"The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Priscilla J. McMillan

This was another one of the books, THE RUIN OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER by Priscilla J. McMillan, where I profess my ignorance.  I knew of the arms race between the U. S. and the Soviet Union.  I knew of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What I did not know was the story behind the story, the events that followed those events.

The first question to address should be, ‘Who was J. Robert Oppenheimer?’ 

J. Robert Oppenheimer was a scientist of the World War II era.  He served in the capacity as director at the Los Alamos laboratory for the development of the atomic bomb, i.e The Manhattan Project.  He was known as the ‘father of the atom bomb’, a nationally-recognized name, a hero, of sorts, as the bomb is what President Truman dropped on Japan, bringing to an end the war.  Ostensibly, that act saved the lives of the American soldiers who otherwise would have been called upon to storm Japan’s shores.

After the war, the Soviet Union tested their own atomic bomb.  Through their own spies, and with the passing of secrets from U.S. traitors, they acquired the knowledge.

With no more of a monopoly on the bomb, and with fears that the U.S. had to stay one step firmly ahead of the Russians at all times, talk of developing a thermonuclear bomb was set in motion.  The H-bomb, in theory, would be greater in destructive capability than Oppenheimer’s A-bomb.

Or, as in other declarative statements that made me sit up and take notice of what I was reading, “the weapon is from a technical point of view without limitations with regard to the damage it can inflict….Its use therefore carries much further than the atomic bomb itself the policy of exterminating civilian populations.”

The previous comes from the main report of the General Advisory Committee, of which Oppenheimer was chairman.  This collection of scientists recommended against development of a weapon capable of such unlimited destructive power.  President Truman’s, though, overruled the scientists of the GAC, sending those eager to pursue this untapped resource to wrest weapons superiority from the Soviets, as well as those not eager to pursue it, to work at the Los Alamos facilities. 

This is where the tale gets interesting.

As the scientists who began to tap the secrets of how to harness thermonuclear power as a weapon showed clear progress in their quest, Robert Oppenheimer was being assailed as a security risk by those who saw him impeding the bomb’s progress.  Elements within the government, who saw the bomb as the next step in the country’s security from any Russian threat, also saw him as a threat for not pursuing its development with the same vigor.  Therefore, his security clearance was revoked; and at the inquiry held to have it reinstated, the reasons for doing so were Oppenheimer’s left-winged activities, his alleged associations with the Communist Party (his brother Frank was a party member), and the Chevalier affair, where a close friend made inquires to whether or not Oppenheimer would be willing to pass information to the Russians.

Oppenheimer refused, but made the mistake of not reporting the offer immediately to Army intelligence.  When he lied about circumstances involved with the meeting (hoping to protect his friend) his chances at being exonerated were virtually null.

In essence, the way I read this story, J. Robert Oppenheimer, agreed upon as one of the most brilliant, as well as arrogant, scientists of his day, the man who took the place of Albert Einstein in the publics’ scientific consciousness, was morally opposed to the development of the thermonuclear hydrogen bomb.  Those favoring its development as means of keeping the imposing Soviet threat at bay saw him as threatening the country’s security (one man even sent J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, a letter, calling Oppenheimer an agent for the Soviet government) and dispossessed him from the government by labeling him the dirty word of that era: “Communist”.

Perhaps, it is my utter naiveté as a simple Kansas boy, but I was astonished at the level of character assassination involved here.  There was no evidence to prove the assertions made against Oppenheimer.  On the contrary, his years of faithful service said exactly the opposite to what he was being accused.  After already having received his clearance previously by the same men who were now condemning him, taking that same clearance away from him was an act of castigating a man for an opinion not in vogue with the powers that be.  

THE RUIN OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER was a great read for me, as it taught me a part of history to which I had never heard.  Priscilla McMillan does solid writing, informing people as to who Robert Oppenheimer was, while also chronicling what began the modern arms race we still face today.  While I suspect her personal views come down on the side of vindicating Oppenheimer, delivering his perspective as the perspective the government of the 1950s should have followed, she does not shirk from giving the opposing point of view its moment.  This is no one-sided, ideologically-driven, agenda of shaming the Truman and Eisenhower administrations in their buildup of arms following the conclusion of WWII.  The Soviet threat, the infiltration of Communist spies in the U.S. government, the selling of secrets to the Russians is all offered as impetus for those seeking the development of the H-bomb. 

Thus, no real typical “villain” exists here – just a handful of influential people, afraid of a threat overseas, afraid of a threat within their own ranks, afraid period.  It’s your call to determine whether their actions were warranted, or whether the pursuit of such destructive power should have been renounced.