American Prometheus (118 page)

222
Much later, Groves seriously:
Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
p. 292. See also Nicholas Dawidoff,
The Catcher Was a Spy,
pp. 192–94.

Chapter Sixteen: “Too Much Secrecy”

223
He thought of himself:
Edward Condon to Raymond Birge, 1/9/67, box 27, Condon folder, JRO Papers; Jessica Wang, “Edward Condon and the Cold War Politics of Loyalty,”
Physics Today,
December 2001.

223
“I join every organization”:
Wheeler,
Geons, Black Holes, and Quantum Foam,
p. 113.

223
An idealist with strong:
In just a few years, the House Un-American Activities Committee would label Condon “one of the weakest links” in atomic security (
New York
Sun,
3/5/48, “Law to Dig Out Condon’s Files May Be Asked,” box 27, Condon folder, JRO Papers).

224
“Compartmentalization of knowledge”:
Thorpe and Shapin, “Who Was J. Robert Oppenheimer?,”
Social Studies of Science,
August 2000, p. 562.

224
“The thing which upsets me”:
Edward Condon to JRO, April 1943, reprinted in Groves,
Now It Can Be Told,
pp. 429–32.

225
“Basically his way”:
Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” p. 251.

225
“matter of policy”:
Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 73; Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
p. 243. Norris writes that Groves “treated Oppenheimer delicately, like a fine instrument that needed to be played just right. . . . Some men if pushed too hard will break.”

225
“He had his hair”:
Hempelmann, interview by Sherwin, 8/10/79, pp. 26, 27.

225
“my old anxiety”:
Teller to JRO, 3/6/43, box 71, Teller, JRO Papers.

226
“I know General Groves”:
JRO hearing, p. 166.

226
“While I may have”:
JRO hearing, p. 166.

226
In May 1943:
Thorpe, “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, p. 229.

226
He told Groves:
Ibid., pp. 233–34.

226
“My view about the whole”:
JRO FBI file, doc. 159, D. M. Ladd to FBI director, 8/11/47. Ladd is quoting a statement made by Oppenheimer to Col. Boris Pash on 8/26/43. See JRO hearing, p. 849.

227
“the drive which accompanied”:
Morrison to JRO, 7/29/43, with attached letter to Roosevelt, 7/29/43, box 51, JRO Papers; Sherwin,
A World Destroyed,
p. 52 and ch. 2.

227
“Recent reports both through”:
Bethe and Teller to JRO, memo, 8/21/43, box 20, Bethe, JRO Papers.

228
With the title of scientific director:
Norris,
Racing for the Bomb,
pp. 245–46.

228
Security was always:
Brode,
Tales of Los Alamos,
p. 16.

228
“Emilio, you left”:
Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 80.

229
“If they had their way”:
Serber, interview by Sherwin, 1/9/82, p. 19.

229
“Oppenheimer volunteered information”:
Peer de Silva, FBI interview, 2/24/54, RG 326, entry 62, box 2, file C (FBI report), NA.

229 “center for all gossip”: Jane S. Wilson and Charlotte Serber, eds., Standing By and
Making Do,
pp. 65, 70.

229
“Therefore,” said Oppie:
JRO to Groves, 4/30/43, Groves, box 36, JRO Papers; Jane S. Wilson and Charlotte Serber, eds., Standing By and Making Do, p. 62; Robert Serber,
Peace and War,
p. 79;
The Day After Trinity,
Jon Else.

230 His antics became: Richard P. Feynman, “Los Alamos from Below,” Badash, et al., eds.,
Reminiscences of Los Alamos,
pp. 105–32, 79; Gleick,
Genius,
pp. 187–89.

230
“Try to satisfy”:
Kunetka,
City of Fire,
p. 71; Thorpe “J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Transformation of the Scientific Vocation,” dissertation, pp. 201, 249.

230
“I have a complaint”:
Hawkins, interview by Sherwin, 6/5/82, p. 19.

230
“He was profoundly”:
Hawkins, interview by Sherwin, 6/5/82, p. 18.

230
“He complained constantly”:
Robert R. Wilson, “A Recruit for Los Alamos,”
Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists,
March 1975, p. 43.

231 Walker later confirmed: G. C. Burton to Ladd, FBI memo, 3/18/43; J. Edgar Hoover to SAC San Francisco, 3/22/43, re: report from Gen. Strong that the Army now has full-time technical and physical surveillance on Oppenheimer; see also Goodchild,
Oppenheimer,
p. 87, for report by Andrew Walker.

231
“There isn’t anybody”:
Powers,
Heisenberg’s War,
p. 216; Smith and Weiner,
Letters,
p. 261.

231
“we had been very much involved”:
JRO hearing, pp. 153–54; Bob Serber was driving home one night when he spotted Oppie and Jean walking in the neighborhood, deep in conversation. “It surprised me that he was still seeing her,” Serber said. “And then later on, Kitty told me that she knew all about it, that Robert would tell her that Jean was in trouble and he was going to see what he could do.” Later Serber learned that Jean had phoned Oppie “not frequently, but at least several times . . . in desperation.” (Robert Serber, interview by Sherwin, 1/9/82, p. 11.)

232
“had she not been so mixed up”:
Fervent Communist Party activists, the Jenkinses had named their baby daughter Margaret Ludmilla Jenkins after Ludmilla Pavlichenko, the woman sniper who is alleged to have killed 180 Nazis during the siege of Stalingrad (see Jenkins,
Against a Field Sinister,
pp. 30–31).

232
She was a pediatric:
Directory of Physicians and Surgeons, Naturopaths, Drugless
Practitioners, Chiropodists, Midwives,
3/3/42 and 3/3/43, published by the Board of Medical Examiners of the State of California. The directory lists Dr. Jean Tatlock as having graduated in 1941 from Stanford University School of Medicine.

232
She implored him:
Michelmore,
The Swift Years,
p. 89. Michelmore does not provide citations or quotes, and no such letters have been found.

232
“she was extremely unhappy”:
JRO hearing, p. 154.

232
“On June 14, 1943, Oppenheimer”:
Secret FBI memo, “Subject: Jean Tatlock,” 6/29/43, file A, RG 326, entry 62, box 1, and also found in AEC PSB record of JRO hearing, box 1, NA. See also Rhodes,
The Making of the Atomic Bomb,
p. 571; JRO hearing, p. 154. The military intelligence agents watched the darkened apartment building at least until 1:00 a.m. But by another account they may also have been able to eavesdrop on the couple electronically. The alleged transcript reportedly has Oppenheimer and Tatlock talking for a long time in the living room before they adjourned to the bedroom. See Goodchild,
J. Robert Oppenheimer,
p. 90. Goodchild cites two unnamed sources who claim to have seen a transcript showing that the FBI had managed to bug Tatlock’s apartment. No such transcript has been declassified.

233
“Did you find out”:
JRO hearing, p. 154.

233
“might either use her”:
FBI memo for Mr. E. A. Tamm (Hoover’s assistant), 8/27/43, 101-6005-8, Jean Tatlock FBI file, 100-190625-308.

233
“it has been determined”:
An FBI document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that a wiretap was placed on Tatlock’s home phone on 9/10/43 (FBI radiogram NR 070305, 9/10/43). But Tatlock’s FBI file contains phone index cards dated August 1943, suggesting that perhaps Army Counter-Intelligence had already begun the phone surveillance (Jean Tatlock FBI file, FOIA no. 0960747-000/190-HQ-1279913, San Francisco (SF) 100-18382). There are index cards for at least some of her phone calls (dozens of pages are still classified). We learn little of substance. For instance, on 8/25/43, an unidentified woman who is apparently in the Marines calls Jean from New York City. Jean tells her that she is flying to Washington, D.C., on September 11 for a vacation. (Jean Tatlock FBI file, FOIA no. 0960747-000/190-HQ-1279913, SF 100-18382; Hoover, “Memorandum for the Attorney General,” 9/1/43, FBI doc. 100-203581574, found in Jean Tatlock FBI file; Hawkins, interview by Sherwin, 6/5/82.)

233
Oppenheimer “may still be connected”:
JRO FBI file, doc. 51, 3/18/46, JRO background; JRO FBI file, doc. 1320, 4/28/54.

233
“he may be making”:
Col. Boris Pash to Lt. Col. Lansdale, memo on JRO, 6/29/43, reprinted in JRO hearing, pp. 821–22.

233
Pash naturally wondered:
FBI confidential memo SF 101-126, p. 4. The FBI knew, for instance, that as late as 10/29/42, Tatlock was still a subscriber to
People’s World.
The FBI also thought it suspicious that two other people living in Tatlock’s small apartment building had close associations with the Communist Party. Emil Geist was a subscriber to
People’s World.
Another neighbor, David Thompson, was identified as literature director of the North Beach section of the Communist Party. (Secret FBI memo, “Subject: Jean Tatlock,” 6/29/43, File A, RG 326, entry 62, box 1, NA.)

234
“It is the opinion”:
Pash to Lansdale memo on JRO, 6/29/43, reprinted in JRO hearing, pp. 821–22.

234
“you should tell”:
Lansdale to Gen. Groves, 7/6/43, RG 77, entry 8, box 100, NA.

235
“specially trained Counter Intelligence”:
Pash to Lansdale, memo on JRO, 6/29/43, reprinted in JRO hearing, pp. 821–22.

Chapter Seventeen: “Oppenheimer Is Telling the Truth . . .”

236
“irrespective of the information”:
Stern,
The Oppenheimer Case,
p. 49.

236
“In the future”:
Nichols,
The Road to Trinity,
p. 154; Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl,
Atoms for Peace and War,
p. 102.

237
“indiscretions which could”:
JRO hearing, p. 276.

237
“trying to indicate”:
JRO hearing, p. 276 (Lansdale to Groves, memo, 8/12/43).

238
General Groves later told:
FBI from Newark SAC, to FBI director, 12/22/53, doc. 565, p. 2, JRO FBI file.

238
“This is a pleasure”
and subsequent quotes from Pash and Oppenheimer:
JRO hearing, pp. 845–48 (Pash-Oppenheimer interview, 8/25/43). 239
Perhaps Chevalier had mentioned:
Hewlett and Holl,
Atoms for Peace and War,
p. 97.

241
“this man Eltenton”:
JRO hearing, pp. 845–48.

242
“association with the Communist”:
Ibid., p. 847.

242
“I think that a lot”:
Ibid.

243
“a boy called [David] Fox”:
Ibid., p. 852.