Evening star., 1954-04-18
Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer
When, on April 6, Senator Nc
Carthy delivered his televised IAN
swer" to commentator Edward R.
Murrow, he surprised many Of his
listeners with this rhetorical ques-
ton:
IF there were no Communists in
our Government, why did we delay
for 18 months-delay our research
on the hydrogen bomb, even
though our intelligence services
were reporting, day after day, that
the Russians were feverishly
pushing their development on the
hydrogen bomb?"
After his speech, Senator Nc
Carthy subsided-but not for long.
He is scheduled to make a major
address next Wednesday at San
Jacinto Day ceremonies outside
Houston, Tex.
Most Americans had no idea
what the Senator was talking
about; indeed, some suspected he
didn't either. But in Government
and scientific circles it was an
open secret that something was in
the wind-probably not what the
Senator had suggested in his TV
talk, but sufficiently close to make
his remarks convincing to those
who admire the Senator and his
works.
Friends Counsel Release
So friends of DR.. Oppenheimer
counseled him to make public what
he and they knew-that he had
been suspended from access to
%" material (the super top-secret
classification reserved for atomic
energy data, and from Acc work
generally. The thinking of DR..
Oppenheimer's advisers seemed to
be: Better the public get the facts
now than a hyped-up, Mccarthy
ized version later. DR.. Open
heimer accepted this advice.
The facts that emerged were
these:
Q On December %. 1858, General
Manager K. D. Nichols of the
Atomic Energy Commission noti-
fled DR.. Oppenheimer by letter that
the physicist was being suspended
as an Acc consultant pending the
finding of a security board.
. On March 4, 1854, DR.. Open
heimer replied, in a letter about
1000 words long, to Mr.. Nichols
notice of suspension.
In the December letter, Gen.
Nichols outlined the "unreSolved
questions" of security which he
said were raised by an eXamina-
ton of DR.. Oppenheimer'S file.
Chief points alleged were that the
scientist had associated with Com
munists Gncluding his brother
and sister-in-law); had courted
one Red and married an ex-Com-
munist; had contributed to Red
causes in the early '40s; had hired
Communists at the Los AlamoS
laboratory in New Mexico; had
given conflicting information to
the FBI about certain Communist
meetings in the immediate pre-
war period; had failed to report
Immediately an attempt to worm
secrets out of him (an attempt he
rebuffed instantly; and had op-
posed development of the hydro
gen bomb, both before and after
the decision was made to go
ahead with its manufacture.
Physicists Answer
DR.. Oppenheimer's answer was
to admit some of the charges,
deny others, and ask the commits
sion to examine the derogatory
information in its file ''in the con-
text of my life and work" He
asked for a chance to vindicate
himself.
The special board to handle the
Oppenheimer. case was headed by
Gordon Gray. former Secretary of
the Army in the Truman admins
tration. The other members were
Thomas Morgan, industrialiSt. and
Ward v. Evans, chemistry profess
Sor at Tulane The board ap-
parently began hearings last week.
1t was apparent to those who had
been following the development of
atomic energy over the years that
most of the things alleged in the
Acc letter were old stuff. On at
least two occasions, the matter
had been studied closely. On both
occasions, DR.. Oppenheimer was
cleared.
Nevertheless, according to an