Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-06-16
CONTINUED From First Page.)


no doubts at all about him.
Pulling and Hauling Revealed.
The most revealing new testi-
smony was the inside version from
mfr. Dean and other scientists
sand officials Of the pulling ana
shauling in secret over whether
ito launch a big H-bomD enort
Safter the Russians exploded an
satomic bomb in the fall OF 1949.
sand what happened to that Ell
.fort. They called the H-bomb
1.-THE super" and 1.-The gadget."
The picture unfolded was that
@even after former President Tru-
sman ordered the H-bomb project
lin January, 1850, the program
was stalled for more than a year
sand prospects were dismal.
eve never saw anything that
really had a chance" of produc-
ing a workable bomb. MIR. Dean
testified. until he called all top
scientists together at a meeting
at Princeton, N. j., in June, 1851.
DR.. Oppenheimer and several
other scientists agreed that orig
inal premises about ways to build
an H-bomb had collapsed and
the scientists were worried that
the presidential directive could
not be carried out.
DR.. J. w. Alvarez, University Of
California scientist, said DIR. OPP
penheimer told a Pentagon meet
ing almost a year after the Tru-
man directive that the H-bomb
project will die a natural death"
after Pacific tests planned for
1851 "fail." He quoted DR.. Open
heimer as saying that would be
"the natural time to chop the
hydrogen bomb program off,"
Teller Discovery Appears.
Then, dramatically, in the
spring Of 1851, DIR. Teller made
what was described as a bril-
liant discovery" and brought
this idea to the desperate June
meeting at Princeton.
After two days, Mr.. Dean
said, everybody was convinced
the project at last was on the
right track and DR.. Oppenheimer
himself was enthusiastic
almost thrilled"
THAT is when it began to roll
and it rolled very fast then"
Mr.. Dean said. II might say
that the gadget which we origi-
nally thought of in 1949 prob
ably never would work and
would have cost in terms of
A-bombs a price we could never
had paid"
DR.. Oppenheimer himself teS-
tilted that from then on it
became clear that this was a
program which was bound to
succeed" He said production of
an actual hydrogen explosion in
late 1852, after the discoveries
in the first half of 1851, was "a
miracle of speed"
H-BOmb Envisioned in 1912.
AS early as 1912, DR.. Open
heimer said, he and other scien-
fists had in mind a hydrogen
bomb that would have 10000
times the power of the atom
bomb" No large amount of work
was done on it then. he said. al
though sit was kept on the back
burner throughout the war" u
DR.. Teller gave modest acsl
count of his own role in develop
ing the H-bomb. AS for DR.. OPP
penheimer, DIR. Teller said he as
SumeS-and will continue to as
sumo until shown proof other
wise-that DIR. Oppenheiner is
loyal to the United States. But
he added:
Il would feel personally more
secure If public matters would
rest in other hands"
Asked whether he believes DR..
Oppenheimer to be a security
risk, DR.. Teller replied:
II thoroughly disagree with
him in numerous issues and his
actions frankly appear to me
confused and complicated. To
this extent 1 feel that I would
like to see the vital interests Of
this country in hands which /
understand better, and there
fore trust more"
Borden Lists Red Ties.
Mr.. Borden, who made the
strongest attack on DR.. Open
heimer, read a letter he said he
wrote to FBI Chief j. Edgar
Hoover last November Z. The
letter related a series of indict-
ments which Mr.. Borden said
justified his belief that DIR. OPP
penheimer willingly spied for the
Soviets.
Mr.. Borden said DR.. Open
heimer had no close friends
except Communists had at
least one Communist mistress
was in frequent contact
with Soviet espionage agents
=. :" He said on the day the
first publicly disclosed A-bomb
was dropped on Hiroshima, DR..
Oppenheimer personally urged
senior workers in the H-bomb
field ito resist"
Attorneys for DR.. Oppenheim-
er protested admitting Mr.. Bor-
den's letter to the record, saying,
This kind Of an accusation
(was) not dreamed of in this
proceeding up to this point"
Mr.. Borden also declared that
DR.. Oppenheimer had had "fre-
quent contact" with Soviet
espionage agents. and that he
had hired a number of Com
munistS to work or the A-bomb
project.
Groves Wouldn't Clear Now.
Retired 1t. Gen. Leslie r.
Groves, who had a major hand
in selecting DR.. Oppenheimer to
head I'D the wartime A-bomb
project, testified that as he in
terprets the Atomic Energy Act