(Music)
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer
arrived at the
White House on a
chilly October day in 1945.
A short, 30-minute
meeting was scheduled
with President Harry S. Truman.
It was a meeting
that could pivot history
and change the course
of human events, forever!
You see, on that morning
a last-ditch effort was
to be made by Dr. Oppenheimer
to reason with
President Truman,
the leader of the free world.
Dr. Oppenheimer had
just led a group of
scientists in the discovery
and testing of a new power.
This newly discovered
power was unleashed to
end the bloody 2nd world w*r.
Oppenheimer, leading the
research efforts,
was seeking a solution
to prevent the world
from destroying itself.
A solution that only
he could fully understand.
After the expl*si*n,
Oppenheimer watched
the developments of the
military with great concern.
He had an urgent personal
vision that he felt compelled
to deliver to the
President of the United States
about this new destructive
power that was at hand.
What happened next,
changed human history forever,
on this fateful day
of October 25, 1945.
But let's start this
story at the beginning.
It began in 1939,
with the aggression
of Adolf Hitler
and the beginning of
the second world w*r.
Along with the German
aggression in Europe,
scientists in the United States,
learned about nuclear fission
being tested in Berlin
and feared it's potential
use as weapon
against the world.
With this concern,
the American scientists
met with Albert Einstein
to convince him to
write a letter to then
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
about the potential
of one of the Germans
obtaining this weapon
technology first.
President Roosevelt
was so moved by Einstein's
letter that he immediately
made the decision to put
the full resources of the
United States' brainpower
to pursue jumping ahead
of the Germans with
this development.
By executive order
President Roosevelt created
the Manhattan
Engineering District,
making this effort the
priority of the
American w*r efforts.
To pursue this herculean effort,
President Roosevelt picked
an accomplished general
named Leslie Groves
to spearhead the efforts.
General Groves had just
completed another large
national military
accomplishment,
by supervising the
newly constructed Pentagon
building in Washington, DC.
The Manhattan
Engineering Project
would eventually employee
75,000 Americans,
each in
compartmentalized sections,
keeping the research project
"Top Secret" and fully engaged.
General Groves not only
needed a brilliant scientist
with exceptional
leadership abilities
to assemble the top
brainpower in the nation,
but he also needed a scientist
that had the energy to
accelerate the research
at a record pace.
After careful consideration,
General Groves made
his announcement.
Gen. Groves: "I was completely
responsible for the selection
of Dr. Oppenheimer
as the head of the Los Alamos
b*mb laboratory."
Dr. Oppenheimer knew
most of the top scientist
and physicists of the time
and, along with his
charismatic personality,
he drew the needed expertise,
knowledge and leadership
to get this project started.
When General Groves
and Dr. Oppenheimer
met for the first time,
their most urgent priority
was to select a remote
location for a secret lab
where all the scientists
and physicists could
live and work,
around the clock,
on this most critical mission.
Oppenheimer knew of a place
in a remote area of
northern New Mexico
that he had spent time
with his family at,
near Santa Fe.
He had hiked and
rode horses over much
of this area and had built
a crude cabin for
his family getaways.
He remembered
a nearby boy's ranch
that might work perfectly
for this secret lab.
The boy's ranch was remote,
sitting by itself up on a mesa.
Oppenheimer and Groves
drove to the location
of the boy's ranch.
The camp had good
infrastructure and water
and room to grow.
Groves turned to Oppenheimer
and said, "This is it!"
The property was
immediately procured for
the government w*r effort.
A guard shack was constructed,
and roads were built.
Oppenheimer began
assembling the top scientists,
physicists, and experts
from around the country.
The lab was constructed,
and buildings appeared
almost overnight
at the former ranch.
Hundreds of workers
and support staff
joined the operation.
Soon the guard shack
entrance was a
haven for activity.
Scientists and their families
were arriving daily.
One of those arrivals,
with a security clearance,
happened to be
Dr. Oppenheimer's wife,
Katherine, better
known as Kitty.
She was a constant companion
and sounding board
to Dr. Oppenheimer.
Kitty became the
first lady of Los Alamos,
welcoming new scientists
and their families,
and hosting social events
at the Oppenheimer's house.
While the research work
carried on at Los Alamos,
military planners now
had the task of
finding a location,
within a day's drive of the lab,
for a test site for the
world's first atomic b*mb.
It needed to be a remote place,
away from any population
or public access.
A site was located at a
remote place just north of
Alamogordo, New Mexico
in the desert called
Joronado del Orto,
which means in Spanish,
"the journey of death".
This location was already
secured by the government
and was being used as a
bombing range by the military.
The closest human civilization
from the b*mb site was
the tiny village of
San Antonio, NM.
There, a small building,
called the Owl Bar and Market,
was the only place
to get supplies,
a cold beer, and
something to eat.
The owner of the Owl Market
was a man named Ernesto Baca.
His daughter Rowena,
a very young girl in 1945,
remembers the
day the scientists,
disguised as "Prospectors",
showed up on their doorstep.
"These guys showed up
one day and they told
Grandpa that they were
Prospectors, they needed
a place to stay.
And my Grandpa had
some cabins connected
to the grocery store.
And he had some gas pumps
out in front of
the grocery store
and they said they needed
to buy food...
They needed to buy gas
to go up to the mines that
they were prospecting.
So anyway, grandpa showed
them where to go to look
for gold and silver if that's
what they were looking for.
That's where it started
and I guess from then on
grandpa got real
close to the fellows.
They were very good with him,
He was good with them."
According to eyewitnesses,
Oppenheimer was very much
a part of finding this
very first test site.
He could sleep underneath
a truck while they were out
looking for locations and
seemed to be much more
at home in the desert than
any of the other men
who were with him.
Oppenheimer loved this
remote and rugged desert land
and was a part of it.
Slowly a base camp emerged,
Oppenheimer named it Trinity.
Several buildings at
the bombing site,
for military officers
and staff use,
were constructed and prepared.
The camp had a mess hall,
a pool table and barracks
for all the workers.
Out of nothing
Trinity Base Camp emerged.
Once the first b*mb
was ready to test,
a large tower was constructed
to put the b*mb above
the ground to control and
measure the b*mb's impact.
It was late April 1945 and
back on the European Front,
the Allied Forces were
taking over most of Germany
and were close to
controlling its capital, Berlin.
Suddenly Berlin fell,
and all of Germany was
in the Allied hands!
German soldiers surrendered.
The Allied Forces
quickly took control.
The remnants of the
Hitler regime were captured,
and many secret documents
were Confiscated by
American intelligence units.
With the fall and
surrender of Germany,
intelligence officers rushed
to a place called the
Peenemunde Rocket Plant.
Here is where German scientist,
Werner Von Braun, was developing
the German V-2 rocket programs.
In a remote cave near
the Rocket Plant,
American soldiers found
14 TONS of technical files
and hundreds of
German V-2 rocket
parts and material.
But an even a bigger secret
emerged when
Intelligence officers
discovered that the Germans,
led by Von Braun,
were working to develop
a TRANS-ATLANTIC m*ssile.
A m*ssile whose target
was planned for New York City,
in the United States!
What had just been uncovered,
besides the tons of rockets,
parts, plans and documents,
was the important realization
that Dr. Von Braun,
and his German scientists,
were working on the
development of the world's
first trans-Atlantic weapon.
This would be very useful
to the future of
America's military.
This information was forwarded
to President Truman,
and expedited orders were
given to confiscate and prepare
for the immediate transportation
of all personnel and material,
as soon as possible,
to the United States.
Military high command
and planners worked expediently
to seize the entire
rocket operation.
They transported everything
on ships to the United States
including rockets, parts,
and files along with
144 German scientists
and their families.
The Pentagon decided that
the best location to unload
all this top-secret stuff
would be the same
secret location
out in the New Mexico Desert,
near where the atomic b*mb
test was under way.
New Mexico was suddenly
taking center stage in the world
with both Los
Alamos and Trinity Site
and now a proposed rocket
proving ground underway.
Although Germany and all
of Europe was now
under Allied control,
Japan was still intensely
fighting the w*r
on the Pacific Front.
With the fall of Germany,
a conference of all
the Allied Leaders,
was being planned to address
the status of Europe's
Control going forward
and the continued
coordinated w*r efforts
on the Japanese Front.
This conference would
take place in
Potsdam, Germany
on July 16, 1945.
It would become known
as the Potsdam Conference.
Truman's Sectary of w*r
was a man named Henry Stimson.
He was keenly aware of
the Manhattan Project and
its progress towards a test
in the New Mexico desert.
Stimson was receiving
daily progress reports
on the Manhattan Project,
and knew the scientists
were getting close.
Now with the Potsdam Conference
date set for July 16, 1945,
Henry Stimson asked
President Truman to authorize
the acceleration of the
atomic b*mb test in the
New Mexico desert to coincide
with the Potsdam
Conference date.
If the test was successful,
the news of this powerful
novel weapon would be an
important bargaining tool
for President Truman to use
in confronting the
Allied Partners.
The president agreed
and ordered General Groves
to communicate to the
Los Alamos scientists
the urgency of speeding up
the test to be on or before
the July 16, 1945
conference date.
Dr. Oppenheimer called
a meeting at the
camp lodge in Los Alamos
and the scientist
all determined that,
with the collective efforts
of all departments,
the possibility of doing
the test on or before
July 16, 1945,
could be possible.
The enriched plutonium
was prepared at the labs
in Los Alamos where the
first test at Trinity Base
could be possible.
Under the watchful direction
of Dr. Oppenheimer,
the precious uranium was
loaded in a military car and
transported to the test site
119 miles away.
The car drove from Los Alamos,
through the highways
of New Mexico, undetected.
Hours later,
it was unloaded at Trinity Site.
Slowly and carefully
the b*mb parts were assembled,
and the plutonium was inserted
into the b*mb devise called
the "Gadget".
The scientists,
under the watchful eyes
of Dr. Oppenheimer,
slowly finished the assembly.
Men, in the tower,
were now ready to lift
the b*mb up to the top of shed,
after the assembly was
done in the tent below.
The "Gadget" was lifted
and carefully brought
into the shed tower.
Men at the top watched the
ascension with a mirror devise,
while the men on the
bottom controlled the hoist.
Once up, in the top shed,
the floor was closed.
The b*mb was wired and
checked in a final effort
to ensure the test
would be a success.
Oppenheimer sent word
to General Groves that
the test would be ready
for July 16, 1945,
and Groves sent word to
President Truman who was
already at the
Potsdam Conference.
In the early
morning of the test,
light rain and lightning strikes
were seen in the area.
However, things
started to clear up,
and the test was a go!
On July 16, 1945, at 5:29 am
in the morning the first
Atomic b*mb was successfully
tested in the New Mexico desert!
Man had entered the Atomic Age!
Now the Americans had a
weapon that could end the w*r
by forcing Japan to surrender.
Once again an
eyewitness to the event,
Rowena Baca, the little girl
who lived in the
closest community
to the b*mb site in
San Antonio, New Mexico.
"One date in July,
I guess it was,
they told him that they
wanted him to be outside
in front of the bar at
3 o'clock in the morning.
And grandpa said well why,
you know. He said you're going
to see a sight that you never
in your life will forget.
And it will be a sight that
You will always remember.
And he said, OK.
So he came up that day
and I was at home.
It happened that my cousin
was here from Albuquerque,
my little cousin
and I think we were about
four or five years old,
I can't remember.
And anyway, we were playing
and all that and we went to bed.
And then all of a sudden
this big boom!
The room turned red!
And my grandmother,
both of us kids and threw
us under the bed,
put a bunch of blankets on us.
I don't know, she thought
It was the
end of the world"
Immediately the message
was transmitted by telegram,
in coded language,
to Potsdam to inform
President Truman of the
b*mb's success.
The secret message read:
A New York Times reporter,
who had been allowed at
the test site as an observer,
later claimed:
General Groves wrote in his
secret report that
the b*mb test was,
"Probably as important
as the discovery of electricity"
Back at the
b*mb Testing Control Room
the Scientists declared,
"We are probably
now all sons of b*tches"
Cigarettes and beer were passed
around to toast
the test's success.
As the b*mb dissipated,
the expl*si*n had been heard
from as far away as 250 miles.
To assure the public,
a prepared press statement
was made to inform all who
had seen the light
and heard the expl*si*n,
that it was just an a*mo dump
that had accidentally exploded
out on the bombing range.
Just three hours after
the successful test in
the New Mexico desert,
the USS Annapolis was sent
out bound from San Francisco.
b*mb parts and plutonium
were on board for the
second b*mb that was
to be used in Japan
and the ships destination
was a small island out
in the Pacific Ocean
called Tinian Island.
Meanwhile back at the
Potsdam Conference in Germany,
after being alerted of
the successful test,
President Truman displayed
a renewed confidence
and posture at the
meeting among the Allies.
You could tell by the look
on Truman's face that
he had a new strut
and confidence,
especially around
Churchill and Stalin.
The meeting ended
with all the Allies aware
of the new b*mb and its
soon deployment in the
Japanese theater.
"I told Stalin about
the atomic expl*si*n.
Which had been set off
on the 16th day of
July down in
Alamogordo, New Mexico.
And I explained to him
that we had the most
powerful expl*sive that
had ever been discovered
in the history of the world
and that we expected
to use it on Japan.
He smiled at me and bowed
and said he was glad
that we had the expl*sive
and he hoped it
would end the Japanese w*r."
Back in New Mexico,
Oppenheimer and the scientists,
along with General Groves,
toured the blast site and
were happy with the success
of all their hard work.
Oppenheimer drove
the 119 miles drive back
to Los Alamos with several
new things now on his mind.
How would they deploy
the b*mb and when?
Would they try to warn
the Japanese Government
and people to surrender first?
What would the scientists
at Los Alamos think of the
bombs use in w*r time,
now that it was real?
The Los Alamos guard shack
was a welcome sight
for Dr. Oppenheimer.
He was finally back home
for some much-deserved
rest from the past week.
Shortly after
Dr. Oppenheimer's return,
he called a meeting to be
held at the camp's lodge
for the scientists to
talk about their many concerns
that had been brewing
since the successful test.
Many of the scientists
circulated and signed
a petition to warn
the President to use
the weapon carefully
and only as a "last resort".
Suddenly, Oppenheimer
was now between a rock
and a hard spot,
being asked to communicate
these fears to the President.
Oppenheimer equally felt
the concerns and reflected
on what he and his
colleagues were feeling.
Oppenheimer: "I think that
it probably was assumed.
It certainly was always
assumed amongst all of us,
that if the w*r were not over
and not clearly to be
brought to a conclusion,
by diplomatic means,
this weapon would
play a part, of.
I'm not sure the men who
sat around that room
all have the same idea of
what would happen
with the b*mb".
Groves put a quick stop
to the petition and the
scientist's efforts to
communicate directly
to the president.
President Truman ordered
the first b*mb to be
dropped in Japan and this
was transmitted urgently
to the military commands.
The USS Annapolis was
already pulling into port at
Tinian Island to deliver
the b*mb for the first
drop over Japan.
The task of unloading
the bombs off the ship
into a hanger was
the task at hand.
On the day before
the b*mb drop,
the team of military
technicians carefully
rolled out the
"Little Boy" b*mb.
The b*mb was moved
into the b*mb loading dock,
and the airplane was
positioned to receive the b*mb.
Of course,
everyone was very tense,
and doing their
jobs very seriously.
Loading the unusually
awkward secret weapon
was unnerving
to the technicians,
as rumors were floating around
about this being
the "super b*mb"
that could end the w*r.
Finally,
after many hours of work,
the b*mb was loaded,
and the B-29 was ready
for its mission over Hiroshima.
Early the next morning,
before dawn,
with a small wave goodbye,
the Enola g*y flight crew
took off from the
small island in the
Pacific ready for its
drop over Hiroshima.
A few hours later
the plane reached its target.
Monday, August 6,1945
the world's first atomic b*mb,
for wartime purposes,
was dropped on the
population of Hiroshima, Japan.
This is the only known,
actual, real footage
of that moment of implosion.
The damage was catastrophic.
Almost immediately,
another order was requested
for a second drop by
General Groves to
the President for authorization.
This order was signed
on August 8, 1945.
The second b*mb,
which was of a similar design
to the "Gadget" was called
the "Fat Man"
and it was carefully
removed from the hanger
and prepared for operation.
The unit was painted
with a sealant
and then armed
and driven to the
runways b*mb loading dock.
Once again,
a B-29 was carefully loaded,
and the plane was positioned
to receive the super weapon.
The plane took off
during daylight hours.
The b*mb was hastily dropped
onto Nagasaki, Japan,
on August 9, 1945
a back-up target that
was picked due to
weather constraints.
There was no
Japanese resistance.
In the span of a month,
three nuclear weapons
were detonated around the earth,
Alamogordo,
Hiroshima,
and Nagasaki.
The earth would never
be the same
from this point forward.
The bombs devastating effects
brought the anticipated
surrender from the
Japanese leadership
and, finally the
bloody Second World w*r
was over!
So, Oppenheimer's been
doing all this work in
Los Alamos and half of
the scientists are thinking,
hopefully we'll never
have to use the b*mb.
And the other half
of the scientists are saying,
we're probably going to
have to use the b*mb.
And the next thing you know,
we're dropping the b*mb on
Hiroshima and then
a few days later Nagasaki
and Oppenheimer is getting
a lot of flack from
the scientists about,
you know, why are we doing this?
We're kind of escalating things.
We thought we were
just going to threaten them
with the b*mb and now
we're using the b*mb."
"I remember that we
first responded to the question,
what do scientists think,
by saying that they think
a variety of things
and that this is only natural.
On the one hand they hoped
this instrument would
never be used in w*r
and therefore they hoped
that we would not
start out by using it.
On the hand they hoped,
or other people hoped,
that it would put an end
to this w*r and save
countless lives,
put an end to it."
"It would have come out
sooner or later in a
congressional hearing,
if nowhere else,
just when we could
have dropped the b*mb
if we didn't use it.
And then knowing
American politics,
you know as well as I do,
that there'd been elections
fought on the basis that
every mother whose son
was k*lled after
such-and-such a date
the blood is on the
head of the president."
"The question was
whether we wanted
to save our people
and Japanese as well
and win the w*r
or whether we wanted
to take a chance on being
able to win the w*r by
k*lling all our young men."
The first breath of peace
was felt around the world
and the American public
was jubilant about the victory.
Through his role in
creating the b*mb,
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer
became a household name
to the American public
and a popular,
overnight figure for
his role in helping to
end the w*r.
Truman, meanwhile,
decided this new
and novel power was
at his disposal to use.
The b*mb gave
President Truman new
leverage among world leaders
and power against the Russians.
With urging from
his military advisors,
Truman chose an immediate
path of expansion and dominance
with the new atomic weapons.
The b*mb's discovery
pushed the military
into a completely new
direction of expansion.
"As the w*r was shaping up
and they were saying that,
you know, with almost certainty
they were going to be able
to make these bombs,
my grandfather in particular
Niels Bohr's influence started
turning their thoughts towards
could this power of
these weapons end all w*r.
That's what they
started thinking about.
Not, you know,
are we going to make these
bombs and then control
these bombs them self.
But they saw that there
was a change in humanity,
the way humanity kind of
relates to each other.
Because such powerful technology
has been made that
you could end humanity
if you have a total w*r.
And that was something
that the scientists really
started focusing on.
And, also, furthermore
there was a way to control that.
And the military side and
the government and
the political side was
not caught up to that.
They were kind of still
thinking of these things
like muskets or cannons.
We have a weapon,
Let them make as many
weapons as we can
and we'll be more powerful
and that's good.
But the scientists,
in particular, my grandfather
and Niels Bohr and some
of the other scientists thought
that the significance of this
particular type of technology
is that we would have
to work together in humanity
in a new way,
because if we didn't
it would inevitably end
in an arms race and then
using the weapons against
each other and
destroy everything.
And...
turning towards that problem
is what he did
while simultaneously
finishing his duty and
his work that he had to do,
which was fight a w*r.
He was in a w*r
like everybody else."
On September 25, 1945,
General Groves circulated
a top-secret memo to
command military leaders.
The memo verifies
that the military was fully
intending to escalate
the production of
nuclear weapons
of mass destruction immediately,
without any other
considerations or delays.
This was in conflict
to what Dr. Oppenheimer
had hoped for.
The Groves memo asked
the top military command
to determine how many
nuclear weapons were needed
to achieve world superiority
in any future military scenario.
The joint chiefs
would eventually
met to determine that
400 nuclear bombs needed
to be constructed to ensure
future global superiority,
especially against the Russians.
It was clear in the fall
of 1945 that the military
wanted to greatly accelerate
the production and expansion
of nuclear weapons
and this message was
communicated directly
to the president.
Back in Los Alamos,
during this same period,
frustration and resentment
continued to escalate
among many of the scientists.
This escalation also
frustrated Dr. Oppenheimer,
who surely had learned about
the memo and the potential
manufacturing of
400 new nuclear bombs.
Many Los Alamos scientists
urged Dr. Oppenheimer to
personally carry their grave
concerns immediately
and directly to the
secretary of w*r
and the president."
Dr. Oppenheimer did
just that on behalf
of the scientists.
According to a newly
discovered memorandum
from a meeting dated
September 25, 1945, that stated:
Dr. Oppenheimer asked
the secretary of w*r,
George Harrison, to arrange
a meeting with
President Truman
as soon as possible,
to express these concerns.
Oppenheimer hoped
and believed that
open communications
between scientists,
politicians, and
nations of the world
could determine the
use and fate of
nuclear weapons
in wars of the future.
General Groves, upon
learning about the
dismayed scientist's concerns
and oppositions
of going forward,
immediately decided to
split up the scientists at
Los Alamos into two groups.
One group was to continue
non-military research
and the other was to
build more bombs.
To build 400 bombs
the military would need
a full-time b*mb production
facility and General Groves
knew Los Alamos would
not be the best
place for this task.
Plans had been made
to secure and build a
new military base near
Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The base would be
called Sandia Base,
where manufacturing
and processes for building
atomic weapons would continue.
Bunkers would be built
to store the bombs once
they were constructed.
Two more military events
unfolded in New Mexico
in October 1945.
First, the returning
509th 1st Air b*mb Group
was relocated to
Walker Army Air Base
in Roswell, New Mexico.
The military designed
this base to specifically
customize B-29s to
become "combat ready"
for Nuclear b*mb missions,
if needed.
The very airplane that
dropped the b*mb in Hiroshima,
the Enola g*y,
was part of this plane
re-assignment to Roswell.
At the Roswell airbase,
the assistant to the
base commander was
Col. Patrick Henry Sanders.
His daughter Susan
clearly remembers the
importance of the atomic
mission at Roswell, NM.
"The importance of Roswell
was that it was the only
nuclear strike force base
in the world at the time.
It was the place that...
had the nuclear bombs
and was highly classified
information that was going
on between Los Alamos
and Alamogordo
and Fort Bliss and Roswell."
The second event that
unfolded in New Mexico
was the arrival of the
German V-2 rockets
to the new White Sands
Proving Grounds,
which was formerly
the Alamogordo Bombing Range.
This was the same location
that had tested the first
Atomic b*mb just
60 days earlier.
Military assessments,
made by General Hap Arnold,
recommended that the
United States pursue
a potential m*ssile offense
program with nuclear warheads
on m*ssile technology.
Developed by the Germans
this technology was now
in American possession.
Oppenheimer became
aware of both events
and this greatly concerned him.
It is obvious he saw the
direction the military was going
with this new weapon
and its accelerated development.
This escalation apparently
upset Dr. Oppenheimer
causing him to submit
his resignation as
the Los Alamos director.
Word quickly spread
on the Los Alamos Hill
of Oppenheimer's resignation.
Groves and the scientists
wanted to honor Oppenheimer
before his departure.
An upcoming ceremony
had been planned for
an Army-Navy E-Award,
and that would be the
perfect event for this
honor to be bestowed.
Oppenheimer chose
the E-Award Ceremony
on October 16, 1945,
to be his last
day on the "Hill".
The ceremony in Los Alamos
was an emotional departure
for Dr. Oppenheimer
and his farewell speech
revealed what was on his
mind at that moment.
Dr. Oppenheimer was
introduced by Gen. Groves.
Upon accepting his
Certificate of Appreciation,
he addressed the Hill's
entire workforce
and special guests.
This was Dr. Oppenheimer's
concern for the world.
His terse warning
that day moved all those
that heard the speech.
One local neighbor,
Edith Warner, who was
a restaurant owner of
one of Oppenheimer's
favorite gathering places
heard him give his final
speech in Los Alamos.
She wrote a personal
letter to him
and beautifully expressed
the essence of his warning,
writing:
According to Dorothy McKibbin,
Dr. Oppenheimer's secretary,
"Everybody in the Los Alamos
community loved Dr. Oppenheimer.
The Indians loved him,
the Hispanic natives loved him.
They all felt they had
access to him,
and they could talk with him."
There was a great loss
and sadness in the entire
Los Alamos community with
Dr. Oppenheimer's departure.
All these events escalated
the tension of the already
planned meeting at the
White house with
President Truman,
which remained scheduled
despite Dr. Oppenheimer's
resignation.
Dr. Oppenheimer was still
holding out for the belief
that open communications
between scientists,
politicians, and nations of
the world could determine
the use and fate of
nuclear weapons in
wars of the future.
This is the message
he wanted to give Truman.
President Truman only
allowed for a thirty-minute
meeting with Oppenheimer.
His goals were now political
and no longer scientific.
Oppenheimer was not
in his element,
and he was totally not
expecting to encounter
Truman's quick temperament.
Secretary of Commerce
Henry Wallace, a witness
that watched Oppenheimer
enter the meeting that day,
wrote in his diary:
Truman and Oppenheimer
had very different directions
regarding the future
of nuclear bombs.
Truman had already
set into motion the building
of 400 bombs
and was on a fast-track
to reverse engineer the
German V-2 rocket technology
that was being transported
to the White Sands
Proving Grounds in New Mexico.
Eyewitnesses said it looked
like Oppenheimer had the
weight of the world on his
shoulders walking
into the meeting.
President Truman greeted
Oppenheimer and opened
the meeting with
this first question:
"Dr. Oppenheimer,
When will the Russians
develop a nuclear weapon?
Oppenheimer said,
"Mr. President, I don't know."
Truman raised
his voice and said,
"NEVER!!!"
Truman then made a statement.
"We have spent more than
two billion dollars on the
greatest scientific gamble
in history and we have won.
But the greatest marvel
is not the size
of the enterprise,
its secrecy or its cost,
but the achievement of
scientific brains
in making it work."
Oppenheimer: "We have
made a thing,
a most terrible weapon
that has altered abruptly
and profoundly the nature
of the world.
We have made a thing
that by all the standards
of the world we grew up in
is an evil thing."
Truman: "Well there"s
one thing I can say to you,
that any school boy's
hind sights worth all the
president's or a
general's foresight.
Don't you know that any
schoolboys' afterthoughts
worth more than all
the general's fore-thoughts?
So, afterthoughts and things
after the fact have no effect
on making a decision when
its time to make it at the time!
You have to work on what
you know at that time.
And that's what I did
and I'm not sorry for it."
Oppenheimer then looked
right into the eyes of
President Truman and said,
"Mr. President, I feel like
I have blood on my hands."
This remark infuriated the
President who bluntly replied,
"Listen, the blood
is on my hands,
you let me worry about that!"
After the tense encounter,
Truman was heard by
his aides to mutter,
"Blood on his hands?
Damn it, he hasn't half as
much blood on his hands
as I have.
You just don't go around
bellyaching about it."
Truman insisted that
nuclear w*r be,
"conducted without tears."
Truman would later instruct
acting Secretary of State
Dean Acheson,
"I don't want to see
that son of a b*tch in this
office ever again.
He didn't set that b*mb off;
I did!"
At another point Truman
referred to Oppenheimer
as that "cry-baby scientist."
Clearly, the two men
had completely opposite
directions on the new
novel technology.
When Oppenheimer left
the White House meeting,
he walked into a pack
of reporters who asked
Dr. Oppenheimer,
"How did he meeting go?"
"In the years to come
it will be possible to k*ll
40 million American people
in the 20 largest American
towns by the use of
atomic bombs in a
single night.
I'm afraid that the answer
to that question is yes.
I think that the only hope
for our future safety
must lie in a collaboration
based on confidence
and good faith with the
other peoples of the world."
Several Universities had heard
that Dr. Oppenheimer
was considering teaching
college again and
offers started flooding in.
Oppenheimer chose
California Institute
of Technology
in Pasadena.
Although he was getting
more time with his family,
he was missing the
day-to-day grind
and fast paced activity
of his past two years,
and discovered his heart
was no longer in teaching.
He still had his
security clearance
and stayed active in
developments as a member
of the board of the
Atomic Development Authority,
which eventually became
the Atomic Energy Commission.
Oppenheimer continued
the goals of leading shared
exchanges on atomic knowledge,
creating a world fraternity of
nuclear scientists
and the movement for the
limitation of nuclear weapons.
Oppenheimer spoke of the
"deep moral dependence"
of mankind during the
"peril and the hope"
of the new nuclear era.
He often cited Lincoln's
Gettysburg Address.
His statesman status continued
to impress the world.
He was on the cover of
several national magazines
Including Time and Life.
And he was nominated three
times for the Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1946-1947,
the US government continued
to withhold his passport
which restricted his
travel internationally.
Although he was invited
to attend events around
the globe, he had to decline.
In 1947, Lewis Strauss
asked Oppenheimer to
be the director of the
Institute for Advanced Study
in Princeton, New Jersey.
This new assignment
would allow him to expand
his leadership
on scientific fronts
and interact with some
of the greatest minds
in the nation.
It was this relationship
with Lewis Strauss that
would ultimately be a
turning point in
Oppenheimer's future,
resulting with the loss,
years later,
of his security clearance.
At the urging of Dr.Ed Teller,
a fellow scientist
from Los Alamos,
many members of congress
became convinced to fund
an even more powerful
and destructive b*mb
called the Hydrogen b*mb.
Oppenheimer quickly went
to Congress to plead for
cutting the initiative
and funding.
By doing this he stepped
on the toes of the newly
appointed chair of the
United States Atomic
Energy Commission,
Lewis Strauss.
Both Strauss
and President Eisenhower
were military hawks
and pushed for the
more powerful hydrogen b*mb.
In Congressional hearings,
Oppenheimer's opposition
was a humiliation to
Chairman Strauss
and the last straw to
his patience with
Oppenheimer's competitive view.
Soon, Strauss and a small
group of Washington insiders,
including the manipulative
director of the FBI
J. Edger Hoover,
manufactured the false narrative
that Dr. Oppenheimer had
communist friends and was
a risk to national security.
Against the objection
of local FBI agents,
the collection of ill*gal
wiretap conversations
between Oppenheimer
and his attorneys,
regarding the security
clearance hearing took place.
Before the hearing,
witness lists were
kept secret from
Oppenheimer and his attorneys.
At the last minute,
on the day of the hearing,
Oppenheimer's attorney
was not allowed to come
into the proceedings,
due to unfounded claims
of "national Security issues".
The government hearing
produced over 40 witnesses
that did not create one
shard of evidence.
But the knives were out.
It ended up being an
inquisitional hearing
of character assassination
of Dr. Oppenheimer.
"I was completely responsible
for the selection of
Dr. Oppenheimer as the
head of the Los Alamos
b*mb laboratory.
Nothing has happened
during the affair
or afterwards that led me
to believe that that
was not a wise choice."
After the hearing,
Strass proudly called
Oppenheimer informing
him his security clearance
was being revoked.
Immediately, 494 scientists
back at Los Alamos,
who each, individually,
risked harming
their own careers,
protested Oppenheimer's
security clearance revocation.
Newly discovered documents
recently made available,
including un-redacted public
transcripts of the
closed hearings,
indicate indeed
that no creditable
evidence was ever presented.
Producers of this
film discovered
archival notes from
Dr. Oppenheimer's
personal sectary,
Dorothy McKibbin.
These notes indicate that
Oppenheimer was in New Mexico
the very day that the FBI
claimed he was meeting
a communist sympathizer
in Berkeley California.
This directly contradicts
the FBI narrative.
Losing his security clearance
destroyed Oppenheimer,
which was immediately
noticed in his interviews
and public statements.
"Dr. Oppenheimer
could you tell us
what your thoughts are
about what our atomic
policy should be?"
"No, I can't do that,
I'm not close enough
to the facts and
I'm not close enough
to the thoughts of those
who are worrying about it."
"It is very clear that the
concept thou shall not k*ll
has been complicated
in recent years."
(Laughter from audience)
"Science has profoundly
altered the conditions
of man's life,
both materially and the
ways of the spirit as well.
It's extended the range
of questions which man
has a choice.
It has extended man's
freedom to make
significant decisions.
No one can predict
what vast new continents
of knowledge the future
of science will discover.
But we know that as
long as men are free
to ask what they will,
free to say what they think,
free to think what they must,
science will never regress.
But freedom itself
will never be wholly lost."
The loss of his security
clearance would end
his roll in government
and policy making,
cutting him off from
the world he had created.
He would later describe
the security hearing
against him as a farce.
Oppenheimer continued
to deliver speeches
but had started spending
more time in his remote
Island home that he had
purchased on St. John Island
in the Virgin Islands.
He built a very simple house
next to the beach
and boated each day
with his wife Kitty
and his daughter Toni.
Still, the world loved
and respected Oppenheimer.
The French awarded
him an officer of the
French legion in 1957.
(Question in French)
"You are close to
the Socrates thinking.
You think for the scientists
what's important is
to know oneself?"
Oppenheimer (in French)
"For everybody,
not just for scientists."
(Question in French)
"Do you think scientists
succeed better at knowing
oneself through the depth
of their work
and through their discoveries?"
Oppenheimer (in French)
"No, No, it's a separate thing."
Oppenheimer's friends,
seeking some closure,
recommended to
President John F. Kennedy
in 1963
to award Oppenheimer
the Enrico Fermi Award,
as a gesture of
political redemption.
Kennedy, having been
a fan of Oppenheimer,
agreed with the recommendation.
Kennedy approved the Award,
and the date was set
for a reception at
the White House.
Tragically, President Kennedy
was assassinated
one week before presenting
the award to Oppenheimer.
His successor,
Lyndon Johnson
presented the award.
"I think it just possible,
Mr. President, that it has
taken some character
and some courage for you
to make this award today."
Despite her grief,
Kennedy's widow Jacqueline
made it a point to attend
the ceremony
and express how much
her husband had personally
wanted to hand him the award.
This message touched
Dr. Oppenheimer.
In 1960 Oppenheimer,
fulfilling his wish
to visit Japan,
witnessed first-hand
the destruction of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
In the end,
Oppenheimer remained
satisfied with his role
in discovering the
nuclear age.
In 1965, he told the
New York Times magazine:
On February 16, 1967,
Oppenheimer died
of throat Cancer.
He had a large funeral
at Princeton University
with many friends
and dignitaries in attendance.
He was cremated
and his ashes were spread
in the water near his
island home in St John
by his wife Kitty
from a small boat
at the place he loved
and had found some peace.
The beach was later named
Oppenheimer Beach.
In one of his last speeches,
he was asked a very personal
question about his life,
and this was his response.
"Will you comment on
what contribution, if any,
Jesus Christ and his Gospel
may have to you or science?"
Oppenheimer: "I, I really
wouldn't know about science
because this is a matter of,
of history which I am
sure is very tangled.
It is hard to imagine the
history of Europe
without Christ.
And it's hard to image
the history of science
without Europe.
As for myself, I would be...
I would be the poorer.
I don't know whether I'd
be a worse or better scientist
but that is not what
you wanted to know."
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer
was a true American
who stepped up when
asked by his country
to work tirelessly
for a scientific exit to a
very bloody world w*r.
He succeeded
but later in life
was purposely discredited
by his country's leadership
because of his timely
message of peace
through cooperation.
Dr. Oppenheimer's
message remains clearer
today than ever before!
"What should we do
after the w*r?
How should we handle
this technology that we made?
And so the interim
scientific committee released
their report on August 17, 1945
and it was a written report
and it had five points
and it was shared by
Robert Oppenheimer
but it was Lawrence Fermy...
Compton, maybe.
Like it was a group
of them and they worked
days and days and days
on five points and debated
them back and forth.
And those five points
are literally as valid today
as the day they were written.
And it said that these weapons
will get more powerful,
we'll probably go into
the business and trying
to make a lot more of them
and there is a way to control
it and it is only through
scientific openness
and cooperation.
And these were not
kind of radical wild ideas,
these guys were in
the government,
they were on the inside
and they were the most
respected scientist in the world
saying that we can control
this technology and we have
to treat it differently
than other military uses.
And that wasn't an
intuitive idea and it wasn't
resoundingly rejected.
I mean these guys created
this technology and
they're saying this is
how you handle it.
And there was a chance
that that advice could
have just directly been taken.
The military says what
should we do with this?
And the government
and they could have listened
to the scientists
and managed it the way
they proposed from that
very beginning, period.
And when I look back
on history I think it's
worth talking over
that period and all
the way through 1947,
over and over and over again
and how people understand
how close and how clear
it was to the scientists
how we should manage
this technology and how
like effectively,
just arbitrary bureaucratic
decisions did the exact opposite
of what they advised
and went into an arms race
and almost destroyed
the world.
It is not like they thought
their path out.
They did think their path out,
they just said disagree
with you scientists,
you don't know what
you're talking about...
we'll do it our way.
And we had 70 years
to test it turns out the
scientists were 100% right,
except for blowing ourselves up.
Which to this day is
an open question,
we could all die.
So, that was a really
interesting period that
they wrote down,
provided this advise,
tried to deliver it
and it didn't, didn't get there.
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Oppenheimer After Trinity (2023)
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