AHC: Prevent Oppenheimer’s Security Clearance From Being Lifted In 1954.

UCB79

Inspired- as I’m sure everyone can guess- by the recent superb film...

Let me say admit right here @ the start that this is a task only slightly less difficult than trying to budge The Washington Monument with one’s bare hands. By 1954 a lot of people were gunning for Oppen-
heimer. They included- but were not limited to- Lewis Strauss, Edward Teller- who bore a grudge against Oppenheimer for the latter’s daring to oppose Teller’s pet project of building the H-Bomb- and-
surprise, surprise- J Edgar Hoover-who by 1954 had amassed a file on Oppenheimer four feet and six
inches high. Meanwhile President Eisenhower, instead of standing behind Oppenheimer- if he had
the good Professor’s security clearance would certainly have been retained- instead declared that he wanted a “blank wall” placed between Oppenheimer & all government secrets.* Furthermore, in early 1954 the American anti-Communist hysteria & Joe McCarthy were at their height. To appease them, Eisenhower was quite willing to throw them some sacrificial lambs. Oppenheimer quite probably was one of them. Finally, Oppenheimer did not exactly help himself by giving testimony at the hearing that was anything but a model of clarity & forthrightess.

So these are all the factors working Oppenheimer, & a formidable list they are. So again let me ask: any suggestions about how they could be overcome?

Oh yes, a final note. In 2022 Oppenheimer’s security clearance was restored. Of course this was only FIFTY-FIVE years after his death, but as they say, better late than never, right?



*- For the height of the FBI file & the Eisenhower quote, SEE William Manchester, THE GLORY AND THE DREAM: A NARRATIVE HISTORY OF AMERICA 1932-1972, pp. 696 & 697 of the 1978, big
Bantam books paperback edition.
 
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sdgottsch

Would maintaining Oppenheimer's clearance actually change anything in the development of our TRIAD weapons?
 

DougM

Simplest method may be to replace his brain..
While it is true that he had a lot of folks gunning for him let’s not forget that he was probably his own worst enemy.
He gave the rest a lot of ammo and caused the conditions where not many where said yo see him go.

And the fact that his big program was in fact penetrated didn’t help him. Yes it was probably not his fault, but as the man in Charge you get all the glory and all the blame.

Add in that his views on using the bomb when the time came seamed a bit at odds with his view on designing it. Didn’t help him either. And gave ammo to those that argued that he was more than happy to see it used against Germany but not so much Japan. (once again not saying he was, just saying that he put himself in a position that looked bad.)

Frankly he needs a good PR firm and yo shut up.
 

TxAggie

The US military wanted to push towards a hydrogen bomb and he didn't. He was always going to be at odds with his employers over that.

For a counterfactual where Oppenheimer doesn't change his personality and he stays working, your best bet would be to take the pressure off of developing the H-Bomb, which probably means delaying the Soviet nuclear program. If America has a nuclear monopoly, they will be happy to slow-roll the H bomb. But you've got to think the Soviets are going to push to catch up as fast as they possibly can.

Oppenheimer was also a major-league asshole who continually behaved as if he was above the rules. If anything, the recent movie underplays this. And as head of the Manhattan Project, he basically was above the rules. But after the war, he wasn't so untouchable any more.

If he has some friends in very high places, they could continue to protect him politically and prolong his career. But if he keeps standing in the way of the H-bomb, he is eventually going to go. No one will trade Oppenheimer's job for an unanswered Soviet H-Bomb.
 
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Gukpard

Gukpard

DougM said:
Simplest method may be to replace his brain..
While it is true that he had a lot of folks gunning for him let’s not forget that he was probably his own worst enemy.
He gave the rest a lot of ammo and caused the conditions where not many where said yo see him go.

And the fact that his big program was in fact penetrated didn’t help him. Yes it was probably not his fault, but as the man in Charge you get all the glory and all the blame.

Add in that his views on using the bomb when the time came seamed a bit at odds with his view on designing it. Didn’t help him either. And gave ammo to those that argued that he was more than happy to see it used against Germany but not so much Japan. (once again not saying he was, just saying that he put himself in a position that looked bad.)

Frankly he needs a good PR firm and yo shut up.
Click to expand...
TxAggie said:
The US military wanted to push towards a hydrogen bomb and he didn't. He was always going to be at odds with his employers over that.

For a counterfactual where Oppenheimer doesn't change his personality and he stays working, your best bet would be to take the pressure off of developing the H-Bomb, which probably means delaying the Soviet nuclear program. If America has a nuclear monopoly, they will be happy to slow-roll the H bomb. But you've got to think the Soviets are going to push to catch up as fast as they possibly can.

Oppenheimer was also a major-league asshole who continually behaved as if he was above the rules. If anything, the recent movie underplays this. And as head of the Manhattan Project, he basically was above the rules. But after the war, he wasn't so untouchable any more.

If he has some friends in very high places, they could continue to protect him politically and prolong his career. But if he keeps standing in the way of the H-bomb, he is eventually going to go. No one will trade Oppenheimer's job for an unanswered Soviet H-Bomb.
Click to expand...

After I left the cinema having finished Oppenheimer my friend said that the hero is in fact Strauss. While it is true that it was a morally wrong move to remove his security clearance, it is also true that they needed to find a way to make him shut up, his views were completely unrealistic and unreasonable for the cold war.

Any scenario where the US does what he wants will give a huge Soviet advantage in this stage of the cold war, not only they have sputnik but also they gonna get the Hydrogen bomb before the Americans.
 

aaronupright

One of the things Oppenheimer, the movie and most literature on the topic miss that Oppie wasn't in principle opposed to the H-Bomb, he just thought that it was more efficient to have a large stockpile of A-Bombs. If anything, he has been vindicated, almost all the nuclear powers have walked back from building the really big multi-megaton bombs. Since they don't really provide anymore destructive potential than a few more smaller bombs. It turns out that a bomb of a few hundred KT is enough to kill almost all major cities while six or seven will destroy even the most massive metro areas and more effectively than a single large bomb even one of many times the cumulative yield.

This wasn't really apparent to the military until missiles began to take over the strategic delivery role. One way to maintain his clearance is to make this apparent earlier. So one of the biggest sticks his enemies have has taken away.
 
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