Scientist X: Big Science, the War Effort, and Communist Activity at Berkeley Radiation Lab (1929-1949)]," ''Berkeley Science Review'' Issue 1 (Spring 2001), p. 18</ref> advised Weinberg "that OPPENHEIMER had indicated to him the basic idea of the project";<ref>[[#refCINRAD|CINRAD]]: 26 (PDF 28)</ref> in 1945, Jack Manley would state that “Oppenheimer told Steven Nelson several years ago that the Army was working on the atomic bomb.”<ref>M. Stanton Evans, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vz42rDYmf3wC Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies]'' (New York: Crown Forum, 2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, p. 318, fn.</ref>

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Merkulov reported to [[Lavrenty Beria|Beria]], "In 1942 one of the leaders of scientific work on uranium in the USA, Professor R. Oppenheimer... informed us about the beginning of work. On the request of Comrade ~~[[Grigory Kheifetz|~~Kheifitz]],<ref>NKVD ''[[rezident]]'' (station chief), San Francisco. 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> confirmed by [[Earl Browder|Comrade Browder]], he provided cooperation in access to research for several of our tested sources including a relative of Comrade Browder."<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> (Browder's niece, [[Helen Lowry]], was a Soviet agent married to [[Iskhak Akhmerov]],<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 234, 218, 239, 486, 503</ref> the leading [[NKVD]] "illegal" in the United States.)<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 154</ref> Schecter concludes that Oppenheimer “was being used as a Soviet intelligence asset by the Communist Underground to help obtain atomic secrets.”<ref>[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</ref>

+

Merkulov reported to [[Lavrenty Beria|Beria]], "In 1942 one of the leaders of scientific work on uranium in the USA, Professor R. Oppenheimer... informed us about the beginning of work. On the request of Comrade Kheifitz,<ref>NKVD ''[[rezident]]'' (station chief), San Francisco. 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> confirmed by [[Earl Browder|Comrade Browder]], he provided cooperation in access to research for several of our tested sources including a relative of Comrade Browder."<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> (Browder's niece, [[Helen Lowry]], was a Soviet agent married to [[Iskhak Akhmerov]],<ref>[[#refHKV09|Haynes, Klehr, Vassiliev 2009]]: 234, 218, 239, 486, 503</ref> the leading NKVD "illegal" in the United States.)<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 154</ref> Schecter concludes that Oppenheimer “was being used as a Soviet intelligence asset by the Communist Underground to help obtain atomic secrets.”<ref>[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</ref>

Sergei Leskov, science correspondent for ''Izvestia'', a Moscow newspaper in which the Russian government holds a controlling stake, reported in 1994 that Russian government officials informed him

Line 152: Line 152:

===Policy influence===

−

The successful development of the atomic bomb gave the [[United States]] an enormous advantage over the [[Soviet Union]]. Following the bombing of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]], [[NKVD]] Chief [[Lavrenty Beria]] "said we should think how to use Oppenheimer, [[Leo Szilard|Szilard]] and others around them in the peace campaign against nuclear armament," according to Sudoplatov. "Disarmament and the inability to impose nuclear blackmail would deprive the United States of its advantage."<ref>Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatoli Sudoplatov, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=_uExfHdLb8UC Special Tasks]'' (London: Little Brown and Company, 1994) ISBN 0316821152, pp. 207-208</ref> On October 3, 1945, [[President]] [[Harry Truman|Truman]] read an address to [[United States Congress|Congress]] stating that "atomic energy constitutes a new force too revolutionary to consider in the framework of old ideas."<ref>Michael Mandelbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=VcUS4f736wgC The Nuclear Revolution: International Politics Before and After Hiroshima]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1981) ISBN 052128239X, p. 1</ref> The speech advocated "the renunciation of the use"<ref>Paul Vorbeck Lettow, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=36pYekyje-kC Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons]'' (New York: Random House, Inc., 2006) ISBN 0812973267, p. 4</ref> of the atom bomb, and proposed "international collaboration and exchange of scientific information"<ref>Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, United States Congress, [http://books.google.com/books?id=XcMLN8sUQCYC Mobilization of Civilian Manpower (Hearings)] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1945), p. 3</ref> about it. On October 19, wrote [[Henry Wallace]],<ref>Three years later, Wallace would run for [[President]] as the candidate of the [[Progressive]] Party—a [http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=11398 creation of the Communist Party], growing out of [[CPUSA]] General Secretary Eugene Dennis' February 12, 1946 order "to establish in time for the 1948 elections a national third party." (Arthur Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LLyNX6hMDCIC A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950]'' [New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000] ISBN 0618219250, pp. 455-456) Wallace once said if he were to become President, he would appoint [http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/18nov_lawrence_duggan.pdf Soviet agent] [[Laurence Duggan]] as [[Secretary of State]]; had [[FDR]] died a few months earlier, Wallace would indeed have become President. (Ethan Bronner, "[http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/weekinreview/witching-hour-rethinking-mccarthyism-if-not-mccarthy.html?pagewanted=all Witching Hour; Rethinking McCarthyism, if Not McCarthy]," ''The New York Times'', October 18, 1998) Wallace would finally recant [http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html his support] for the [[Soviet Union]] in 1952. (Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952) Three years later, the [[SISS|Jenner subcommittee]] would cite the Progressive Party on its list of subversive organizations, identified as [http://www.joincalifornia.com/party/Independent%20Progressive a Communist front].</ref> Oppenheimer "told me that the President’s statement to Congress had been written by [[Dean Acheson]]’s assistant, a Mr. Herbert Marks,<ref>The following year, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J. Anthony Panuch, in charge of security, would accuse Marks (along with [[Alger Hiss]] and others) of being part of “an enormous [[espionage]] ring in [[Washington]]” seeking to make information about the use of “atomic energy... as an instrument of war... available to the [[Soviet ~~Union]]”~~ (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FWq-5a5tqH0C Secrecy: the American Experience]'' [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999] ISBN 0300080794, p. 69); at his confirmation hearing to become an AEC commissioner in 1947, a witness would testify that she had attended ~~[[CPUSA|~~Communist Party]] meetings with Marks. Senate Section, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, United States Congress, [http://books.google.com/books?id=B32lOQAACAAJ Hearings on Confirmation of Atomic Energy Commission and General Manager] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1947), p. 165</ref> and that he [Oppenheimer] had had something to do with helping Marks on the message."<ref>Henry Agard Wallace (John Morton Blum, ed.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ua2sAAAAIAAJ The Price of Vision: The Diary of Henry A. Wallace, 1942-1946]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1973) ISBN 0395171210, p. 494</ref>

+

The successful development of the atomic bomb gave the [[United States]] an enormous advantage over the [[Soviet Union]]. Following the bombing of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]], NKVD Chief [[Lavrenty Beria]] "said we should think how to use Oppenheimer, [[Leo Szilard|Szilard]] and others around them in the peace campaign against nuclear armament," according to Sudoplatov. "Disarmament and the inability to impose nuclear blackmail would deprive the United States of its advantage."<ref>Pavel Sudoplatov and Anatoli Sudoplatov, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=_uExfHdLb8UC Special Tasks]'' (London: Little Brown and Company, 1994) ISBN 0316821152, pp. 207-208</ref> On October 3, 1945, [[President]] [[Harry Truman|Truman]] read an address to [[United States Congress|Congress]] stating that "atomic energy constitutes a new force too revolutionary to consider in the framework of old ideas."<ref>Michael Mandelbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=VcUS4f736wgC The Nuclear Revolution: International Politics Before and After Hiroshima]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1981) ISBN 052128239X, p. 1</ref> The speech advocated "the renunciation of the use"<ref>Paul Vorbeck Lettow, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=36pYekyje-kC Ronald Reagan and His Quest to Abolish Nuclear Weapons]'' (New York: Random House, Inc., 2006) ISBN 0812973267, p. 4</ref> of the atom bomb, and proposed "international collaboration and exchange of scientific information"<ref>Committee on Military Affairs, House of Representatives, United States Congress, [http://books.google.com/books?id=XcMLN8sUQCYC Mobilization of Civilian Manpower (Hearings)] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1945), p. 3</ref> about it. On October 19, wrote [[Henry Wallace]],<ref>Three years later, Wallace would run for President as the candidate of the [[Progressive]] Party—a [http://www.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=11398 creation of the Communist Party], growing out of CPUSA General Secretary Eugene Dennis' February 12, 1946 order "to establish in time for the 1948 elections a national third party." (Arthur Schlesinger, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=LLyNX6hMDCIC A Life in the Twentieth Century: Innocent Beginnings, 1917-1950]'' [New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000] ISBN 0618219250, pp. 455-456) Wallace once said if he were to become President, he would appoint [http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/18nov_lawrence_duggan.pdf Soviet agent] [[Laurence Duggan]] as [[Secretary of State]]; had [[FDR]] died a few months earlier, Wallace would indeed have become President. (Ethan Bronner, "[http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/weekinreview/witching-hour-rethinking-mccarthyism-if-not-mccarthy.html?pagewanted=all Witching Hour; Rethinking McCarthyism, if Not McCarthy]," ''The New York Times'', October 18, 1998) Wallace would finally recant [http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/05/09/almost.great.men/index.html his support] for the [[Soviet Union]] in 1952. (Henry Agard Wallace, “Where I Was Wrong.” ''This Week'', September 2, 1952) Three years later, the [[SISS|Jenner subcommittee]] would cite the Progressive Party on its list of subversive organizations, identified as [http://www.joincalifornia.com/party/Independent%20Progressive a Communist front].</ref> Oppenheimer "told me that the President’s statement to Congress had been written by [[Dean Acheson]]’s assistant, a Mr. Herbert Marks,<ref>The following year, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J. Anthony Panuch, in charge of security, would accuse Marks (along with [[Alger Hiss]] and others) of being part of “an enormous [[espionage]] ring in [[Washington]]” seeking to make information about the use of “atomic energy... as an instrument of war... available to the Soviet Union” (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=FWq-5a5tqH0C Secrecy: the American Experience]'' [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999] ISBN 0300080794, p. 69); at his confirmation hearing to become an AEC commissioner in 1947, a witness would testify that she had attended Communist Party meetings with Marks. Senate Section, Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, United States Congress, [http://books.google.com/books?id=B32lOQAACAAJ Hearings on Confirmation of Atomic Energy Commission and General Manager] (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1947), p. 165</ref> and that he [Oppenheimer] had had something to do with helping Marks on the message."<ref>Henry Agard Wallace (John Morton Blum, ed.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ua2sAAAAIAAJ The Price of Vision: The Diary of Henry A. Wallace, 1942-1946]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1973) ISBN 0395171210, p. 494</ref>

====Peace offensive====

−

Two days previously, Wallace and Oppenheimer had attended a meeting at [[Washington, DC|Washington]]'s Statler Hotel<ref>Less than four months before, this very hotel was the scene of FBI surveillance recording [[State Department]] official [[John Stewart Service]] handing off "a document which dealt with matters the Chinese had furnished to the United States government in confidence" (Report of the United States Senate Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees, 1950, Vol. 2, appendix, p. 2051) to the secret [[Communist]] [[Philip Jaffe]]. Philip Jaffe, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=YTUPGQAACAAJ The Amerasia Case from 1945 to the Present]'' (New York: Philip J. Jaffe, 1979), p. 1</ref> with [[Leo Szilard|Szilard]], ~~[[Enrico~~ Fermi~~|Fermi]]~~, Edward U. Condon,<ref>Condon, a classmate of Oppenheimer's at Göttingen, was among those (along with [[Alger Hiss]]) who would be named by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J. Anthony Panuch, in charge of security, the following year as part of “an enormous espionage ring in Washington” seeking to make information about the use of “atomic energy... as an instrument of war... available to the Soviet Union” (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secrecy: the American Experience [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999] ISBN 0300080794, pp. 68-69). Condon was such a blatant security risk that Gen. [[Leslie Groves]]—who considered Oppenheimer an acceptable risk—would kick him out of the [[Manhattan Project]] after just six weeks. M. Stanton Evans, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vz42rDYmf3wC Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies]'' (New York: Crown Forum, 2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, pp. 325-326</ref> Harlow Shapley,<ref>Shapely, a member of at least 20 [[Communist ~~front]]s~~ (Louis Francis Budenz, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IkqboMAiCkkC The Techniques of Communism]'' [New York: Ayer Publishing, 1977] ISBN 0405099428, p. 239), was the object of praise from no less an authority than [[CPUSA]] General Secretary [[William Z. Foster]]. William Z. Foster, "The Communist Party and the Professionals," ''The Communist'', No. 17 (September 1938), pp. 805-809</ref> and others. "The scientists presented in very vigorous terms the peril in which the United States now finds herself... chiefly... the threat to peace," wrote Wallace. "Oppenheimer said he very much wanted to see me and I made arrangements..."<ref>Henry Agard Wallace (John Morton Blum, ed.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ua2sAAAAIAAJ The Price of Vision: The Diary of Henry A. Wallace, 1942-1946]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1973) ISBN 0395171210, pp. 493-494</ref> At their meeting two days later, wrote Wallace:

+

Two days previously, Wallace and Oppenheimer had attended a meeting at [[Washington, DC|Washington]]'s Statler Hotel<ref>Less than four months before, this very hotel was the scene of FBI surveillance recording [[State Department]] official [[John Stewart Service]] handing off "a document which dealt with matters the Chinese had furnished to the United States government in confidence" (Report of the United States Senate Subcommittee on the Investigation of Loyalty of State Department Employees, 1950, Vol. 2, appendix, p. 2051) to the secret [[Communist]] [[Philip Jaffe]]. Philip Jaffe, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=YTUPGQAACAAJ The Amerasia Case from 1945 to the Present]'' (New York: Philip J. Jaffe, 1979), p. 1</ref> with [[Leo Szilard|Szilard]], Fermi, Edward U. Condon,<ref>Condon, a classmate of Oppenheimer's at Göttingen, was among those (along with [[Alger Hiss]]) who would be named by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State J. Anthony Panuch, in charge of security, the following year as part of “an enormous espionage ring in Washington” seeking to make information about the use of “atomic energy... as an instrument of war... available to the Soviet Union” (Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secrecy: the American Experience [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999] ISBN 0300080794, pp. 68-69). Condon was such a blatant security risk that Gen. [[Leslie Groves]]—who considered Oppenheimer an acceptable risk—would kick him out of the Manhattan Project after just six weeks. M. Stanton Evans, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=vz42rDYmf3wC Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies]'' (New York: Crown Forum, 2007), ISBN 978-1-4000-8105-9, pp. 325-326</ref> Harlow Shapley,<ref>Shapely, a member of at least 20 Communist fronts (Louis Francis Budenz, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=IkqboMAiCkkC The Techniques of Communism]'' [New York: Ayer Publishing, 1977] ISBN 0405099428, p. 239), was the object of praise from no less an authority than CPUSA General Secretary [[William Z. Foster]]. William Z. Foster, "The Communist Party and the Professionals," ''The Communist'', No. 17 (September 1938), pp. 805-809</ref> and others. "The scientists presented in very vigorous terms the peril in which the United States now finds herself... chiefly... the threat to peace," wrote Wallace. "Oppenheimer said he very much wanted to see me and I made arrangements..."<ref>Henry Agard Wallace (John Morton Blum, ed.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ua2sAAAAIAAJ The Price of Vision: The Diary of Henry A. Wallace, 1942-1946]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1973) ISBN 0395171210, pp. 493-494</ref> At their meeting two days later, wrote Wallace:

{{cquote|I never saw a man in such an extremely nervous state as Oppenheimer. He seemed to feel that the destruction of the entire human race was imminent... He has been in charge of the scientists in New Mexico and says... that all they think about now are the social and economic implications of the bomb... He wanted to know if I thought it would do any good for him to see the President. I said yes, and he is going to try to get either Secretary Patterson<ref>Robert P. Patterson was then Secretary of War.</ref> or Senator Kilgore<ref>Senator Harley M. Kilgore (D-WV) accused U.S. "military government officials" in occupied Germany of putting "our national security and the security of our allies... in jeopardy" for "private and selfish ends," due to "their connections with industrial and financial enterprises which had close pre-war ties with the Nazis." Howard Watson Armbruster, ''[http://ia600404.us.archive.org/10/items/treasonspeaceger00ambrrich/treasonspeaceger00ambrrich.pdf Treason's Peace: German Dyes & American Dupes]'' (New York: Beechhurst Press, 1947), p. 401</ref> to make an appointment for him.<ref>Henry Agard Wallace (John Morton Blum, ed.), ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ua2sAAAAIAAJ The Price of Vision: The Diary of Henry A. Wallace, 1942-1946]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1973) ISBN 0395171210, pp. 496-497</ref>}}

Within a week, Oppenheimer met with Truman at the [[White House]]. Oppenheimer urged the President to surrender the U.S. nuclear monopoly to international control. Truman was outraged, telling [[Secretary of State]] [[Dean Acheson]], "I don't want to see that son-of-a-bitch in this office ever again."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 331-332</ref>

−

Nevertheless, Truman later appealed to Oppenheimer for help in "giving the army permanent control over atomic energy."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 331</ref> Oppenheimer did just the opposite, using his influence to turn the army's control of nuclear power over to ~~the~~ the civilian AEC in 1946.<ref>[http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/civilian_control.htm Civilian Control of Atomic Energy, 1945-1946], The Manhattan Project, An Interactive History (Department of Energy)</ref> That year, Oppenheimer was one of the primary architects of the [http://www.learnworld.com/ZNW/LWText.Acheson-Lilienthal.html Acheson-Lillienthal Report], which proposed turning control of the U.S. nuclear arsenal over to the [[United Nations]].<ref>Jessica Wang, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ok_A5UV1mdoC American science in an age of anxiety: scientists, anticommunism, and the cold war]'' (Phoenix: UNC Press Books, 1999) ISBN 0807847496, p. 15</ref>

+

Nevertheless, Truman later appealed to Oppenheimer for help in "giving the army permanent control over atomic energy."<ref>[[#refBird-Sherwin|Bird, Sherwin 2006]]: 331</ref> Oppenheimer did just the opposite, using his influence to turn the army's control of nuclear power over to the civilian AEC in 1946.<ref>[http://www.cfo.doe.gov/me70/manhattan/civilian_control.htm Civilian Control of Atomic Energy, 1945-1946], The Manhattan Project, An Interactive History (Department of Energy)</ref> That year, Oppenheimer was one of the primary architects of the [http://www.learnworld.com/ZNW/LWText.Acheson-Lilienthal.html Acheson-Lillienthal Report], which proposed turning control of the U.S. nuclear arsenal over to the [[United Nations]].<ref>Jessica Wang, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=Ok_A5UV1mdoC American science in an age of anxiety: scientists, anticommunism, and the cold war]'' (Phoenix: UNC Press Books, 1999) ISBN 0807847496, p. 15</ref>

During their June 2000 meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ex-KGB agent, told U.S. President Bill Clinton a story concerning "Joseph Stalin's decision to put his secret police chief, Lavrenti Beria, in charge of ferreting out the secrets of the American crash program to develop the atomic bomb during World War II."

Line 176: Line 176:

==HUAC hearing==

−

In 1943, Lansdale had asked Oppenheimer, "Do you know a fellow named Rudy Lambert [chief of security for the California Communist Party, identified in Venona as a Soviet intelligence source on uranium]?"<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 324</ref> Oppenheimer answered, "I'm not sure, do you know what he looks like?"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 201 (PDF 215)</ref> Yet in 1949, Oppenheimer testified before [[HUAC]] that he had met Lambert half a dozen times before 1943, and not only knew then that he was a Communist official,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 140 (PDF 150)</ref> but even described him ("A lean, rather handsome man, moderate height, rather an effective speaker in conversation.")<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9, 139-140, 155, 183 (PDF 19, 149-150, 165, 193)</ref> The following colloquy would ensue:

+

In 1943, Lansdale had asked Oppenheimer, "Do you know a fellow named Rudy Lambert [chief of security for the California Communist Party, identified in Venona as a Soviet intelligence source on uranium]?"<ref>[[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 324</ref> Oppenheimer answered, "I'm not sure, do you know what he looks like?"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 201 (PDF 215)</ref> Yet in 1949, Oppenheimer testified before HUAC that he had met Lambert half a dozen times before 1943, and not only knew then that he was a Communist official,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 140 (PDF 150)</ref> but even described him ("A lean, rather handsome man, moderate height, rather an effective speaker in conversation.")<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 9, 139-140, 155, 183 (PDF 19, 149-150, 165, 193)</ref> The following colloquy would ensue:

{{cquote|You knew what Rudy Lambert looked like, didn't you?

Line 187: Line 187:

Q. If you did, Doctor, would it mean that you were ducking the question?

−

A. I would think so.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 201 (PDF 215)</ref>}}Although Oppenheimer has long been presented as a "martyr to McCarthyism," it has been suggested that had Oppenheimer not been stripped of his clearance, he might be disrespected (like Elia Kazan)<ref>In 1999, when Kazan received an honorary Academy Award, many Hollywood liberals present, including Warren Beatty, Helen Hunt, Meryl Streep, Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Ian McKellen and Amy Madigan, petulantly [http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/22/news/mn-19738 refused to applaud].</ref> for "naming names"<ref>Kai Bird, quoted in [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43634-2005Apr11.html Transcript: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, authors, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer], Book World Live, ''Washington Post'', April 12, 2005</ref> to save his own skin.<ref>Carrie Rossenfeld, [http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/hbomb/page_15.shtml The Red Scare], The Race for the Hydrogen Bomb, atomicarchive.com</ref> Oppenheimer testified that he thought one of his graduate students, Bernard Peters (husband of Communist Party official Hannah Peters),<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 589, 825, 877 (PDF 599, 837, 889)</ref> told him circa 1938 that he [Peters] had been a member of the Communist Party.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 122 (PDF 132)</ref> Yet in 1942 or '43 Oppenheimer invited Peters to join him at Los Alamos.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 120 (PDF 130)</ref> A few months later, during a background interview to obtain his security clearance, Oppenheimer identified Peters "as a Communist."<ref>Silvan S. Schweber, ''[http://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. 121</ref> The following year, Major Peer De Silva, chief of security at Los Alamos, interviewed Oppenheimer. Among his former students, Oppenheimer named Bohm and Peters as "truly dangerous,"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 150 (PDF 160)</ref> according to De Silva's report, singling out Peters in particular as a "crazy person" who was "quite a red."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 877 (PDF 889). Cf. Louisa Gilder, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5i4isqpu-I8C The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn]'' (Random House, Inc., 2009) ISBN 1400095263, pp. 189-190; F. David Peat, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pobZMUmZbAEC Infinite Potential: The Life and Times of David Bohm]'' (Basic Books, 1997) ISBN 0201328208, p. 90</ref> Oppenheimer also testified before [[HUAC]] that Peters told him that he had been "a member of the German National Communist Party."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 211 (PDF 221)</ref>

+

A. I would think so.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 201 (PDF 215)</ref>}}Although Oppenheimer has long been presented as a "martyr to McCarthyism," it has been suggested that had Oppenheimer not been stripped of his clearance, he might be disrespected (like Elia Kazan)<ref>In 1999, when Kazan received an honorary Academy Award, many Hollywood liberals present, including Warren Beatty, Helen Hunt, Meryl Streep, Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Ian McKellen and Amy Madigan, petulantly [http://articles.latimes.com/1999/mar/22/news/mn-19738 refused to applaud].</ref> for "naming names"<ref>Kai Bird, quoted in [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43634-2005Apr11.html Transcript: Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, authors, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer], Book World Live, ''Washington Post'', April 12, 2005</ref> to save his own skin.<ref>Carrie Rossenfeld, [http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/hbomb/page_15.shtml The Red Scare], The Race for the Hydrogen Bomb, atomicarchive.com</ref> Oppenheimer testified that he thought one of his graduate students, Bernard Peters (husband of Communist Party official Hannah Peters),<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 589, 825, 877 (PDF 599, 837, 889)</ref> told him circa 1938 that he [Peters] had been a member of the Communist Party.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 122 (PDF 132)</ref> Yet in 1942 or '43 Oppenheimer invited Peters to join him at Los Alamos.<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 120 (PDF 130)</ref> A few months later, during a background interview to obtain his security clearance, Oppenheimer identified Peters "as a Communist."<ref>Silvan S. Schweber, ''[http://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. 121</ref> The following year, Major Peer De Silva, chief of security at Los Alamos, interviewed Oppenheimer. Among his former students, Oppenheimer named Bohm and Peters as "truly dangerous,"<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 150 (PDF 160)</ref> according to De Silva's report, singling out Peters in particular as a "crazy person" who was "quite a red."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 877 (PDF 889). Cf. Louisa Gilder, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=5i4isqpu-I8C The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn]'' (Random House, Inc., 2009) ISBN 1400095263, pp. 189-190; F. David Peat, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pobZMUmZbAEC Infinite Potential: The Life and Times of David Bohm]'' (Basic Books, 1997) ISBN 0201328208, p. 90</ref> Oppenheimer also testified before HUAC that Peters told him that he had been "a member of the German National Communist Party."<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 211 (PDF 221)</ref>

After this testimony was leaked to the press,<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 210 (PDF 220)</ref> Condon, then Director of the Commerce Department's National Bureau of Standards (dealing with classified data on nuclear weapons, radar, and guided missiles), wrote a letter to the editor containing “a severe attack on Dr. Oppenheimer”<ref>U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=3foX8lGuXz4C In the matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: transcript of hearing before Personnel Security Board and texts of principal documents and letters]'' (MIT Press, 1971) ISBN 0262710021, p. 1018</ref> and tried to start various rumors alleging that Oppenheimer was either losing his mind or converting to the [[Catholic Church]].<ref>"[http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,935123,00.html THE ATOM: A Matter of Character]," ''Time'', June 14, 1954</ref> He also wrote Oppenheimer a letter accusing him of trying to "buy immunity for yourself by turning informer"<ref>Silvan S. Schweber, ''[http://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. 125</ref> and demanding that he "try to make restitution," threatening that if Oppenheimer's own "file were ever made public, it would be a much bigger flap":<ref>[[#refAECH|AEC Hearing]]: 212 (PDF 222)</ref> "You know very well that once these people decide to go into your own dossier and make it public that it will make the 'revelations' that you have made so far look pretty tame."<ref>Silvan S. Schweber, ''[http://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. 125</ref>

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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>

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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>

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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>

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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>

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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>

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==See also==

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* [[Manhattan Project]]

* [[Albert Einstein]]

* [[Niels Bohr]]

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* [[Edward Teller]]

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* [[Enrico Fermi]]

* [[Richard Feynman]]

* [[Elizabeth Zarubina]]

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* [[Grigory Kheifets]]

* [[Giovanni Rossi Lomanitz]]

−

* [[Isaac Folkoff]]

* [[Rudy Lambert]]

* [[Steve Nelson]]

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==See also==

−

* [[Manhattan Project]]

* [[Albert Einstein]]

* [[Niels Bohr]]

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