Oppenheimer and anti-communist paranoia
Another important perspective to consider is that of Oppenheimer’s close communist friends, and in particular Haakon Chevalier, and the so-called Chevalier incident. In early 1943 Oppenheimer had been approached by Chevalier who told him that there was a scientist, George Eltenton, who could transmit information of a technical nature to the Soviet Union. 17 Although Oppenheimer strongly refused to do this, he did not mention this incident to the Los Alamos security officers until 8 months later when he gave contradictory and equivocating statements. These were viewed by the AEC chairman Lewis Strauss in his opinion as 'fundamental defects of character’ . 18 This shows how Oppenheimer was very vulnerable and moved in circles in which he could easily give atomic secrets away. Although Oppenheimer did report the incident, this was only after a considerable length of time and hence led to justified questioning and suspicion of his loyalties. However, this incident was disregarded by the government when reviewing his security status before 1953. It was only as the anti-communist paranoia increased in the 1950’s that incidents such as this were re-examined and viewed as far more severely. Although it seems clear that Oppenheimer had no intention of colluding with the Soviets, due to the anti-communist paranoia in the USA at the time, anyone who was suspected of being communist was often almost automatically regarded as a possible Soviet spy.
Communist? Perhaps. Soviet spy? Not necessarily.
Although Oppenheimer showed interest in many left-wing and even communist societies and organizations, he never publicly joined the Communist Party. This raises the question: what makes one a communist and does a person need to be part of the party to be one? In March 1954 Oppenheimer wrote a letter to K.D. Nichols, before his security clearance was revoked later that year, in which he, ‘reviewed two decades of his life’ and stated clearly, ‘I never was a member of t he Communist Party. I never accepted Communist dogma or theory; in fact, it never made sense to me.’ 19 The letter shows him both defending and admitting to his left-wing behaviour. The main purpose, however, was to express loyalty to the United States clearly, and despite mentioning his support for certain left-wing causes, this aspect has been downplayed. At his 1954 security clearance hearings, he denied being a member of the Communist Party, but identifi ed himself as a ‘ fellow traveller ’ , which he defined as someone who agrees with many of the goals of communism, but without being willing to blindly follow orders from any Communist Party apparatus. This is important as, even though it is disputed whether Oppenheimer was a communist, or a member of the Communist Party, one can see that that he clearly had strong left-wing tendencies and was sympathetic to the communist movement. This information, however, was manipulated by the media in the political climate prevailing in America at the time, leading many in the country to believe that not only was Oppenheimer a communist but also that he was colluding, or would collude, with the Soviets despite a lack of any hard evidence. In fact in December 2022 the United States Secretary of
17 En.wikipedia.org.(2023).Oppenheimer Security Hearing. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_security_hearing. [Accessed 28 Aug 2023]. 18 Stern, P.M. & Green, H.P., 1969. The Oppenheimer case : security on trial , New York, New York: Harper & Green. 19 Oppenheimer, J.R. Nuclear Files. Nuclear Files . Retrieved fr om https://web.archive.org/web/20080514020045/http:/www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/library/corresponde nce/oppenheimer-robert/corr_oppenheimer_1954-03-04.htm.
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