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American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

Kai Bird,

Martin J. Sherwin

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Jul 08, 2009 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, biography, history

This is a very thorough book in some respects, and yet it is so narrow in scope I almost want to run out and read another Oppenheimer biography, and some histories that cover the same time period to get the personal details and background history the authors assumed you knew in THIS book. Almost.

Sure, I'm familiar with the basic details of WWII, the McCarthy Era, and the atomic bomb, but if I wasn't this book wouldn't have helped much. Instead, the authors follow J. Robert Oppenheimer's life in This is a very thorough book in some respects, and yet it is so narrow in scope I almost want to run out and read another Oppenheimer biography, and some histories that cover the same time period to get the personal details and background history the authors assumed you knew in THIS book. Almost.

Sure, I'm familiar with the basic details of WWII, the McCarthy Era, and the atomic bomb, but if I wasn't this book wouldn't have helped much. Instead, the authors follow J. Robert Oppenheimer's life in detail from birth to death with a laser's focus on every political relationship and communist connection he ever had, so much so everything else is in soft focus. The book becomes at times a laundry list of names, connected to their political affiliations and possible communist leanings. Even Robert himself is given short shrift to the communist question. Every possible Communist connection is examined and re-examined so often, I felt like the authors had in effect become Oppenheimer's belated defense team.

Why did they feel Oppenheimer needed defending, you may be asking? Wasn't he a brilliant physicist, the one who headed the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb? Yes, he certainly was. Everyone in the scientific community was concerned that Germany was developing a bomb, including Oppenheimer, who was especially appalled over what was happening in fascist Germany, and horrified about what was being done to the Jews. He was eager to use his scientific skills in service of his country. But the power of the bomb that was developed filled him with concern, especially after seeing it used against a Japan that was essentially already defeated.

Oppenheimer felt that the use of such weapons should be regulated not just by the U.S., and that secrecy would lead to an arms race with the Soviet Union, and he was right. But his advocacy for free sharing of information, and an international committee to guide the use of atomic power was not what the U.S. government wanted to hear in the 50s. His opposition to the development of the H-bomb opened him up to suspicion, and he was investigated by the FBI, including the illegal wiretapping of his phones.

Oppenheimer had been working as a professor at Berkeley before the war, and as a liberal thinker he had had friends and family who were Communist, back when that meant opposition to the fascist regime in Spain, and improving social conditions at home. He had donated money to various causes through the U.S. Communist party, which wasn't unusual for the time. His own brother and his wife had been members of the Communist party at one time, although Robert himself never had been. All of these connections were used against him by his opponents many years later, in hearings in the 50s.

Everything in the book leads up to Oppenheimer's hearings before the Personnel Security Board team put together by General Lewis Strauss, who was determined to both remove Oppenheimer from the Atomic Energy Commission, and remove his security clearance. Strauss had clashed with Oppenheimer over the development of the H-bomb, and had developed a personal antipathy to the scientist. With the tacit consent of President Eisenhower, Strauss set up a star chamber hearing to railroad Oppenheimer out, using unfair tactics such as denying access to evidence and not releasing the list of witnesses to Oppenheimer's lawyers ahead of time.

Oppenheimer became seen as a Galileo type martyr to the scientific community, and though he was eventually rehabilitated and honored by President Johnson, Oppenheimer never truly recovered from the hearings.

All of this part of Oppenheimer's life we get in exhaustive detail. What you won't learn so much about is Oppenheimer's personal life, which is present in the book, but not examined. Oppenheimer had a magnetic personality, and many relationships with women that we hear just a little about. He had affairs, even after his marriage to Kitty, whose previous husband was a Communist who had died fighting in the Spanish Civil War. I wanted to know more about his relationship with Kitty, a tempestuous woman with a big drinking problem. We hear that the Oppenheimers gave parties where they lavished their guests with drinks, but then skimped on the food. That's fascinating, I wanted to know more about what was going on there, and hear what people thought about it. I wanted to know more about his children, and how they felt being raised in such a family. We get tantalizing bits and pieces about how Robert tried to give his daughter away to another family at Los Alamos, and never bonded with his son, but then we are torn away to hear again about more Communist stuff. Can you hear my frustration?

Sure, I figure there is WAY more documentation out there on the Communist issue, thanks to the FBI, than to Oppenheimer's personal life, and that's what the authors focused on. They do a good job of presenting this information chronologically and clearly, and if that's what you're interested in, you won't be disappointed. You will get every detail you could ever hope for! But if you want to know Oppenheimer, the man, you will only get glimpses here. ...more

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Oct 29, 2019 Jace marked it as to-read

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