I just got around to watching the (3 hr!) movie "Oppenheimer." I was already quite familiar with the Manhattan Project, and the fact that he was a closet Communist, but I didn't realize the extent of his admiration for the Soviet Union. This was common among the "intellectual" crowd in the 1930s, which preferred theory over actual practice. This dovetailed nicely into their bifurcated view of the German/Soviet division of Poland in 1939, wherein the Nazis were held to be evil warmongers but the Communists were held blameless.
It didn't help that the Nazi's were antisemitic, whereas many of the world's top scientists were Jewish. As a result, it was not difficult to recruit Oppenheimer and other top scientists to develop a powerful new weapon that could destroy Germany. As this became more feasible, many of them thought it would be a good idea to share their findings with the Soviet Union. Some were actively involved in espionage while others, like Oppenheimer, simply turned a blind eye towards these breaches of US national security interests.
Unfortunately, this wonder weapon could not be deployed before Germany surrendered. At that point, many decided that dropping an atomic bomb on Japan would be immoral, even if it resulted in an invasion that might involve one million US casualties. In addition, many of them opposed the further development of a Hydrogen (fusion) bomb. Even after the war was over, Oppenheimer claimed that the Soviet Union was four years behind the US in development of atomic weapons. The Soviets tested their first Hydrogen bomb the very next month.
Whether Oppenheimer was a fellow traveler or merely a useful idiot to the Soviet Union begs the question of his responsibility in the most serious security violations in US history, amounting to egregious acts of treason during wartime.conditions. His intentional negligence is these matters should have resulted in a long prison sentence, but the US government decided not to prosecute the still popular Father of the Atomic Bomb. Instead, the entire matter was whitewashed by quietly his security clearance and banning him from any future participation in US atomic research.
It didn't help that the Nazi's were antisemitic, whereas many of the world's top scientists were Jewish. As a result, it was not difficult to recruit Oppenheimer and other top scientists to develop a powerful new weapon that could destroy Germany. As this became more feasible, many of them thought it would be a good idea to share their findings with the Soviet Union. Some were actively involved in espionage while others, like Oppenheimer, simply turned a blind eye towards these breaches of US national security interests.
Unfortunately, this wonder weapon could not be deployed before Germany surrendered. At that point, many decided that dropping an atomic bomb on Japan would be immoral, even if it resulted in an invasion that might involve one million US casualties. In addition, many of them opposed the further development of a Hydrogen (fusion) bomb. Even after the war was over, Oppenheimer claimed that the Soviet Union was four years behind the US in development of atomic weapons. The Soviets tested their first Hydrogen bomb the very next month.
Whether Oppenheimer was a fellow traveler or merely a useful idiot to the Soviet Union begs the question of his responsibility in the most serious security violations in US history, amounting to egregious acts of treason during wartime.conditions. His intentional negligence is these matters should have resulted in a long prison sentence, but the US government decided not to prosecute the still popular Father of the Atomic Bomb. Instead, the entire matter was whitewashed by quietly his security clearance and banning him from any future participation in US atomic research.
