Oppenheimer Witch Hunt

The movie named for J. Robert Oppenheimer is the story of “The Manhattan Project” which was a Top Secret commission in the USA decades back in the period later known as the “Red Scare” - 1940s and '50s. The commission was a project of the Army Corps of Engineers. Its goal was to create a bomb before anyone else in the world did so. The thousands of workers at the three locations, mainly Los Alamos, N.M., were never told its ultimate goal.

Albert Einstein, at the urging of other scientists who had fled Germany, wrote FDR asking him to form a committee of scientists to build the bomb.

Oppenheimer was a brilliant scientist who had a exceptional skill at getting cooperation from other accomplished scientists. Notables: Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, and many others all contributed. A brigadier general, Leslie Groves, oversaw the project and although not a scientist himself recruited Oppie. Grove's habit was to name projects after the city where the first meeting was held, hence the Manhattan Project.

Oppenheimer had occasional forays into socialist, even communist, inspired activities, as had his wife, Kitty many years prior. As we all know the Manhattan Project succeeded in is goal and Hiroshima and Nagasaki served as its denouement.

Oppenheimer became a hero, featured on magazine covers; accolades around the world. However there were people who, using witch hunt strategies and techniques conspired to topple him from his pedestal, destroy his livelihood, make him an “enemy of the people.” And as he was dealing with the knowledge that his work caused so many deaths and was obviously conflicted about the A-bomb he built, he offered little resistance.

The innuendo never materialized into any official charges but top level commission allowed rumors to spread and he lost his appointment to the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) as well as his security clearance. As he began to recover, he later was presented with the Atomic Energy Commission's award by LBJ.

Einstein and the Federation of American Scientists came to his defense. At Oppenheimer's funeral expressions of regret at the shabby manner the government had repaid his service were heard. One cannot separate one's thoughts about a similar witch hunt occurring on the political stage today.

Addendum:

Definition of witch hunt: an attempt to find and punish a particular person or group simply because of their opinions and not because they have actually done anything wrong

Audrey Taggart

This is commentary from our members, it is not the official position of the Martin County Republican Executive Committee.