Oppenheimer and America’s anti-communist paranoia
Elliott Gubbay
Introduction
In 1954, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s high security clearance was revoked due to accusations of his being a communist, of national disloyalty and a growing suspicion that he was colluding with the Soviets. This was a humiliating event for Oppenheimer. He had led the Manhattan Project and provided the United States government with the world changing atomic bomb, was the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a previous chair of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). 1 However, as will be explored below, Oppenheimer’s loyalty had been questioned by the US Government since the 1930s, due to his perceived proximity to the Communist Party of the United States. This essay will assess the extent to which Oppenheimer was a victim of America’s anti -communist paranoia, whether there was evidence of his communist connections and whether or not this justified the accusation that he was sending information to the Soviets.
Oppenheimer and the bomb
On the 16th of July 1945, the course of world history irreversibly changed as the first atomic bomb was successfully detonated during the 'Trinity Test' in the Alamogordo desert in New Mexico followed by the US dropping two atomic bombs on Japan in August. Having confronted the consequences of the atomic detonations in Japan, Oppenheimer became an advocate for nuclear limitation and the avoidance of a nuclear arms race with USSR. This was later used against him as evidence of his support for the Soviet regime. During the 'Second Red Scare', a consequence of the infamous McCarthy period, Oppenheimer aggravated many American anti-communist politicians with his left-wing views that resulted in the 1954 hearing at which his security clearance was revoked. Oppenheimer suffered damage to his reputation, was 'effectively stripped of his direct political influence' 2 and became an academic exile. Oppenheimer, however, never stopped his scientific work, continuing to lecture and write in physics. Nine years later, as a gesture of political rehabilitation and recognition of his scientific achievements, and, perhaps, as evidence of a period of relative calm in America’s attitude towards communism between McCarthyism and the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oppenheimer was awarded the Enrico Fermi award by President Kennedy. 3
McCarthyism and bringing Oppenheimer to the security hearing
The Second Red Scare followed on from and continued the work of Senator Joseph McCarthy, during which Americans were subject to close and frenzied scrutiny of their behaviour in an attempt to seek
1 Aps.org. (2019). June 29, 1954: Oppenheimer's Security Clearance Revoked. [online] Available at: https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200106/history.cfm. [Accessed 27 August 2023]. 2 En.wikipedia.org. (2023). J. Robert Oppenheimer. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer. [Accessed 27 August 2023]. 3 Enrico Fermi Award. (1963). Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi_Award. [Accessed 27 August 2023].
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