American Prometheus (133 page)

477
Oppenheimer suggested he:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
pp. 213–14. Chevalier later met with Wyman, who informally tried to get him good advice on what he should do about his American citizenship. But Chevalier never reapplied for a U.S. passport. By early 1954, he was “denied any type of employment by UNESCO because of his refusal to comply with U.S. executive order 10422.” Issued on 1/9/53, this executive order required American employees of the U.N. to pass a security investigation. (Chevalier FBI file, 100-18564, part 2, doc. dated 3/17/54.)

477
“I certainly don’t”:
Chevalier,
Oppenheimer,
pp. 86–87. The next morning, Chevalier took Oppie and Kitty to visit the French novelist André Malraux.

478
“thoughtfulness”:
Borden to Strauss, 11/19/52, Lewis Strauss folder, box 52, AEC, JCAE Papers, NA.

478
“more probably than not”:
JRO hearing, pp. 837–38.

478
“It is my recollection”:
Strauss, “Memorandum for Oppenheimer File,” 11/9/53, Strauss Papers, HHL.

478 “The important point”: Lewis L. Strauss memo, 11/30/53; Barton J. Bernstein, “The Oppenheimer Loyalty-Security Case Reconsidered,”
Stanford Law Review,
July 1990, p. 1442.

479 “whining, whimpering”: Thomas C. Reeves, The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy, p. 530.

479 “All the vague feelings”: C. D. Jackson diary, 11/27/53, log 1953 (2), box 56, DDEL. Jackson later told a White House staff meeting that “this Three Little Monkeys act was not working and would not work, and that appeasing McCarthy in order to save his 7 votes for this year’s legislative program was poor tactics, poor strategy and . . . unless the President stepped up to bat on this one soon, the Republicans would have neither a program, nor 1954, nor 1956.”

479 “flagrant performance”: C. D. Jackson to Sherman Adams, 11/25/53, Sherman Adams folder, box 23, C. D. Jackson Papers, DDEL.

479
“the worst one so far”:
Eisenhower, telephone calls, 12/2/53, Phone calls folder, July–Dec. 1953 (1), box 5, DDE Diary Series, Ann Whitman file, DDEL.

479
Early the next morning:
Pfau,
No Sacrifice Too Great,
p. 151; Strauss,
Men and Decisions,
p. 267.

480
“they consist of nothing”:
Eisenhower diary, 12/2/53 and 12/3/53, “Oct.–Dec. 1953,” folder box 4, Ann Whitman file, DDEL.

480
Eisenhower’s “blank wall”:
Eisenhower, “Memorandum for the Attorney General,” 12/3/53, Strauss Papers, HHL.

480
“The anti-intellectualism”:
Christman,
Target Hiroshima,
pp. 249–50; Royal,
The
Story of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 155.

481
“it might be a good idea”:
Record of phone conversation (JRO calling Strauss), 3:05 p.m., 12/14/53, Strauss Papers, HHL.

481
“are distorted and restated”:
Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 11/19/53, doc. 549, JRO FBI file, cited in Bernstein, “The Oppenheimer Loyalty-Security Case Reconsidered,”
Stanford Law Review,
July 1990, p. 1440.

481 “Rogers smilingly withdrew”: C. D. Jackson diary, 12/18/53, log 1953 (2), box 56, DDEL.

482
“a polite form of”:
Strauss, memo to file, 12/21/53, 12/22/53, box 66, Strauss Papers, HHL.

482
According to Nichols’ notes:
Kenneth D. Nichols, confidential memo, 12/21/53, Strauss Papers, HHL; FBI memo to Belmont, 12/21/53, JRO FBI file, sect. 16, doc. 512.

483
A hidden microphone recorded:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 234; Stuart H. Loory, “Oppenheimer Wiretapping Is Disclosed,” WP, 12/28/75.

483
“I can’t believe”:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 235.

483
Strauss had expected:
JRO FBI file, sect. 16, doc. 574–575, Belmont, memo to Ladd, 12/22/53.

483
The phone tap was finally:
Ladd to Hoover, memo, 12/21/53, JRO FBI file, sect. 16, doc. 514. This memo indicates that Strauss requested the wiretaps and surveillance on 12/17/53. Curiously, an internal FBI memo warned their agents that “according to the AEC, Oppenheimer keeps a .22 caliber pistol on a chair near the front door.” See Belmont to Ladd, memo, 12/22/53, JRO FBI file, doc. 513.

484
“Dear Lewis”:
JRO to Strauss, 12/22/53, Strauss Papers, HHL.

484
“terrible crash”:
Anne Marks, interview by Bird, 3/14/02.

Chapter Thirty-four: “It Looks Pretty Bad, Doesn’t It?”

487
“a slippery sonuvabitch”:
Bernstein, “The Oppenheimer Loyalty-Security Case Reconsidered,”
Stanford Law Review,
July 1990, p. 1449.

487
“whether your continued”:
JRO hearing, pp. 3, 6.

488
“They stayed in there”:
Verna Hobson, interview by Sherwin, 7/31/79, p. 4.

488
“items of so-called”:
JRO hearing, p. 7.

489
“It looks pretty bad”:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 520.

489
“I had hoped”:
Lilienthal,
The Journals of David E. Lilienthal,
vol. 3, p. 462.

489
“how things stand”:
Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 1/7/54, sect. 17, doc. 605, JRO FBI file.

490
“all over town”:
Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 1/15/54, sect. 18, JRO FBI file.

490
On January 16, Garrison:
Strauss to Hoover, 1/18/54, Strauss Papers, HHL.

490
“under no circumstances”:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 257; Strauss, memo to file, 1/29/54, Strauss Papers, HHL.

490
“that the Bureau’s”:
Goodchild,
J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 227.

490
“that the case was”:
Strauss, memo to file, 2/15/62, Harold Green folder, 1957–1976, box 36, Strauss Papers, HHL. Strauss learned this from Green, who said Herbert Marks had told him of the wiretaps at the time.

491
“He’d come in the room”:
Bacher, interview by Sherwin, 3/29/83.

491
“in view of the fact”:
FBI cable, 3/17/54, sect. 24, doc. 1024, JRO FBI file.

491
“if this case is lost”:
Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 1/26/54, sect. 19, doc. 704, JRO FBI file. Not all historians agree that Strauss was uncompromising in his pursuit of Oppenheimer. For a slightly different view, see Bernstein, “The Oppenheimer Loyalty-Security Case Reconsidered,”
Stanford Law Review,
July 1990, p. 1385.

491
To foreclose that possibility:
Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 562.

491
Browder called him:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 242; Goodchild,
J. Robert
Oppenheimer,
p. 230.

491
“cordial contacts”:
Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 1/29/54, JRO FBI file, sect. 19, doc. 716,

492
“When Dr. Bradbury testifies”:
Strauss to Robb, 2/23/54, Strauss Papers, HHL; Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 2/25/54, sect. 21, doc. 824, JRO FBI file.

492
In addition and also at Strauss’:
Hewlett and Holl,
Atoms for Peace and War,
p. 86.

493
“unaccountably nervous”:
James Reston,
Deadline: A Memoir,
p. 221–26; Richard Polenberg,
In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. xxvii.

493
“highly irritated”:
FBI to Lewis Strauss, 2/2/54, sect. 19, doc. 741, JRO FBI file (declassified 1997).

493
When he finally took:
FBI summary for 1/29/54, sect. 19, doc. 720, JRO FBI file.

493
In return, Reston:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 531.

493
“They were very intense”:
Verna Hobson, interview by Sherwin, 7/31/79, p. 8.

493
“May I have your”:
Ibid., p. 5.

494
Oppie confessed to Bethe:
Jeremy Bernstein,
Oppenheimer,
p. 96; Bernstein cites a phone interview with Bethe.

494
“I’m sorry to hear”:
Robert Coughlan, “The Tangled Drama and Private Hells of Two Famous Scientists,”
Life,
12/13/63; Teller,
Memoirs,
p. 373.

494
“He expressed a lack”:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 516.

494
“considerable trouble”:
FBI summary for 2/6/54 (wiretap), sect. 19, doc. 760, JRO FBI file.

495
“It seemed to me”:
Verna Hobson, interview by Sherwin, 7/31/79, p. 5.

495
“I was going to drive”:
Ibid., p. 10; Hobson, review of
In the Matter of J. Robert
Oppenheimer,
a play by Heinar Kipphardt,
Princeton History,
no. 1, 1971, pp. 95–97.

495
“There goes a
narr
”:
Seymour Melman told this story to Marcus Raskin. Melman heard it from Einstein’s assistant, Bruria Kaufmann.

496
“The German calamity”:
Alice Calaprice, ed.,
The Expanded Quotable Einstein,
p. 55.

496
“Oppenheimer is not a gypsy”:
NYT, 4/24/04; Holton,
Einstein, History, and Other
Passions,
pp. 218–20.

496
In late February:
Belmont to Ladd, FBI memo, 1/15/54, sect. 18, JRO FBI file.

496
Now Rabi proposed:
Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation” dissertation, p. 496.

496
“out of the question”:
Belmont to Boardman, FBI memo, 3/4/54, sect. 21, doc. 844, JRO FBI file. Herken,
Brotherhood of the Bomb,
p. 281.

496
It ran to forty-two:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 253.

497
“I think there are things”:
FBI wiretap, 3/12/54, sect. 24, doc. 1037, JRO FBI file.

497
“You have nothing personal”:
Jerrold Zacharias to JRO, 4/6/54, Philip M. Stern Papers, JFKL.

497
“It was incredibly good”:
Ruth Tolman to JRO, 4/3/54, Ruth Tolman folder, box 72, JRO Papers.

497
The children would remain:
Louis Hempelmann, interview by Sherwin, 8/10/79, p. 11.

497
“I would like you to know”:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 258.

Chapter Thirty-five: “I Fear That This Whole Thing Is a Piece of Idiocy”