American Prometheus (124 page)

328
“Oppie’s suggestions [should]”:
Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 409.

328
Within the month:
Smith,
A Peril and a Hope,
pp. 197–200.

328
“his eyes were glazed”:
Steeper,
Gatekeeper to Los Alamos,
p. 111.

329
“
Today that pride
”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 310–11.

329
“That day he was us”:
Eleanor Jette,
Inside Box 1663,
p. 123.

329
“[i]t would seem wrong”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 306.

329
“how much we pay”:
Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 149.

331
“The guilt consciousness”:
Henry Wallace diary, 10/19/45, reprinted in Blum, ed.,
The Price of Vision,
pp. 493–97. For more on Byrnes’ atomic diplomacy, see Alperovitz,
The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb,
p. 429.

331
“The first thing is”:
Murray Kempton, “The Ambivalence of J. Robert Oppenheimer,”
Esquire,
December 1983, reprinted in Kempton,
Rebellions, Perversities, and Main
Events,
p. 121. Kempton mistakenly places this conversation in 1946. Another version of this story appears in Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 260. Davis provides no date or citation—but according to President Truman’s appointment calendar, the president met with Oppenheimer on only four occasions: 10/25/45, 4/29/48, 4/6/49, and 6/27/52.

331
“incomprehension it showed”:
Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 261.

332
“I feel I have blood”
and subsequent quotes:
Truman to Dean Acheson, memo, 5/7/46, box 201 PSF, HSTL. See also Merle Miller,
Plain Speaking,
p. 228, and Boyer,
By Bomb’s Early Light,
p. 193. Boyer places Dean Acheson in the room, but the Truman Presidential Appointment Calendar notes the presence only of Robert Patterson, Oppenheimer, and Truman (Matthew J. Connelly files, Presidential Appointment Calendar, 10/25/45, HSTL). Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 150. Herken is citing Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 258; Michelmore,
The Swift Years,
pp. 121–22, and Lilienthal,
The Journals of David E. Lilienthal,
vol. 2, p. 118.

333
“He was not a man”:
Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82, p. 9.

333
“a simple man, prone”:
John J. McCloy diary, 7/20/45, DY box 1, folder 18, McCloy Papers, Amherst College.

333
“the fix we are in”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 315–25.

333
“I remember Oppie’s”:
Ibid., p. 315.

334
“I know that many”:
Ibid., pp. 315–25.

334
“sacred trust”:
Truman,
Memoirs,
vol. 1, p. 537.

335
“Dear Mr. Opp.”:
Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
pp. 325–26.

Chapter Twenty-five: “People Could Destroy New York”

336
“Since the use of”:
JRO FBI file, sect. 1, doc. 20, Hoover to Byrnes, memo, 11/15/45, and Hoover to Brig. Gen. Harry H. Vaughan, military aide to the president, memo, 11/15/45.

336
“Isn’t it nice?”:
JRO FBI file, sect. 4, doc. 108, p. 9.

337
“appears to leave some doubt”:
Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 160; see Herken’s website
www.brotherhoodofthebomb.com
for chapter 9’s extended endnote 7: Menke, FBI memo to file, 3/14/47, box 2, JRO/AEC.

337
“close to Oppenheimer”:
JRO FBI file, doc. 51 (3/18/46, p. 6) and doc. 159 (Ladd to FBI director, 8/11/47, p. 7).

337
“done nothing towards”:
JRO FBI file, doc. 134, “Julius Robert Oppenheimer: Background,” 1/28/47, p. 7.

338
A wiretap on:
Memo to FBI director, 5/23/47, JRO FBI file, serial 6. Hoover also authorized “microphone surveillance.”

338
“OK if Father will keep quiet”:
Upon receiving this news, Hoover ordered no further contact with Wilson (JRO FBI file, sect. 1, doc. 25, 3/26/46); Anne Wilson Marks, phone interview by Bird, 10/21/02.

338
“What the hell”:
Joseph Weinberg, interview by Sherwin, 8/23/79, p. 17.

338
“reliable informants”:
Hoover to George E. Allen, 5/29/46, PSF Box 167, folder: FBI Atomic Bomb, HSTL; Bird,
The Chairman,
p. 281.

339
“So it came to me”:
Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82, pp. 2–5; Rigden,
Rabi,
pp. 196–97.

339
Four weeks later:
Hewlett and Anderson,
The New World,
vol. 1, p. 532.

340
“He walked back and forth”:
Lilienthal,
The Journals of David E. Lilienthal,
vol. 2, p. 13; Lilienthal to Herb Marks, 1/14/48, Lilienthal letters to JRO, box 46, JRO Papers.

340
“Everybody genuflected”:
Goodchild,
J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 178.

340
“almost musically delicate mind”:
Bird,
The Chairman,
p. 277.

340
“All the participants”:
Dean Acheson,
Present at the Creation,
p. 153.

341
“Our bewildered questions”:
Ibid., see also JRO hearing, pp. 37–40.

341
“This is a brilliant”:
Joseph I. Lieberman,
The Scorpion and the Tarantula,
p. 255.

341
“without world government”:
JRO, “Atomic Explosives.” Folder: United Nations, AEC, box 52, Bernard Baruch Papers, PUL.

342
“Oppenheimer screwed it up”:
Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82, p. 6; Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 164.

342
“Only something as drastic”:
Lieberman,
The Scorpion and the Tarantula,
p. 246.

342
Soon afterwards:
“A Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy—Prepared for the Secretary of State’s Committee on Atomic Energy by a Board of Consultants: Chester I. Barnard, Dr. J. R. Oppenheimer, Dr. Charles A. Thomas, Harry A. Winne, David E. Lilienthal, Chairman,” Washington, D.C., 3/16/46.

342
“favorably impressed”:
James F. Byrnes,
Speaking Frankly,
p. 269. For Byrnes’ business ties to Baruch, see Burch,
Elites in American History,
vol. 3, pp. 60, 62; see also David Robertson,
Sly and Able,
p. 118, for a description of Byrnes’ close friendship with Baruch.

343
“When I read the news”:
Lilienthal,
The Journals of David E. Lilienthal,
vol. 2, p. 30; Bird,
The Chairman,
p. 279.

343
“We’re lost”:
Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 165. Oppenheimer later said of Baruch’s appointment, “That was the day I gave up hope, but that was not the day for me to say so publicly” (Davis,
Lawrence and Oppenheimer,
p. 260).

343
“winning weapon”:
Herken,
The Winning Weapon,
p. 366. Herken also cites a letter from Fred Searls to Byrnes, 1/17/48 (Searls folder, Byrnes manuscripts), to show that Searls wanted Byrnes to help protect Newmont Corporation’s tax status. Newmont Mining Corporation was founded in 1921 by “Colonel” William Boyce Thompson, a friend and business associate of Baruch. (Baruch,
My Own Story,
p. 238.) See also Allen,
Atomic Imperialism,
p. 108. The fact that Fred Searls was head of Newmont Mining Corp. is cited in Baruch,
The Public Years,
p. 363. Searls had also served as Byrnes’ assistant during the war.

343
“Don’t let these associates”:
Lieberman,
The Scorpion and the Tarantula,
p. 273.

344
“despised Baruch”:
Rabi, interview by Sherwin, 3/12/82, p. 6.

344
“It is too bad”:
Lilienthal,
The Journals of David E. Lilienthal,
vol. 2, p. 70 (diary entry for 7/24/46).

344
Baruch was right:
Hershberg,
James B. Conant,
p. 270.

344
“follow Oppenheimer’s activities”:
Hoover to SAC Los Angeles, JRO FBI file, sect. 1, doc. 23, 3/13/46.

344
“an attempt to box”:
SAC San Francisco, FBI memo to Hoover, 5/14/46, regarding surveillance of Oppenheimer telephone conversation with Kitty on 5/10/46 (JRO FBI file, docs. 45, 46). Almost a year later, the FBI wiretap was still active, and Kitty knew it. On 3/25/47, she told a friend, “Be careful what you say on the phone.” When asked why, she replied, “The FBI, you know.” (JRO FBI file, doc. 148, 3/25/47.)

345
“as of possible interest”:
FBI teletype to director, 5/8/46, JRO FBI file, doc. 33.

345
“if a major power”:
Hewlett and Anderson,
The New World,
vol. 1, pp. 562–66.

345
Baruch nevertheless insisted:
Bird,
The Chairman,
p. 281.

346
“I am told that”:
Ibid., p. 282.

346
“still very heavy of heart”:
JRO to Lilienthal, 5/24/46, Lilienthal Papers, cited in Lieberman,
The Scorpion and the Tarantula,
pp. 284–85.

346
“The American disposition”:
Lilienthal,
The Journals of David E. Lilienthal,
vol. 2, p. 70 (diary entry for 7/24/46).

346
“The American proposal”:
Ibid., pp. 69–70 (Lilienthal diary entry for 7/24/46).

346
“They worry me like hell”:
FBI wiretap excerpt, 6/11/46, Lewis Strauss Papers, HHL.

347
“It proposes that”:
JRO, “The Atom Bomb as a Great Force for Peace,”
New York
Times Magazine,
6/9/46.

347
“What do we do”:
Weinberg, interview by Sherwin, 8/23/79, p. 25.

347
“the quick and the dead”:
Hewlett and Anderson,
The New World,
p. 590.