In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Security Clearance Hearing

Richard Polenberg

Cornell University Press, 2002 - Biography & Autobiography - 409 pages

At the end of World War II, J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of America's preeminent physicists. For his work as director of the Manhattan Project, he was awarded the Medal for Merit, the highest honor the U.S. government can bestow on a civilian. Yet, in 1953, Oppenheimer was denied security clearance amidst allegations that he was "more probably than not" an "agent of the Soviet Union." Determined to clear his name, he insisted on a hearing before the Atomic Energy Commission's Personnel Security Board.In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer contains an edited and annotated transcript of the 1954 hearing, as well as the various reports resulting from it. Drawing on recently declassified FBI files, Richard Polenberg's introductory and concluding essays situate the hearing in the Cold War period, and his thoughtful analysis helps explain why the hearing was held, why it turned out as it did, and what that result meant, both for Oppenheimer and for the United States.Among the forty witnesses who testified were many who had played vitally important roles in the making of U.S. nuclear policy: Enrico Fermi, Hans Bethe, Edward Teller, Vannevar Bush, George F. Kennan, and Oppenheimer himself. The hearing provides valuable insights into the development of the atomic bomb and the postwar debate among scientists over the hydrogen bomb, the conflict between the foreign policy and military establishments over national defense, and the controversy over the proper standards to apply in assessing an individual's loyalty. It reveals as well the fears and anxieties that plagued America during the Cold War era.

Contents

• Monday April 12: 3
• Tuesday April 13: 35
• Wednesday April 14: 49
• Then I invented a cockandbull story: 61
• You spent the night with her didnt you?: 72
• Fuchs is by far the most grave: 93
• I am not sure the miserable thing will: 99
• The program in 1951 was technically: 108
• Monday April 19: 120
• Tuesday April 20: 139
• menace was hard headed realistic and thoroughly: 148
• Wednesday April 21: 166
• Thursday April 22: 179
• Friday April 23: 194
• Monday April 26: 207
• I am afraid that wars are evil But: 221
• Tuesday April 27: 228
• I kept turning over in my mind what: 237
• Wednesday April 28: 244
• Thursday April 29: 265
• Friday April 30: 283
• engaged in should be carried out to the fullest extent: 289
• Monday May 3: 309
• Tuesday May 4: 327
• Wednesday May 5: 333
• The Personnel Security Board Reports May 27: 355
• Lloyd K Garrisons Reply to Kenneth D Nichols June 1: 366
• Publishing the Transcript June 1315: 376
• possible conclusion available to a reasonable and prudent: 385
• An Abuse of the Power of the State: 395
• Index: 401

About the author

Richard Polenberg is Goldwin Smith Professor of American History at Cornell University. Among his previous books is Fighting Faiths: The Abrams Case, the Supreme Court, and Free Speech, also from Cornell.

Bibliographic information

• Title: In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Security Clearance Hearing; Cornell paperbacks
• Editor: Richard Polenberg
• Edition: illustrated, annotated
• Publisher: Cornell University Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0801437830, 9780801437830
• Length: 409 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology; History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Military / Nuclear Warfare; History / United States / 20th Century; Law / Legal History; Political Science / Security (National & International)