American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

American Prometheus The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer This book, in essence, is about one man’s struggle to define morality and his corollary effort to define responsibilities related to love of country. As such, it is timeless. The struggle between what we can do and what we ought to do continues 78 years since the detonation of atomic bombs over Japanese cities. Robert Oppenheimer’s life is extraordinary. It is also very human story — although with a level of brilliance, contradictory inspiration, and naiveté that surpasses ordinary mortals. This detailed and well-researched biography by authors Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin compels us to consider our own professional, political, and moral standards and contradictions. Oppenheimer in the 1930s was not so much ignorant of politics as indifferent, the authors tell us. As was the case with many who questioned capitalism during the Great Depression, he had many friends who were committed to the Communist Party and leftist ideology, including those who were formal members of the party and those who were sympathetic to many of its ideas. But Oppenheimer never himself became a propagandist for Communist ideas. Later, when Oppenheimer assumed responsibility for the Manhattan Project and was aware of the importance of secrecy, he didn’t cut off socializing with those who were “fellow travelers” or more, but simply insured that he revealed nothing about the project itself. On several occasions he was lackadaisical, failing to report at least one attempt to get him to convey technical secrets to a longstanding friend who he knew to be a Communist. Later interrogated by FBI agent Boris Pash about being approached, he not only refused to name that person but unaccountably suggested two fictitious incidents had occurred. This casual response, taking place without a lawyer, came to haunt him. What Oppenheimer didn’t realize was the extent to which he had been targeted by J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI because of his relationships with those on the left. The authors also explain that formal membership in the Communist Party was usually secret and one’s degree of party commitment was ill-defined. Thus as Hoover’s agents interviewed party members, many assumed that Oppenheimer was “one of us” and stated this belief to the FBI. Many of the FBI’s files contained unverified hearsay. Additional “evidence” against Oppenheimer was collected in illegal wiretaps that the FBI hid from Oppenheimer, his attorneys and shared only with those who would ultimately judge whether he was a security risk. At the end of the war Oppenheimer misjudged Lewis Strauss, who was appointed head of the Atomic Energy Commission. He held Strauss is open contempt and thereby guaranteed that Strauss became an enemy and would dedicate himself to Oppenheimer’s persecution and ultimate loss of a security clearance. The book makes a case that Oppenheimer was man brilliant in many ways, but even more extraordinary as an individual who could rise to new occasions. Thus, this theoretical physicist who never managed a bureaucracy became a practical and charismatic leader who led hundreds of top scientists and thousands of others to develop the atomic bomb. Once having successfully tested the device, Oppenheimer and his fellow scientists had no say in how the bomb would be employed — although they certainly were aware that it could be used against civilian targets. So the actually consequences of their work came as a shock and in Oppenheimer’s case, apparent depression. Immediately after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Oppenheimer drafted a report arguing that 1) It will be impossible for the United States to have a monopoly on bomb technology, 2) No military countermeasures will prevent effective delivery of atomic weapons, and 3) Devices will become bigger and more lethal. Thus there was a critical need to find a way to make future wars impossible. Together with physicist Isidor Rabi, he proposed that the U.S. relinquish control over the bomb and the use of nuclear energy to an international body. If a nation pursued the bomb they would be banned from the peaceful use of atomic energy such as in power plants. Oppenheimer was appointed to a Board of Consultants chaired by Dean Acheson and with General Leslie Groves and other prominent men among the membership. In March, 1946 they produced a report, largely written by Oppenheimer, that called for an international agency that would have sovereignty over uranium mines, nuclear power plants, and laboratories. Oppenheimer also opposed the development of the hydrogen or “Super” bomb, which put him in conflict with Edward Teller, Strauss, and much of the military — particularly the Air Force. Whether the surrender of control over nuclear weapons was ever realistic, events soon scuttled the idea due to the Soviet Union’s control of Eastern Europe and its own development of an atomic bomb. By this time, Oppenheimer realized that the idea of international control would not take place and again shifted his position, accepting that the United States had to defend its own sovereignty against others who possessed nuclear weapons. But in effect he had always been a patriot, arguing as he saw it for what was in U.S. national interest as well as essential to mankind. Bird and Sherwin have written a wonderful book about a complex man and complex problems that we have made little progress in resolving since Oppenheimer’s time. The man was unfairly judged in his time. His warnings are pertinent today.

This superb book on Oppenheimer can be recommended for all, but with a significant caveat. First, it is very, very long—the equivalent of approximately three volumes. I bought it about a year ago and read it in fits and starts, because it is a slow read. It is not a dull read, but rather a dense read. It examines RO’s life in endless detail, on pages dense with text. The focus is squarely on RO’s life, not exclusively on his science, in part because of the complexity of that life, including his many political entanglements. His (self-described) fellow-traveler activities, particularly in his early life, up until the loss of his security clearance (but continuation as Director of the Institute for Advanced Study) are an important part of his life, and thus they occupy a great deal of the text. For those who are principally interested in the Manhattan Project and the development of nuclear weapons this may prove to be distracting. This is a full biography, not a selective one. The research is deep and extensive, the writing very workmanlike, the illustrations very helpful, but remember—in for a dime, in for a dollar. When you pick up this book you are making a significant commitment. I faced the challenge by reading it when I was between shorter books.

Summary Thoughts 1. Deserving winner of a Pulitzer Prize; a true human story of science, evolution, and conscience 2. Knowledge threatens political power; especially when it has a liberal mind that doesn't pander to government 3. Respect (from practitioners) vs. Reprimand (by politicians) - Oppenheimer battled bureaucrats to his grave Content Highlights 1. "Damn it, I happen to love this country." (pg 3) #truth, Oppenheimer wasn't the communist his haters wanted him to be 2. "He received every idea as perfectly beautiful" (pg 9) #objective research defined 3. "Well, neither one of us came over on the Mayflower" (pg 25) on being Jewish, Oppie to his Scotch-Irish friend at #Harvard 4. "The notion that I was travelling down a clear track would be wrong" (pg 29) #honesty about learning (1922 enrolled @Harvard) 5. Proust's "A La Recherche du Temp Perdu" (pg 51) a book that left an impression on him in college #introspection 6. "Becoming a scientist, Oppenheimer later remarked, is like climbing a mountain in a tunnel" (pg 67) #Gottingen 1927 Germany 7. "Quantum mechanics describes nature as absurd from the point of view of common sense" -Feynman (pg 79) #Oppie liked 8. "Oppie" = title of Chapter 6 (Oppenheimer's nickname, humanizes the man as he moved on to teach in California) 9. "How far is it wise to respond to a mood?" -Oppenheimer in #1930 (pg 95), we was 26 yrs old, #mentoring brother Frank 10. "In 1936 my interests began to change" -Oppie (pg 111) met his 1st love, young #communist party member, Jean Tatlock 11. "FBI would never resolve the question of whether or not Robert was a CP member" (pg 142) b/c he wasn't a #communist 12. "devoted to working for social and economic justice... he chose to stand with the left" (pg152) left isn't Russian Communist 13. "By the end of 1939, Oppenheimer's often stormy relationship with Jeadn Tatlock had disintegrated" (pg 153) 14. "I'd had about enough of the Spanish cause... there were more pressing crises in the world" (pg 178) #1941 post Pearl Harbor 15. "Only an atomic bomb could dislodge Hitler from Europe" -Oppenheimer to #Teller in #1942 16. "Groves is a bastard but he's a straightforward one" -Oppenheimer (pg 185) on his boss at #LosAlamos 17. "He's a genius, a real genius" -Groves on Oppenheimer (pg 185) #1942, peer #respect 18. "Robert was beginning a new life. As the Director of a weapons laboratory..." (pg 205) #1942, he was 38 yrs old 19. "No, no, you're crazy... that's nuts" -Dick Feynman (pg 217) Feynman, Bethe, Bohr + Oppenheimer = genius collaboration 20. "Oppenheimer is telling the truth..." (pg 236) people may have not liked the #truth, but he was usually telling it; that's life 21. "I am disgusted with everything" -Jean Tatlock (pg 249), in #1944 Oppenheimer's 1st love committed #suicide 22. "December 1943, Niels Bohr arrived at Los Alamos" (pg 268) Oppie was his #prophet 23. "If Bohr was convinced, then Oppenheimer must have realized that German physicists were in all likelihood far behind" (pg 276) 24. "Everyone sensed Oppie's presence. He drove himself around The Hill in an army jeep" (pg 277) #leader amongst peers 25. "Well, Roosevelt was a great architect, perhaps Truman will be a good carpenter" -Oppenheimer (pg 290) he respected POTUS 26. "I feel I have blood on my hands" -Oppenheimer (pg 323) October 16, #1946 to #Truman (and Truman didn't like the honesty) 27. "Oppenheimer arrived in Princeton in mid-July 1947" (pg 369) he was appointed Director of Einstein's Institute #thinktank 28. "After Einstein, Oppenheimer was undoubtedly the most renowned scientist in the country" (pg 390) #1948 (so he was a #threat) 29. "Our atomic monopoly is like a cake of ice melting in the sun..." -Oppenheimer (cover of Time Magazine 1948) (pg 418) 30. "The Administration now supported a program to build a bomb 1,000x as lethal as the Hiroshima weapon" (pg 430) 31. "You probably don't know to what extent you have become my intellectual conscience" -George Kennan to Oppie #1950 (pg 431) 32. "We may be likened to 2 scorpions in a bottle, each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life" -Oppenheimer (pg 462) 33. In 1953 Oppenheimer sent the new Eisenhower Administration a report "urging a policy of candor" (pg 463) #transparency 34. "I must reveal its nature without revealing anything" -Oppenheimer on #nuclear weapons in 1953 #candor (pg 463) 35. "The President had read Oppie's essay and had found himself to be in general accord with its argument" (pg 468) #Strauss was enraged 36. Strauss and the anti-Oppenheimer hawks went after Oppie (ultimately he "collapsed on his bathroom floor") (pg 484) #pressure 1953 37. Einstein, not impressed, thought Oppenheimer "a man who was easily hurt and intimidated" (pg 498) #fair assessment 38. "The Oppenheimer hearing thus represented ... the narrowing of the public forum during the early Cold War" (pg 550) 39. "It achieved just what his opponents wanted to achieve; it destroyed him" -I.I. Rabi (pg 551) #1954 40. "How can the independent experimental mind survive in such an atmosphere?" -The New Statesman (pg 556) #1954 41. "By the early 1960s, with the return of Democrats... Oppenheimer was no longer a political pariah" (pg 574) #JFK 42. "I think it is just possible Mr. President that is has taken some charity and some courage to make his award" (pg 574) 43. "In 1963, Oppenheimer learned that President Kennedy gave him the prestigious Fermi Prize" (pg 575) #validation 44. "In 1965, Oppie visited his doctor for a physical... 2 months later his smoker's cough became noticeably worse" (pg 581) 45. "Robert has cancer" -Kitty (pg 582) #1966 46. Oppenheimer's Memorial Service was in Princeton on February 25, 1967 (pg 588) 47. "Kitty took her husband's ashes in an urn to Hawksnest Bay... and dropped the urn overboard" (pg 588) #St.John 48. "That's where he wanted to be" -Kitty (pg 588) This book typifies the complexity of the human mind but, at the same time, simplifies the predictable behavior of politicians. In many ways Oppenheimer's story reminds us how fragile our freedoms can become. KM

Bird and Sherwin have produced what must be the definitive biography of Robert Oppenheimer, finding his unique personality and his remarkable gifts in every facet of his life, from childhood to scientific/political triumph to his persecuted twilight. The book - 25 years in the making! - is exhaustively researched and illuminates the trajectory of his life in intimate detail from beginning to end. Oppenheimer's reputation, of course, rests on his unprecedented and unequaled achievement in planning and running the Manhattan Project to its final earth-shaking success in August 1945, and secondarily on his post-war role as sachem of nuclear policy and his political destruction by Cold War hawks who resented his warnings about the threat to peace from unlimited nuclear competition. But Bird and Sherwin give each stage of Oppenheimer's life its due, including his gilded childhood, his troubled educational years, his rise to scientific prominence as the reigning American exponent of the new physics in the 1930s, and finally his mordant recasting as, essentially, speaker for the dead in the unstoppable post-war madness. Though Oppenheimer's life, from the late '30s on, was shaped and dominated by the atomic bomb he birthed and regretted, each successive period in that life was filled with its own personal drama and with the characteristically quirky incidents in which Oppenheimer tended to enmesh himself, and which said so much about his complex personality. The result is a comprehensive and balanced reading of the man through the whole of his life; the Manhattan Project and its aftermath loom large, as they have to, but they do not obscure the fact that there was a real person underneath those historic events, and that person comes through in a rich, subtle, and - inevitably - somewhat inconclusive portrait. The authors do not shy away from writing their own opinions into the story, giving reasonable interpretations of the many controversial incidents in Oppenheimer's life, but which are clearly interpretations nevertheless. The book is deeply researched and the events are reported with clear and extensive factual support; it is easy to read their reconstructions of the history as authoritative. It is necessary to remind oneself that other interpretations are possible, however compelling these authors are in their presentation. At the same time, the authors are open about identifying their own interpretations as such; the material seems fairly and honestly presented, and the authors' conclusions are convincing. The story of the Manhattan Project has been told many times, and this volume adds little to what is already known, though it illuminates the terrible strain of the project on Oppenheimer in a powerful way. The dramatic story of the Trinity test is told here in personalized fragments of detail about numerous individuals - rather than a technical focus on the Gadget - that gives that history a new and unique meaning. The treatment of the AEC investigation that led to Oppenheimer being stripped of his security clearance and government advisory role is perhaps the strongest part of the whole book - a tour de force of historical research, reportorial detail, and logical interpretation that makes it abundantly clear how shockingly dishonest that process was, and what a contrived and deliberate campaign of personal destruction drove it. Throughout, Oppenheimer's fascinating and often self-destructive personality is illuminated in intriguing detail. There is no part of the volume that does not make fascinating reading. It seems likely that "American Prometheus" will be the touchstone biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer for the foreseeable future (and, probably, forever: this will likely be the last major such work grounded so fully on primary research among surviving figures from Oppenheimer's life). It is strongly recommended to anyone with an interest in Oppenheimer as a person, as a scientist, and as a world figure. It is not a major contribution to the history of the Manhattan Project in its practical aspects, but does illuminate many of the personalities involved and life on "the Hill" during the project. It is exhaustive and authoritative on the subject of Oppenheimer's pre-war political dalliances and his post-war persecution. All in all, it is a moving, compelling, often heart-breaking study of an unique, difficult, indispensable American.

The phrase, "The Story of Our Time" is emphasized within the title of one main bonus feature included with the purchase of Christopher Nolan's film, "Oppenheimer". I wish to declare that a dramatization of the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer in and of itself, is not equivalent to "The [Entire] Story of Our Time," however - due to manifold complications veiled within higher dimensionality not currently understood by the majority of the global population. "The [Elaborate] Story of Our Time", involves the existence of one sub-Rosa transnational Fourth Reich Deep National Security State Illegal Secret Government, of which has been disclosed by numerous individuals. I believe it is prudent to express how each one of us, as sentient manifestations in consciousness, plays an imperative role within establishing a collective framework of what people recognize and / or experience, as reality. The following statements are attributed to the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and the International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL): "Inspired by a profound experience of personal discovery, Apollo 14 astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell created IONS in 1973 to explore the interplay between scientific knowledge and inner knowing. Today, IONS has the world’s largest team of multidisciplinary scientists conducting research on frontier topics in consciousness and its impact in our lives." "The International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL) is a consortium of individuals from all walks of life, united within a shared passion: understanding consciousness for a better tomorrow." STAR, LLC has implemented various copyrighted research, including a comprehensive explanation of reality, within their 8-slide presentation, "Cosmos: The Holographic Conscious Universe". Author Paola Leopizzi Harris first released the relevant publication, "Trinity – The Best-Kept Secret: Meticulous Research Reveals How 'Alien' Technology Has Been Concealed" with coauthor Jacques F. Vallée in 2021, the title of which correlates with the founding atomic weapon test, in the Tularosa Basin of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. J. Robert Oppenheimer's attributed citation of the phrase, "Now I am become Death, The Destroyer of Worlds." from the Bhagavad Gita in 1945, is critical. Earth has experienced steadily increased interest from enlightened extraterrestrial civilizations since the time of the Trinity test, due to the destructive nature nuclear weapons invoke upon higher dimensionality within a veiled construct of quantum physics – the reality of which has been withheld by rogue operatives within a transnational Military Industrial Complex, intent on maintaining an archaic petrodollar-based geopolitical structure, that has brought our civilization and planet towards the brink of biosphere collapse within unnecessary climate and energy crises and various other atrocities. For this reason, authentic Extraterrestrial Vehicles (ETVs) have shown interest at times around incorporated nuclear weapons facilities; yet in no way, do these visitors pose as "threat(s)"! It is therefore important to learn to recognize the need to incorporate acute discernment, in our naivety… we cannot necessarily trust corporate mainstream media outlets, because of Intelligence Community infiltration. In truth, a psychological warfare program was unleashed in the late 1940s / early 1950s, based upon the corrupt desires of the Military Industrial Complex, against enlightened extraterrestrial civilizations; this is why almost all "national security" interests / corporate mainstream media representations of extraterrestrials have and continue to condition homo sapiens (humanity, who share 98.8% of DNA with chimpanzees, who are known to form groups in warring against one another), to "fear the unknown" / all things "alien" within what is referred to as, deceptive Indication & Warning(s) {I & W [False Flag (Military terminology)]} scenarios. Transcendental meditation, as utilized within various pursuits including but not limited to prayer, utilizes higher capacities of the sentient mind, which have historically been miscategorized as the stuff of science fiction, or that of which may merely be available to a few gifted "psychics". Please witness the following, eluding to the reality of quantum physics: "When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love… If you desire with all your heart, friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will spread; it will become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches the minds of all men…" Excerpted from the compilation "Paris Talks"; "The Pitiful Causes of War, and the Duty of Everyone to Strive for Peace" – 'Abdu'l-Bahá, October 21st, 1911 Additional resources include but are not limited to the following: Secrets of Power, Volume I - The Individual Empowerment vs. The Societal Panorama of Power and Depowerment, by Ingo Swann Secrets of Power, Volume II - The Vitalizing of Individual Powers, by Ingo Swann Phenomena - The Secret History of the U. S. Government's Investigations Into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis, by Annie Jacobsen Everybody's Guide to Natural ESP, by Ingo Swann Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial & Human Telepathy, by Ingo Swann Secrets of Antigravity Propulsion: Tesla, UFOs and Classified Aerospace Technology, by Paul A. LaViolette, Ph. D. Documentary Films: Sirius Unacknowledged: An Exposé of the World's Greatest Secret Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind: Contact Has Begun The Cosmic Hoax: An Exposé The Lost Century: And How to Reclaim It

Subtitled "The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer", this 2005 book won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. This fascinating story of the physicist who oversaw the creation of the atomic bomb is meticulously researched by the authors and offers the reader a comprehensive look at the facts and the political complexities that first held this man in high esteem in 1945 and later turned on him and disgraced him just nine years later in 1954. Born in 1904 to a Jewish family who had been one of the founders of the Ethical Culture movement in the America, young Robert attended a private Ethical Culture school and grew up inspired by the ideal that the supreme aim of our lives is to create a more humane society. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Cambridge in England and the University of Gottingen in Germany, later becoming a professor at the University of Berkeley in California. This was in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Europe was where the innovations in physics were happening, Hitler was rising to power, Russia was in a state of revolution, the Spanish Civil War was beginning and the work of Karl Marx was being discussed by the segment of American society that believed in making the world a better place. Naturally, Robert Oppenheimer found himself in that world, and contributed money to some humanitarian causes. During this time he had several romances and eventually married a woman whose former husband was a Communist who had died fighting in the Spanish Civil War. Robert was a brilliant physicist and was chosen to run the project at Los Alamos to create what turned out to be the Atomic Bomb. In this section of the book we meet the other scientists involved in the project and get to understand the kind of isolationist lives they and their families lived during the two years that the project was being developed. Later, when the Atomic Bomb became a reality, there was debate over whether or not it should be used. Originally, it was designed to be used in Europe, but Hitler had already surrendered and Japan was on the verge of surrendering. There were no military targets left that the bomb was suited for. All it would do would be to kill thousands of civilians and wreck havoc in Japan. Some thought at the time that all that would be needed was to call a press conference and do a test in an isolated area so that reporters could report on its strength which might have been enough to push Japan's surrender. This, however, was not to be. Well, we all know what happened. Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. Japan surrendered. And Robert Oppenheimer was lauded as one of the greatest scientists of all time. Things changed however. Atomic power seemed to let the genie out of the bottle. The arms race began with the Soviet Union exploding a bomb of its own and the United States wanting to develop even bigger and bigger bombs. All of a sudden, it seemed as if there would be no end - that the bombs would just get bigger and bigger and the world would blow itself into destruction. Robert Oppenheimer opposed this trend and wrote many articles warning the world of this course of action. Some saw him as un-American and wanted to destroy him. Eventually, in 1954, there was a hearing which would eventually strip him of his top secret security clearance. It was an unfair, kangaroo court which made me cringe as I read the transcripts. How awful for him. After that, Robert was never the same. A few years later, at the age of 62, he died of throat cancer. I looked up the myth of Prometheus so that I could better understand the title. In Greek Mythology, Prometheus stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals to use. Zeus then punished him by having him bound to a rock while an eagle ate his liver, only to have it grow back the next day. This is a fine book. I learned a lot. It is not the kind of book to read in one big gulp though. I read it little by little, a page or two at a time. And during the period I was reading it I was right there in those long-ago years, living and breathing all the influences of the times and understanding the world around me just a little bit better.

the story of Oppenheimer 's life should be known by all The book was extremely well written and compelling

This is not a quick read for sure. The book is so big it’s hard to hold, so probably better to read it on the Kindle. I got it from the library, and it was falling apart to such an extent that when I returned it, it really needed to be re-glued before they could give it to another reader. That being said, I found Oppenheimer a very interesting person. You really couldn’t get that much of a handle on who he was in the movie, compared to reading the book. Definitely worth the effort and very well done, including his relationship with his wife and children, which is always an interesting part of any book. It certainly helps to know the history of our country during those years. My granddaughter, age 18, went to see it, and I wanted to make sure she knew about the house un-American activities committee and what was going on at that time in our country. My husband, a newspaper journalist in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, back in the day, interviewed Oppenheimer for his newspaper. He mentioned to me that he thought Oppenheimer was haunted by his connection to the bomb, and that made me all the more interested in seeing the film. He was a man who did everything he could to stop the proliferation of the H bomb. He never could’ve dreamed the way things would go. After reading this, I decided that I could no longer defend Harry Truman for the bombing of Nagasaki, especially when one finds out that the Japanese were so close to surrendering. How can you ignore a nation with so many innocent people at risk? I thought Truman was smarter and more sensitive than he turns out to be, according to these authors. All in all, an interesting read and well worth your time.