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-(clock ticking)
-(birds chirping)
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J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER:
I have been asked whether,
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in the years to come,
it will be possible
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to kill 40 million
American people
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by the use of atomic bombs
in a single night.
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I am afraid that the answer
to that question is yes.
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-* *
-(clock ticking)
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JON ELSE: Robert Oppenheimer was
the father of the atomic bomb.
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He was this complex ball
of contradictions.
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OPPENHEIMER:
They are weapons of aggression,
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of surprise and of terror.
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RICHARD RHODES: Oppenheimer
wanted the bomb to be used.
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How else would the world
know what it was?
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ELEANOR ROOSEVELT:
Dr. Oppenheimer,
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are we creating something
we may not be able to control?
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OPPENHEIMER: In a world of
atomic weapons, wars will cease.
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(ticking)
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NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
It is D-minus one for the test
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of the world's first
atomic device.
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ELSE:
This cultured, nonviolent man
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was responsible for birthing
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the most violent weapon
in human history.
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And he devoted the rest of
his life to trying to control
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the monster
that he had unleashed.
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OPPENHEIMER:
If there is another world war...
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...this civilization
may go under.
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KAI BIRD:
He became a political pariah.
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EDWARD R. MURROW: Is it true
that humans have already
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discovered a method
of destroying humanity?
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(cameras clicking)
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ELSE:
And it finally ruined him.
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OPPENHEIMER:
"Now I am become Death,
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the destroyer of worlds."
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(explosion booming)
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We have made a thing that,
by all standards
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of the world we grew up in,
is an evil thing.
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(birds chirping)
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ELLEN BRADBURY REID:
When I was 15,
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I had a chance
to speak to Oppenheimer alone.
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He was at a cocktail party.
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I was serving hors d'oeuvres...
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(faint chatter)
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...and found Oppenheimer
standing alone.
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I said, "I think
you're some sort of a saint."
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And he was very taken aback.
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And he said, "Wh-Why would you
say that to me?"
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And I said, "Because
you had second thoughts."
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And he turned around
and picked his hat up
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and walked out the door.
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It obviously struck him in a way
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that I had never imagined.
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MAN: Oppenheimer for Cronkite,
take one.
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(film beeps)
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WALTER CRONKITE:
Dr. Oppenheimer,
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with all the inevitability
of the decision
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that history demonstrates to us,
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you still seem to suffer,
may I say,
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from a bad conscience about it.
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Is that true, sir?
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Uh, I think when you play
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a meaningful part
in bringing about the death
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of over
a hundred thousand people...
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...uh, you naturally, uh,
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don't think of that with ease.
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CHRISTOPHER NOLAN: When you look
at the history of Oppenheimer,
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it's very difficult to find
any person in history
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sitting in
such a complex situation
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with all kinds of
impossible questions
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and very few answers.
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(ticking)
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ELSE:
Everybody has their own idea
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of what Robert Oppenheimer is.
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I mean, the fact is
that he invented a weapon
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that can destroy
human life on Earth.
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I mean, don't forget
that this weapon,
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which has the capacity
to end civilization,
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was developed as a means
to save Western civilization.
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-(newsreel music playing)
-(bell clanging)
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(shouting in German)
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(crowd chanting in German)
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BIRD: In the 1930s,
millions of Americans
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were following the news
coming out of Europe
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in their local theaters,
watching newsreels.
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And Oppenheimer was
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horrified by the rise of Hitler.
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NOLAN: His sense of his own
Jewishness made him immediately
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and massively aware
of the danger of fascism.
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(bell tolling)
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BIRD:
When the war started in 1939,
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he was a professor at Berkeley.
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And that same year,
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one of his students
comes rushing into his office
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to convey the news that
fission has been discovered.
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MAN: Word has just come through
from Germany
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that the uranium atom
under neutron bombardment
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actually splits into two parts.
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BIRD: Initially,
Oppenheimer can't believe it.
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He runs to the blackboard
and does some mathematics,
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and he comes
to the understanding
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that you could use fission
to generate energy.
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Einstein showed explicitly
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that if you can convert matter
into pure energy,
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the amount of energy
is extraordinary.
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It's the speed of light squared,
for crying out loud.
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(crackling)
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RHODES: They realize that from
a very small amount of matter,
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you could make power
to drive ships and planes
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and trains, whatever,
make electricity, of course.
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And they also realize
very quickly
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that it might be possible
to make
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a weapon of untold destruction.
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(Hitler shouting in German)
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(crowd chanting)
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We were deeply worried.
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After all, the discovery
of fission was in Nazi Germany.
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MAREENA ROBINSON SNOWDEN: Nazi
Germany could potentially build
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a nuclear bomb.
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This was the worry.
And it was very tangible.
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It was very real.
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(plane engines buzzing)
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FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT:
December 7, 1941,
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a date which will live
in infamy.
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Pearl Harbor happens.
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FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT:
I assert
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that this form of treachery
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shall never again endanger us.
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(cheering, applause)
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ALAN CARR:
Now the United States
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is an active combatant
in the war.
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The idea at this point is
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we basically need to get this
done as quickly as possible,
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because we could
wake up tomorrow
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and Hitler could have
that nuclear monopoly
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that we all want to avoid.
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So, we need a place
where we can design, build, test
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and help deliver
nuclear weapons.
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But even before
we pick the place though,
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we need to find somebody
who can lead that installation.
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And virtually nobody expected
Oppenheimer to be named
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the director of
the weapons design laboratory.
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He was kind of
this ethereal personality.
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He had no record
of having big achievements.
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One of the scientists
who knew Oppenheimer said,
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"This is a man who couldn't run
a hot dog stand."
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RHODES:
Oppenheimer's friends felt
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that he was a divided man
not quite sure of his identity.
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He said at one point,
"From my earliest days,
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"I never did anything
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"or thought anything
or knew anyone
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where I didn't feel about myself
the deepest loathing."
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(ticking)
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JENNET CONANT:
Oppenheimer was born in 1904
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and into an age of
great scientific possibility.
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The first two decades
of the 20th century
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were periods of
incredible intellectual daring.
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Electricity, automobiles, flight
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were all transforming
daily life.
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And then you had
incredible advances in science,
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and it looks like
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almost anything
could be achieved.
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DAVID EISENBACH:
Story of Robert Oppenheimer
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is really the story
of immigrant America.
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His father comes over
from Germany,
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gets a job
in the garment industry
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and makes a tremendous amount
of money,
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winds up on the Upper West Side
on Riverside Drive.
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And he's got a Picasso,
and he's got three van Goghs.
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HERKEN: His mother was
a Paris-trained artist
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who exhibited her work at
various galleries in Manhattan.
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RHODES:
She was a nervous person.
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She really didn't let
this little boy go outside.
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BIRD:
And he was very sheltered
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and extremely socially awkward.
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RHODES: When he finally went to
camp one summer, he was so nasty
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to the other kids
that they roughed him up.
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He said later they put him
in the icehouse all night naked
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and painted him green,
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including his genitals.
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Oddly enough,
Oppenheimer didn't protest.
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He just took
his punishment stoically.
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It was a very odd reaction
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for a young boy at that age.
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RHODES: Imagine this sensitive
boy, this very smart boy,
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but one who has no idea
how to deal with other people.
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Certainly not with
children his own age.
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He's had no experience.
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ALEX WELLERSTEIN: The real core
psychological moment
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for Oppenheimer appears to have
been when he was in college.
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And he goes to study physics
at Cambridge,
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and he doesn't do very well.
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He ends up in a laboratory
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that's really about
experimental physics,
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and he is not good at that.
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He doesn't really know how to do
an experiment with his hands.
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And he has this sort of
crisis of confidence.
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BIRD: This came to a head
when he had a...
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what I think
can only be described
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as a nervous breakdown.
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One of his friends stumbled
upon him in an empty classroom
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where Oppenheimer was
standing at the blackboard.
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EISENBACH: Muttering to himself
over and over again,
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"The point is,
the point is, the point is."
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BIRD: And he could never
finish the sentence.
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MARTIN J. SHERWIN: And then
another one of his friends
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went to his dorm room
and heard this moaning inside
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and opened the door,
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and there was Oppenheimer
in a fetal position,
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rolling back and forth,
groaning.
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He literally came close
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to committing suicide
at that point.
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EISENBACH: He saw a psychiatrist
as a result of this,
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and the psychiatrist said
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that he's kind of living
in his own world.
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RHODES: He was having
an identity crisis,
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00:12:06,718 --> 00:12:10,054
something we're clearer about
these days than we were then.
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BIRD:
His parents took him to Paris,
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00:12:12,140 --> 00:12:14,559
where he saw
yet another psychologist,
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00:12:14,601 --> 00:12:17,729
and in a very French way,
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prescribed a professional woman
and red wine.
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(laughs) So...
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Uh, we don't know
if that happened.
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SHERWIN: He had always been
the top of the class,
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the smartest person,
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admired for
his intellectual capability
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by all his classmates.
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And suddenly,
he was an incompetent.
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And he just couldn't deal
with that at that point.
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And what snapped him out of that
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was his discovery of theoretical
physics, of quantum physics.
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At the time, it was sort of
the golden age of physics.
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It's a very exciting time
to be a theorist.
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And if you are young
and quick and willing to think
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weird ideas that nobody else
has ever thought,
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you can potentially make
a huge amount of progress
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and a name for yourself.
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BIRD: So, when Oppenheimer
decided to move
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to Göttingen in Germany to study
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with Max Born,
a theoretical physicist,
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00:13:26,464 --> 00:13:27,966
he blossomed.
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He meets
some of the leading physicists
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in Germany at the time--
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00:13:33,179 --> 00:13:36,558
Heisenberg,
who, ironically enough,
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would lead
the German atomic bomb project.
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WELLERSTEIN:
And while he's over there,
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he sort of invents
this Oppie personality.
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This is where he gets the name.
249
00:13:48,528 --> 00:13:51,447
They call him Opje,
and this turns into Oppie.
250
00:13:52,657 --> 00:13:56,661
And Oppie is not
an insecure young American
251
00:13:56,703 --> 00:13:59,164
who doesn't really know
what he wants to do.
252
00:13:59,205 --> 00:14:01,166
Oppie is the brilliant guy
253
00:14:01,207 --> 00:14:03,710
who is always five steps ahead
of everybody else
254
00:14:03,751 --> 00:14:05,503
and can keep everything
in his head.
255
00:14:05,545 --> 00:14:08,506
Oppie is a genius who's
very eccentric and interesting
256
00:14:08,548 --> 00:14:13,845
and strikes a really dashing
figure and is chain-smoking.
257
00:14:13,887 --> 00:14:17,557
And you see these pictures
of him from the '20s.
258
00:14:18,766 --> 00:14:21,019
It's very Bob Dylan.
259
00:14:21,060 --> 00:14:24,731
ELSE: He had the eyes
of an Old Testament prophet
260
00:14:24,772 --> 00:14:27,150
inside this frail body,
261
00:14:27,192 --> 00:14:29,652
and he sort of cocked himself
with his funny little
262
00:14:29,694 --> 00:14:32,155
porkpie hat on top.
263
00:14:32,906 --> 00:14:36,701
WELLERSTEIN: So, Oppie is
this sort of construction
264
00:14:36,743 --> 00:14:40,163
of everything
that he would want to be.
265
00:14:41,456 --> 00:14:45,084
And that recreation is
immensely successful.
266
00:14:46,503 --> 00:14:49,005
(ticking)
267
00:14:51,966 --> 00:14:54,552
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
When the cancerous Nazi growth
268
00:14:54,594 --> 00:14:57,514
spread farther still,
the people of Europe--
269
00:14:57,555 --> 00:15:01,184
and the world--
enter the new era.
270
00:15:01,226 --> 00:15:04,562
RHODES: Certainly the first
motivation for the scientists
271
00:15:04,604 --> 00:15:07,065
was to beat the Germans
to the bomb.
272
00:15:07,106 --> 00:15:09,651
There's nothing like
the prospect of a hanging
273
00:15:09,692 --> 00:15:11,236
to concentrate the mind.
274
00:15:11,277 --> 00:15:15,031
And the threat of death
of civilization as they knew it
275
00:15:15,073 --> 00:15:21,162
was so great that it swept away
any ethical or moral doubts
276
00:15:21,204 --> 00:15:22,789
that they might have had.
277
00:15:23,581 --> 00:15:27,544
WELLERSTEIN: Ultimately,
whoever gets the bomb first
278
00:15:27,585 --> 00:15:28,837
is not just gonna win
World War II
279
00:15:28,878 --> 00:15:30,505
but is gonna run
the entire world.
280
00:15:31,548 --> 00:15:33,258
* *
281
00:15:33,299 --> 00:15:35,802
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
By the summer of 1942,
282
00:15:35,844 --> 00:15:39,264
control of the atom bomb project
passes to the hands of the Army,
283
00:15:39,305 --> 00:15:43,142
under the code name
Manhattan Engineering District.
284
00:15:43,184 --> 00:15:45,353
CARR:
The Manhattan Project really was
285
00:15:45,395 --> 00:15:47,772
a huge national effort.
286
00:15:47,814 --> 00:15:52,110
RHODES: And to plot out
the industrial scale
287
00:15:52,151 --> 00:15:56,239
of the operation,
they chose a dynamic, burly,
288
00:15:56,281 --> 00:15:57,615
six-foot-three,
289
00:15:57,657 --> 00:16:00,785
240-pound general
290
00:16:00,827 --> 00:16:04,122
named Leslie Richard Groves.
291
00:16:05,165 --> 00:16:08,251
He hated Leslie.
He went by Dick.
292
00:16:09,377 --> 00:16:11,838
General Groves had a problem.
293
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:14,340
He was entrusted
to hire the people
294
00:16:14,382 --> 00:16:15,842
that would build
the atomic bomb.
295
00:16:15,884 --> 00:16:18,803
But he knew
that we're talking about
296
00:16:18,845 --> 00:16:22,849
the people who are the
finest scientists in the world.
297
00:16:24,350 --> 00:16:26,519
These are prima donnas.
298
00:16:27,896 --> 00:16:29,814
And now you have to have
somebody who's gonna be
299
00:16:29,856 --> 00:16:31,691
the whipmaster.
300
00:16:31,733 --> 00:16:33,401
You have to have somebody
301
00:16:33,443 --> 00:16:36,070
that understands the physics,
who has a reputation,
302
00:16:36,112 --> 00:16:39,157
so that these prima donnas
will follow you.
303
00:16:42,452 --> 00:16:45,371
CARR: Oppenheimer and
General Groves are introduced
304
00:16:45,413 --> 00:16:47,832
in the fall of 1942.
305
00:16:47,874 --> 00:16:49,876
And these two individuals
are just about
306
00:16:49,918 --> 00:16:51,878
as different as you can imagine.
307
00:16:53,213 --> 00:16:55,465
But General Groves
saw something in him
308
00:16:55,507 --> 00:16:57,258
that apparently no one else saw.
309
00:16:58,885 --> 00:17:00,762
GROVES:
When meeting Oppenheimer,
310
00:17:00,803 --> 00:17:02,847
you were immediately impressed.
311
00:17:02,889 --> 00:17:05,433
You couldn't help it.
312
00:17:05,475 --> 00:17:08,019
There wasn't a better man.
313
00:17:09,354 --> 00:17:12,357
RHODES: He chose Oppenheimer
against the advice
314
00:17:12,398 --> 00:17:15,318
of most of these leaders
that he had around him
315
00:17:15,360 --> 00:17:16,945
in the scientific community.
316
00:17:16,986 --> 00:17:21,407
Oppenheimer had never led
any large enterprise.
317
00:17:21,449 --> 00:17:25,286
But Oppenheimer was really good
at explaining things.
318
00:17:26,079 --> 00:17:27,872
WELLERSTEIN:
He was extremely charming,
319
00:17:27,914 --> 00:17:30,208
and he had this ability
320
00:17:30,250 --> 00:17:33,336
to sort of hold a lot of things
in his head at once
321
00:17:33,378 --> 00:17:37,340
and keep aware of
how they all fit together.
322
00:17:39,342 --> 00:17:40,844
And this is apparently
323
00:17:40,885 --> 00:17:43,596
what General Groves
recognized in him.
324
00:17:46,015 --> 00:17:48,101
EISENBACH:
For security purposes,
325
00:17:48,142 --> 00:17:52,772
this project needs to happen
away from everything.
326
00:17:53,815 --> 00:17:56,401
So Groves tells Oppenheimer
327
00:17:56,442 --> 00:18:00,071
to just come up with a place
where this would actually work.
328
00:18:00,113 --> 00:18:02,907
And it was Oppenheimer
who suggests
329
00:18:02,949 --> 00:18:06,035
the New Mexico desert.
330
00:18:06,077 --> 00:18:08,788
So they go to scope out a site.
331
00:18:08,830 --> 00:18:11,124
It's called Los Alamos.
332
00:18:13,168 --> 00:18:15,086
CARR:
Oppenheimer knew the area well.
333
00:18:15,128 --> 00:18:16,921
He had spent a lot of time here.
334
00:18:18,506 --> 00:18:21,593
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER: When
he left New York as a young man
335
00:18:21,634 --> 00:18:24,554
and went to New Mexico...
336
00:18:25,763 --> 00:18:29,142
...that was a-- just a really
important part of his life.
337
00:18:29,976 --> 00:18:32,812
Going to New Mexico
and meeting cowboys
338
00:18:32,854 --> 00:18:34,272
and riding horses.
339
00:18:34,314 --> 00:18:36,774
He just loved it.
He loved every part of it.
340
00:18:38,651 --> 00:18:41,613
BIRD: He once said that
his ambition was to combine
341
00:18:41,654 --> 00:18:44,282
the two loves in his life,
342
00:18:44,324 --> 00:18:46,910
physics and New Mexico.
343
00:18:49,329 --> 00:18:52,290
And of course,
he did precisely this.
344
00:18:55,835 --> 00:18:57,712
CARR:
Now, the government shows up
345
00:18:57,754 --> 00:18:59,839
with bulldozers and architects
346
00:18:59,881 --> 00:19:02,133
and laborers and craftsmen
347
00:19:02,175 --> 00:19:05,970
to build a new community
and laboratory
348
00:19:06,012 --> 00:19:09,182
where there essentially
had not been one before.
349
00:19:11,142 --> 00:19:13,520
SNOWDEN:
They're starting from scratch.
350
00:19:14,270 --> 00:19:17,190
And so much of
what they were doing was unknown
351
00:19:17,232 --> 00:19:19,150
and unproven at the time.
352
00:19:19,192 --> 00:19:20,652
They didn't actually know
353
00:19:20,693 --> 00:19:21,819
that they would be able
to achieve this.
354
00:19:21,861 --> 00:19:23,154
This was all theoretical.
355
00:19:24,572 --> 00:19:27,325
ELSE: They knew that they had
to get the best scientists
356
00:19:27,367 --> 00:19:31,412
if they were gonna get this
weapon before the Nazis did.
357
00:19:31,454 --> 00:19:33,832
(crowd chanting)
358
00:19:33,873 --> 00:19:36,000
(ship horn blowing)
359
00:19:36,042 --> 00:19:37,544
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Albert Einstein flees
360
00:19:37,585 --> 00:19:39,087
to the United States.
361
00:19:39,128 --> 00:19:41,548
He leads a vanguard
of refugee scientists,
362
00:19:41,589 --> 00:19:43,842
virtually stripping
German universities
363
00:19:43,883 --> 00:19:45,218
of their best minds.
364
00:19:47,178 --> 00:19:49,430
WELLERSTEIN: All of the turmoil
in Europe had forced out
365
00:19:49,472 --> 00:19:53,351
a huge number
of really top-grade physicists.
366
00:19:54,936 --> 00:19:58,022
Enrico Fermi.
367
00:19:58,064 --> 00:20:01,192
Hans Bethe.
368
00:20:01,234 --> 00:20:04,529
Edward Teller,
who famously would go on
369
00:20:04,571 --> 00:20:07,031
to develop the hydrogen bomb.
370
00:20:07,073 --> 00:20:09,200
One can sort of
go down the lists
371
00:20:09,242 --> 00:20:12,745
and find more and more and more
of these amazing people.
372
00:20:13,913 --> 00:20:16,249
Oppenheimer was
famously known for
373
00:20:16,291 --> 00:20:18,209
his intellectual sex appeal.
374
00:20:18,251 --> 00:20:19,919
And he could go
around the country
375
00:20:19,961 --> 00:20:22,589
and sort of
flash his brain to people,
376
00:20:22,630 --> 00:20:24,340
and, you know, they'd sign up.
377
00:20:25,133 --> 00:20:26,634
RHODES:
He would say,
378
00:20:26,676 --> 00:20:30,555
"I unfortunately can't tell you
what we're doing,
379
00:20:30,597 --> 00:20:34,684
"but I can tell you
that if we succeed,
380
00:20:34,726 --> 00:20:37,437
"it's likely to end this war,
381
00:20:37,478 --> 00:20:39,898
and it may end all war."
382
00:20:39,939 --> 00:20:41,482
ROBERT CHRISTY:
Oppenheimer asked
383
00:20:41,524 --> 00:20:44,944
if I would join him
in Los Alamos.
384
00:20:44,986 --> 00:20:47,572
And I said I would be delighted.
385
00:20:47,614 --> 00:20:49,282
Like most of his students,
386
00:20:49,324 --> 00:20:54,245
I would more or less follow him
to the ends of the Earth.
387
00:20:54,287 --> 00:20:57,290
If you had the choice
of fighting the Nazis
388
00:20:57,332 --> 00:20:59,459
by going to
this exotic mountaintop
389
00:20:59,501 --> 00:21:02,629
and doing the greatest physics
in history,
390
00:21:02,670 --> 00:21:04,756
I mean, what would you do?
391
00:21:04,797 --> 00:21:06,466
I would've been
on the next train.
392
00:21:08,092 --> 00:21:09,469
I don't think people thought
393
00:21:09,511 --> 00:21:11,054
that much about
the consequences.
394
00:21:11,095 --> 00:21:12,847
You know, can we blame them?
395
00:21:12,889 --> 00:21:14,766
OPPENHEIMER:
We were all aware of
396
00:21:14,807 --> 00:21:19,270
the fact that, in one way
or another, we were intervening
397
00:21:19,312 --> 00:21:24,359
explicitly and heavy-handedly
in the course of human history.
398
00:21:29,322 --> 00:21:32,158
CARR: By the time
the laboratory was established,
399
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:33,535
Oppenheimer was a family man.
400
00:21:33,576 --> 00:21:36,162
He was married.
He had a little boy.
401
00:21:38,122 --> 00:21:40,416
During his tenure
as director at the laboratory,
402
00:21:40,458 --> 00:21:43,002
he had a little girl as well.
403
00:21:44,128 --> 00:21:46,172
BIRD:
The summer of 1939,
404
00:21:46,214 --> 00:21:48,466
he was at a cocktail party
in Berkeley,
405
00:21:48,508 --> 00:21:52,554
and a young woman named
Kitty Puening had spied him
406
00:21:52,595 --> 00:21:58,184
from across the garden and was
immediately attracted to him.
407
00:21:59,185 --> 00:22:04,190
She was a firecracker
(laughs) of a young woman.
408
00:22:08,278 --> 00:22:11,489
They fell in love, and by 1940,
409
00:22:11,531 --> 00:22:12,824
she was pregnant.
410
00:22:12,866 --> 00:22:14,534
(laughs)
411
00:22:16,327 --> 00:22:18,246
SHERWIN:
They live ever after.
412
00:22:18,288 --> 00:22:22,041
And notice I didn't say
"happily." (laughs)
413
00:22:22,083 --> 00:22:25,670
They are devoted to each other.
414
00:22:25,712 --> 00:22:29,132
But it's a difficult marriage
because of
415
00:22:29,174 --> 00:22:34,512
the complexity of Robert's life,
of their personalities,
416
00:22:34,554 --> 00:22:37,140
of the environment
in which they live.
417
00:22:40,393 --> 00:22:42,103
NOLAN:
She was an academic,
418
00:22:42,145 --> 00:22:43,938
and she was a biologist
and a botanist,
419
00:22:43,980 --> 00:22:46,983
and ultimately, that work
was all put to one side
420
00:22:47,025 --> 00:22:49,110
for the years at Los Alamos.
421
00:22:49,152 --> 00:22:51,154
I think she was very frustrated
422
00:22:51,196 --> 00:22:53,990
by being put in the position of
423
00:22:54,032 --> 00:22:56,242
a mother and a wife
and nothing else.
424
00:22:58,786 --> 00:23:02,123
CONANT: She did not thrive
at Los Alamos.
425
00:23:02,165 --> 00:23:04,584
It was a lonely
and hard existence.
426
00:23:05,752 --> 00:23:09,339
And she disappeared
into the bottle somewhat.
427
00:23:14,260 --> 00:23:17,972
Oppenheimer was famous
for mixing his gin martinis.
428
00:23:18,014 --> 00:23:20,183
(laughter)
429
00:23:20,225 --> 00:23:25,063
He persuaded his scientists to
work very hard during the week
430
00:23:25,104 --> 00:23:28,900
and to party hard
on the weekends.
431
00:23:28,942 --> 00:23:31,569
RHODES: Everyone was hungover
on Sunday morning,
432
00:23:31,611 --> 00:23:33,863
but they worked a lot,
and they worked hard,
433
00:23:33,905 --> 00:23:35,156
and they worked together.
434
00:23:35,198 --> 00:23:37,659
And that was largely
Oppenheimer.
435
00:23:42,747 --> 00:23:45,208
BIRD: Los Alamos
for many of these people were
436
00:23:45,250 --> 00:23:47,335
the most momentous years
of their lives.
437
00:23:50,505 --> 00:23:52,924
They felt part of something,
438
00:23:52,966 --> 00:23:56,761
part of something meaningful
and important.
439
00:23:56,803 --> 00:24:00,765
And they were led by
this very enigmatic,
440
00:24:00,807 --> 00:24:06,312
strange, bright, blue-eyed
young man whom they all admired.
441
00:24:12,151 --> 00:24:14,654
REID:
I grew up at Los Alamos.
442
00:24:16,865 --> 00:24:20,326
And my father came to Los Alamos
during the Manhattan Project.
443
00:24:22,162 --> 00:24:27,458
It was a-a curious place to live
444
00:24:27,500 --> 00:24:31,421
because they're blowing
things up three times a day.
445
00:24:31,462 --> 00:24:32,964
(explosion rumbles)
446
00:24:33,006 --> 00:24:36,301
Explosions were at
10:00 and 12:00 and 3:00,
447
00:24:36,342 --> 00:24:37,594
so when you're in first grade,
448
00:24:37,635 --> 00:24:39,012
it means recess, lunch
and school's out.
449
00:24:39,053 --> 00:24:41,306
(excited chatter)
450
00:24:41,347 --> 00:24:43,224
We were actually,
as little kids,
451
00:24:43,266 --> 00:24:45,643
connoisseurs of explosions.
452
00:24:47,687 --> 00:24:49,355
And at some point,
I asked my father,
453
00:24:49,397 --> 00:24:50,857
"What-what are you doing?"
454
00:24:50,899 --> 00:24:53,234
And he said,
"Well, we're doing something
455
00:24:53,276 --> 00:24:54,944
that has never been
done before."
456
00:24:54,986 --> 00:24:57,864
I thought, "That's got to be
pretty interesting,
457
00:24:57,906 --> 00:24:58,948
whatever it is."
458
00:24:58,990 --> 00:25:01,201
* *
459
00:25:09,167 --> 00:25:14,297
CARR: We get about a year into
the laboratory's existence,
460
00:25:14,339 --> 00:25:16,257
and we come to find
that it's gonna be
461
00:25:16,299 --> 00:25:17,842
a lot harder than we thought.
462
00:25:17,884 --> 00:25:20,720
Every little thing is hard.
463
00:25:20,762 --> 00:25:24,724
These are
some very complex machines.
464
00:25:26,059 --> 00:25:28,394
A nuclear weapon is not an idea.
465
00:25:28,436 --> 00:25:32,106
Think of a nuclear weapon
more as like a million ideas
466
00:25:32,148 --> 00:25:35,568
that have to come together
and work perfectly together.
467
00:25:37,445 --> 00:25:40,448
To make an atomic bomb,
you need the fuel for it.
468
00:25:40,490 --> 00:25:43,034
(electrical warbling)
469
00:25:43,076 --> 00:25:46,329
CARR: We have plutonium,
and we have enriched uranium.
470
00:25:46,371 --> 00:25:47,872
We have two different types
of material
471
00:25:47,914 --> 00:25:50,208
that we're going to try and use.
472
00:25:50,250 --> 00:25:53,378
Plutonium was
the better material to use.
473
00:25:53,419 --> 00:25:55,255
There was gonna be more of it.
474
00:25:55,296 --> 00:25:57,882
You needed less of it
to make a bomb,
475
00:25:57,924 --> 00:26:01,094
and yet it was harder
to detonate.
476
00:26:01,135 --> 00:26:02,637
(electrical popping)
477
00:26:02,679 --> 00:26:07,600
The initial way to make a bomb
was called gun assembly.
478
00:26:07,642 --> 00:26:13,481
It was to take
two pieces of material
479
00:26:13,523 --> 00:26:15,733
and slam them together...
480
00:26:15,775 --> 00:26:17,068
(explosion)
481
00:26:17,110 --> 00:26:19,821
...causing a critical mass
and an explosion.
482
00:26:19,863 --> 00:26:23,741
And that was fine if you used
highly enriched uranium.
483
00:26:23,783 --> 00:26:28,246
But one day, they discovered
it won't work with plutonium.
484
00:26:28,288 --> 00:26:31,833
The plutonium
turned out to be so reactive
485
00:26:31,875 --> 00:26:34,085
that you couldn't
fire it up a barrel
486
00:26:34,127 --> 00:26:36,754
even at 3,000 feet per second.
487
00:26:36,796 --> 00:26:38,131
It would fizzle.
488
00:26:38,173 --> 00:26:40,466
It would melt down
before it got up the barrel.
489
00:26:40,508 --> 00:26:41,968
NORRIS:
It was a great shock.
490
00:26:42,010 --> 00:26:44,762
I mean, maybe this whole
plutonium thing had been wasted,
491
00:26:44,804 --> 00:26:47,765
hundreds of millions of dollars
to develop plutonium.
492
00:26:51,352 --> 00:26:52,770
WELLERSTEIN:
Oppenheimer was distraught,
493
00:26:52,812 --> 00:26:54,898
and-and Los Alamos
was distraught.
494
00:26:55,982 --> 00:26:59,861
RHODES: He considered resigning,
he was so depressed,
495
00:26:59,903 --> 00:27:01,946
and his friends
at the laboratory said,
496
00:27:01,988 --> 00:27:03,364
"You can't, Robert.
497
00:27:03,406 --> 00:27:05,283
"You've got to stay
and finish this work.
498
00:27:05,325 --> 00:27:07,494
It's got to happen.
We must do it."
499
00:27:07,535 --> 00:27:10,413
And-and reluctantly, he stayed.
500
00:27:10,455 --> 00:27:12,457
(filmstrip rattling)
501
00:27:12,499 --> 00:27:14,125
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: ...war under
the supreme command of
502
00:27:14,167 --> 00:27:15,960
General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
503
00:27:16,002 --> 00:27:18,421
Allied forces have
nearly three million troops
504
00:27:18,463 --> 00:27:19,964
trained for the assault.
505
00:27:20,006 --> 00:27:21,257
(crowd cheering)
506
00:27:21,299 --> 00:27:22,800
On the other side
of the channel...
507
00:27:22,842 --> 00:27:24,177
-(shouting in German)
-(crowd chanting in German)
508
00:27:24,219 --> 00:27:25,845
...the Nazis also know
509
00:27:25,887 --> 00:27:28,723
what the Allied forces
are preparing for,
510
00:27:28,765 --> 00:27:31,351
and they are making
preparations of their own.
511
00:27:31,392 --> 00:27:33,394
(Hitler shouting in German)
512
00:27:34,437 --> 00:27:36,105
BIRD:
Oppenheimer feared
513
00:27:36,147 --> 00:27:38,525
he was still in a race
with the Germans.
514
00:27:38,566 --> 00:27:41,027
Even as late
as the summer of '44,
515
00:27:41,069 --> 00:27:42,695
they had no real intelligence
516
00:27:42,737 --> 00:27:46,282
about where they were
on the German bomb project.
517
00:27:47,867 --> 00:27:50,286
CARR: And so, if they don't
crack the plutonium problem,
518
00:27:50,328 --> 00:27:52,705
they may not have
a bomb in time.
519
00:27:53,915 --> 00:27:57,043
NORRIS: Oppenheimer shifted
the laboratory into, you know,
520
00:27:57,085 --> 00:27:59,462
full-speed panic mode.
521
00:28:01,422 --> 00:28:03,091
WELLERSTEIN:
They had had some ideas
522
00:28:03,132 --> 00:28:05,176
for other types of bomb designs,
which they had thrown around
523
00:28:05,218 --> 00:28:06,886
at the very beginning
of the project
524
00:28:06,928 --> 00:28:09,347
but dismissed 'cause
they seemed too difficult.
525
00:28:09,389 --> 00:28:11,850
But one of them
was called implosion.
526
00:28:13,726 --> 00:28:16,729
The way implosion
in a nutshell works was
527
00:28:16,771 --> 00:28:19,190
they had a solid ball
of plutonium,
528
00:28:19,232 --> 00:28:21,067
just a solid sphere of it,
529
00:28:21,109 --> 00:28:24,195
about the size of a softball,
maybe a little bit smaller.
530
00:28:24,237 --> 00:28:29,284
And this is encased by
tons of high explosives.
531
00:28:30,743 --> 00:28:33,788
And these high explosives
are really specially made,
532
00:28:33,830 --> 00:28:37,083
so that when they explode,
they're gonna end up
533
00:28:37,125 --> 00:28:41,087
sort of focusing a blast wave
onto this ball,
534
00:28:41,129 --> 00:28:43,214
pushing on the top
and pushing on the bottom
535
00:28:43,256 --> 00:28:44,883
and pushing on both sides of it.
536
00:28:44,924 --> 00:28:47,427
Every angle of this is
gonna be being pushed upon
537
00:28:47,468 --> 00:28:50,972
with a lot of explosive force.
538
00:28:51,014 --> 00:28:54,267
What you want to do
is get this pressure
539
00:28:54,309 --> 00:28:58,771
to squeeze
the plutonium target evenly.
540
00:28:58,813 --> 00:29:01,816
If it were asymmetrical,
it probably wouldn't work.
541
00:29:01,858 --> 00:29:05,236
You had to have enough pressure
quickly enough
542
00:29:05,278 --> 00:29:09,407
to smash these subatomic
particles together hard enough
543
00:29:09,449 --> 00:29:12,619
to get them to have
this a-amazing reaction.
544
00:29:13,620 --> 00:29:15,830
WELLERSTEIN:
This is really hard to do.
545
00:29:15,872 --> 00:29:19,792
Every aspect of this is
an almost totally new problem.
546
00:29:19,834 --> 00:29:21,586
It is a technology
that would have benefited from
547
00:29:21,628 --> 00:29:22,921
another decade of development.
548
00:29:22,962 --> 00:29:25,632
And they didn't have that.
They had a year.
549
00:29:28,718 --> 00:29:31,095
CONANT: Oppenheimer was
working night and day
550
00:29:31,137 --> 00:29:32,931
building the bomb.
551
00:29:32,972 --> 00:29:36,392
And as the project grew in size,
the security service
552
00:29:36,434 --> 00:29:39,646
protecting the project
also grew.
553
00:29:39,687 --> 00:29:42,148
And even though
he was beloved and admired
554
00:29:42,190 --> 00:29:43,900
by most of the scientists
555
00:29:43,942 --> 00:29:46,194
working at
the Los Alamos project,
556
00:29:46,236 --> 00:29:49,280
he had fallen under
a greater veil of suspicion
557
00:29:49,322 --> 00:29:52,450
because there were
certain aspects of his past
558
00:29:52,492 --> 00:29:55,119
that raised the possibility
559
00:29:55,161 --> 00:29:57,497
that he could be
a security risk.
560
00:30:02,961 --> 00:30:05,004
* *
561
00:30:11,177 --> 00:30:13,096
RHODES:
When Oppenheimer was teaching
562
00:30:13,137 --> 00:30:15,431
at the University of California
at Berkeley,
563
00:30:15,473 --> 00:30:20,311
he really was
a very unworldly man
564
00:30:20,353 --> 00:30:22,438
focused on science,
565
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:25,400
until the Depression began.
566
00:30:27,610 --> 00:30:29,195
He discovered, to his shock,
567
00:30:29,237 --> 00:30:33,491
that his students often
didn't even have enough to eat.
568
00:30:33,533 --> 00:30:36,327
One of them told me
he was living on
569
00:30:36,369 --> 00:30:38,830
cat food, cans of cat food.
570
00:30:38,872 --> 00:30:40,874
That was the only thing
he could afford.
571
00:30:42,125 --> 00:30:46,629
Oppenheimer was changed
by this discovery
572
00:30:46,671 --> 00:30:49,507
of-of suffering
in the world, really.
573
00:30:52,177 --> 00:30:55,180
BIRD: And Oppenheimer
sort of naturally,
574
00:30:55,221 --> 00:30:58,183
like many of his friends
in Berkeley at the time,
575
00:30:58,224 --> 00:31:00,894
drifted politically to the left.
576
00:31:08,902 --> 00:31:14,073
CARR: Communism was a very
appealing idea in the 1930s.
577
00:31:14,115 --> 00:31:15,700
There was no Internet.
578
00:31:15,742 --> 00:31:17,619
People didn't know
what was going on real time
579
00:31:17,660 --> 00:31:19,370
in the Soviet Union,
580
00:31:19,412 --> 00:31:22,207
where Joseph Stalin, of course,
was in the process of murdering
581
00:31:22,248 --> 00:31:25,043
20 million of his own people.
582
00:31:25,084 --> 00:31:26,711
(gunfire)
583
00:31:30,048 --> 00:31:32,717
What people here in the
United States saw instead was,
584
00:31:32,759 --> 00:31:36,012
hey, you know,
here in the Soviet Union,
585
00:31:36,054 --> 00:31:38,890
everybody is free and equal
and has a job
586
00:31:38,932 --> 00:31:41,851
and a place to live
and-and a future,
587
00:31:41,893 --> 00:31:45,230
an important role to play
in the greater collective.
588
00:31:45,271 --> 00:31:47,232
(crowd cheering)
589
00:31:47,273 --> 00:31:50,652
Now, if I don't know where
my next meal is coming from,
590
00:31:50,693 --> 00:31:53,863
that sounds like
a pretty good idea.
591
00:31:55,990 --> 00:32:00,411
It's debatable if Oppenheimer
ever really joined, officially,
592
00:32:00,453 --> 00:32:02,747
the Communist Party.
593
00:32:02,789 --> 00:32:04,833
But his brother did.
594
00:32:04,874 --> 00:32:06,876
Frank Oppenheimer
joined the party.
595
00:32:06,918 --> 00:32:10,046
Frank's wife Jackie
joined the party.
596
00:32:10,088 --> 00:32:12,549
Many of Oppenheimer's
close friends
597
00:32:12,590 --> 00:32:14,133
had joined the Communist Party.
598
00:32:14,175 --> 00:32:16,094
Many of his students
at Berkeley and elsewhere
599
00:32:16,135 --> 00:32:18,930
had been members of
the Communist Party as well.
600
00:32:20,139 --> 00:32:21,891
BIRD:
And in the mid '30s,
601
00:32:21,933 --> 00:32:24,769
he met a young woman
named Jean Tatlock,
602
00:32:24,811 --> 00:32:28,523
who was studying
to become a psychiatrist.
603
00:32:28,565 --> 00:32:31,192
Brilliant young woman.
604
00:32:31,234 --> 00:32:32,652
He fell in love with her.
605
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:36,906
NOLAN: They were engaged
to be married twice.
606
00:32:36,948 --> 00:32:39,159
I think it's probably
a reasonable interpretation
607
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:41,452
to say he was
somewhat obsessed with her.
608
00:32:41,494 --> 00:32:43,955
She was a communist.
609
00:32:43,997 --> 00:32:46,124
He was interested
in communist ideas.
610
00:32:47,250 --> 00:32:49,085
BIRD:
And for the next four years,
611
00:32:49,127 --> 00:32:52,130
Oppenheimer actually contributed
quite a bit of money
612
00:32:52,172 --> 00:32:54,132
to the Communist Party.
613
00:32:54,174 --> 00:32:58,595
But his political activities
began to be noticed.
614
00:33:02,515 --> 00:33:04,142
HERKEN:
What the FBI did in those days,
615
00:33:04,184 --> 00:33:06,644
they were following
the communists.
616
00:33:07,478 --> 00:33:09,439
They would walk around
and they would take down
617
00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:11,316
the license numbers
of the cars that were parked
618
00:33:11,357 --> 00:33:13,943
in front of the house or
the building and look them up.
619
00:33:13,985 --> 00:33:15,570
That's when Oppenheimer
620
00:33:15,612 --> 00:33:17,655
first came to the attention
of the FBI.
621
00:33:17,697 --> 00:33:21,242
EISENBACH: Even while he's
heading up the A-bomb project,
622
00:33:21,284 --> 00:33:24,412
the FBI is wiretapping
and following him.
623
00:33:24,454 --> 00:33:28,833
Military Intelligence is
constantly asking him questions.
624
00:33:28,875 --> 00:33:31,503
RHODES: He was, I think,
in a strange way,
625
00:33:31,544 --> 00:33:33,004
comfortable with that because
626
00:33:33,046 --> 00:33:35,840
he knew he wasn't doing
anything wrong.
627
00:33:36,841 --> 00:33:39,010
Even when he went to visit
his old girlfriend
628
00:33:39,052 --> 00:33:42,180
when he should not have
probably done so.
629
00:33:44,140 --> 00:33:48,228
In 1943, he heard
from Jean Tatlock.
630
00:33:48,269 --> 00:33:50,313
She was going through
some emotional crisis,
631
00:33:50,355 --> 00:33:51,689
and she wanted to see him.
632
00:33:51,731 --> 00:33:53,650
He had kept in touch with Jean.
633
00:33:53,691 --> 00:33:55,902
He still loved her.
634
00:33:55,944 --> 00:33:58,613
She had rejected him.
He had married Kitty.
635
00:33:58,655 --> 00:34:03,535
But he knew that Jean Tatlock
was in a depressed state,
636
00:34:03,576 --> 00:34:05,245
and so he visited her.
637
00:34:08,373 --> 00:34:12,752
RHODES: He had to leave Los
Alamos and go to San Francisco.
638
00:34:16,756 --> 00:34:19,092
And that was, of course,
just red meat
639
00:34:19,133 --> 00:34:21,594
for the, for the dog,
as it were.
640
00:34:22,554 --> 00:34:26,391
There were two guys
sitting outside the apartment.
641
00:34:26,432 --> 00:34:30,353
BIRD: Jean Tatlock
was under surveillance.
642
00:34:30,395 --> 00:34:32,647
She was still a member
of the Communist Party.
643
00:34:33,439 --> 00:34:35,567
RHODES:
He spent the night with her.
644
00:34:35,608 --> 00:34:37,235
They had been lovers,
645
00:34:37,277 --> 00:34:39,863
and I think they probably were
lovers again that night.
646
00:34:42,323 --> 00:34:43,950
(engine starts)
647
00:34:43,992 --> 00:34:48,121
BIRD: This was reported back
to Colonel Boris Pash,
648
00:34:48,163 --> 00:34:49,747
who was head of
Army Intelligence
649
00:34:49,789 --> 00:34:51,249
for all the West Coast.
650
00:34:51,291 --> 00:34:53,918
And Pash was convinced
that this was
651
00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:58,423
a serious breach of security
652
00:34:58,464 --> 00:35:00,300
and that perhaps Oppenheimer
was conveying nuclear secrets
653
00:35:00,341 --> 00:35:04,012
and atomic secrets to the
Communist Party through Tatlock.
654
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,933
Sadly, tragically, she died
655
00:35:08,975 --> 00:35:12,187
just a few months later,
in the spring of 1944.
656
00:35:13,313 --> 00:35:18,151
Under mysterious circumstances,
her father found her naked
657
00:35:18,193 --> 00:35:21,196
with her head
plunged in a bathtub
658
00:35:21,237 --> 00:35:24,657
with her body slumped
over the edge of the bathtub.
659
00:35:26,117 --> 00:35:29,913
Which is a very odd way
to commit suicide.
660
00:35:29,954 --> 00:35:32,624
There's some speculation that
661
00:35:32,665 --> 00:35:34,918
perhaps she was murdered.
662
00:35:36,336 --> 00:35:40,673
Oppenheimer was horrified
and devastated by the news.
663
00:35:42,050 --> 00:35:45,637
The security officer
who informed him
664
00:35:45,678 --> 00:35:48,473
said that he wept openly,
665
00:35:48,515 --> 00:35:51,226
that he was absolutely bereft
666
00:35:51,267 --> 00:35:53,645
and actually confided
that there was nobody
667
00:35:53,686 --> 00:35:55,355
that he could speak to about it.
668
00:35:55,396 --> 00:36:00,068
So you sense, uh,
the loneliness of his grief.
669
00:36:01,694 --> 00:36:03,112
(radio static crackling)
670
00:36:03,154 --> 00:36:04,864
RADIO ANNOUNCER:
We interrupt this program
671
00:36:04,906 --> 00:36:06,032
with a special bulletin.
672
00:36:06,074 --> 00:36:08,159
President Roosevelt is dead.
673
00:36:08,201 --> 00:36:10,703
The president died
of a cerebral hemorrhage.
674
00:36:11,871 --> 00:36:14,040
April 1945 was
one of those months
675
00:36:14,082 --> 00:36:17,377
in which the fate of the world
seemed to turn on a dime.
676
00:36:19,170 --> 00:36:20,588
FDR dies,
677
00:36:20,630 --> 00:36:23,258
followed by Hitler
committing suicide.
678
00:36:23,299 --> 00:36:27,178
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Hitler's
empire burns and shrivels.
679
00:36:27,220 --> 00:36:31,724
ELSE: The bomb was conceived
in a kind of anti-Hitler fervor.
680
00:36:31,766 --> 00:36:34,519
By the spring of 1945,
Hitler's out of the picture.
681
00:36:34,561 --> 00:36:36,938
The Nazis are
no longer a threat.
682
00:36:36,980 --> 00:36:39,399
Hitler is not gonna build
an atomic bomb
683
00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:40,942
and drop it on New York.
684
00:36:40,984 --> 00:36:42,777
That's not gonna happen.
685
00:36:42,819 --> 00:36:45,989
But there was no way they were
not gonna finish that weapon.
686
00:36:47,448 --> 00:36:49,242
RHODES:
They wanted to make this happen.
687
00:36:49,284 --> 00:36:52,245
They didn't want the war to end
before it happened.
688
00:36:52,287 --> 00:36:54,497
Oppenheimer wanted the bomb
to be used,
689
00:36:54,539 --> 00:36:58,168
because how else would the world
know what it was?
690
00:36:58,209 --> 00:37:00,420
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Harry S. Truman was sworn in
691
00:37:00,461 --> 00:37:02,338
as President
of the United States.
692
00:37:02,380 --> 00:37:05,049
EISENBACH: By the time
Truman gets to the presidency,
693
00:37:05,091 --> 00:37:06,342
the wheels are in motion.
694
00:37:06,384 --> 00:37:08,595
This bomb is going to be
dropped somewhere.
695
00:37:08,636 --> 00:37:12,348
With the death of Hitler,
the target then becomes Japan.
696
00:37:13,725 --> 00:37:16,102
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
The never-ending air campaign
697
00:37:16,144 --> 00:37:18,188
against Japan's stolen empire
continues,
698
00:37:18,229 --> 00:37:22,442
as B-24s hammer installations
in the Palau islands.
699
00:37:26,446 --> 00:37:29,115
We were marching up
from island to island.
700
00:37:33,828 --> 00:37:38,374
Landing on the beaches against
dug-in Japanese defenses.
701
00:37:39,584 --> 00:37:44,923
Losing young men
in large numbers.
702
00:37:44,964 --> 00:37:46,508
Every day that went by
703
00:37:46,549 --> 00:37:49,469
without this bomb
being successfully tested
704
00:37:49,511 --> 00:37:52,388
was a day in which thousands
of Americans are dying.
705
00:37:52,430 --> 00:37:54,349
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Thousands
of Yanks have been wounded
706
00:37:54,390 --> 00:37:57,185
and other thousands
have sacrificed their lives
707
00:37:57,227 --> 00:37:59,270
to drive a fanatical foe
from this vital base,
708
00:37:59,312 --> 00:38:02,148
the doorstep to Japan itself.
709
00:38:03,316 --> 00:38:05,693
NORRIS: They knew
the Japanese were defeated,
710
00:38:05,735 --> 00:38:08,279
but defeat and surrender
are two different things.
711
00:38:08,321 --> 00:38:11,407
So how do you get them
to surrender?
712
00:38:13,660 --> 00:38:17,622
OPPENHEIMER: In a world of
atomic weapons, wars will cease.
713
00:38:17,664 --> 00:38:19,833
And that is not a small thing.
714
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,337
EISENBACH: The way
Oppenheimer looked at the bomb
715
00:38:24,379 --> 00:38:29,300
is in a kind of
Eastern metaphysical way of
716
00:38:29,342 --> 00:38:32,136
it is a act of destruction
and creation
717
00:38:32,178 --> 00:38:34,305
potentially at the same time,
718
00:38:34,347 --> 00:38:38,059
act of war and an act of peace,
719
00:38:38,101 --> 00:38:41,855
that this thing, if mishandled,
720
00:38:41,896 --> 00:38:45,692
could end humanity, but if
properly handled and harnessed,
721
00:38:45,733 --> 00:38:48,111
could actually lead to an era
722
00:38:48,152 --> 00:38:50,822
of peace and prosperity
for the entire world.
723
00:38:50,864 --> 00:38:53,157
(playful chatter)
724
00:39:02,041 --> 00:39:03,668
CONANT:
By the summer of '45,
725
00:39:03,710 --> 00:39:07,255
they had been working on
the implosion design for a year,
726
00:39:07,297 --> 00:39:13,052
tweaking, devising and
struggling with the challenges.
727
00:39:13,094 --> 00:39:14,554
WELLERSTEIN:
For this thing to work,
728
00:39:14,596 --> 00:39:16,681
all of those explosives
and their detonators
729
00:39:16,723 --> 00:39:18,600
and the things powering them
and the batteries
730
00:39:18,641 --> 00:39:22,020
and everything else
has got to work perfectly.
731
00:39:22,061 --> 00:39:23,479
And there wasn't
a really good way to figure out
732
00:39:23,521 --> 00:39:25,106
if that was
actually gonna happen,
733
00:39:25,148 --> 00:39:27,483
other than setting off
a full-size test.
734
00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:35,158
HERKEN:
They settle upon the site
735
00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:36,784
where the bomb will be tested,
736
00:39:36,826 --> 00:39:41,372
and Oppenheimer chooses
the name for the site: Trinity.
737
00:39:41,414 --> 00:39:43,124
CARR:
He had been reading
738
00:39:43,166 --> 00:39:44,709
the poetry of John Donne
at the time,
739
00:39:44,751 --> 00:39:47,712
and one of those poems,
uh, include the line,
740
00:39:47,754 --> 00:39:49,797
"Batter my heart,
three-personed God,"
741
00:39:49,839 --> 00:39:53,551
a reference to the Holy Trinity
in Christianity.
742
00:39:54,511 --> 00:39:58,139
HERKEN: And I think that that
was a tribute to Jean Tatlock,
743
00:39:58,181 --> 00:40:01,100
because Jean and Oppie
used to read
744
00:40:01,142 --> 00:40:04,062
the poetry of John Donne in bed.
745
00:40:05,605 --> 00:40:07,982
(ticking)
746
00:40:13,321 --> 00:40:16,908
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Sunday, July 15, 1945.
747
00:40:16,950 --> 00:40:19,244
Alamogordo, New Mexico.
748
00:40:19,285 --> 00:40:21,412
It is D-minus one for the test
749
00:40:21,454 --> 00:40:23,706
of the world's first
atomic device.
750
00:40:24,791 --> 00:40:27,252
NOLAN: The hours
leading up to the Trinity test
751
00:40:27,293 --> 00:40:30,088
are one of
the most extraordinary moments
752
00:40:30,129 --> 00:40:32,882
of-of tension imaginable.
753
00:40:32,924 --> 00:40:35,426
The stakes,
the billions of dollars,
754
00:40:35,468 --> 00:40:37,637
the hundreds of thousands
of people who'd been involved
755
00:40:37,679 --> 00:40:42,183
in building to this one moment
of this test of this new weapon,
756
00:40:42,225 --> 00:40:44,477
all of that responsibility
falling
757
00:40:44,519 --> 00:40:46,855
very squarely
on Oppenheimer's shoulders.
758
00:40:46,896 --> 00:40:48,982
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
At the bomb test site,
759
00:40:49,023 --> 00:40:51,526
the scientists are working
under growing pressure.
760
00:40:51,568 --> 00:40:54,404
They are told there must be
no further delays.
761
00:40:54,445 --> 00:40:57,115
The president must know
the results of the test
762
00:40:57,156 --> 00:40:59,284
when he meets with Stalin.
763
00:40:59,325 --> 00:41:01,286
CARR: The President
of the United States
764
00:41:01,327 --> 00:41:03,288
is about to enter into
the Potsdam Conference--
765
00:41:03,329 --> 00:41:05,582
Potsdam, a city in Germany.
766
00:41:05,623 --> 00:41:06,958
He's gonna meet
with Joseph Stalin,
767
00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:08,501
Winston Churchill as well,
768
00:41:08,543 --> 00:41:10,295
and talk about
the future of Europe
769
00:41:10,336 --> 00:41:12,130
and the future
of the Pacific War.
770
00:41:12,172 --> 00:41:13,840
The president must know
771
00:41:13,882 --> 00:41:18,178
if he has a nuclear weapon
in his back pocket or not.
772
00:41:27,020 --> 00:41:28,897
NORRIS:
Everybody was on edge,
773
00:41:28,938 --> 00:41:31,065
and they had to calm down
Oppenheimer.
774
00:41:31,107 --> 00:41:33,610
He was a bundle of nerves.
775
00:41:34,569 --> 00:41:36,196
RHODES:
He chain-smoked,
776
00:41:36,237 --> 00:41:38,156
which he pretty much
always did anyway.
777
00:41:39,490 --> 00:41:42,160
GROVES: It was a situation
where I did not want
778
00:41:42,202 --> 00:41:44,787
Dr. Oppenheimer to get nervous.
779
00:41:46,789 --> 00:41:49,000
There's a famous picture
from that evening
780
00:41:49,042 --> 00:41:53,046
where Oppenheimer himself
crawls up the tower to the top
781
00:41:53,087 --> 00:41:56,174
where the bomb has been hoisted.
782
00:41:56,216 --> 00:41:58,760
He's checking
all the final plugs
783
00:41:58,801 --> 00:42:02,764
to make sure
that everything is in order.
784
00:42:02,805 --> 00:42:04,307
He's clearly worried,
785
00:42:04,349 --> 00:42:08,102
trying to check
every last little detail.
786
00:42:08,144 --> 00:42:09,521
WELLERSTEIN:
Oppenheimer doesn't know
787
00:42:09,562 --> 00:42:11,064
if this thing
is gonna work at all.
788
00:42:11,105 --> 00:42:12,398
EISENBACH:
In fact, he had a bet
789
00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:13,733
with another one
of the scientists
790
00:42:13,775 --> 00:42:15,860
that it wouldn't work--
ten dollars.
791
00:42:16,653 --> 00:42:18,071
OPPENHEIMER:
There were a hundred things
792
00:42:18,112 --> 00:42:20,698
that could be done wrong,
793
00:42:20,740 --> 00:42:24,953
any one of which
could make the test a failure.
794
00:42:24,994 --> 00:42:27,372
NYE:
Everybody had doubts.
795
00:42:27,413 --> 00:42:29,541
Was it even possible?
796
00:42:29,582 --> 00:42:32,418
And then this question,
'cause nobody was really sure:
797
00:42:32,460 --> 00:42:35,547
What if we set
the whole atmosphere on fire?
798
00:42:37,298 --> 00:42:39,717
SNOWDEN:
What if we set off this bomb
799
00:42:39,759 --> 00:42:42,262
and it literally sets
the air on fire
800
00:42:42,303 --> 00:42:44,264
and engulfs us all?
801
00:42:45,807 --> 00:42:49,143
KAKU: The atmosphere is
made out of oxygen, after all.
802
00:42:49,185 --> 00:42:51,563
Can the oxygen of the atmosphere
803
00:42:51,604 --> 00:42:54,566
be set in flames
by an atomic bomb?
804
00:42:54,607 --> 00:42:57,193
No one knew the answer
to these questions.
805
00:43:03,032 --> 00:43:07,620
RHODES: It's before dawn
on July 16, 1945.
806
00:43:07,662 --> 00:43:08,997
It was dark.
807
00:43:09,038 --> 00:43:12,417
The bomb was in the tower
a hundred feet up,
808
00:43:12,458 --> 00:43:14,502
and they were ready to go.
809
00:43:14,544 --> 00:43:19,299
Oppenheimer was in one of
the bunkers that had been built.
810
00:43:23,303 --> 00:43:25,138
CARR:
Oppenheimer braced himself,
811
00:43:25,180 --> 00:43:28,099
according to some accounts
uttering the words,
812
00:43:28,141 --> 00:43:31,644
"Lord, these affairs
are hard on the heart."
813
00:43:32,562 --> 00:43:34,522
(civil defense siren blaring)
814
00:43:34,564 --> 00:43:36,441
MAN (over speaker):
T-minus ten,
815
00:43:36,482 --> 00:43:39,402
nine, eight...
816
00:43:39,444 --> 00:43:41,696
RHODES: Oppenheimer was
saying to himself,
817
00:43:41,738 --> 00:43:43,865
-"I must remain conscious."
-(ticking)
818
00:43:43,907 --> 00:43:45,366
MAN:
...seven...
819
00:43:45,408 --> 00:43:46,618
"I must remain conscious."
820
00:43:46,659 --> 00:43:48,620
MAN:
...six...
821
00:43:48,661 --> 00:43:50,914
CARR:
Seconds are hours.
822
00:43:50,955 --> 00:43:54,709
MAN:
...five, four,
823
00:43:54,751 --> 00:43:58,171
three, two...
824
00:43:58,213 --> 00:44:00,465
RHODES:
And all of a sudden...
825
00:44:00,507 --> 00:44:02,759
(explosion booming)
826
00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:09,849
...the whole place lit up.
827
00:44:20,026 --> 00:44:21,819
One of the scientists told me
828
00:44:21,861 --> 00:44:25,615
it felt as if someone had
opened an oven door.
829
00:44:26,699 --> 00:44:28,618
Suddenly, there was
this huge heat,
830
00:44:28,660 --> 00:44:30,453
which was radiant heat,
831
00:44:30,495 --> 00:44:32,831
so it came at
the speed of light as well,
832
00:44:32,872 --> 00:44:35,875
and then this rolling thunder
of sound,
833
00:44:35,917 --> 00:44:40,004
and the first mushroom cloud
started going up.
834
00:44:40,046 --> 00:44:44,300
It was orange and purple
and blue and yellow,
835
00:44:44,342 --> 00:44:48,179
and it roiled,
and it grew as it rose.
836
00:44:48,221 --> 00:44:52,183
And a new thing, he said,
had been created on the Earth,
837
00:44:52,225 --> 00:44:54,519
a new challenge for humanity.
838
00:44:58,565 --> 00:45:00,775
NYE:
People had seen explosions
839
00:45:00,817 --> 00:45:04,654
and tested bombs for decades,
but to see the size of it,
840
00:45:04,696 --> 00:45:08,741
just... it was just astonishing.
841
00:45:09,576 --> 00:45:11,411
NOLAN: There's never been
a moment like that
842
00:45:11,452 --> 00:45:14,205
in the history of the world.
843
00:45:14,247 --> 00:45:17,417
The view of the world,
the view of what matter is,
844
00:45:17,458 --> 00:45:21,963
what we are made of indeed,
palpably changes.
845
00:45:22,005 --> 00:45:27,051
It's an unleashing of a, of
a force never before imagined
846
00:45:27,093 --> 00:45:31,347
and could never be ignored
from this point on.
847
00:45:36,936 --> 00:45:40,648
OPPENHEIMER: We knew
the world would not be the same.
848
00:45:42,942 --> 00:45:45,778
A few people laughed.
849
00:45:47,197 --> 00:45:49,407
A few people cried.
850
00:45:49,449 --> 00:45:51,201
Most people were silent.
851
00:45:51,242 --> 00:45:52,619
(sniffles)
852
00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:58,291
I remembered the line
from the Hindu scripture,
853
00:45:58,333 --> 00:46:00,043
the Bhagavad Gita.
854
00:46:02,921 --> 00:46:04,672
Vishnu...
855
00:46:05,882 --> 00:46:10,553
...is trying to persuade
the prince that
856
00:46:10,595 --> 00:46:13,056
he should do his duty,
857
00:46:13,097 --> 00:46:15,433
and to impress him,
858
00:46:15,475 --> 00:46:20,855
takes on his multiarmed form
and says,
859
00:46:20,897 --> 00:46:25,485
"Now I am become Death,
the destroyer of worlds."
860
00:46:27,320 --> 00:46:31,157
I suppose we all thought that,
one way or another.
861
00:46:31,199 --> 00:46:33,451
* *
862
00:46:43,378 --> 00:46:47,298
CARR: After the test was over,
Oppenheimer had this strut.
863
00:46:47,340 --> 00:46:49,467
It was likeHigh Noon.
864
00:46:49,509 --> 00:46:51,636
He had done it.
865
00:46:52,971 --> 00:46:56,349
Oppenheimer was very proud
of this accomplishment.
866
00:46:57,684 --> 00:46:59,018
It was a world-changing moment,
867
00:46:59,060 --> 00:47:02,647
and a lot of the scientists
realized that.
868
00:47:06,192 --> 00:47:07,861
Now came the business of
869
00:47:07,902 --> 00:47:10,530
what the government would do
with their creation.
870
00:47:13,032 --> 00:47:14,659
CONANT:
Groves hurried back
871
00:47:14,701 --> 00:47:16,786
to his Washington office
and cabled the news
872
00:47:16,828 --> 00:47:19,998
that the bomb experiment
had been a success
873
00:47:20,039 --> 00:47:23,960
and even more powerful than
they had anticipated.
874
00:47:25,170 --> 00:47:28,673
This information is
transmitted to Truman, who...
875
00:47:28,715 --> 00:47:30,884
entire attitude changes
at Potsdam.
876
00:47:30,925 --> 00:47:33,636
He suddenly feels like
he has a win in-in sight.
877
00:47:33,678 --> 00:47:36,347
He suddenly starts
bossing around Stalin.
878
00:47:36,389 --> 00:47:39,726
He decides the Japanese
get no concessions whatsoever.
879
00:47:40,894 --> 00:47:43,021
Truman had known
that this existed
880
00:47:43,062 --> 00:47:46,191
since he became president,
but to know it actually works
881
00:47:46,232 --> 00:47:48,318
and it's even more powerful
than we thought,
882
00:47:48,359 --> 00:47:51,905
that's a really different
position for him to be in.
883
00:47:51,946 --> 00:47:55,950
Our demand has been,
and it remains,
884
00:47:55,992 --> 00:47:59,537
-unconditional surrender!
-(applause)
885
00:47:59,579 --> 00:48:02,582
(filmstrip slowing to a stop)
886
00:48:02,624 --> 00:48:04,125
NYE:
My mom and dad
887
00:48:04,167 --> 00:48:06,377
were both veterans
of World War II, and my mom,
888
00:48:06,419 --> 00:48:09,547
she said, "You know, after...
889
00:48:09,589 --> 00:48:12,300
"after four years of this thing,
890
00:48:12,342 --> 00:48:15,720
"there was nobody really...
there was nobody going,
891
00:48:15,762 --> 00:48:18,932
'Was it ethical to use
a-a nuclear weapon?'"
892
00:48:20,308 --> 00:48:23,228
Right? Just get it over with.
893
00:48:23,269 --> 00:48:25,313
This is horrible. Like, this--
894
00:48:25,355 --> 00:48:28,733
Whatever you can do
to shorten this thing.
895
00:48:28,775 --> 00:48:31,819
Everybody was terrified
and exhausted,
896
00:48:31,861 --> 00:48:36,324
and everybody knew somebody
who knew somebody
897
00:48:36,366 --> 00:48:39,160
who was not living anymore
because of this.
898
00:48:41,079 --> 00:48:43,623
ELSE:
With the bomb ready to go,
899
00:48:43,665 --> 00:48:46,084
I mean, the choices
are appalling.
900
00:48:46,125 --> 00:48:48,419
You know, they know
perfectly well that if they use
901
00:48:48,461 --> 00:48:51,923
these weapons on Japanese men,
women and children in cities,
902
00:48:51,965 --> 00:48:54,759
there are gonna be a couple
hundred thousand people who die.
903
00:48:54,801 --> 00:49:00,098
But if they don't stop the war
with the bomb,
904
00:49:00,139 --> 00:49:02,267
there may be millions more
that die.
905
00:49:02,308 --> 00:49:05,812
So those seem to be
the two choices,
906
00:49:05,854 --> 00:49:08,231
but there was a third choice,
907
00:49:08,273 --> 00:49:11,401
and the third choice
was to do a demonstration.
908
00:49:11,442 --> 00:49:15,905
Maybe drop this bomb in
Tokyo Bay, kill very few people,
909
00:49:15,947 --> 00:49:17,699
make a hell of a demonstration,
910
00:49:17,740 --> 00:49:20,743
and maybe the Japanese
will surrender
911
00:49:20,785 --> 00:49:25,915
just based on having seen the
ferocious power of this thing.
912
00:49:25,957 --> 00:49:28,293
Oppenheimer rejected,
uh, that course,
913
00:49:28,334 --> 00:49:32,046
as did the planners
in Washington.
914
00:49:33,590 --> 00:49:35,842
(playful chatter)
915
00:49:35,884 --> 00:49:38,219
OPPENHEIMER:
We did think about whether, uh,
916
00:49:38,261 --> 00:49:41,014
its destructiveness, uh,
917
00:49:41,055 --> 00:49:42,807
its danger, uh,
918
00:49:42,849 --> 00:49:47,020
could be vividly demonstrated
919
00:49:47,061 --> 00:49:50,815
over a barren
and uninhabited target,
920
00:49:50,857 --> 00:49:53,818
and we were
very doubtful of that.
921
00:49:56,404 --> 00:50:00,325
Very few people would have had
a more thorough understanding
922
00:50:00,366 --> 00:50:04,704
than J. Robert Oppenheimer
of what was about to unfold
923
00:50:04,746 --> 00:50:06,789
when these weapons were used
in combat.
924
00:50:06,831 --> 00:50:09,918
Oppenheimer contemplated,
knowing that
925
00:50:09,959 --> 00:50:12,629
this destruction
would be unworldly.
926
00:50:13,838 --> 00:50:16,966
(wind whistling softly)
927
00:50:18,885 --> 00:50:23,014
BIRD: His secretary,
Anne Wilson, told me this story
928
00:50:23,056 --> 00:50:25,350
that I'm still struck by.
929
00:50:25,391 --> 00:50:27,477
After the Trinity test,
930
00:50:27,519 --> 00:50:31,648
she's walking to work one day
with Robert.
931
00:50:31,689 --> 00:50:35,944
He's a few steps ahead of her,
and he's suddenly muttering,
932
00:50:35,985 --> 00:50:39,906
"Those poor little people,
those poor little people."
933
00:50:41,407 --> 00:50:44,077
She stops him and says, "Robert,
what are you muttering about?"
934
00:50:44,118 --> 00:50:49,958
And he looked at her
and-and explained that,
935
00:50:49,999 --> 00:50:51,960
you know, the bomb
was going to be used
936
00:50:52,001 --> 00:50:54,462
on a Japanese city or two,
937
00:50:54,504 --> 00:50:57,924
and the victims were going to be
938
00:50:57,966 --> 00:51:01,886
civilians, a whole city.
939
00:51:01,928 --> 00:51:06,891
This was obviously on his mind,
painfully on his mind.
940
00:51:06,933 --> 00:51:12,397
And yet we know, that same week,
he was meeting with the generals
941
00:51:12,438 --> 00:51:14,732
who were in charge of
the bombing mission,
942
00:51:14,774 --> 00:51:17,026
and he was instructing them
943
00:51:17,068 --> 00:51:19,571
exactly how the bomb
should be dropped
944
00:51:19,612 --> 00:51:23,074
and at what altitude
it should be detonated
945
00:51:23,116 --> 00:51:26,744
for the maximum
destructive power.
946
00:51:26,786 --> 00:51:29,747
WELLERSTEIN: It's hard
to reconcile the sensitive,
947
00:51:29,789 --> 00:51:35,295
morally upright,
humanistic professor
948
00:51:35,336 --> 00:51:40,008
with the guy who recommends that
the bomb is dropped on cities
949
00:51:40,049 --> 00:51:42,635
and is calculating
the ideal height
950
00:51:42,677 --> 00:51:44,095
for destroying houses, right?
951
00:51:44,137 --> 00:51:46,306
How do you reconcile
those two things?
952
00:51:46,347 --> 00:51:51,352
Part of it is, I think,
Oppenheimer hoping that
953
00:51:51,394 --> 00:51:56,107
this will not be the first use
of nuclear weapons,
954
00:51:56,149 --> 00:51:58,693
that it will be the last use
of nuclear weapons.
955
00:51:58,735 --> 00:52:00,403
And if that's the case,
956
00:52:00,445 --> 00:52:03,489
then in order to ensure
that they're the last use,
957
00:52:03,531 --> 00:52:07,994
you want it to be as bad and
ugly and horrible as possible.
958
00:52:17,337 --> 00:52:20,507
RHODES:
By August of 1945,
959
00:52:20,548 --> 00:52:23,635
every Japanese city
of more than 50,000 people
960
00:52:23,676 --> 00:52:28,598
had basically been burned out,
except for three or four cities
961
00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:32,352
that had been deliberately
set aside for atomic bombing.
962
00:52:32,393 --> 00:52:35,396
Set aside because they had
physical characteristics
963
00:52:35,438 --> 00:52:40,360
that would allow us to see
how the bombs worked.
964
00:52:46,616 --> 00:52:49,828
Hiroshima was a flat city.
965
00:52:49,869 --> 00:52:54,374
And with the city set aside,
it was possible to see
966
00:52:54,415 --> 00:52:58,670
the effects of the bomb
all the way out to the edges.
967
00:52:58,711 --> 00:53:01,923
That's why Hiroshima was chosen.
968
00:53:10,056 --> 00:53:12,809
HIDEKO TAMURA:
When I was a little kid,
969
00:53:12,851 --> 00:53:14,936
there were seven rivers
running through,
970
00:53:14,978 --> 00:53:18,648
beautiful riverbanks.
971
00:53:18,690 --> 00:53:20,525
Water was clear.
972
00:53:20,567 --> 00:53:27,031
I was running through
magical gardens, flowers,
973
00:53:27,073 --> 00:53:30,451
looking for beautiful,
beautiful insects
974
00:53:30,493 --> 00:53:33,288
of all different kinds.
975
00:53:33,329 --> 00:53:35,165
Birds chirping.
976
00:53:35,206 --> 00:53:37,125
They don't understand about war.
977
00:53:37,167 --> 00:53:41,212
It was all over,
sound of happiness.
978
00:53:46,134 --> 00:53:49,596
But the sound
of the explosion came
979
00:53:49,637 --> 00:53:52,265
like a rage over the Earth.
980
00:53:53,975 --> 00:53:56,227
(explosion rumbling)
981
00:54:16,206 --> 00:54:17,832
TRUMAN:
A short time ago,
982
00:54:17,874 --> 00:54:23,463
an American airplane
dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.
983
00:54:23,505 --> 00:54:29,385
That bomb has more power
than 20,000 tons of TNT.
984
00:54:32,055 --> 00:54:34,766
It is an atomic bomb.
985
00:54:34,807 --> 00:54:38,478
It is a harnessing of
the basic power of the universe.
986
00:54:46,486 --> 00:54:49,531
We have spent
more than two billion dollars
987
00:54:49,572 --> 00:54:53,409
on the greatest
scientific gamble in history,
988
00:54:53,451 --> 00:54:54,828
and we have won.
989
00:55:01,000 --> 00:55:03,253
(explosion rumbling)
990
00:55:07,340 --> 00:55:09,008
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Japan could read its doom.
991
00:55:09,050 --> 00:55:11,636
This was more than
a routine bombing.
992
00:55:11,678 --> 00:55:14,639
It was the funeral pyre
of an aggressor nation.
993
00:55:14,681 --> 00:55:16,933
* *
994
00:55:42,292 --> 00:55:45,253
TAMURA:
I remember every second.
995
00:55:47,839 --> 00:55:50,049
I've never been so helpless.
996
00:55:55,346 --> 00:55:57,348
I was under the debris
997
00:55:57,390 --> 00:56:02,187
and somehow had to crawl
to the light and come out.
998
00:56:07,400 --> 00:56:10,111
I had to go looking
for my mother.
999
00:56:22,582 --> 00:56:27,045
Seeing these miserable
dying people,
1000
00:56:27,086 --> 00:56:30,381
you didn't want her
to be one of them.
1001
00:56:32,425 --> 00:56:35,136
Didn't hear
one single thing about
1002
00:56:35,178 --> 00:56:41,017
cousin, my mother
or my best friend.
1003
00:56:48,149 --> 00:56:51,736
I would have really loved
to have died with them,
1004
00:56:51,778 --> 00:56:55,907
because life after that
was so very challenging
1005
00:56:55,949 --> 00:56:57,450
and so very difficult,
1006
00:56:57,492 --> 00:57:00,662
physically
and especially mentally.
1007
00:57:10,713 --> 00:57:15,051
REID: A few years after
the end of the war,
1008
00:57:15,093 --> 00:57:19,556
I saw the raw footage
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1009
00:57:25,353 --> 00:57:26,813
And there's no sound.
1010
00:57:26,855 --> 00:57:30,650
It's just footage of people
with their skin
1011
00:57:30,692 --> 00:57:34,195
and flower reverse patterns
of the kimonos
1012
00:57:34,237 --> 00:57:36,197
burned into their skin
1013
00:57:36,239 --> 00:57:39,742
and bodies floating
in the river.
1014
00:57:39,784 --> 00:57:42,370
It was so shocking.
1015
00:57:44,664 --> 00:57:48,126
And I thought, "They're all
my friends' fathers.
1016
00:57:48,168 --> 00:57:51,629
Did they know
what they were doing?"
1017
00:57:51,671 --> 00:57:54,340
None of it seemed
to make any sense to me
1018
00:57:54,382 --> 00:57:56,134
that this was so horrible.
1019
00:57:56,176 --> 00:57:58,428
(Geiger counter
clicking rapidly)
1020
00:58:01,139 --> 00:58:03,308
CARR:
As reports of that devastation
1021
00:58:03,349 --> 00:58:05,393
started to come back
to Los Alamos,
1022
00:58:05,435 --> 00:58:09,272
obviously this weighed
on the scientists.
1023
00:58:10,857 --> 00:58:13,276
Yes, it had been a horrible war,
1024
00:58:13,318 --> 00:58:15,320
but still,
tens of thousands of people
1025
00:58:15,361 --> 00:58:17,530
were killed in these attacks.
1026
00:58:18,323 --> 00:58:20,325
Cities were destroyed.
1027
00:58:24,704 --> 00:58:29,876
And that was difficult
on a lot of the scientists.
1028
00:58:29,918 --> 00:58:32,795
And I certainly think that
it was difficult on Oppenheimer
1029
00:58:32,837 --> 00:58:35,381
for the rest of his life.
1030
00:58:37,008 --> 00:58:41,429
Hiroshima was far more costly
1031
00:58:41,471 --> 00:58:45,433
in life and suffering
and inhumane
1032
00:58:45,475 --> 00:58:47,560
than it needed to have been.
1033
00:58:49,187 --> 00:58:52,148
This is easy to say
after the fact.
1034
00:58:52,190 --> 00:58:54,400
-(birds chirping)
-(clock ticking)
1035
00:58:58,613 --> 00:59:01,991
NOLAN: Oppenheimer never
apologized in any way for
1036
00:59:02,033 --> 00:59:03,535
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1037
00:59:03,576 --> 00:59:06,871
He was very, very careful
and complicated
1038
00:59:06,913 --> 00:59:08,873
in all statements he made about
1039
00:59:08,915 --> 00:59:13,211
the moral implications of the
bomb and his involvement in it.
1040
00:59:13,253 --> 00:59:16,214
And yet,
post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
1041
00:59:16,256 --> 00:59:18,550
all of his actions
are the actions of
1042
00:59:18,591 --> 00:59:22,011
somebody who is plagued
with guilt.
1043
00:59:22,053 --> 00:59:23,388
(radio static crackles)
1044
00:59:23,429 --> 00:59:25,890
DOUGLAS MacARTHUR:
We are gathered here,
1045
00:59:25,932 --> 00:59:30,478
representatives of
the major warring powers,
1046
00:59:30,520 --> 00:59:33,398
to conclude a solemn agreement
1047
00:59:33,439 --> 00:59:36,734
whereby peace may be restored.
1048
00:59:36,776 --> 00:59:39,320
(crowd cheering)
1049
00:59:40,780 --> 00:59:43,157
TRUMAN:
I have received this afternoon
1050
00:59:43,199 --> 00:59:45,827
a message from
the Japanese government.
1051
00:59:47,245 --> 00:59:49,706
I deem this reply
a full acceptance
1052
00:59:49,747 --> 00:59:52,959
of the unconditional surrender
of Japan.
1053
00:59:53,918 --> 00:59:56,713
ELSE: And of course,
a great many people felt
1054
00:59:56,754 --> 00:59:59,883
that the atomic bomb
had ended World War II.
1055
01:00:01,176 --> 01:00:03,136
Perhaps it had.
1056
01:00:05,013 --> 01:00:08,433
And Robert Oppenheimer
was the guy who made it happen.
1057
01:00:09,392 --> 01:00:11,936
ROY GLAUBER:
He was in demand everywhere.
1058
01:00:11,978 --> 01:00:14,522
He was the cover story
forTime magazine,
1059
01:00:14,564 --> 01:00:16,441
once forLife magazine.
1060
01:00:16,482 --> 01:00:18,484
There scarcely was
a magazine cover
1061
01:00:18,526 --> 01:00:20,445
that he wasn't on.
1062
01:00:20,486 --> 01:00:23,406
HERKEN: The inaugural issue
ofPhysics Today simply showed
1063
01:00:23,448 --> 01:00:26,868
a porkpie hat
on a cyclotron control.
1064
01:00:26,910 --> 01:00:29,954
And everybody knew
the porkpie hat was Oppenheimer.
1065
01:00:29,996 --> 01:00:32,165
(lively chatter)
1066
01:00:32,207 --> 01:00:33,917
CONANT:
He becomes a rock star.
1067
01:00:33,958 --> 01:00:37,378
He is the oracle
of American science.
1068
01:00:37,420 --> 01:00:41,049
And he liked that.
1069
01:00:42,258 --> 01:00:46,638
He probably felt that
he'd finally come through it all
1070
01:00:46,679 --> 01:00:50,934
and he was no longer
the outsider.
1071
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:55,563
Now he was not only
at the center of things
1072
01:00:55,605 --> 01:00:57,815
but that he stood
at the very top.
1073
01:00:57,857 --> 01:00:59,859
(applause)
1074
01:01:01,194 --> 01:01:06,824
And that, I think,
was intoxicating for him.
1075
01:01:09,702 --> 01:01:13,581
But at the same time,
he felt a real responsibility
1076
01:01:13,623 --> 01:01:16,209
for having ushered this weapon
into the world.
1077
01:01:19,629 --> 01:01:21,589
MAN:
Go ahead, please.
1078
01:01:23,341 --> 01:01:26,678
Automatic control has got it.
1079
01:01:26,719 --> 01:01:29,681
This time, Rab,
the stakes are kind of high.
1080
01:01:29,722 --> 01:01:32,475
ISIDOR ISAAC RABI: It's going
to work all right, Robert.
1081
01:01:32,517 --> 01:01:34,310
ELSE:
I think he felt,
1082
01:01:34,352 --> 01:01:36,813
as the father of
the atomic bomb, it was his duty
1083
01:01:36,855 --> 01:01:39,691
to keep the reins
on the atomic bomb.
1084
01:01:39,732 --> 01:01:41,150
MAN:
Go ahead, please.
1085
01:01:41,192 --> 01:01:43,069
Well, we'll know in 40 seconds.
1086
01:01:43,111 --> 01:01:45,113
MAN:
Stay where you are.
1087
01:01:45,154 --> 01:01:46,614
Cut.
1088
01:01:47,740 --> 01:01:50,910
BIRD: Within three months
of Hiroshima,
1089
01:01:50,952 --> 01:01:52,579
he was giving speeches,
1090
01:01:52,620 --> 01:01:57,208
talking about how this weapon
was a weapon for aggressors,
1091
01:01:57,250 --> 01:02:00,712
that it is a weapon of terror.
1092
01:02:00,753 --> 01:02:04,257
You know, this is the father
of the atomic bomb speaking.
1093
01:02:07,427 --> 01:02:10,263
OPPENHEIMER:
If there is another world war...
1094
01:02:12,348 --> 01:02:14,350
...this civilization
1095
01:02:14,392 --> 01:02:16,686
may go under.
1096
01:02:22,275 --> 01:02:26,529
We need to ask ourselves
1097
01:02:26,571 --> 01:02:30,825
whether we're doing
all we can to avert that.
1098
01:02:31,784 --> 01:02:33,328
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
I might like to read
1099
01:02:33,369 --> 01:02:35,788
what my grandfather said
about it.
1100
01:02:35,830 --> 01:02:38,416
This is a speech where he said,
1101
01:02:38,458 --> 01:02:40,126
"But when you come
right down to it,
1102
01:02:40,168 --> 01:02:41,503
"the reason that we did this job
1103
01:02:41,544 --> 01:02:43,963
"is because it was
an organic necessity.
1104
01:02:44,923 --> 01:02:48,551
"If you are a scientist,
you cannot stop such a thing.
1105
01:02:48,593 --> 01:02:50,178
"If you are a scientist,
you believe
1106
01:02:50,220 --> 01:02:51,888
"that it's good to find out
how the world works,
1107
01:02:51,930 --> 01:02:54,474
"that it's good to find out
what realities are,
1108
01:02:54,516 --> 01:02:57,727
"that it's good
to turn over to mankind
1109
01:02:57,769 --> 01:03:00,104
"the greatest possible power
to control the world
1110
01:03:00,146 --> 01:03:04,609
and deal with it according
to its lights and values."
1111
01:03:04,651 --> 01:03:07,862
He didn't regret his role
and work during the war,
1112
01:03:07,904 --> 01:03:12,617
but he soon after turns
so strongly towards managing
1113
01:03:12,659 --> 01:03:15,495
the outcome of the science
they created.
1114
01:03:17,789 --> 01:03:19,624
BIRD:
He decides he doesn't want
1115
01:03:19,666 --> 01:03:22,043
to work any longer
on building more bombs.
1116
01:03:22,085 --> 01:03:25,171
He resigns from Los Alamos,
and he accepts a position
1117
01:03:25,213 --> 01:03:29,300
as director of the Institute for
Advanced Studies in Princeton,
1118
01:03:29,342 --> 01:03:33,221
where he becomes
Einstein's boss, so to speak.
1119
01:03:33,263 --> 01:03:36,182
He's probably the most famous
scientist in America,
1120
01:03:36,224 --> 01:03:40,311
and he's trying to use
that celebrity status
1121
01:03:40,353 --> 01:03:42,689
to have influence.
1122
01:03:43,898 --> 01:03:48,444
He gets an appointment with
Harry Truman in the Oval Office.
1123
01:03:48,486 --> 01:03:50,530
Oppenheimer's agenda
is to persuade
1124
01:03:50,572 --> 01:03:55,702
Harry Truman of the importance
of controlling this technology.
1125
01:03:56,911 --> 01:04:00,123
And he starts
to make this pitch.
1126
01:04:00,165 --> 01:04:03,334
And Truman interrupts him
with a question, saying,
1127
01:04:03,376 --> 01:04:06,171
"Well, Dr. Oppenheimer,
when do you think the Russians
1128
01:04:06,212 --> 01:04:09,215
are going to get this weapon
of mass destruction?"
1129
01:04:10,216 --> 01:04:14,512
And Oppenheimer is sort of
taken aback by the question
1130
01:04:14,554 --> 01:04:20,518
and says, "Well, I'm not sure
but sometime in the future."
1131
01:04:20,560 --> 01:04:25,106
And Truman interrupts again
and says, "Well, I know. Never."
1132
01:04:27,734 --> 01:04:29,944
At that point, Oppie understands
1133
01:04:29,986 --> 01:04:32,447
that Harry Truman
doesn't understand anything
1134
01:04:32,488 --> 01:04:36,075
about the physics
of this weapon.
1135
01:04:36,117 --> 01:04:41,789
And Oppenheimer, at that point,
says exactly the wrong thing.
1136
01:04:41,831 --> 01:04:44,876
RHODES: He really offended
President Truman
1137
01:04:44,918 --> 01:04:49,047
by saying, "Mr. President,
I have blood on my hands."
1138
01:04:49,088 --> 01:04:51,090
(explosion rumbling)
1139
01:04:52,175 --> 01:04:53,968
BIRD:
This is exactly the wrong thing
1140
01:04:54,010 --> 01:04:55,970
to say to the guy
who made the decision
1141
01:04:56,012 --> 01:05:01,351
to drop two such bombs
on two Japanese cities.
1142
01:05:01,392 --> 01:05:03,937
He was trying to impress Truman.
1143
01:05:03,978 --> 01:05:06,606
He thought it was something
that Truman would like to hear,
1144
01:05:06,648 --> 01:05:08,900
and he got that wrong a lot.
1145
01:05:08,942 --> 01:05:11,236
I mean, Oppenheimer was very
charming to a lot of people,
1146
01:05:11,277 --> 01:05:13,279
but he was often not charming
1147
01:05:13,321 --> 01:05:16,574
to leaders and people
who had power over him.
1148
01:05:16,616 --> 01:05:18,243
WELLERSTEIN:
Truman didn't believe
1149
01:05:18,284 --> 01:05:21,329
that anybody's responsibility
was greater than his.
1150
01:05:21,371 --> 01:05:24,707
Truman was just,
"Get that guy out of my office.
1151
01:05:24,749 --> 01:05:26,793
I was the one
who made the decision."
1152
01:05:28,086 --> 01:05:30,296
BIRD: He ends the meeting
very abruptly
1153
01:05:30,338 --> 01:05:32,048
and later tells his aides that,
1154
01:05:32,090 --> 01:05:35,969
"I don't want to see that
crybaby scientist ever again."
1155
01:05:38,263 --> 01:05:42,934
I think the only hope
for our future safety
1156
01:05:42,976 --> 01:05:45,019
must lie in a collaboration,
1157
01:05:45,061 --> 01:05:47,730
based on confidence
and good faith,
1158
01:05:47,772 --> 01:05:49,399
with the other peoples
of the world.
1159
01:05:49,440 --> 01:05:53,444
SNOWDEN: Oppenheimer,
very early after the bombings,
1160
01:05:53,486 --> 01:05:55,572
was a part of the team
to recommend
1161
01:05:55,613 --> 01:05:57,073
international disarmament.
1162
01:05:58,157 --> 01:06:00,702
But the genie was
out of the bottle.
1163
01:06:00,743 --> 01:06:02,537
Right? Those who possess this
1164
01:06:02,579 --> 01:06:04,789
will be able to shape
the world order.
1165
01:06:04,831 --> 01:06:08,710
And very quickly,
the Soviet Union took note.
1166
01:06:08,751 --> 01:06:10,962
(explosion rumbling)
1167
01:06:11,880 --> 01:06:15,717
NORRIS: The Soviets
tested a bomb in 1949
1168
01:06:15,758 --> 01:06:18,178
to the shock of almost everyone.
1169
01:06:19,679 --> 01:06:21,389
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: President
Truman's dramatic announcement
1170
01:06:21,431 --> 01:06:25,226
that Russia has created
an atomic explosion
1171
01:06:25,268 --> 01:06:27,145
sends reporters racing
for Flushing Meadow,
1172
01:06:27,187 --> 01:06:30,440
where Russia's Vyshinsky arrives
to address the United Nations...
1173
01:06:30,481 --> 01:06:33,484
This puts the U.S. in
a really complicated position,
1174
01:06:33,526 --> 01:06:38,281
because it's no longer the only
country with nuclear weapons.
1175
01:06:40,200 --> 01:06:42,035
Suddenly,
you have the possibility
1176
01:06:42,076 --> 01:06:45,663
that if war with nuclear weapons
broke out between two states
1177
01:06:45,705 --> 01:06:48,416
that had a fair number of them,
1178
01:06:48,458 --> 01:06:51,503
they could, in a matter
of hours, destroy themselves.
1179
01:06:51,544 --> 01:06:53,171
(civil defense siren blaring)
1180
01:06:53,213 --> 01:06:54,631
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
We must all get ready now,
1181
01:06:54,672 --> 01:06:56,841
so we know how to save ourselves
1182
01:06:56,883 --> 01:06:59,594
if the atomic bomb
ever explodes near us.
1183
01:07:01,012 --> 01:07:02,889
And one of the possible options
1184
01:07:02,931 --> 01:07:06,059
scientists and policy people
lobbied for
1185
01:07:06,100 --> 01:07:10,146
was to build the hydrogen bomb
as the sort of next step.
1186
01:07:10,188 --> 01:07:12,232
(explosion rumbling)
1187
01:07:13,274 --> 01:07:15,193
SNOWDEN:
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs
1188
01:07:15,235 --> 01:07:19,239
were on the order of
15 kilotons of TNT,
1189
01:07:19,280 --> 01:07:21,741
which is no small number
in and of itself.
1190
01:07:23,827 --> 01:07:27,205
When you start talking about
hydrogen bombs,
1191
01:07:27,247 --> 01:07:29,874
now we're talking about
megatons.
1192
01:07:29,916 --> 01:07:34,003
We're talking about
a million tons of TNT.
1193
01:07:35,046 --> 01:07:37,006
They're categorically different.
1194
01:07:37,048 --> 01:07:39,259
A thousand times stronger than
anything you'd see
1195
01:07:39,300 --> 01:07:42,011
in a Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bomb.
1196
01:07:43,096 --> 01:07:45,890
ELSE: With one
very large hydrogen bomb,
1197
01:07:45,932 --> 01:07:47,392
you can kill
about as many people
1198
01:07:47,433 --> 01:07:50,228
as all of the people killed
in World War II.
1199
01:07:51,229 --> 01:07:55,024
And Oppenheimer could not see
any use for that.
1200
01:07:55,066 --> 01:07:58,361
He called it a genocidal weapon.
1201
01:08:00,446 --> 01:08:04,409
EDWARD TELLER: At the end of the
war, most people wanted to stop.
1202
01:08:04,450 --> 01:08:06,870
I did not.
1203
01:08:06,911 --> 01:08:08,705
Among the people who knew
1204
01:08:08,746 --> 01:08:11,583
a great deal about
the hydrogen bomb,
1205
01:08:11,624 --> 01:08:14,294
I was the only advocate of it.
1206
01:08:15,587 --> 01:08:18,506
RHODES: Edward Teller
was a Hungarian Jew
1207
01:08:18,548 --> 01:08:23,469
who escaped from Hungary
and came to the United States.
1208
01:08:23,511 --> 01:08:27,265
During World War II,
Teller worked at Los Alamos,
1209
01:08:27,307 --> 01:08:30,935
but he became obsessed with
the idea of the hydrogen bomb,
1210
01:08:30,977 --> 01:08:34,355
even before they had
the atomic bomb.
1211
01:08:34,397 --> 01:08:36,774
HERKEN: Teller did very much
consider the atomic bomb
1212
01:08:36,816 --> 01:08:39,194
to be Oppenheimer's creation,
1213
01:08:39,235 --> 01:08:41,738
and he wanted something
that was bigger and better.
1214
01:08:42,989 --> 01:08:46,034
CONANT:
And Oppenheimer said to Teller,
1215
01:08:46,075 --> 01:08:50,330
"Go back to doing physics,
but don't build this.
1216
01:08:50,371 --> 01:08:52,290
There's no need for it."
1217
01:08:52,332 --> 01:08:55,210
RHODES: Oppenheimer was
in charge of a committee
1218
01:08:55,251 --> 01:08:58,296
that had been put together
in Washington to decide:
1219
01:08:58,338 --> 01:08:59,506
What should we do?
1220
01:08:59,547 --> 01:09:03,343
Should we build a hydrogen bomb?
1221
01:09:03,384 --> 01:09:04,844
That is a question
1222
01:09:04,886 --> 01:09:08,097
in everybody's mind,
Dr. Oppenheimer.
1223
01:09:08,139 --> 01:09:13,686
Are we creating something
we may not be able to control?
1224
01:09:13,728 --> 01:09:16,814
The decision to try to make
1225
01:09:16,856 --> 01:09:19,984
or not to make the hydrogen bomb
1226
01:09:20,026 --> 01:09:22,487
touch the very basis
of our morality.
1227
01:09:22,529 --> 01:09:25,365
And the committee decision
was basically,
1228
01:09:25,406 --> 01:09:27,617
no, we shouldn't build
the hydrogen bomb.
1229
01:09:27,659 --> 01:09:31,329
If we are guided by fear alone,
1230
01:09:31,371 --> 01:09:34,999
we'll fail
in this time of crisis.
1231
01:09:35,041 --> 01:09:40,296
The answer to fear
sometimes lies in courage.
1232
01:09:41,381 --> 01:09:43,550
WELLERSTEIN: Oppenheimer's
opposition of the H-bomb
1233
01:09:43,591 --> 01:09:47,136
was taken very hard by people
who were in favor for it.
1234
01:09:49,097 --> 01:09:51,724
RHODES: The Air Force wanted
more and more bombs
1235
01:09:51,766 --> 01:09:53,977
and bigger and bigger bombs.
1236
01:09:54,018 --> 01:09:56,187
The bigger the bomb,
in terms of its yield,
1237
01:09:56,229 --> 01:09:58,898
the more damage
one plane could do.
1238
01:09:59,691 --> 01:10:01,568
HERKEN: The Strategic
Air Command was focused upon
1239
01:10:01,609 --> 01:10:03,736
blowing up the Soviet Union.
1240
01:10:04,571 --> 01:10:07,866
Oppenheimer said a smarter move
would be to put resources
1241
01:10:07,907 --> 01:10:10,243
into intercepting
Soviet bombers.
1242
01:10:11,327 --> 01:10:13,538
RHODES: He was going
just the opposite direction
1243
01:10:13,580 --> 01:10:15,206
from what the Air Force wanted.
1244
01:10:15,248 --> 01:10:18,084
They wanted him out.
They wanted to get rid of him.
1245
01:10:20,920 --> 01:10:25,091
BIRD: By 1953, Oppenheimer
has made sufficient enemies
1246
01:10:25,133 --> 01:10:28,344
in the Washington bureaucracy.
1247
01:10:28,386 --> 01:10:30,722
And then along comes
Lewis Strauss...
1248
01:10:30,763 --> 01:10:33,474
(applause)
1249
01:10:33,516 --> 01:10:36,561
...the new chairman of
the Atomic Energy Commission.
1250
01:10:36,603 --> 01:10:39,439
STRAUSS: I have just returned
from the Pacific Proving Ground,
1251
01:10:39,480 --> 01:10:43,276
where I have witnessed a test
of thermonuclear weapons.
1252
01:10:43,318 --> 01:10:45,987
BIRD:
And Strauss knows Oppenheimer
1253
01:10:46,029 --> 01:10:48,573
and has grown
to intensely dislike him.
1254
01:10:48,615 --> 01:10:51,993
RHODES: Oppenheimer had been
snappish with him once,
1255
01:10:52,035 --> 01:10:54,871
and it had deeply offended him.
1256
01:10:54,913 --> 01:10:59,209
So Strauss begins to plot
1257
01:10:59,250 --> 01:11:02,545
a means to defrock Oppenheimer.
1258
01:11:03,755 --> 01:11:05,757
SHERWIN:
And how does he do it?
1259
01:11:05,798 --> 01:11:11,596
Lewis Strauss focuses on
Oppenheimer's association
1260
01:11:11,638 --> 01:11:14,224
with left-wing friends
1261
01:11:14,265 --> 01:11:17,894
during the 1930s in Berkeley.
1262
01:11:17,936 --> 01:11:19,896
MAN (over TV):
"Communism."
1263
01:11:19,938 --> 01:11:21,606
Who are the apostles of a system
1264
01:11:21,648 --> 01:11:25,193
that attempts to destroy
the American way of life?
1265
01:11:26,319 --> 01:11:30,657
During the Second World War,
the Soviet Union was our ally.
1266
01:11:30,698 --> 01:11:33,535
And that sense of
being a communist
1267
01:11:33,576 --> 01:11:36,746
or associating with communists
was not something
1268
01:11:36,788 --> 01:11:39,791
that was considered that bad.
1269
01:11:39,833 --> 01:11:43,127
It wasn't until the Cold War
1270
01:11:43,169 --> 01:11:46,381
that all of a sudden,
in retrospect,
1271
01:11:46,422 --> 01:11:50,802
anyone with any kind of legacy
of a communist past
1272
01:11:50,844 --> 01:11:53,096
is now a security threat.
1273
01:11:53,137 --> 01:11:56,057
If there were no communists
in our government,
1274
01:11:56,099 --> 01:12:00,144
why did we delay, for 18 months,
1275
01:12:00,186 --> 01:12:02,689
delay our research
on the hydrogen bomb?
1276
01:12:03,481 --> 01:12:06,192
RHODES:
It was from attitudes like that
1277
01:12:06,234 --> 01:12:09,112
that finally led to
the government deciding
1278
01:12:09,153 --> 01:12:12,365
they had to pull Oppenheimer's
security clearance.
1279
01:12:14,325 --> 01:12:15,869
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
He would have to give up
1280
01:12:15,910 --> 01:12:20,623
his security clearance
in 30 days or ask for a hearing.
1281
01:12:23,668 --> 01:12:26,171
He felt he couldn't give up
his security clearance.
1282
01:12:26,212 --> 01:12:27,505
He couldn't agree with them
1283
01:12:27,547 --> 01:12:29,507
that he wasn't fit
to serve his government.
1284
01:12:30,842 --> 01:12:33,094
ELSE: He should have told them
to get lost.
1285
01:12:33,887 --> 01:12:37,182
He should have said,
"I am the atomic bomb.
1286
01:12:37,974 --> 01:12:40,393
"I won World War II.
1287
01:12:40,435 --> 01:12:41,811
Fuck off."
1288
01:12:42,729 --> 01:12:45,523
For whatever reason,
he didn't tell them to get lost.
1289
01:12:45,565 --> 01:12:47,150
He decided to fight it.
1290
01:12:48,693 --> 01:12:51,070
BIRD: And before
he goes down to Washington,
1291
01:12:51,112 --> 01:12:52,864
he meets with Einstein
1292
01:12:52,906 --> 01:12:57,243
to tell him he's gonna be
absent for a few weeks,
1293
01:12:57,285 --> 01:13:01,623
and Einstein's reaction
is quite startling.
1294
01:13:03,249 --> 01:13:08,463
Albert says, "But, Robert,
you are Mr. Atomic.
1295
01:13:08,505 --> 01:13:10,423
"You don't need them.
They need you.
1296
01:13:10,465 --> 01:13:13,426
Just walk away.
Why should you go through this?"
1297
01:13:14,385 --> 01:13:19,098
And Oppenheimer shakes his head
and apparently says to Albert,
1298
01:13:19,140 --> 01:13:22,018
"Well, you don't understand."
1299
01:13:22,060 --> 01:13:24,312
And he walks away,
1300
01:13:24,354 --> 01:13:26,940
and Einstein turns
to his secretary and says,
1301
01:13:26,981 --> 01:13:29,984
"There goes a nar."
1302
01:13:30,026 --> 01:13:32,320
The Yiddish for a fool.
1303
01:13:34,113 --> 01:13:37,283
(fanfare plays)
1304
01:13:37,325 --> 01:13:38,993
TV ANNOUNCER: World attention
was focused this week
1305
01:13:39,035 --> 01:13:41,746
on the Atomic Energy Commission
building in Washington,
1306
01:13:41,788 --> 01:13:44,290
where a three-man board
began special hearings
1307
01:13:44,332 --> 01:13:47,460
on the security file
of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer,
1308
01:13:47,502 --> 01:13:50,588
the nuclear scientist
who developed the first A-bomb.
1309
01:13:51,464 --> 01:13:55,677
The security hearing starts,
and it quickly becomes clear
1310
01:13:55,718 --> 01:13:57,637
that this is not just
a security hearing.
1311
01:13:57,679 --> 01:13:58,972
This is a trial.
1312
01:13:59,013 --> 01:14:00,765
TV ANNOUNCER:
There's a new charge
1313
01:14:00,807 --> 01:14:03,434
that the scientist opposed
the development of the H-bomb.
1314
01:14:03,476 --> 01:14:06,563
WELLERSTEIN: The deck is stacked
against him, and it's ugly.
1315
01:14:06,604 --> 01:14:08,565
They're wiretapping
his conversations
1316
01:14:08,606 --> 01:14:11,359
with his lawyer illegally
and giving it to the prosecution
1317
01:14:11,401 --> 01:14:13,862
so that they know
exactly what's gonna happen.
1318
01:14:13,903 --> 01:14:16,614
They are able to look
at classified FBI files.
1319
01:14:16,656 --> 01:14:18,491
He is not because
he doesn't have a clearance,
1320
01:14:18,533 --> 01:14:21,703
and he can't look at
his own FBI file as a result.
1321
01:14:22,996 --> 01:14:27,792
RHODES: Oppenheimer's
involvement with Jean Tatlock,
1322
01:14:27,834 --> 01:14:30,879
the question of whether
his brother had been a communist
1323
01:14:30,920 --> 01:14:33,381
and still was,
1324
01:14:33,423 --> 01:14:37,135
those were the things
they pulled out of the files.
1325
01:14:39,804 --> 01:14:42,265
CONANT: One of the most damning
pieces of evidence
1326
01:14:42,307 --> 01:14:44,851
that was brought out was
1327
01:14:44,893 --> 01:14:48,229
the fact that, during the war,
there had been a conversation
1328
01:14:48,271 --> 01:14:51,316
at his home in Berkeley
with Haakon Chevalier,
1329
01:14:51,357 --> 01:14:54,444
his old friend,
who had mentioned to him
1330
01:14:54,485 --> 01:14:56,779
that there was a way perhaps
that he could
1331
01:14:56,821 --> 01:15:00,116
leak information about the
atomic project he was working on
1332
01:15:00,158 --> 01:15:01,701
to Soviet officials.
1333
01:15:01,743 --> 01:15:04,412
Now, Oppenheimer had
dismissed it at the time,
1334
01:15:04,454 --> 01:15:07,665
but he had not
reported the incident.
1335
01:15:07,707 --> 01:15:10,543
He knew he was already on
thin ice with security people,
1336
01:15:10,585 --> 01:15:13,755
that he was suspected
because of his communist ties.
1337
01:15:13,796 --> 01:15:18,510
So he was trying to keep himself
out of hot water.
1338
01:15:18,551 --> 01:15:21,471
The problem was that,
in subsequent conversations
1339
01:15:21,513 --> 01:15:27,352
with Los Alamos security people,
he had told very evasive, vague
1340
01:15:27,393 --> 01:15:31,189
accounts of this conversation,
one after another.
1341
01:15:32,398 --> 01:15:34,567
And when they confronted
Oppenheimer
1342
01:15:34,609 --> 01:15:37,862
with these evasive versions,
they asked him,
1343
01:15:37,904 --> 01:15:39,364
"Why did you do this?
1344
01:15:39,405 --> 01:15:42,408
Why wouldn't
you have been forthright?"
1345
01:15:42,450 --> 01:15:44,744
He said, "I was an idiot."
1346
01:15:44,786 --> 01:15:49,249
And in a sense,
he sealed his own fate then.
1347
01:15:51,709 --> 01:15:54,254
RHODES:
He fell apart.
1348
01:15:54,295 --> 01:15:57,757
He tried to testify,
but he really fell apart.
1349
01:15:59,509 --> 01:16:03,304
BIRD: He's having almost
another nervous breakdown,
1350
01:16:03,346 --> 01:16:05,849
like what he went through
as a young man.
1351
01:16:05,890 --> 01:16:11,229
He's oddly stoic,
like he was in the icehouse
1352
01:16:11,271 --> 01:16:14,107
when he was a young boy
being tormented
1353
01:16:14,148 --> 01:16:16,651
by his fellow summer campers.
1354
01:16:19,028 --> 01:16:23,449
He's resigned and
not really defending himself.
1355
01:16:24,826 --> 01:16:29,164
One person who sort of put the
nails in his coffin, of course,
1356
01:16:29,205 --> 01:16:31,332
was Edward Teller.
1357
01:16:33,668 --> 01:16:36,004
HERKEN: Teller testified
against Oppenheimer.
1358
01:16:36,045 --> 01:16:39,299
He said that he thought
he would feel better
1359
01:16:39,340 --> 01:16:40,884
if the security of the country
1360
01:16:40,925 --> 01:16:44,596
were in other hands
than Oppenheimer's.
1361
01:16:44,637 --> 01:16:48,850
And one of the scientists who
was close to Oppenheimer said
1362
01:16:48,892 --> 01:16:52,187
it was a matter of not only
stabbing Oppenheimer in the back
1363
01:16:52,228 --> 01:16:54,314
but twisting the blade.
1364
01:16:56,065 --> 01:16:57,483
RHODES:
As he was leaving,
1365
01:16:57,525 --> 01:16:59,235
he went up to shake
Oppenheimer's hand
1366
01:16:59,277 --> 01:17:01,654
and said, "I'm sorry."
1367
01:17:02,989 --> 01:17:07,285
And Oppenheimer looked him
in the eye and said,
1368
01:17:07,327 --> 01:17:10,038
"Edward,
after what you just said,
1369
01:17:10,079 --> 01:17:12,832
I don't know what that means."
1370
01:17:14,167 --> 01:17:17,712
NOLAN: He was obviously
a very, very brilliant man,
1371
01:17:17,754 --> 01:17:21,341
but I think
he may have underestimated
1372
01:17:21,382 --> 01:17:25,053
the power of the establishment,
the machine,
1373
01:17:25,094 --> 01:17:27,138
and the inability
of one individual
1374
01:17:27,180 --> 01:17:29,557
to stand against that.
1375
01:17:30,350 --> 01:17:33,686
BIRD:
The result was to be expected.
1376
01:17:34,437 --> 01:17:36,481
(fanfare plays)
1377
01:17:36,523 --> 01:17:38,525
TV ANNOUNCER:
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer,
1378
01:17:38,566 --> 01:17:40,652
the famous scientist
whose suspension this week
1379
01:17:40,693 --> 01:17:44,197
by the Atomic Energy Commission
surprised the nation.
1380
01:17:44,239 --> 01:17:48,535
They voted to strip Oppenheimer
of his security clearance.
1381
01:17:51,830 --> 01:17:55,750
This was front-page news in the
newspapers across the country.
1382
01:17:57,377 --> 01:17:59,629
That he had recommended
communists
1383
01:17:59,671 --> 01:18:01,673
who are working
the A-bomb, H-bomb plans.
1384
01:18:01,714 --> 01:18:04,676
His wife, uh,
admittedly was, uh,
1385
01:18:04,717 --> 01:18:07,512
an official of
the Communist Party,
1386
01:18:07,554 --> 01:18:09,722
uh, brother
a very active communist.
1387
01:18:11,015 --> 01:18:14,602
BIRD:
He became a political pariah.
1388
01:18:14,644 --> 01:18:16,354
KAKU:
And that sent a chill
1389
01:18:16,396 --> 01:18:19,732
through
the scientific community.
1390
01:18:19,774 --> 01:18:22,777
If they could take down
the most famous atomic scientist
1391
01:18:22,819 --> 01:18:26,698
on the planet Earth,
then we're all vulnerable.
1392
01:18:28,241 --> 01:18:31,536
BIRD: It sent
a really nefarious message
1393
01:18:31,578 --> 01:18:33,454
to all working scientists
1394
01:18:33,496 --> 01:18:38,877
to beware of weighing in
on political issues.
1395
01:18:41,045 --> 01:18:45,258
And this is a terrible thing
because we need their expertise.
1396
01:18:45,300 --> 01:18:49,012
And yet the Oppenheimer trial
1397
01:18:49,053 --> 01:18:51,556
made that difficult.
1398
01:18:57,812 --> 01:18:59,397
RHODES:
After the security trial,
1399
01:18:59,439 --> 01:19:02,358
Oppenheimer was never
the same guy again.
1400
01:19:03,484 --> 01:19:06,613
He was kind of
a hollow man after that.
1401
01:19:07,780 --> 01:19:09,657
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
What we say inside the family is
1402
01:19:09,699 --> 01:19:11,951
it hurt his feelings.
1403
01:19:15,663 --> 01:19:19,417
He didn't like it,
but he didn't talk about it.
1404
01:19:19,459 --> 01:19:22,045
He never made one statement
about it publicly.
1405
01:19:24,631 --> 01:19:27,133
He never asked for an apology,
1406
01:19:27,175 --> 01:19:30,303
and he retreated back into
where he came from.
1407
01:19:31,638 --> 01:19:34,098
BIRD: He still kept his job
at Princeton,
1408
01:19:34,140 --> 01:19:37,852
but he wasn't doing
any more physics.
1409
01:19:37,894 --> 01:19:40,230
These were kind of sad years.
1410
01:19:40,271 --> 01:19:42,690
MURROW: And Professor Einstein
is still here, too, isn't he?
1411
01:19:42,732 --> 01:19:47,320
Oh, yeah. Indeed he is.
Uh, indeed he is. Uh...
1412
01:19:47,362 --> 01:19:49,822
Does he ever call you up
on the telephone?
1413
01:19:49,864 --> 01:19:50,740
Hmm, sometimes.
1414
01:19:50,782 --> 01:19:52,784
I think he... he calls me,
1415
01:19:52,826 --> 01:19:54,702
uh, when he reads
in the newspapers
1416
01:19:54,744 --> 01:19:56,579
something about me
that he doesn't like,
1417
01:19:56,621 --> 01:19:58,623
and he calls me up and-and says,
1418
01:19:58,665 --> 01:20:00,667
"That's all right.
That's just right."
1419
01:20:00,708 --> 01:20:04,587
SHERWIN:
He had lost his fighting spirit.
1420
01:20:04,629 --> 01:20:08,967
He would have nothing
to do with commenting
1421
01:20:09,008 --> 01:20:13,972
on any of the issues of the day
related to nuclear weapons.
1422
01:20:14,013 --> 01:20:16,933
MAN: Dr. Oppenheimer, could you
tell us what your thoughts are
1423
01:20:16,975 --> 01:20:20,520
about what our atomic policy
should be?
1424
01:20:20,562 --> 01:20:22,814
No, I-I can't do that.
1425
01:20:22,856 --> 01:20:27,026
I'm not... not close enough
to the facts,
1426
01:20:27,068 --> 01:20:28,653
and I'm not close enough
1427
01:20:28,695 --> 01:20:33,366
to the thoughts of those
who are worrying about it.
1428
01:20:34,951 --> 01:20:38,204
RHODES:
Hans Bethe told me once that,
1429
01:20:38,246 --> 01:20:40,665
"Oppenheimer was smarter than
any of the rest of us."
1430
01:20:40,707 --> 01:20:43,960
He didn't win a Nobel Prize.
1431
01:20:44,002 --> 01:20:46,796
How could this man,
who evidently outshone
1432
01:20:46,838 --> 01:20:49,382
some of the greatest physicists
of the 20th century,
1433
01:20:49,424 --> 01:20:54,512
not have been more successful
in his line of work-- physics--
1434
01:20:54,554 --> 01:20:56,306
than he was?
1435
01:20:56,347 --> 01:20:58,057
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
You can't talk about Oppenheimer
1436
01:20:58,099 --> 01:21:00,852
when you're not
talking about his science.
1437
01:21:00,894 --> 01:21:02,520
That was the part of his life.
1438
01:21:02,562 --> 01:21:04,230
When he talks about
what he loves,
1439
01:21:04,272 --> 01:21:07,692
it was that human thing
of passing knowledge around.
1440
01:21:07,734 --> 01:21:09,694
This is negative particles,
1441
01:21:09,736 --> 01:21:13,615
neutral, doubly charged,
positive and positive...
1442
01:21:13,656 --> 01:21:15,617
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
His work on black holes
1443
01:21:15,658 --> 01:21:17,785
should have earned him
a Nobel Prize.
1444
01:21:20,121 --> 01:21:25,043
SHERWIN: In 1939, Oppenheimer
wrote the first paper
1445
01:21:25,084 --> 01:21:30,882
identifying the idea of
collapsing stars, a black hole.
1446
01:21:30,924 --> 01:21:34,844
So, black holes
was his original idea.
1447
01:21:34,886 --> 01:21:37,096
I mean, that's quite amazing.
1448
01:21:38,556 --> 01:21:39,891
And if a real black hole
1449
01:21:39,933 --> 01:21:42,519
had been identified
before he died...
1450
01:21:43,645 --> 01:21:47,482
...he probably would have won
a Nobel Prize for that work.
1451
01:21:49,734 --> 01:21:52,237
BIRD:
In 1966,
1452
01:21:52,278 --> 01:21:55,782
he was diagnosed
with esophageal cancer.
1453
01:21:55,823 --> 01:21:58,952
All that smoking over the years
had gotten to him.
1454
01:21:58,993 --> 01:22:01,496
(clock ticking)
1455
01:22:01,538 --> 01:22:05,208
And he died in early '67.
1456
01:22:07,919 --> 01:22:09,879
Oppenheimer's life story,
1457
01:22:09,921 --> 01:22:12,131
it's the story
of the 20th century.
1458
01:22:12,173 --> 01:22:15,969
It's the story of
our nuclear age
1459
01:22:16,010 --> 01:22:18,471
that we're still living with,
1460
01:22:18,513 --> 01:22:21,140
and that's a story
that is unfinished.
1461
01:22:21,182 --> 01:22:22,600
Will always be unfinished.
1462
01:22:22,642 --> 01:22:24,853
(explosion rumbling)
1463
01:22:27,063 --> 01:22:28,690
ELSE:
We have his bomb.
1464
01:22:28,731 --> 01:22:30,984
His bomb is with us.
1465
01:22:31,025 --> 01:22:33,820
And we can debate his membership
in the Communist Party
1466
01:22:33,862 --> 01:22:35,947
or we can debate the ethics
1467
01:22:35,989 --> 01:22:39,075
of bombing civilians
at Hiroshima until we drop,
1468
01:22:39,117 --> 01:22:41,536
but the fact is that we have
nuclear weapons.
1469
01:22:43,746 --> 01:22:45,582
That's the legacy.
1470
01:22:45,623 --> 01:22:50,545
And controlling those weapons,
it's a never-ending struggle.
1471
01:22:51,504 --> 01:22:53,715
(explosion rumbling)
1472
01:22:58,344 --> 01:23:02,056
It was so horrible
with a baby bomb.
1473
01:23:02,098 --> 01:23:05,977
Now they have so much
more lethal nuclear weapon.
1474
01:23:08,104 --> 01:23:09,856
OPPENHEIMER:
There is much talk about
1475
01:23:09,898 --> 01:23:11,983
getting rid of atomic weapons.
1476
01:23:12,775 --> 01:23:16,696
I have a deep sympathy
with that.
1477
01:23:17,822 --> 01:23:23,912
TAMURA: Please, let's try
to find common ground.
1478
01:23:26,581 --> 01:23:31,794
I'm sure if Oppie was alive
today, he would agree with me.
1479
01:23:32,545 --> 01:23:34,255
MAN:
...two, one.
1480
01:23:34,297 --> 01:23:37,967
OPPENHEIMER:
But we mustn't fool ourselves.
1481
01:23:38,009 --> 01:23:40,136
The world is not
going to be the same
1482
01:23:40,178 --> 01:23:43,681
no matter what we do
with atomic bombs,
1483
01:23:43,723 --> 01:23:49,103
because the knowledge of how to
make them cannot be exorcized.
1484
01:23:49,896 --> 01:23:52,106
-(insects chirring)
-(wind whistling softly)
1485
01:23:54,234 --> 01:23:57,070
JUDY WOODRUFF:
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer
1486
01:23:57,111 --> 01:24:01,866
is perhaps best known as
the father of the atomic bomb.
1487
01:24:01,908 --> 01:24:03,535
As time has passed,
1488
01:24:03,576 --> 01:24:07,622
there are some new assessments
of his role in history.
1489
01:24:08,623 --> 01:24:10,792
In late 2022,
the Department of Energy
1490
01:24:10,834 --> 01:24:16,881
decided to vacate the decision
to have the security hearings.
1491
01:24:18,341 --> 01:24:20,552
The national tragedy
is that this hearing,
1492
01:24:20,593 --> 01:24:24,681
this McCarthy-era witch hunt,
materialized in the first place.
1493
01:24:25,473 --> 01:24:27,559
That type of thing
is not supposed to happen
1494
01:24:27,600 --> 01:24:29,394
in a country like this.
1495
01:24:29,435 --> 01:24:33,982
This is such an important
and long overdue step.
1496
01:24:35,233 --> 01:24:37,485
But at the same time,
it's kind of sad,
1497
01:24:37,527 --> 01:24:40,154
because this is something
that J. Robert Oppenheimer
1498
01:24:40,196 --> 01:24:42,824
will not get to experience
personally.
1499
01:24:44,909 --> 01:24:47,453
OPPENHEIMER:
Science has profoundly altered
1500
01:24:47,495 --> 01:24:50,582
the conditions of man's life,
1501
01:24:50,623 --> 01:24:54,919
both materially and in ways
of the spirit as well.
1502
01:24:57,714 --> 01:24:59,632
NYE: I think we're still
talking about Oppenheimer
1503
01:24:59,674 --> 01:25:02,260
because he was so influential.
1504
01:25:02,302 --> 01:25:05,638
We have this respect
and fear of science.
1505
01:25:07,307 --> 01:25:10,894
And Oppenheimer represented
both sides of that, for sure.
1506
01:25:12,145 --> 01:25:15,648
NOLAN: Unquestionably,
he changed the world.
1507
01:25:15,690 --> 01:25:16,858
And he changed
the world forever.
1508
01:25:16,900 --> 01:25:18,443
There's no going back.
1509
01:25:19,235 --> 01:25:22,697
But we know that as long as men
are free to ask what they will,
1510
01:25:22,739 --> 01:25:26,868
free to say what they think,
free to think what they must,
1511
01:25:26,910 --> 01:25:29,454
science will never regress,
1512
01:25:29,496 --> 01:25:33,082
and freedom itself
will never be wholly lost.
1513
01:25:36,878 --> 01:25:39,130
* *
1514
01:25:40,548 --> 01:25:42,133
(slides clicking)
1515
01:25:52,727 --> 01:25:54,979
(explosion rumbling)
1516
01:26:08,451 --> 01:26:11,412
* *
1517
01:26:11,454 --> 01:26:13,706
(explosion booming)
1518
01:26:40,483 --> 01:26:42,193
* *
1519
01:26:42,235 --> 01:26:43,820
(lighter clicks)
1520
01:27:02,672 --> 01:27:04,924
(explosion rumbling)
1521
01:27:14,517 --> 01:27:14,642
(music fades)
120332
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