The Key West citizen. [volume] (Key West, Fla.) 1879-current, 1954-06-16


Chairman Gordon Dean, who de-
scribed Oppenheimer as one of the
few men who can completely DEM
onsrate his loyalty to his country
by his performance a man
OF complete integrity =. a very
devoted man to his country"
| Aside from Oppenheimer and his
wife, there were SO witnesses At
torneys for Oppenheimer said rs
OF them voiced no doubts at all
about him.
The most revealing new testi-
mony was the inside version from
Dean and other scientists and Off
cIals of the pulling and hauling in
secret over whether to launch a
big H-bomb effort after the Rus
slams exploded an atomic bomb
In the fall of 1919, and what hap
pened to that effort. They called
the H-bomb "The Super" and 1.-THE
Gadget."
The picture unfolded was that
even after former President Tru-
man ordered the H-bomb project
In January 1850, for more than a
year the program was stalled and
prospects were dismal.
I'VE never saw anything that
really had chance" of producing
workable bomb, Dean testified.
until he called all top scientists to-
gether at meeting at Princeton,
Nj, in June 1851. Oppenheimer
and several other scientists agreed
that original premises about how
to build an H-bomb had collapsed
and the scientists were worried that
the presidential directive could not
be carried out.
DR.. ]. w. Alvarez, University of
California scientist, said Open
heitner told a Pentagon meeting al
most a year after the Truman di-
receive that the H-bomb project
will die & natural death" after
Pacific tests planned for 1851
fail" He quoted Oppenheimer as
saying that would be ''the natural
time to chop the hydrogen bomb
program off,"
Then. dramatically, in the spring
OF 1851, DR.. Teller made what was
described as a brilliant discoy-
ery'' and brought this idea to the
desperate June meeting at Prince
ton.
After two days, Dean said. ev-
erybody was convinced the project
at last was on the right track and
Oppenheimer himself was "enthu-
slastic -. almost thrilled"
THAT is when it began to roll
and it rolled very fast then" Dean
said. II might say that the gadget
which we originally thought of in
1949 probably never would work
and would have cost in terms of
A-bombs a price we could never
had paid"
Oppenheimer himself testified
that "from then on it became
clear that this was a program
which was bound to succeed" He
said production of an actual hydro
gen explosion in late 1852, after
the discoveries in the first half of
1851, was "a miracle of speed"
AS early as 1912, he said. he
and other scientists 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,
although lit was kept on the back
burner throughout the war"
DIR. Teller gave a modest &C.
count Of his own role in developing
the H-bomb. AS for Oppenheimer,
Teller said he asSumes-and will
continue to assume until shown
convincing proof otherwise-that
Oppenheimer 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 On
penheimer to be security risk,
Teller replied:
Il thoroughly disagreed with
him in numerous issues and his
actions frankly appeared to me
confused and complicated. To this
extent l feel that I would like to
see the vital interests of this coun.
try in hands which l understand
better, and therefore trust more"
What about security, Teller was
asked. Would granting clearance to
DR.. Oppenheimer endanger nation
al security?
Ii 1t were a question of Open
helmer's intent, he replied, there
would be no harm done in granting
MIN clearance. But if it were =
question OF wisdom and judgment
1t might be better to hold up the |
clearance, he said.
He added, however, that 81 am
myself a little bit confused on this
issue. particularly as it refers to |
person of Oppenheimer's pres
tige and influence"
In any event, he said, he saw no |
danger In permitting Oppenheimer |
access to secret data without re-
gard to the wisdom of his advice"
Teller said that if Oppenheimer |
and other nuclear scientists like |
him had lent him some moral sup
port In 1S45-instead of pulling out |
OF Los Alamos, N. M.-he could |
nave deVeloDed his ssthermonu-