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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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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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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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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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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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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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...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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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where he saw
yet another psychologist,
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and in a very French way,
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prescribed a professional woman
and red wine.
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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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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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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.
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They call him Opje,
and this turns into Oppie.
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And Oppie is not
an insecure young American
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who doesn't really know
what he wants to do.
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Oppie is the brilliant guy
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who is always five steps ahead
of everybody else
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and can keep everything
in his head.
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Oppie is a genius who's
very eccentric and interesting
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and strikes a really dashing
figure and is chain-smoking.
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And you see these pictures
of him from the '20s.
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It's very Bob Dylan.
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ELSE: He had the eyes
of an Old Testament prophet
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inside this frail body,
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and he sort of cocked himself
with his funny little
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porkpie hat on top.
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WELLERSTEIN: So, Oppie is
this sort of construction
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of everything
that he would want to be.
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And that recreation is
immensely successful.
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NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
When the cancerous Nazi growth
245
00:14:54,145 --> 00:14:57,065
spread farther still,
the people of Europe--
246
00:14:57,106 --> 00:15:00,735
and the world--
enter the new era.
247
00:15:00,777 --> 00:15:04,113
RHODES: Certainly the first
motivation for the scientists
248
00:15:04,155 --> 00:15:06,616
was to beat the Germans
to the bomb.
249
00:15:06,657 --> 00:15:09,202
There's nothing like
the prospect of a hanging
250
00:15:09,243 --> 00:15:10,787
to concentrate the mind.
251
00:15:10,828 --> 00:15:14,582
And the threat of death
of civilization as they knew it
252
00:15:14,624 --> 00:15:20,713
was so great that it swept away
any ethical or moral doubts
253
00:15:20,755 --> 00:15:22,340
that they might have had.
254
00:15:23,132 --> 00:15:27,095
WELLERSTEIN: Ultimately,
whoever gets the bomb first
255
00:15:27,136 --> 00:15:28,388
is not just gonna win
World War II
256
00:15:28,429 --> 00:15:30,056
but is gonna run
the entire world.
257
00:15:31,099 --> 00:15:32,809
* *
258
00:15:32,850 --> 00:15:35,353
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
By the summer of 1942,
259
00:15:35,395 --> 00:15:38,815
control of the atom bomb project
passes to the hands of the Army,
260
00:15:38,856 --> 00:15:42,693
under the code name
Manhattan Engineering District.
261
00:15:42,735 --> 00:15:44,904
CARR:
The Manhattan Project really was
262
00:15:44,946 --> 00:15:47,323
a huge national effort.
263
00:15:47,365 --> 00:15:51,661
RHODES: And to plot out
the industrial scale
264
00:15:51,702 --> 00:15:55,790
of the operation,
they chose a dynamic, burly,
265
00:15:55,832 --> 00:15:57,166
six-foot-three,
266
00:15:57,208 --> 00:16:00,336
240-pound general
267
00:16:00,378 --> 00:16:03,673
named Leslie Richard Groves.
268
00:16:04,716 --> 00:16:07,802
He hated Leslie.
He went by Dick.
269
00:16:08,928 --> 00:16:11,389
General Groves had a problem.
270
00:16:11,431 --> 00:16:13,891
He was entrusted
to hire the people
271
00:16:13,933 --> 00:16:15,393
that would build
the atomic bomb.
272
00:16:15,435 --> 00:16:18,354
But he knew
that we're talking about
273
00:16:18,396 --> 00:16:22,400
the people who are the
finest scientists in the world.
274
00:16:23,901 --> 00:16:26,070
These are prima donnas.
275
00:16:27,447 --> 00:16:29,365
And now you have to have
somebody who's gonna be
276
00:16:29,407 --> 00:16:31,242
the whipmaster.
277
00:16:31,284 --> 00:16:32,952
You have to have somebody
278
00:16:32,994 --> 00:16:35,621
that understands the physics,
who has a reputation,
279
00:16:35,663 --> 00:16:38,708
so that these prima donnas
will follow you.
280
00:16:42,003 --> 00:16:44,922
CARR: Oppenheimer and
General Groves are introduced
281
00:16:44,964 --> 00:16:47,383
in the fall of 1942.
282
00:16:47,425 --> 00:16:49,427
And these two individuals
are just about
283
00:16:49,469 --> 00:16:51,429
as different as you can imagine.
284
00:16:52,764 --> 00:16:55,016
But General Groves
saw something in him
285
00:16:55,058 --> 00:16:56,809
that apparently no one else saw.
286
00:16:58,436 --> 00:17:00,313
GROVES:
When meeting Oppenheimer,
287
00:17:00,354 --> 00:17:02,398
you were immediately impressed.
288
00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,984
You couldn't help it.
289
00:17:05,026 --> 00:17:07,570
There wasn't a better man.
290
00:17:08,905 --> 00:17:11,908
RHODES: He chose Oppenheimer
against the advice
291
00:17:11,949 --> 00:17:14,869
of most of these leaders
that he had around him
292
00:17:14,911 --> 00:17:16,496
in the scientific community.
293
00:17:16,537 --> 00:17:20,958
Oppenheimer had never led
any large enterprise.
294
00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:24,837
But Oppenheimer was really good
at explaining things.
295
00:17:25,630 --> 00:17:27,423
WELLERSTEIN:
He was extremely charming,
296
00:17:27,465 --> 00:17:29,759
and he had this ability
297
00:17:29,801 --> 00:17:32,887
to sort of hold a lot of things
in his head at once
298
00:17:32,929 --> 00:17:36,891
and keep aware of
how they all fit together.
299
00:17:38,893 --> 00:17:40,395
And this is apparently
300
00:17:40,436 --> 00:17:43,147
what General Groves
recognized in him.
301
00:17:45,566 --> 00:17:47,652
EISENBACH:
For security purposes,
302
00:17:47,693 --> 00:17:52,323
this project needs to happen
away from everything.
303
00:17:53,366 --> 00:17:55,952
So Groves tells Oppenheimer
304
00:17:55,993 --> 00:17:59,622
to just come up with a place
where this would actually work.
305
00:17:59,664 --> 00:18:02,458
And it was Oppenheimer
who suggests
306
00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:05,586
the New Mexico desert.
307
00:18:05,628 --> 00:18:08,339
So they go to scope out a site.
308
00:18:08,381 --> 00:18:10,675
It's called Los Alamos.
309
00:18:12,719 --> 00:18:14,637
CARR:
Oppenheimer knew the area well.
310
00:18:14,679 --> 00:18:16,472
He had spent a lot of time here.
311
00:18:18,057 --> 00:18:21,144
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER: When
he left New York as a young man
312
00:18:21,185 --> 00:18:24,105
and went to New Mexico...
313
00:18:25,314 --> 00:18:28,693
...that was a-- just a really
important part of his life.
314
00:18:29,527 --> 00:18:32,363
Going to New Mexico
and meeting cowboys
315
00:18:32,405 --> 00:18:33,823
and riding horses.
316
00:18:33,865 --> 00:18:36,325
He just loved it.
He loved every part of it.
317
00:18:38,202 --> 00:18:41,164
BIRD: He once said that
his ambition was to combine
318
00:18:41,205 --> 00:18:43,833
the two loves in his life,
319
00:18:43,875 --> 00:18:46,461
physics and New Mexico.
320
00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:51,841
And of course,
he did precisely this.
321
00:18:55,386 --> 00:18:57,263
CARR:
Now, the government shows up
322
00:18:57,305 --> 00:18:59,390
with bulldozers and architects
323
00:18:59,432 --> 00:19:01,684
and laborers and craftsmen
324
00:19:01,726 --> 00:19:05,521
to build a new community
and laboratory
325
00:19:05,563 --> 00:19:08,733
where there essentially
had not been one before.
326
00:19:10,693 --> 00:19:13,071
SNOWDEN:
They're starting from scratch.
327
00:19:13,821 --> 00:19:16,741
And so much of
what they were doing was unknown
328
00:19:16,783 --> 00:19:18,701
and unproven at the time.
329
00:19:18,743 --> 00:19:20,203
They didn't actually know
330
00:19:20,244 --> 00:19:21,370
that they would be able
to achieve this.
331
00:19:21,412 --> 00:19:22,705
This was all theoretical.
332
00:19:24,123 --> 00:19:26,876
ELSE: They knew that they had
to get the best scientists
333
00:19:26,918 --> 00:19:30,963
if they were gonna get this
weapon before the Nazis did.
334
00:19:35,593 --> 00:19:37,095
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Albert Einstein flees
335
00:19:37,136 --> 00:19:38,638
to the United States.
336
00:19:38,679 --> 00:19:41,099
He leads a vanguard
of refugee scientists,
337
00:19:41,140 --> 00:19:43,393
virtually stripping
German universities
338
00:19:43,434 --> 00:19:44,769
of their best minds.
339
00:19:46,729 --> 00:19:48,981
WELLERSTEIN: All of the turmoil
in Europe had forced out
340
00:19:49,023 --> 00:19:52,902
a huge number
of really top-grade physicists.
341
00:19:54,487 --> 00:19:57,573
Enrico Fermi.
342
00:19:57,615 --> 00:20:00,743
Hans Bethe.
343
00:20:00,785 --> 00:20:04,080
Edward Teller,
who famously would go on
344
00:20:04,122 --> 00:20:06,582
to develop the hydrogen bomb.
345
00:20:06,624 --> 00:20:08,751
One can sort of
go down the lists
346
00:20:08,793 --> 00:20:12,296
and find more and more and more
of these amazing people.
347
00:20:13,464 --> 00:20:15,800
Oppenheimer was
famously known for
348
00:20:15,842 --> 00:20:17,760
his intellectual sex appeal.
349
00:20:17,802 --> 00:20:19,470
And he could go
around the country
350
00:20:19,512 --> 00:20:22,140
and sort of
flash his brain to people,
351
00:20:22,181 --> 00:20:23,891
and, you know, they'd sign up.
352
00:20:24,684 --> 00:20:26,185
RHODES:
He would say,
353
00:20:26,227 --> 00:20:30,106
"I unfortunately can't tell you
what we're doing,
354
00:20:30,148 --> 00:20:34,235
"but I can tell you
that if we succeed,
355
00:20:34,277 --> 00:20:36,988
"it's likely to end this war,
356
00:20:37,029 --> 00:20:39,449
and it may end all war."
357
00:20:39,490 --> 00:20:41,033
ROBERT CHRISTY:
Oppenheimer asked
358
00:20:41,075 --> 00:20:44,495
if I would join him
in Los Alamos.
359
00:20:44,537 --> 00:20:47,123
And I said I would be delighted.
360
00:20:47,165 --> 00:20:48,833
Like most of his students,
361
00:20:48,875 --> 00:20:53,796
I would more or less follow him
to the ends of the Earth.
362
00:20:53,838 --> 00:20:56,841
If you had the choice
of fighting the Nazis
363
00:20:56,883 --> 00:20:59,010
by going to
this exotic mountaintop
364
00:20:59,052 --> 00:21:02,180
and doing the greatest physics
in history,
365
00:21:02,221 --> 00:21:04,307
I mean, what would you do?
366
00:21:04,348 --> 00:21:06,017
I would've been
on the next train.
367
00:21:07,643 --> 00:21:09,020
I don't think people thought
368
00:21:09,062 --> 00:21:10,605
that much about
the consequences.
369
00:21:10,646 --> 00:21:12,398
You know, can we blame them?
370
00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:14,317
OPPENHEIMER:
We were all aware of
371
00:21:14,358 --> 00:21:18,821
the fact that, in one way
or another, we were intervening
372
00:21:18,863 --> 00:21:23,910
explicitly and heavy-handedly
in the course of human history.
373
00:21:28,873 --> 00:21:31,709
CARR: By the time
the laboratory was established,
374
00:21:31,751 --> 00:21:33,086
Oppenheimer was a family man.
375
00:21:33,127 --> 00:21:35,713
He was married.
He had a little boy.
376
00:21:37,673 --> 00:21:39,967
During his tenure
as director at the laboratory,
377
00:21:40,009 --> 00:21:42,553
he had a little girl as well.
378
00:21:43,679 --> 00:21:45,723
BIRD:
The summer of 1939,
379
00:21:45,765 --> 00:21:48,017
he was at a cocktail party
in Berkeley,
380
00:21:48,059 --> 00:21:52,105
and a young woman named
Kitty Puening had spied him
381
00:21:52,146 --> 00:21:57,735
from across the garden and was
immediately attracted to him.
382
00:21:58,736 --> 00:22:03,741
She was a firecracker
(laughs) of a young woman.
383
00:22:07,829 --> 00:22:11,040
They fell in love, and by 1940,
384
00:22:11,082 --> 00:22:12,375
she was pregnant.
385
00:22:15,878 --> 00:22:17,797
SHERWIN:
They live ever after.
386
00:22:17,839 --> 00:22:21,592
And notice I didn't say
"happily." (laughs)
387
00:22:21,634 --> 00:22:25,221
They are devoted to each other.
388
00:22:25,263 --> 00:22:28,683
But it's a difficult marriage
because of
389
00:22:28,725 --> 00:22:34,063
the complexity of Robert's life,
of their personalities,
390
00:22:34,105 --> 00:22:36,691
of the environment
in which they live.
391
00:22:39,944 --> 00:22:41,654
NOLAN:
She was an academic,
392
00:22:41,696 --> 00:22:43,489
and she was a biologist
and a botanist,
393
00:22:43,531 --> 00:22:46,534
and ultimately, that work
was all put to one side
394
00:22:46,576 --> 00:22:48,661
for the years at Los Alamos.
395
00:22:48,703 --> 00:22:50,705
I think she was very frustrated
396
00:22:50,747 --> 00:22:53,541
by being put in the position of
397
00:22:53,583 --> 00:22:55,793
a mother and a wife
and nothing else.
398
00:22:58,337 --> 00:23:01,674
CONANT: She did not thrive
at Los Alamos.
399
00:23:01,716 --> 00:23:04,135
It was a lonely
and hard existence.
400
00:23:05,303 --> 00:23:08,890
And she disappeared
into the bottle somewhat.
401
00:23:13,811 --> 00:23:17,523
Oppenheimer was famous
for mixing his gin martinis.
402
00:23:19,776 --> 00:23:24,614
He persuaded his scientists to
work very hard during the week
403
00:23:24,655 --> 00:23:28,451
and to party hard
on the weekends.
404
00:23:28,493 --> 00:23:31,120
RHODES: Everyone was hungover
on Sunday morning,
405
00:23:31,162 --> 00:23:33,414
but they worked a lot,
and they worked hard,
406
00:23:33,456 --> 00:23:34,707
and they worked together.
407
00:23:34,749 --> 00:23:37,210
And that was largely
Oppenheimer.
408
00:23:42,298 --> 00:23:44,759
BIRD: Los Alamos
for many of these people were
409
00:23:44,801 --> 00:23:46,886
the most momentous years
of their lives.
410
00:23:50,056 --> 00:23:52,475
They felt part of something,
411
00:23:52,517 --> 00:23:56,312
part of something meaningful
and important.
412
00:23:56,354 --> 00:24:00,316
And they were led by
this very enigmatic,
413
00:24:00,358 --> 00:24:05,863
strange, bright, blue-eyed
young man whom they all admired.
414
00:24:11,702 --> 00:24:14,205
REID:
I grew up at Los Alamos.
415
00:24:16,416 --> 00:24:19,877
And my father came to Los Alamos
during the Manhattan Project.
416
00:24:21,713 --> 00:24:27,009
It was a-a curious place to live
417
00:24:27,051 --> 00:24:30,972
because they're blowing
things up three times a day.
418
00:24:32,557 --> 00:24:35,852
Explosions were at
10:00 and 12:00 and 3:00,
419
00:24:35,893 --> 00:24:37,145
so when you're in first grade,
420
00:24:37,186 --> 00:24:38,563
it means recess, lunch
and school's out.
421
00:24:40,898 --> 00:24:42,775
We were actually,
as little kids,
422
00:24:42,817 --> 00:24:45,194
connoisseurs of explosions.
423
00:24:47,238 --> 00:24:48,906
And at some point,
I asked my father,
424
00:24:48,948 --> 00:24:50,408
"What-what are you doing?"
425
00:24:50,450 --> 00:24:52,785
And he said,
"Well, we're doing something
426
00:24:52,827 --> 00:24:54,495
that has never been
done before."
427
00:24:54,537 --> 00:24:57,415
I thought, "That's got to be
pretty interesting,
428
00:24:57,457 --> 00:24:58,499
whatever it is."
429
00:24:58,541 --> 00:25:00,752
* *
430
00:25:08,718 --> 00:25:13,848
CARR: We get about a year into
the laboratory's existence,
431
00:25:13,890 --> 00:25:15,808
and we come to find
that it's gonna be
432
00:25:15,850 --> 00:25:17,393
a lot harder than we thought.
433
00:25:17,435 --> 00:25:20,271
Every little thing is hard.
434
00:25:20,313 --> 00:25:24,275
These are
some very complex machines.
435
00:25:25,610 --> 00:25:27,945
A nuclear weapon is not an idea.
436
00:25:27,987 --> 00:25:31,657
Think of a nuclear weapon
more as like a million ideas
437
00:25:31,699 --> 00:25:35,119
that have to come together
and work perfectly together.
438
00:25:36,996 --> 00:25:39,999
To make an atomic bomb,
you need the fuel for it.
439
00:25:42,627 --> 00:25:45,880
CARR: We have plutonium,
and we have enriched uranium.
440
00:25:45,922 --> 00:25:47,423
We have two different types
of material
441
00:25:47,465 --> 00:25:49,759
that we're going to try and use.
442
00:25:49,801 --> 00:25:52,929
Plutonium was
the better material to use.
443
00:25:52,970 --> 00:25:54,806
There was gonna be more of it.
444
00:25:54,847 --> 00:25:57,433
You needed less of it
to make a bomb,
445
00:25:57,475 --> 00:26:00,645
and yet it was harder
to detonate.
446
00:26:02,230 --> 00:26:07,151
The initial way to make a bomb
was called gun assembly.
447
00:26:07,193 --> 00:26:13,032
It was to take
two pieces of material
448
00:26:13,074 --> 00:26:15,284
and slam them together...
449
00:26:16,661 --> 00:26:19,372
...causing a critical mass
and an explosion.
450
00:26:19,414 --> 00:26:23,292
And that was fine if you used
highly enriched uranium.
451
00:26:23,334 --> 00:26:27,797
But one day, they discovered
it won't work with plutonium.
452
00:26:27,839 --> 00:26:31,384
The plutonium
turned out to be so reactive
453
00:26:31,426 --> 00:26:33,636
that you couldn't
fire it up a barrel
454
00:26:33,678 --> 00:26:36,305
even at 3,000 feet per second.
455
00:26:36,347 --> 00:26:37,682
It would fizzle.
456
00:26:37,724 --> 00:26:40,017
It would melt down
before it got up the barrel.
457
00:26:40,059 --> 00:26:41,519
NORRIS:
It was a great shock.
458
00:26:41,561 --> 00:26:44,313
I mean, maybe this whole
plutonium thing had been wasted,
459
00:26:44,355 --> 00:26:47,316
hundreds of millions of dollars
to develop plutonium.
460
00:26:50,903 --> 00:26:52,321
WELLERSTEIN:
Oppenheimer was distraught,
461
00:26:52,363 --> 00:26:54,449
and-and Los Alamos
was distraught.
462
00:26:55,533 --> 00:26:59,412
RHODES: He considered resigning,
he was so depressed,
463
00:26:59,454 --> 00:27:01,497
and his friends
at the laboratory said,
464
00:27:01,539 --> 00:27:02,915
"You can't, Robert.
465
00:27:02,957 --> 00:27:04,834
"You've got to stay
and finish this work.
466
00:27:04,876 --> 00:27:07,045
It's got to happen.
We must do it."
467
00:27:07,086 --> 00:27:09,964
And-and reluctantly, he stayed.
468
00:27:12,050 --> 00:27:13,676
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: ...war under
the supreme command of
469
00:27:13,718 --> 00:27:15,511
General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
470
00:27:15,553 --> 00:27:17,972
Allied forces have
nearly three million troops
471
00:27:18,014 --> 00:27:19,515
trained for the assault.
472
00:27:20,850 --> 00:27:22,351
On the other side
of the channel...
473
00:27:23,770 --> 00:27:25,396
...the Nazis also know
474
00:27:25,438 --> 00:27:28,274
what the Allied forces
are preparing for,
475
00:27:28,316 --> 00:27:30,902
and they are making
preparations of their own.
476
00:27:30,943 --> 00:27:32,945
(Hitler shouting in German)
477
00:27:33,988 --> 00:27:35,656
BIRD:
Oppenheimer feared
478
00:27:35,698 --> 00:27:38,076
he was still in a race
with the Germans.
479
00:27:38,117 --> 00:27:40,578
Even as late
as the summer of '44,
480
00:27:40,620 --> 00:27:42,246
they had no real intelligence
481
00:27:42,288 --> 00:27:45,833
about where they were
on the German bomb project.
482
00:27:47,418 --> 00:27:49,837
CARR: And so, if they don't
crack the plutonium problem,
483
00:27:49,879 --> 00:27:52,256
they may not have
a bomb in time.
484
00:27:53,466 --> 00:27:56,594
NORRIS: Oppenheimer shifted
the laboratory into, you know,
485
00:27:56,636 --> 00:27:59,013
full-speed panic mode.
486
00:28:00,973 --> 00:28:02,642
WELLERSTEIN:
They had had some ideas
487
00:28:02,683 --> 00:28:04,727
for other types of bomb designs,
which they had thrown around
488
00:28:04,769 --> 00:28:06,437
at the very beginning
of the project
489
00:28:06,479 --> 00:28:08,898
but dismissed 'cause
they seemed too difficult.
490
00:28:08,940 --> 00:28:11,401
But one of them
was called implosion.
491
00:28:13,277 --> 00:28:16,280
The way implosion
in a nutshell works was
492
00:28:16,322 --> 00:28:18,741
they had a solid ball
of plutonium,
493
00:28:18,783 --> 00:28:20,618
just a solid sphere of it,
494
00:28:20,660 --> 00:28:23,746
about the size of a softball,
maybe a little bit smaller.
495
00:28:23,788 --> 00:28:28,835
And this is encased by
tons of high explosives.
496
00:28:30,294 --> 00:28:33,339
And these high explosives
are really specially made,
497
00:28:33,381 --> 00:28:36,634
so that when they explode,
they're gonna end up
498
00:28:36,676 --> 00:28:40,638
sort of focusing a blast wave
onto this ball,
499
00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:42,765
pushing on the top
and pushing on the bottom
500
00:28:42,807 --> 00:28:44,434
and pushing on both sides of it.
501
00:28:44,475 --> 00:28:46,978
Every angle of this is
gonna be being pushed upon
502
00:28:47,019 --> 00:28:50,523
with a lot of explosive force.
503
00:28:50,565 --> 00:28:53,818
What you want to do
is get this pressure
504
00:28:53,860 --> 00:28:58,322
to squeeze
the plutonium target evenly.
505
00:28:58,364 --> 00:29:01,367
If it were asymmetrical,
it probably wouldn't work.
506
00:29:01,409 --> 00:29:04,787
You had to have enough pressure
quickly enough
507
00:29:04,829 --> 00:29:08,958
to smash these subatomic
particles together hard enough
508
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,170
to get them to have
this a-amazing reaction.
509
00:29:13,171 --> 00:29:15,381
WELLERSTEIN:
This is really hard to do.
510
00:29:15,423 --> 00:29:19,343
Every aspect of this is
an almost totally new problem.
511
00:29:19,385 --> 00:29:21,137
It is a technology
that would have benefited from
512
00:29:21,179 --> 00:29:22,472
another decade of development.
513
00:29:22,513 --> 00:29:25,183
And they didn't have that.
They had a year.
514
00:29:28,269 --> 00:29:30,646
CONANT: Oppenheimer was
working night and day
515
00:29:30,688 --> 00:29:32,482
building the bomb.
516
00:29:32,523 --> 00:29:35,943
And as the project grew in size,
the security service
517
00:29:35,985 --> 00:29:39,197
protecting the project
also grew.
518
00:29:39,238 --> 00:29:41,699
And even though
he was beloved and admired
519
00:29:41,741 --> 00:29:43,451
by most of the scientists
520
00:29:43,493 --> 00:29:45,745
working at
the Los Alamos project,
521
00:29:45,787 --> 00:29:48,831
he had fallen under
a greater veil of suspicion
522
00:29:48,873 --> 00:29:52,001
because there were
certain aspects of his past
523
00:29:52,043 --> 00:29:54,670
that raised the possibility
524
00:29:54,712 --> 00:29:57,048
that he could be
a security risk.
525
00:30:02,512 --> 00:30:04,555
* *
526
00:30:10,728 --> 00:30:12,647
RHODES:
When Oppenheimer was teaching
527
00:30:12,688 --> 00:30:14,982
at the University of California
at Berkeley,
528
00:30:15,024 --> 00:30:19,862
he really was
a very unworldly man
529
00:30:19,904 --> 00:30:21,989
focused on science,
530
00:30:22,031 --> 00:30:24,951
until the Depression began.
531
00:30:27,161 --> 00:30:28,746
He discovered, to his shock,
532
00:30:28,788 --> 00:30:33,042
that his students often
didn't even have enough to eat.
533
00:30:33,084 --> 00:30:35,878
One of them told me
he was living on
534
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,381
cat food, cans of cat food.
535
00:30:38,423 --> 00:30:40,425
That was the only thing
he could afford.
536
00:30:41,676 --> 00:30:46,180
Oppenheimer was changed
by this discovery
537
00:30:46,222 --> 00:30:49,058
of-of suffering
in the world, really.
538
00:30:51,728 --> 00:30:54,731
BIRD: And Oppenheimer
sort of naturally,
539
00:30:54,772 --> 00:30:57,734
like many of his friends
in Berkeley at the time,
540
00:30:57,775 --> 00:31:00,445
drifted politically to the left.
541
00:31:08,453 --> 00:31:13,624
CARR: Communism was a very
appealing idea in the 1930s.
542
00:31:13,666 --> 00:31:15,251
There was no Internet.
543
00:31:15,293 --> 00:31:17,170
People didn't know
what was going on real time
544
00:31:17,211 --> 00:31:18,921
in the Soviet Union,
545
00:31:18,963 --> 00:31:21,758
where Joseph Stalin, of course,
was in the process of murdering
546
00:31:21,799 --> 00:31:24,594
20 million of his own people.
547
00:31:29,599 --> 00:31:32,268
What people here in the
United States saw instead was,
548
00:31:32,310 --> 00:31:35,563
hey, you know,
here in the Soviet Union,
549
00:31:35,605 --> 00:31:38,441
everybody is free and equal
and has a job
550
00:31:38,483 --> 00:31:41,402
and a place to live
and-and a future,
551
00:31:41,444 --> 00:31:44,781
an important role to play
in the greater collective.
552
00:31:46,824 --> 00:31:50,203
Now, if I don't know where
my next meal is coming from,
553
00:31:50,244 --> 00:31:53,414
that sounds like
a pretty good idea.
554
00:31:55,541 --> 00:31:59,962
It's debatable if Oppenheimer
ever really joined, officially,
555
00:32:00,004 --> 00:32:02,298
the Communist Party.
556
00:32:02,340 --> 00:32:04,384
But his brother did.
557
00:32:04,425 --> 00:32:06,427
Frank Oppenheimer
joined the party.
558
00:32:06,469 --> 00:32:09,597
Frank's wife Jackie
joined the party.
559
00:32:09,639 --> 00:32:12,100
Many of Oppenheimer's
close friends
560
00:32:12,141 --> 00:32:13,684
had joined the Communist Party.
561
00:32:13,726 --> 00:32:15,645
Many of his students
at Berkeley and elsewhere
562
00:32:15,686 --> 00:32:18,481
had been members of
the Communist Party as well.
563
00:32:19,690 --> 00:32:21,442
BIRD:
And in the mid '30s,
564
00:32:21,484 --> 00:32:24,320
he met a young woman
named Jean Tatlock,
565
00:32:24,362 --> 00:32:28,074
who was studying
to become a psychiatrist.
566
00:32:28,116 --> 00:32:30,743
Brilliant young woman.
567
00:32:30,785 --> 00:32:32,203
He fell in love with her.
568
00:32:33,871 --> 00:32:36,457
NOLAN: They were engaged
to be married twice.
569
00:32:36,499 --> 00:32:38,710
I think it's probably
a reasonable interpretation
570
00:32:38,751 --> 00:32:41,003
to say he was
somewhat obsessed with her.
571
00:32:41,045 --> 00:32:43,506
She was a communist.
572
00:32:43,548 --> 00:32:45,675
He was interested
in communist ideas.
573
00:32:46,801 --> 00:32:48,636
BIRD:
And for the next four years,
574
00:32:48,678 --> 00:32:51,681
Oppenheimer actually contributed
quite a bit of money
575
00:32:51,723 --> 00:32:53,683
to the Communist Party.
576
00:32:53,725 --> 00:32:58,146
But his political activities
began to be noticed.
577
00:33:02,066 --> 00:33:03,693
HERKEN:
What the FBI did in those days,
578
00:33:03,735 --> 00:33:06,195
they were following
the communists.
579
00:33:07,029 --> 00:33:08,990
They would walk around
and they would take down
580
00:33:09,031 --> 00:33:10,867
the license numbers
of the cars that were parked
581
00:33:10,908 --> 00:33:13,494
in front of the house or
the building and look them up.
582
00:33:13,536 --> 00:33:15,121
That's when Oppenheimer
583
00:33:15,163 --> 00:33:17,206
first came to the attention
of the FBI.
584
00:33:17,248 --> 00:33:20,793
EISENBACH: Even while he's
heading up the A-bomb project,
585
00:33:20,835 --> 00:33:23,963
the FBI is wiretapping
and following him.
586
00:33:24,005 --> 00:33:28,384
Military Intelligence is
constantly asking him questions.
587
00:33:28,426 --> 00:33:31,054
RHODES: He was, I think,
in a strange way,
588
00:33:31,095 --> 00:33:32,555
comfortable with that because
589
00:33:32,597 --> 00:33:35,391
he knew he wasn't doing
anything wrong.
590
00:33:36,392 --> 00:33:38,561
Even when he went to visit
his old girlfriend
591
00:33:38,603 --> 00:33:41,731
when he should not have
probably done so.
592
00:33:43,691 --> 00:33:47,779
In 1943, he heard
from Jean Tatlock.
593
00:33:47,820 --> 00:33:49,864
She was going through
some emotional crisis,
594
00:33:49,906 --> 00:33:51,240
and she wanted to see him.
595
00:33:51,282 --> 00:33:53,201
He had kept in touch with Jean.
596
00:33:53,242 --> 00:33:55,453
He still loved her.
597
00:33:55,495 --> 00:33:58,164
She had rejected him.
He had married Kitty.
598
00:33:58,206 --> 00:34:03,086
But he knew that Jean Tatlock
was in a depressed state,
599
00:34:03,127 --> 00:34:04,796
and so he visited her.
600
00:34:07,924 --> 00:34:12,303
RHODES: He had to leave Los
Alamos and go to San Francisco.
601
00:34:16,307 --> 00:34:18,643
And that was, of course,
just red meat
602
00:34:18,684 --> 00:34:21,145
for the, for the dog,
as it were.
603
00:34:22,105 --> 00:34:25,942
There were two guys
sitting outside the apartment.
604
00:34:25,983 --> 00:34:29,904
BIRD: Jean Tatlock
was under surveillance.
605
00:34:29,946 --> 00:34:32,198
She was still a member
of the Communist Party.
606
00:34:32,990 --> 00:34:35,118
RHODES:
He spent the night with her.
607
00:34:35,159 --> 00:34:36,786
They had been lovers,
608
00:34:36,828 --> 00:34:39,414
and I think they probably were
lovers again that night.
609
00:34:43,543 --> 00:34:47,672
BIRD: This was reported back
to Colonel Boris Pash,
610
00:34:47,714 --> 00:34:49,298
who was head of
Army Intelligence
611
00:34:49,340 --> 00:34:50,800
for all the West Coast.
612
00:34:50,842 --> 00:34:53,469
And Pash was convinced
that this was
613
00:34:53,511 --> 00:34:57,974
a serious breach of security
614
00:34:58,015 --> 00:34:59,851
and that perhaps Oppenheimer
was conveying nuclear secrets
615
00:34:59,892 --> 00:35:03,563
and atomic secrets to the
Communist Party through Tatlock.
616
00:35:05,231 --> 00:35:08,484
Sadly, tragically, she died
617
00:35:08,526 --> 00:35:11,738
just a few months later,
in the spring of 1944.
618
00:35:12,864 --> 00:35:17,702
Under mysterious circumstances,
her father found her naked
619
00:35:17,744 --> 00:35:20,747
with her head
plunged in a bathtub
620
00:35:20,788 --> 00:35:24,208
with her body slumped
over the edge of the bathtub.
621
00:35:25,668 --> 00:35:29,464
Which is a very odd way
to commit suicide.
622
00:35:29,505 --> 00:35:32,175
There's some speculation that
623
00:35:32,216 --> 00:35:34,469
perhaps she was murdered.
624
00:35:35,887 --> 00:35:40,224
Oppenheimer was horrified
and devastated by the news.
625
00:35:41,601 --> 00:35:45,188
The security officer
who informed him
626
00:35:45,229 --> 00:35:48,024
said that he wept openly,
627
00:35:48,066 --> 00:35:50,777
that he was absolutely bereft
628
00:35:50,818 --> 00:35:53,196
and actually confided
that there was nobody
629
00:35:53,237 --> 00:35:54,906
that he could speak to about it.
630
00:35:54,947 --> 00:35:59,619
So you sense, uh,
the loneliness of his grief.
631
00:36:02,705 --> 00:36:04,415
RADIO ANNOUNCER:
We interrupt this program
632
00:36:04,457 --> 00:36:05,583
with a special bulletin.
633
00:36:05,625 --> 00:36:07,710
President Roosevelt is dead.
634
00:36:07,752 --> 00:36:10,254
The president died
of a cerebral hemorrhage.
635
00:36:11,422 --> 00:36:13,591
April 1945 was
one of those months
636
00:36:13,633 --> 00:36:16,928
in which the fate of the world
seemed to turn on a dime.
637
00:36:18,721 --> 00:36:20,139
FDR dies,
638
00:36:20,181 --> 00:36:22,809
followed by Hitler
committing suicide.
639
00:36:22,850 --> 00:36:26,729
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Hitler's
empire burns and shrivels.
640
00:36:26,771 --> 00:36:31,275
ELSE: The bomb was conceived
in a kind of anti-Hitler fervor.
641
00:36:31,317 --> 00:36:34,070
By the spring of 1945,
Hitler's out of the picture.
642
00:36:34,112 --> 00:36:36,489
The Nazis are
no longer a threat.
643
00:36:36,531 --> 00:36:38,950
Hitler is not gonna build
an atomic bomb
644
00:36:38,991 --> 00:36:40,493
and drop it on New York.
645
00:36:40,535 --> 00:36:42,328
That's not gonna happen.
646
00:36:42,370 --> 00:36:45,540
But there was no way they were
not gonna finish that weapon.
647
00:36:46,999 --> 00:36:48,793
RHODES:
They wanted to make this happen.
648
00:36:48,835 --> 00:36:51,796
They didn't want the war to end
before it happened.
649
00:36:51,838 --> 00:36:54,048
Oppenheimer wanted the bomb
to be used,
650
00:36:54,090 --> 00:36:57,719
because how else would the world
know what it was?
651
00:36:57,760 --> 00:36:59,971
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Harry S. Truman was sworn in
652
00:37:00,012 --> 00:37:01,889
as President
of the United States.
653
00:37:01,931 --> 00:37:04,600
EISENBACH: By the time
Truman gets to the presidency,
654
00:37:04,642 --> 00:37:05,893
the wheels are in motion.
655
00:37:05,935 --> 00:37:08,146
This bomb is going to be
dropped somewhere.
656
00:37:08,187 --> 00:37:11,899
With the death of Hitler,
the target then becomes Japan.
657
00:37:13,276 --> 00:37:15,653
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
The never-ending air campaign
658
00:37:15,695 --> 00:37:17,739
against Japan's stolen empire
continues,
659
00:37:17,780 --> 00:37:21,993
as B-24s hammer installations
in the Palau islands.
660
00:37:25,997 --> 00:37:28,666
We were marching up
from island to island.
661
00:37:33,379 --> 00:37:37,925
Landing on the beaches against
dug-in Japanese defenses.
662
00:37:39,135 --> 00:37:44,474
Losing young men
in large numbers.
663
00:37:44,515 --> 00:37:46,059
Every day that went by
664
00:37:46,100 --> 00:37:49,020
without this bomb
being successfully tested
665
00:37:49,062 --> 00:37:51,939
was a day in which thousands
of Americans are dying.
666
00:37:51,981 --> 00:37:53,900
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: Thousands
of Yanks have been wounded
667
00:37:53,941 --> 00:37:56,736
and other thousands
have sacrificed their lives
668
00:37:56,778 --> 00:37:58,821
to drive a fanatical foe
from this vital base,
669
00:37:58,863 --> 00:38:01,699
the doorstep to Japan itself.
670
00:38:02,867 --> 00:38:05,244
NORRIS: They knew
the Japanese were defeated,
671
00:38:05,286 --> 00:38:07,830
but defeat and surrender
are two different things.
672
00:38:07,872 --> 00:38:10,958
So how do you get them
to surrender?
673
00:38:13,211 --> 00:38:17,173
OPPENHEIMER: In a world of
atomic weapons, wars will cease.
674
00:38:17,215 --> 00:38:19,384
And that is not a small thing.
675
00:38:21,511 --> 00:38:23,888
EISENBACH: The way
Oppenheimer looked at the bomb
676
00:38:23,930 --> 00:38:28,851
is in a kind of
Eastern metaphysical way of
677
00:38:28,893 --> 00:38:31,687
it is a act of destruction
and creation
678
00:38:31,729 --> 00:38:33,856
potentially at the same time,
679
00:38:33,898 --> 00:38:37,610
act of war and an act of peace,
680
00:38:37,652 --> 00:38:41,406
that this thing, if mishandled,
681
00:38:41,447 --> 00:38:45,243
could end humanity, but if
properly handled and harnessed,
682
00:38:45,284 --> 00:38:47,662
could actually lead to an era
683
00:38:47,703 --> 00:38:50,373
of peace and prosperity
for the entire world.
684
00:39:01,592 --> 00:39:03,219
CONANT:
By the summer of '45,
685
00:39:03,261 --> 00:39:06,806
they had been working on
the implosion design for a year,
686
00:39:06,848 --> 00:39:12,603
tweaking, devising and
struggling with the challenges.
687
00:39:12,645 --> 00:39:14,105
WELLERSTEIN:
For this thing to work,
688
00:39:14,147 --> 00:39:16,232
all of those explosives
and their detonators
689
00:39:16,274 --> 00:39:18,151
and the things powering them
and the batteries
690
00:39:18,192 --> 00:39:21,571
and everything else
has got to work perfectly.
691
00:39:21,612 --> 00:39:23,030
And there wasn't
a really good way to figure out
692
00:39:23,072 --> 00:39:24,657
if that was
actually gonna happen,
693
00:39:24,699 --> 00:39:27,034
other than setting off
a full-size test.
694
00:39:32,790 --> 00:39:34,709
HERKEN:
They settle upon the site
695
00:39:34,751 --> 00:39:36,335
where the bomb will be tested,
696
00:39:36,377 --> 00:39:40,923
and Oppenheimer chooses
the name for the site: Trinity.
697
00:39:40,965 --> 00:39:42,675
CARR:
He had been reading
698
00:39:42,717 --> 00:39:44,260
the poetry of John Donne
at the time,
699
00:39:44,302 --> 00:39:47,263
and one of those poems,
uh, include the line,
700
00:39:47,305 --> 00:39:49,348
"Batter my heart,
three-personed God,"
701
00:39:49,390 --> 00:39:53,102
a reference to the Holy Trinity
in Christianity.
702
00:39:54,062 --> 00:39:57,690
HERKEN: And I think that that
was a tribute to Jean Tatlock,
703
00:39:57,732 --> 00:40:00,651
because Jean and Oppie
used to read
704
00:40:00,693 --> 00:40:03,613
the poetry of John Donne in bed.
705
00:40:12,872 --> 00:40:16,459
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Sunday, July 15, 1945.
706
00:40:16,501 --> 00:40:18,795
Alamogordo, New Mexico.
707
00:40:18,836 --> 00:40:20,963
It is D-minus one for the test
708
00:40:21,005 --> 00:40:23,257
of the world's first
atomic device.
709
00:40:24,342 --> 00:40:26,803
NOLAN: The hours
leading up to the Trinity test
710
00:40:26,844 --> 00:40:29,639
are one of
the most extraordinary moments
711
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:32,433
of-of tension imaginable.
712
00:40:32,475 --> 00:40:34,977
The stakes,
the billions of dollars,
713
00:40:35,019 --> 00:40:37,188
the hundreds of thousands
of people who'd been involved
714
00:40:37,230 --> 00:40:41,734
in building to this one moment
of this test of this new weapon,
715
00:40:41,776 --> 00:40:44,028
all of that responsibility
falling
716
00:40:44,070 --> 00:40:46,406
very squarely
on Oppenheimer's shoulders.
717
00:40:46,447 --> 00:40:48,533
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
At the bomb test site,
718
00:40:48,574 --> 00:40:51,077
the scientists are working
under growing pressure.
719
00:40:51,119 --> 00:40:53,955
They are told there must be
no further delays.
720
00:40:53,996 --> 00:40:56,666
The president must know
the results of the test
721
00:40:56,707 --> 00:40:58,835
when he meets with Stalin.
722
00:40:58,876 --> 00:41:00,837
CARR: The President
of the United States
723
00:41:00,878 --> 00:41:02,839
is about to enter into
the Potsdam Conference--
724
00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:05,133
Potsdam, a city in Germany.
725
00:41:05,174 --> 00:41:06,509
He's gonna meet
with Joseph Stalin,
726
00:41:06,551 --> 00:41:08,052
Winston Churchill as well,
727
00:41:08,094 --> 00:41:09,846
and talk about
the future of Europe
728
00:41:09,887 --> 00:41:11,681
and the future
of the Pacific War.
729
00:41:11,723 --> 00:41:13,391
The president must know
730
00:41:13,433 --> 00:41:17,729
if he has a nuclear weapon
in his back pocket or not.
731
00:41:26,571 --> 00:41:28,448
NORRIS:
Everybody was on edge,
732
00:41:28,489 --> 00:41:30,616
and they had to calm down
Oppenheimer.
733
00:41:30,658 --> 00:41:33,161
He was a bundle of nerves.
734
00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:35,747
RHODES:
He chain-smoked,
735
00:41:35,788 --> 00:41:37,707
which he pretty much
always did anyway.
736
00:41:39,041 --> 00:41:41,711
GROVES: It was a situation
where I did not want
737
00:41:41,753 --> 00:41:44,338
Dr. Oppenheimer to get nervous.
738
00:41:46,340 --> 00:41:48,551
There's a famous picture
from that evening
739
00:41:48,593 --> 00:41:52,597
where Oppenheimer himself
crawls up the tower to the top
740
00:41:52,638 --> 00:41:55,725
where the bomb has been hoisted.
741
00:41:55,767 --> 00:41:58,311
He's checking
all the final plugs
742
00:41:58,352 --> 00:42:02,315
to make sure
that everything is in order.
743
00:42:02,356 --> 00:42:03,858
He's clearly worried,
744
00:42:03,900 --> 00:42:07,653
trying to check
every last little detail.
745
00:42:07,695 --> 00:42:09,072
WELLERSTEIN:
Oppenheimer doesn't know
746
00:42:09,113 --> 00:42:10,615
if this thing
is gonna work at all.
747
00:42:10,656 --> 00:42:11,949
EISENBACH:
In fact, he had a bet
748
00:42:11,991 --> 00:42:13,284
with another one
of the scientists
749
00:42:13,326 --> 00:42:15,411
that it wouldn't work--
ten dollars.
750
00:42:16,204 --> 00:42:17,622
OPPENHEIMER:
There were a hundred things
751
00:42:17,663 --> 00:42:20,249
that could be done wrong,
752
00:42:20,291 --> 00:42:24,504
any one of which
could make the test a failure.
753
00:42:24,545 --> 00:42:26,923
NYE:
Everybody had doubts.
754
00:42:26,964 --> 00:42:29,092
Was it even possible?
755
00:42:29,133 --> 00:42:31,969
And then this question,
'cause nobody was really sure:
756
00:42:32,011 --> 00:42:35,098
What if we set
the whole atmosphere on fire?
757
00:42:36,849 --> 00:42:39,268
SNOWDEN:
What if we set off this bomb
758
00:42:39,310 --> 00:42:41,813
and it literally sets
the air on fire
759
00:42:41,854 --> 00:42:43,815
and engulfs us all?
760
00:42:45,358 --> 00:42:48,694
KAKU: The atmosphere is
made out of oxygen, after all.
761
00:42:48,736 --> 00:42:51,114
Can the oxygen of the atmosphere
762
00:42:51,155 --> 00:42:54,117
be set in flames
by an atomic bomb?
763
00:42:54,158 --> 00:42:56,744
No one knew the answer
to these questions.
764
00:43:02,583 --> 00:43:07,171
RHODES: It's before dawn
on July 16, 1945.
765
00:43:07,213 --> 00:43:08,548
It was dark.
766
00:43:08,589 --> 00:43:11,968
The bomb was in the tower
a hundred feet up,
767
00:43:12,009 --> 00:43:14,053
and they were ready to go.
768
00:43:14,095 --> 00:43:18,850
Oppenheimer was in one of
the bunkers that had been built.
769
00:43:22,854 --> 00:43:24,689
CARR:
Oppenheimer braced himself,
770
00:43:24,731 --> 00:43:27,650
according to some accounts
uttering the words,
771
00:43:27,692 --> 00:43:31,195
"Lord, these affairs
are hard on the heart."
772
00:43:36,033 --> 00:43:38,953
nine, eight...
773
00:43:38,995 --> 00:43:41,247
RHODES: Oppenheimer was
saying to himself,
774
00:43:41,289 --> 00:43:43,416
-"I must remain conscious."
-(ticking)
775
00:43:43,458 --> 00:43:44,917
MAN:
...seven...
776
00:43:44,959 --> 00:43:46,169
"I must remain conscious."
777
00:43:46,210 --> 00:43:48,171
MAN:
...six...
778
00:43:48,212 --> 00:43:50,465
CARR:
Seconds are hours.
779
00:43:50,506 --> 00:43:54,260
MAN:
...five, four,
780
00:43:54,302 --> 00:43:57,722
three, two...
781
00:43:57,764 --> 00:44:00,016
RHODES:
And all of a sudden...
782
00:44:07,231 --> 00:44:09,400
...the whole place lit up.
783
00:44:19,577 --> 00:44:21,370
One of the scientists told me
784
00:44:21,412 --> 00:44:25,166
it felt as if someone had
opened an oven door.
785
00:44:26,250 --> 00:44:28,169
Suddenly, there was
this huge heat,
786
00:44:28,211 --> 00:44:30,004
which was radiant heat,
787
00:44:30,046 --> 00:44:32,382
so it came at
the speed of light as well,
788
00:44:32,423 --> 00:44:35,426
and then this rolling thunder
of sound,
789
00:44:35,468 --> 00:44:39,555
and the first mushroom cloud
started going up.
790
00:44:39,597 --> 00:44:43,851
It was orange and purple
and blue and yellow,
791
00:44:43,893 --> 00:44:47,730
and it roiled,
and it grew as it rose.
792
00:44:47,772 --> 00:44:51,734
And a new thing, he said,
had been created on the Earth,
793
00:44:51,776 --> 00:44:54,070
a new challenge for humanity.
794
00:44:58,116 --> 00:45:00,326
NYE:
People had seen explosions
795
00:45:00,368 --> 00:45:04,205
and tested bombs for decades,
but to see the size of it,
796
00:45:04,247 --> 00:45:08,292
just... it was just astonishing.
797
00:45:09,127 --> 00:45:10,962
NOLAN: There's never been
a moment like that
798
00:45:11,003 --> 00:45:13,756
in the history of the world.
799
00:45:13,798 --> 00:45:16,968
The view of the world,
the view of what matter is,
800
00:45:17,009 --> 00:45:21,514
what we are made of indeed,
palpably changes.
801
00:45:21,556 --> 00:45:26,602
It's an unleashing of a, of
a force never before imagined
802
00:45:26,644 --> 00:45:30,898
and could never be ignored
from this point on.
803
00:45:36,487 --> 00:45:40,199
OPPENHEIMER: We knew
the world would not be the same.
804
00:45:42,493 --> 00:45:45,329
A few people laughed.
805
00:45:46,748 --> 00:45:48,958
A few people cried.
806
00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:50,752
Most people were silent.
807
00:45:53,671 --> 00:45:57,842
I remembered the line
from the Hindu scripture,
808
00:45:57,884 --> 00:45:59,594
the Bhagavad Gita.
809
00:46:02,472 --> 00:46:04,223
Vishnu...
810
00:46:05,433 --> 00:46:10,104
...is trying to persuade
the prince that
811
00:46:10,146 --> 00:46:12,607
he should do his duty,
812
00:46:12,648 --> 00:46:14,984
and to impress him,
813
00:46:15,026 --> 00:46:20,406
takes on his multiarmed form
and says,
814
00:46:20,448 --> 00:46:25,036
"Now I am become Death,
the destroyer of worlds."
815
00:46:26,871 --> 00:46:30,708
I suppose we all thought that,
one way or another.
816
00:46:30,750 --> 00:46:33,002
* *
817
00:46:42,929 --> 00:46:46,849
CARR: After the test was over,
Oppenheimer had this strut.
818
00:46:46,891 --> 00:46:49,018
It was likeHigh Noon.
819
00:46:49,060 --> 00:46:51,187
He had done it.
820
00:46:52,522 --> 00:46:55,900
Oppenheimer was very proud
of this accomplishment.
821
00:46:57,235 --> 00:46:58,569
It was a world-changing moment,
822
00:46:58,611 --> 00:47:02,198
and a lot of the scientists
realized that.
823
00:47:05,743 --> 00:47:07,412
Now came the business of
824
00:47:07,453 --> 00:47:10,081
what the government would do
with their creation.
825
00:47:12,583 --> 00:47:14,210
CONANT:
Groves hurried back
826
00:47:14,252 --> 00:47:16,337
to his Washington office
and cabled the news
827
00:47:16,379 --> 00:47:19,549
that the bomb experiment
had been a success
828
00:47:19,590 --> 00:47:23,511
and even more powerful than
they had anticipated.
829
00:47:24,721 --> 00:47:28,224
This information is
transmitted to Truman, who...
830
00:47:28,266 --> 00:47:30,435
entire attitude changes
at Potsdam.
831
00:47:30,476 --> 00:47:33,187
He suddenly feels like
he has a win in-in sight.
832
00:47:33,229 --> 00:47:35,898
He suddenly starts
bossing around Stalin.
833
00:47:35,940 --> 00:47:39,277
He decides the Japanese
get no concessions whatsoever.
834
00:47:40,445 --> 00:47:42,572
Truman had known
that this existed
835
00:47:42,613 --> 00:47:45,742
since he became president,
but to know it actually works
836
00:47:45,783 --> 00:47:47,869
and it's even more powerful
than we thought,
837
00:47:47,910 --> 00:47:51,456
that's a really different
position for him to be in.
838
00:47:51,497 --> 00:47:55,501
Our demand has been,
and it remains,
839
00:47:55,543 --> 00:47:59,088
-unconditional surrender!
-(applause)
840
00:48:02,175 --> 00:48:03,676
NYE:
My mom and dad
841
00:48:03,718 --> 00:48:05,928
were both veterans
of World War II, and my mom,
842
00:48:05,970 --> 00:48:09,098
she said, "You know, after...
843
00:48:09,140 --> 00:48:11,851
"after four years of this thing,
844
00:48:11,893 --> 00:48:15,271
"there was nobody really...
there was nobody going,
845
00:48:15,313 --> 00:48:18,483
'Was it ethical to use
a-a nuclear weapon?'"
846
00:48:19,859 --> 00:48:22,779
Right? Just get it over with.
847
00:48:22,820 --> 00:48:24,864
This is horrible. Like, this--
848
00:48:24,906 --> 00:48:28,284
Whatever you can do
to shorten this thing.
849
00:48:28,326 --> 00:48:31,370
Everybody was terrified
and exhausted,
850
00:48:31,412 --> 00:48:35,875
and everybody knew somebody
who knew somebody
851
00:48:35,917 --> 00:48:38,711
who was not living anymore
because of this.
852
00:48:40,630 --> 00:48:43,174
ELSE:
With the bomb ready to go,
853
00:48:43,216 --> 00:48:45,635
I mean, the choices
are appalling.
854
00:48:45,676 --> 00:48:47,970
You know, they know
perfectly well that if they use
855
00:48:48,012 --> 00:48:51,474
these weapons on Japanese men,
women and children in cities,
856
00:48:51,516 --> 00:48:54,310
there are gonna be a couple
hundred thousand people who die.
857
00:48:54,352 --> 00:48:59,649
But if they don't stop the war
with the bomb,
858
00:48:59,690 --> 00:49:01,818
there may be millions more
that die.
859
00:49:01,859 --> 00:49:05,363
So those seem to be
the two choices,
860
00:49:05,405 --> 00:49:07,782
but there was a third choice,
861
00:49:07,824 --> 00:49:10,952
and the third choice
was to do a demonstration.
862
00:49:10,993 --> 00:49:15,456
Maybe drop this bomb in
Tokyo Bay, kill very few people,
863
00:49:15,498 --> 00:49:17,250
make a hell of a demonstration,
864
00:49:17,291 --> 00:49:20,294
and maybe the Japanese
will surrender
865
00:49:20,336 --> 00:49:25,466
just based on having seen the
ferocious power of this thing.
866
00:49:25,508 --> 00:49:27,844
Oppenheimer rejected,
uh, that course,
867
00:49:27,885 --> 00:49:31,597
as did the planners
in Washington.
868
00:49:35,435 --> 00:49:37,770
OPPENHEIMER:
We did think about whether, uh,
869
00:49:37,812 --> 00:49:40,565
its destructiveness, uh,
870
00:49:40,606 --> 00:49:42,358
its danger, uh,
871
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:46,571
could be vividly demonstrated
872
00:49:46,612 --> 00:49:50,366
over a barren
and uninhabited target,
873
00:49:50,408 --> 00:49:53,369
and we were
very doubtful of that.
874
00:49:55,955 --> 00:49:59,876
Very few people would have had
a more thorough understanding
875
00:49:59,917 --> 00:50:04,255
than J. Robert Oppenheimer
of what was about to unfold
876
00:50:04,297 --> 00:50:06,340
when these weapons were used
in combat.
877
00:50:06,382 --> 00:50:09,469
Oppenheimer contemplated,
knowing that
878
00:50:09,510 --> 00:50:12,180
this destruction
would be unworldly.
879
00:50:18,436 --> 00:50:22,565
BIRD: His secretary,
Anne Wilson, told me this story
880
00:50:22,607 --> 00:50:24,901
that I'm still struck by.
881
00:50:24,942 --> 00:50:27,028
After the Trinity test,
882
00:50:27,070 --> 00:50:31,199
she's walking to work one day
with Robert.
883
00:50:31,240 --> 00:50:35,495
He's a few steps ahead of her,
and he's suddenly muttering,
884
00:50:35,536 --> 00:50:39,457
"Those poor little people,
those poor little people."
885
00:50:40,958 --> 00:50:43,628
She stops him and says, "Robert,
what are you muttering about?"
886
00:50:43,669 --> 00:50:49,509
And he looked at her
and-and explained that,
887
00:50:49,550 --> 00:50:51,511
you know, the bomb
was going to be used
888
00:50:51,552 --> 00:50:54,013
on a Japanese city or two,
889
00:50:54,055 --> 00:50:57,475
and the victims were going to be
890
00:50:57,517 --> 00:51:01,437
civilians, a whole city.
891
00:51:01,479 --> 00:51:06,442
This was obviously on his mind,
painfully on his mind.
892
00:51:06,484 --> 00:51:11,948
And yet we know, that same week,
he was meeting with the generals
893
00:51:11,989 --> 00:51:14,283
who were in charge of
the bombing mission,
894
00:51:14,325 --> 00:51:16,577
and he was instructing them
895
00:51:16,619 --> 00:51:19,122
exactly how the bomb
should be dropped
896
00:51:19,163 --> 00:51:22,625
and at what altitude
it should be detonated
897
00:51:22,667 --> 00:51:26,295
for the maximum
destructive power.
898
00:51:26,337 --> 00:51:29,298
WELLERSTEIN: It's hard
to reconcile the sensitive,
899
00:51:29,340 --> 00:51:34,846
morally upright,
humanistic professor
900
00:51:34,887 --> 00:51:39,559
with the guy who recommends that
the bomb is dropped on cities
901
00:51:39,600 --> 00:51:42,186
and is calculating
the ideal height
902
00:51:42,228 --> 00:51:43,646
for destroying houses, right?
903
00:51:43,688 --> 00:51:45,857
How do you reconcile
those two things?
904
00:51:45,898 --> 00:51:50,903
Part of it is, I think,
Oppenheimer hoping that
905
00:51:50,945 --> 00:51:55,658
this will not be the first use
of nuclear weapons,
906
00:51:55,700 --> 00:51:58,244
that it will be the last use
of nuclear weapons.
907
00:51:58,286 --> 00:51:59,954
And if that's the case,
908
00:51:59,996 --> 00:52:03,040
then in order to ensure
that they're the last use,
909
00:52:03,082 --> 00:52:07,545
you want it to be as bad and
ugly and horrible as possible.
910
00:52:16,888 --> 00:52:20,058
RHODES:
By August of 1945,
911
00:52:20,099 --> 00:52:23,186
every Japanese city
of more than 50,000 people
912
00:52:23,227 --> 00:52:28,149
had basically been burned out,
except for three or four cities
913
00:52:28,191 --> 00:52:31,903
that had been deliberately
set aside for atomic bombing.
914
00:52:31,944 --> 00:52:34,947
Set aside because they had
physical characteristics
915
00:52:34,989 --> 00:52:39,911
that would allow us to see
how the bombs worked.
916
00:52:46,167 --> 00:52:49,379
Hiroshima was a flat city.
917
00:52:49,420 --> 00:52:53,925
And with the city set aside,
it was possible to see
918
00:52:53,966 --> 00:52:58,221
the effects of the bomb
all the way out to the edges.
919
00:52:58,262 --> 00:53:01,474
That's why Hiroshima was chosen.
920
00:53:09,607 --> 00:53:12,360
HIDEKO TAMURA:
When I was a little kid,
921
00:53:12,402 --> 00:53:14,487
there were seven rivers
running through,
922
00:53:14,529 --> 00:53:18,199
beautiful riverbanks.
923
00:53:18,241 --> 00:53:20,076
Water was clear.
924
00:53:20,118 --> 00:53:26,582
I was running through
magical gardens, flowers,
925
00:53:26,624 --> 00:53:30,002
looking for beautiful,
beautiful insects
926
00:53:30,044 --> 00:53:32,839
of all different kinds.
927
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:34,716
Birds chirping.
928
00:53:34,757 --> 00:53:36,676
They don't understand about war.
929
00:53:36,718 --> 00:53:40,763
It was all over,
sound of happiness.
930
00:53:45,685 --> 00:53:49,147
But the sound
of the explosion came
931
00:53:49,188 --> 00:53:51,816
like a rage over the Earth.
932
00:54:15,757 --> 00:54:17,383
TRUMAN:
A short time ago,
933
00:54:17,425 --> 00:54:23,014
an American airplane
dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.
934
00:54:23,056 --> 00:54:28,936
That bomb has more power
than 20,000 tons of TNT.
935
00:54:31,606 --> 00:54:34,317
It is an atomic bomb.
936
00:54:34,358 --> 00:54:38,029
It is a harnessing of
the basic power of the universe.
937
00:54:46,037 --> 00:54:49,082
We have spent
more than two billion dollars
938
00:54:49,123 --> 00:54:52,960
on the greatest
scientific gamble in history,
939
00:54:53,002 --> 00:54:54,379
and we have won.
940
00:55:06,891 --> 00:55:08,559
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
Japan could read its doom.
941
00:55:08,601 --> 00:55:11,187
This was more than
a routine bombing.
942
00:55:11,229 --> 00:55:14,190
It was the funeral pyre
of an aggressor nation.
943
00:55:14,232 --> 00:55:16,484
* *
944
00:55:41,843 --> 00:55:44,804
TAMURA:
I remember every second.
945
00:55:47,390 --> 00:55:49,600
I've never been so helpless.
946
00:55:54,897 --> 00:55:56,899
I was under the debris
947
00:55:56,941 --> 00:56:01,738
and somehow had to crawl
to the light and come out.
948
00:56:06,951 --> 00:56:09,662
I had to go looking
for my mother.
949
00:56:22,133 --> 00:56:26,596
Seeing these miserable
dying people,
950
00:56:26,637 --> 00:56:29,932
you didn't want her
to be one of them.
951
00:56:31,976 --> 00:56:34,687
Didn't hear
one single thing about
952
00:56:34,729 --> 00:56:40,568
cousin, my mother
or my best friend.
953
00:56:47,700 --> 00:56:51,287
I would have really loved
to have died with them,
954
00:56:51,329 --> 00:56:55,458
because life after that
was so very challenging
955
00:56:55,500 --> 00:56:57,001
and so very difficult,
956
00:56:57,043 --> 00:57:00,213
physically
and especially mentally.
957
00:57:10,264 --> 00:57:14,602
REID: A few years after
the end of the war,
958
00:57:14,644 --> 00:57:19,107
I saw the raw footage
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
959
00:57:24,904 --> 00:57:26,364
And there's no sound.
960
00:57:26,406 --> 00:57:30,201
It's just footage of people
with their skin
961
00:57:30,243 --> 00:57:33,746
and flower reverse patterns
of the kimonos
962
00:57:33,788 --> 00:57:35,748
burned into their skin
963
00:57:35,790 --> 00:57:39,293
and bodies floating
in the river.
964
00:57:39,335 --> 00:57:41,921
It was so shocking.
965
00:57:44,215 --> 00:57:47,677
And I thought, "They're all
my friends' fathers.
966
00:57:47,719 --> 00:57:51,180
Did they know
what they were doing?"
967
00:57:51,222 --> 00:57:53,891
None of it seemed
to make any sense to me
968
00:57:53,933 --> 00:57:55,685
that this was so horrible.
969
00:57:55,727 --> 00:57:57,979
(Geiger counter
clicking rapidly)
970
00:58:00,690 --> 00:58:02,859
CARR:
As reports of that devastation
971
00:58:02,900 --> 00:58:04,944
started to come back
to Los Alamos,
972
00:58:04,986 --> 00:58:08,823
obviously this weighed
on the scientists.
973
00:58:10,408 --> 00:58:12,827
Yes, it had been a horrible war,
974
00:58:12,869 --> 00:58:14,871
but still,
tens of thousands of people
975
00:58:14,912 --> 00:58:17,081
were killed in these attacks.
976
00:58:17,874 --> 00:58:19,876
Cities were destroyed.
977
00:58:24,255 --> 00:58:29,427
And that was difficult
on a lot of the scientists.
978
00:58:29,469 --> 00:58:32,346
And I certainly think that
it was difficult on Oppenheimer
979
00:58:32,388 --> 00:58:34,932
for the rest of his life.
980
00:58:36,559 --> 00:58:40,980
Hiroshima was far more costly
981
00:58:41,022 --> 00:58:44,984
in life and suffering
and inhumane
982
00:58:45,026 --> 00:58:47,111
than it needed to have been.
983
00:58:48,738 --> 00:58:51,699
This is easy to say
after the fact.
984
00:58:51,741 --> 00:58:53,951
-(birds chirping)
-(clock ticking)
985
00:58:58,164 --> 00:59:01,542
NOLAN: Oppenheimer never
apologized in any way for
986
00:59:01,584 --> 00:59:03,086
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
987
00:59:03,127 --> 00:59:06,422
He was very, very careful
and complicated
988
00:59:06,464 --> 00:59:08,424
in all statements he made about
989
00:59:08,466 --> 00:59:12,762
the moral implications of the
bomb and his involvement in it.
990
00:59:12,804 --> 00:59:15,765
And yet,
post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
991
00:59:15,807 --> 00:59:18,101
all of his actions
are the actions of
992
00:59:18,142 --> 00:59:21,562
somebody who is plagued
with guilt.
993
00:59:22,980 --> 00:59:25,441
DOUGLAS MacARTHUR:
We are gathered here,
994
00:59:25,483 --> 00:59:30,029
representatives of
the major warring powers,
995
00:59:30,071 --> 00:59:32,949
to conclude a solemn agreement
996
00:59:32,990 --> 00:59:36,285
whereby peace may be restored.
997
00:59:40,331 --> 00:59:42,708
TRUMAN:
I have received this afternoon
998
00:59:42,750 --> 00:59:45,378
a message from
the Japanese government.
999
00:59:46,796 --> 00:59:49,257
I deem this reply
a full acceptance
1000
00:59:49,298 --> 00:59:52,510
of the unconditional surrender
of Japan.
1001
00:59:53,469 --> 00:59:56,264
ELSE: And of course,
a great many people felt
1002
00:59:56,305 --> 00:59:59,434
that the atomic bomb
had ended World War II.
1003
01:00:00,727 --> 01:00:02,687
Perhaps it had.
1004
01:00:04,564 --> 01:00:07,984
And Robert Oppenheimer
was the guy who made it happen.
1005
01:00:08,943 --> 01:00:11,487
ROY GLAUBER:
He was in demand everywhere.
1006
01:00:11,529 --> 01:00:14,073
He was the cover story
forTime magazine,
1007
01:00:14,115 --> 01:00:15,992
once forLife magazine.
1008
01:00:16,033 --> 01:00:18,035
There scarcely was
a magazine cover
1009
01:00:18,077 --> 01:00:19,996
that he wasn't on.
1010
01:00:20,037 --> 01:00:22,957
HERKEN: The inaugural issue
ofPhysics Today simply showed
1011
01:00:22,999 --> 01:00:26,419
a porkpie hat
on a cyclotron control.
1012
01:00:26,461 --> 01:00:29,505
And everybody knew
the porkpie hat was Oppenheimer.
1013
01:00:31,758 --> 01:00:33,468
CONANT:
He becomes a rock star.
1014
01:00:33,509 --> 01:00:36,929
He is the oracle
of American science.
1015
01:00:36,971 --> 01:00:40,600
And he liked that.
1016
01:00:41,809 --> 01:00:46,189
He probably felt that
he'd finally come through it all
1017
01:00:46,230 --> 01:00:50,485
and he was no longer
the outsider.
1018
01:00:52,111 --> 01:00:55,114
Now he was not only
at the center of things
1019
01:00:55,156 --> 01:00:57,366
but that he stood
at the very top.
1020
01:01:00,745 --> 01:01:06,375
And that, I think,
was intoxicating for him.
1021
01:01:09,253 --> 01:01:13,132
But at the same time,
he felt a real responsibility
1022
01:01:13,174 --> 01:01:15,760
for having ushered this weapon
into the world.
1023
01:01:19,180 --> 01:01:21,140
MAN:
Go ahead, please.
1024
01:01:22,892 --> 01:01:26,229
Automatic control has got it.
1025
01:01:26,270 --> 01:01:29,232
This time, Rab,
the stakes are kind of high.
1026
01:01:29,273 --> 01:01:32,026
ISIDOR ISAAC RABI: It's going
to work all right, Robert.
1027
01:01:32,068 --> 01:01:33,861
ELSE:
I think he felt,
1028
01:01:33,903 --> 01:01:36,364
as the father of
the atomic bomb, it was his duty
1029
01:01:36,406 --> 01:01:39,242
to keep the reins
on the atomic bomb.
1030
01:01:39,283 --> 01:01:40,701
MAN:
Go ahead, please.
1031
01:01:40,743 --> 01:01:42,620
Well, we'll know in 40 seconds.
1032
01:01:42,662 --> 01:01:44,664
MAN:
Stay where you are.
1033
01:01:44,705 --> 01:01:46,165
Cut.
1034
01:01:47,291 --> 01:01:50,461
BIRD: Within three months
of Hiroshima,
1035
01:01:50,503 --> 01:01:52,130
he was giving speeches,
1036
01:01:52,171 --> 01:01:56,759
talking about how this weapon
was a weapon for aggressors,
1037
01:01:56,801 --> 01:02:00,263
that it is a weapon of terror.
1038
01:02:00,304 --> 01:02:03,808
You know, this is the father
of the atomic bomb speaking.
1039
01:02:06,978 --> 01:02:09,814
OPPENHEIMER:
If there is another world war...
1040
01:02:11,899 --> 01:02:13,901
...this civilization
1041
01:02:13,943 --> 01:02:16,237
may go under.
1042
01:02:21,826 --> 01:02:26,080
We need to ask ourselves
1043
01:02:26,122 --> 01:02:30,376
whether we're doing
all we can to avert that.
1044
01:02:31,335 --> 01:02:32,879
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
I might like to read
1045
01:02:32,920 --> 01:02:35,339
what my grandfather said
about it.
1046
01:02:35,381 --> 01:02:37,967
This is a speech where he said,
1047
01:02:38,009 --> 01:02:39,677
"But when you come
right down to it,
1048
01:02:39,719 --> 01:02:41,054
"the reason that we did this job
1049
01:02:41,095 --> 01:02:43,514
"is because it was
an organic necessity.
1050
01:02:44,474 --> 01:02:48,102
"If you are a scientist,
you cannot stop such a thing.
1051
01:02:48,144 --> 01:02:49,729
"If you are a scientist,
you believe
1052
01:02:49,771 --> 01:02:51,439
"that it's good to find out
how the world works,
1053
01:02:51,481 --> 01:02:54,025
"that it's good to find out
what realities are,
1054
01:02:54,067 --> 01:02:57,278
"that it's good
to turn over to mankind
1055
01:02:57,320 --> 01:02:59,655
"the greatest possible power
to control the world
1056
01:02:59,697 --> 01:03:04,160
and deal with it according
to its lights and values."
1057
01:03:04,202 --> 01:03:07,413
He didn't regret his role
and work during the war,
1058
01:03:07,455 --> 01:03:12,168
but he soon after turns
so strongly towards managing
1059
01:03:12,210 --> 01:03:15,046
the outcome of the science
they created.
1060
01:03:17,340 --> 01:03:19,175
BIRD:
He decides he doesn't want
1061
01:03:19,217 --> 01:03:21,594
to work any longer
on building more bombs.
1062
01:03:21,636 --> 01:03:24,722
He resigns from Los Alamos,
and he accepts a position
1063
01:03:24,764 --> 01:03:28,851
as director of the Institute for
Advanced Studies in Princeton,
1064
01:03:28,893 --> 01:03:32,772
where he becomes
Einstein's boss, so to speak.
1065
01:03:32,814 --> 01:03:35,733
He's probably the most famous
scientist in America,
1066
01:03:35,775 --> 01:03:39,862
and he's trying to use
that celebrity status
1067
01:03:39,904 --> 01:03:42,240
to have influence.
1068
01:03:43,449 --> 01:03:47,995
He gets an appointment with
Harry Truman in the Oval Office.
1069
01:03:48,037 --> 01:03:50,081
Oppenheimer's agenda
is to persuade
1070
01:03:50,123 --> 01:03:55,253
Harry Truman of the importance
of controlling this technology.
1071
01:03:56,462 --> 01:03:59,674
And he starts
to make this pitch.
1072
01:03:59,716 --> 01:04:02,885
And Truman interrupts him
with a question, saying,
1073
01:04:02,927 --> 01:04:05,722
"Well, Dr. Oppenheimer,
when do you think the Russians
1074
01:04:05,763 --> 01:04:08,766
are going to get this weapon
of mass destruction?"
1075
01:04:09,767 --> 01:04:14,063
And Oppenheimer is sort of
taken aback by the question
1076
01:04:14,105 --> 01:04:20,069
and says, "Well, I'm not sure
but sometime in the future."
1077
01:04:20,111 --> 01:04:24,657
And Truman interrupts again
and says, "Well, I know. Never."
1078
01:04:27,285 --> 01:04:29,495
At that point, Oppie understands
1079
01:04:29,537 --> 01:04:31,998
that Harry Truman
doesn't understand anything
1080
01:04:32,039 --> 01:04:35,626
about the physics
of this weapon.
1081
01:04:35,668 --> 01:04:41,340
And Oppenheimer, at that point,
says exactly the wrong thing.
1082
01:04:41,382 --> 01:04:44,427
RHODES: He really offended
President Truman
1083
01:04:44,469 --> 01:04:48,598
by saying, "Mr. President,
I have blood on my hands."
1084
01:04:51,726 --> 01:04:53,519
BIRD:
This is exactly the wrong thing
1085
01:04:53,561 --> 01:04:55,521
to say to the guy
who made the decision
1086
01:04:55,563 --> 01:05:00,902
to drop two such bombs
on two Japanese cities.
1087
01:05:00,943 --> 01:05:03,488
He was trying to impress Truman.
1088
01:05:03,529 --> 01:05:06,157
He thought it was something
that Truman would like to hear,
1089
01:05:06,199 --> 01:05:08,451
and he got that wrong a lot.
1090
01:05:08,493 --> 01:05:10,787
I mean, Oppenheimer was very
charming to a lot of people,
1091
01:05:10,828 --> 01:05:12,830
but he was often not charming
1092
01:05:12,872 --> 01:05:16,125
to leaders and people
who had power over him.
1093
01:05:16,167 --> 01:05:17,794
WELLERSTEIN:
Truman didn't believe
1094
01:05:17,835 --> 01:05:20,880
that anybody's responsibility
was greater than his.
1095
01:05:20,922 --> 01:05:24,258
Truman was just,
"Get that guy out of my office.
1096
01:05:24,300 --> 01:05:26,344
I was the one
who made the decision."
1097
01:05:27,637 --> 01:05:29,847
BIRD: He ends the meeting
very abruptly
1098
01:05:29,889 --> 01:05:31,599
and later tells his aides that,
1099
01:05:31,641 --> 01:05:35,520
"I don't want to see that
crybaby scientist ever again."
1100
01:05:37,814 --> 01:05:42,485
I think the only hope
for our future safety
1101
01:05:42,527 --> 01:05:44,570
must lie in a collaboration,
1102
01:05:44,612 --> 01:05:47,281
based on confidence
and good faith,
1103
01:05:47,323 --> 01:05:48,950
with the other peoples
of the world.
1104
01:05:48,991 --> 01:05:52,995
SNOWDEN: Oppenheimer,
very early after the bombings,
1105
01:05:53,037 --> 01:05:55,123
was a part of the team
to recommend
1106
01:05:55,164 --> 01:05:56,624
international disarmament.
1107
01:05:57,708 --> 01:06:00,253
But the genie was
out of the bottle.
1108
01:06:00,294 --> 01:06:02,088
Right? Those who possess this
1109
01:06:02,130 --> 01:06:04,340
will be able to shape
the world order.
1110
01:06:04,382 --> 01:06:08,261
And very quickly,
the Soviet Union took note.
1111
01:06:11,431 --> 01:06:15,268
NORRIS: The Soviets
tested a bomb in 1949
1112
01:06:15,309 --> 01:06:17,729
to the shock of almost everyone.
1113
01:06:19,230 --> 01:06:20,940
NEWSREEL NARRATOR: President
Truman's dramatic announcement
1114
01:06:20,982 --> 01:06:24,777
that Russia has created
an atomic explosion
1115
01:06:24,819 --> 01:06:26,696
sends reporters racing
for Flushing Meadow,
1116
01:06:26,738 --> 01:06:29,991
where Russia's Vyshinsky arrives
to address the United Nations...
1117
01:06:30,032 --> 01:06:33,035
This puts the U.S. in
a really complicated position,
1118
01:06:33,077 --> 01:06:37,832
because it's no longer the only
country with nuclear weapons.
1119
01:06:39,751 --> 01:06:41,586
Suddenly,
you have the possibility
1120
01:06:41,627 --> 01:06:45,214
that if war with nuclear weapons
broke out between two states
1121
01:06:45,256 --> 01:06:47,967
that had a fair number of them,
1122
01:06:48,009 --> 01:06:51,054
they could, in a matter
of hours, destroy themselves.
1123
01:06:52,764 --> 01:06:54,182
NEWSREEL NARRATOR:
We must all get ready now,
1124
01:06:54,223 --> 01:06:56,392
so we know how to save ourselves
1125
01:06:56,434 --> 01:06:59,145
if the atomic bomb
ever explodes near us.
1126
01:07:00,563 --> 01:07:02,440
And one of the possible options
1127
01:07:02,482 --> 01:07:05,610
scientists and policy people
lobbied for
1128
01:07:05,651 --> 01:07:09,697
was to build the hydrogen bomb
as the sort of next step.
1129
01:07:12,825 --> 01:07:14,744
SNOWDEN:
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs
1130
01:07:14,786 --> 01:07:18,790
were on the order of
15 kilotons of TNT,
1131
01:07:18,831 --> 01:07:21,292
which is no small number
in and of itself.
1132
01:07:23,378 --> 01:07:26,756
When you start talking about
hydrogen bombs,
1133
01:07:26,798 --> 01:07:29,425
now we're talking about
megatons.
1134
01:07:29,467 --> 01:07:33,554
We're talking about
a million tons of TNT.
1135
01:07:34,597 --> 01:07:36,557
They're categorically different.
1136
01:07:36,599 --> 01:07:38,810
A thousand times stronger than
anything you'd see
1137
01:07:38,851 --> 01:07:41,562
in a Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bomb.
1138
01:07:42,647 --> 01:07:45,441
ELSE: With one
very large hydrogen bomb,
1139
01:07:45,483 --> 01:07:46,943
you can kill
about as many people
1140
01:07:46,984 --> 01:07:49,779
as all of the people killed
in World War II.
1141
01:07:50,780 --> 01:07:54,575
And Oppenheimer could not see
any use for that.
1142
01:07:54,617 --> 01:07:57,912
He called it a genocidal weapon.
1143
01:07:59,997 --> 01:08:03,960
EDWARD TELLER: At the end of the
war, most people wanted to stop.
1144
01:08:04,001 --> 01:08:06,421
I did not.
1145
01:08:06,462 --> 01:08:08,256
Among the people who knew
1146
01:08:08,297 --> 01:08:11,134
a great deal about
the hydrogen bomb,
1147
01:08:11,175 --> 01:08:13,845
I was the only advocate of it.
1148
01:08:15,138 --> 01:08:18,057
RHODES: Edward Teller
was a Hungarian Jew
1149
01:08:18,099 --> 01:08:23,020
who escaped from Hungary
and came to the United States.
1150
01:08:23,062 --> 01:08:26,816
During World War II,
Teller worked at Los Alamos,
1151
01:08:26,858 --> 01:08:30,486
but he became obsessed with
the idea of the hydrogen bomb,
1152
01:08:30,528 --> 01:08:33,906
even before they had
the atomic bomb.
1153
01:08:33,948 --> 01:08:36,325
HERKEN: Teller did very much
consider the atomic bomb
1154
01:08:36,367 --> 01:08:38,745
to be Oppenheimer's creation,
1155
01:08:38,786 --> 01:08:41,289
and he wanted something
that was bigger and better.
1156
01:08:42,540 --> 01:08:45,585
CONANT:
And Oppenheimer said to Teller,
1157
01:08:45,626 --> 01:08:49,881
"Go back to doing physics,
but don't build this.
1158
01:08:49,922 --> 01:08:51,841
There's no need for it."
1159
01:08:51,883 --> 01:08:54,761
RHODES: Oppenheimer was
in charge of a committee
1160
01:08:54,802 --> 01:08:57,847
that had been put together
in Washington to decide:
1161
01:08:57,889 --> 01:08:59,057
What should we do?
1162
01:08:59,098 --> 01:09:02,894
Should we build a hydrogen bomb?
1163
01:09:02,935 --> 01:09:04,395
That is a question
1164
01:09:04,437 --> 01:09:07,648
in everybody's mind,
Dr. Oppenheimer.
1165
01:09:07,690 --> 01:09:13,237
Are we creating something
we may not be able to control?
1166
01:09:13,279 --> 01:09:16,365
The decision to try to make
1167
01:09:16,407 --> 01:09:19,535
or not to make the hydrogen bomb
1168
01:09:19,577 --> 01:09:22,038
touch the very basis
of our morality.
1169
01:09:22,080 --> 01:09:24,916
And the committee decision
was basically,
1170
01:09:24,957 --> 01:09:27,168
no, we shouldn't build
the hydrogen bomb.
1171
01:09:27,210 --> 01:09:30,880
If we are guided by fear alone,
1172
01:09:30,922 --> 01:09:34,550
we'll fail
in this time of crisis.
1173
01:09:34,592 --> 01:09:39,847
The answer to fear
sometimes lies in courage.
1174
01:09:40,932 --> 01:09:43,101
WELLERSTEIN: Oppenheimer's
opposition of the H-bomb
1175
01:09:43,142 --> 01:09:46,687
was taken very hard by people
who were in favor for it.
1176
01:09:48,648 --> 01:09:51,275
RHODES: The Air Force wanted
more and more bombs
1177
01:09:51,317 --> 01:09:53,528
and bigger and bigger bombs.
1178
01:09:53,569 --> 01:09:55,738
The bigger the bomb,
in terms of its yield,
1179
01:09:55,780 --> 01:09:58,449
the more damage
one plane could do.
1180
01:09:59,242 --> 01:10:01,119
HERKEN: The Strategic
Air Command was focused upon
1181
01:10:01,160 --> 01:10:03,287
blowing up the Soviet Union.
1182
01:10:04,122 --> 01:10:07,417
Oppenheimer said a smarter move
would be to put resources
1183
01:10:07,458 --> 01:10:09,794
into intercepting
Soviet bombers.
1184
01:10:10,878 --> 01:10:13,089
RHODES: He was going
just the opposite direction
1185
01:10:13,131 --> 01:10:14,757
from what the Air Force wanted.
1186
01:10:14,799 --> 01:10:17,635
They wanted him out.
They wanted to get rid of him.
1187
01:10:20,471 --> 01:10:24,642
BIRD: By 1953, Oppenheimer
has made sufficient enemies
1188
01:10:24,684 --> 01:10:27,895
in the Washington bureaucracy.
1189
01:10:27,937 --> 01:10:30,273
And then along comes
Lewis Strauss...
1190
01:10:33,067 --> 01:10:36,112
...the new chairman of
the Atomic Energy Commission.
1191
01:10:36,154 --> 01:10:38,990
STRAUSS: I have just returned
from the Pacific Proving Ground,
1192
01:10:39,031 --> 01:10:42,827
where I have witnessed a test
of thermonuclear weapons.
1193
01:10:42,869 --> 01:10:45,538
BIRD:
And Strauss knows Oppenheimer
1194
01:10:45,580 --> 01:10:48,124
and has grown
to intensely dislike him.
1195
01:10:48,166 --> 01:10:51,544
RHODES: Oppenheimer had been
snappish with him once,
1196
01:10:51,586 --> 01:10:54,422
and it had deeply offended him.
1197
01:10:54,464 --> 01:10:58,760
So Strauss begins to plot
1198
01:10:58,801 --> 01:11:02,096
a means to defrock Oppenheimer.
1199
01:11:03,306 --> 01:11:05,308
SHERWIN:
And how does he do it?
1200
01:11:05,349 --> 01:11:11,147
Lewis Strauss focuses on
Oppenheimer's association
1201
01:11:11,189 --> 01:11:13,775
with left-wing friends
1202
01:11:13,816 --> 01:11:17,445
during the 1930s in Berkeley.
1203
01:11:17,487 --> 01:11:19,447
MAN (over TV):
"Communism."
1204
01:11:19,489 --> 01:11:21,157
Who are the apostles of a system
1205
01:11:21,199 --> 01:11:24,744
that attempts to destroy
the American way of life?
1206
01:11:25,870 --> 01:11:30,208
During the Second World War,
the Soviet Union was our ally.
1207
01:11:30,249 --> 01:11:33,086
And that sense of
being a communist
1208
01:11:33,127 --> 01:11:36,297
or associating with communists
was not something
1209
01:11:36,339 --> 01:11:39,342
that was considered that bad.
1210
01:11:39,384 --> 01:11:42,678
It wasn't until the Cold War
1211
01:11:42,720 --> 01:11:45,932
that all of a sudden,
in retrospect,
1212
01:11:45,973 --> 01:11:50,353
anyone with any kind of legacy
of a communist past
1213
01:11:50,395 --> 01:11:52,647
is now a security threat.
1214
01:11:52,688 --> 01:11:55,608
If there were no communists
in our government,
1215
01:11:55,650 --> 01:11:59,695
why did we delay, for 18 months,
1216
01:11:59,737 --> 01:12:02,240
delay our research
on the hydrogen bomb?
1217
01:12:03,032 --> 01:12:05,743
RHODES:
It was from attitudes like that
1218
01:12:05,785 --> 01:12:08,663
that finally led to
the government deciding
1219
01:12:08,704 --> 01:12:11,916
they had to pull Oppenheimer's
security clearance.
1220
01:12:13,876 --> 01:12:15,420
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
He would have to give up
1221
01:12:15,461 --> 01:12:20,174
his security clearance
in 30 days or ask for a hearing.
1222
01:12:23,219 --> 01:12:25,722
He felt he couldn't give up
his security clearance.
1223
01:12:25,763 --> 01:12:27,056
He couldn't agree with them
1224
01:12:27,098 --> 01:12:29,058
that he wasn't fit
to serve his government.
1225
01:12:30,393 --> 01:12:32,645
ELSE: He should have told them
to get lost.
1226
01:12:33,438 --> 01:12:36,733
He should have said,
"I am the atomic bomb.
1227
01:12:37,525 --> 01:12:39,944
"I won World War II.
1228
01:12:39,986 --> 01:12:41,362
Fuck off."
1229
01:12:42,280 --> 01:12:45,074
For whatever reason,
he didn't tell them to get lost.
1230
01:12:45,116 --> 01:12:46,701
He decided to fight it.
1231
01:12:48,244 --> 01:12:50,621
BIRD: And before
he goes down to Washington,
1232
01:12:50,663 --> 01:12:52,415
he meets with Einstein
1233
01:12:52,457 --> 01:12:56,794
to tell him he's gonna be
absent for a few weeks,
1234
01:12:56,836 --> 01:13:01,174
and Einstein's reaction
is quite startling.
1235
01:13:02,800 --> 01:13:08,014
Albert says, "But, Robert,
you are Mr. Atomic.
1236
01:13:08,056 --> 01:13:09,974
"You don't need them.
They need you.
1237
01:13:10,016 --> 01:13:12,977
Just walk away.
Why should you go through this?"
1238
01:13:13,936 --> 01:13:18,649
And Oppenheimer shakes his head
and apparently says to Albert,
1239
01:13:18,691 --> 01:13:21,569
"Well, you don't understand."
1240
01:13:21,611 --> 01:13:23,863
And he walks away,
1241
01:13:23,905 --> 01:13:26,491
and Einstein turns
to his secretary and says,
1242
01:13:26,532 --> 01:13:29,535
"There goes a nar."
1243
01:13:29,577 --> 01:13:31,871
The Yiddish for a fool.
1244
01:13:36,876 --> 01:13:38,544
TV ANNOUNCER: World attention
was focused this week
1245
01:13:38,586 --> 01:13:41,297
on the Atomic Energy Commission
building in Washington,
1246
01:13:41,339 --> 01:13:43,841
where a three-man board
began special hearings
1247
01:13:43,883 --> 01:13:47,011
on the security file
of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer,
1248
01:13:47,053 --> 01:13:50,139
the nuclear scientist
who developed the first A-bomb.
1249
01:13:51,015 --> 01:13:55,228
The security hearing starts,
and it quickly becomes clear
1250
01:13:55,269 --> 01:13:57,188
that this is not just
a security hearing.
1251
01:13:57,230 --> 01:13:58,523
This is a trial.
1252
01:13:58,564 --> 01:14:00,316
TV ANNOUNCER:
There's a new charge
1253
01:14:00,358 --> 01:14:02,985
that the scientist opposed
the development of the H-bomb.
1254
01:14:03,027 --> 01:14:06,114
WELLERSTEIN: The deck is stacked
against him, and it's ugly.
1255
01:14:06,155 --> 01:14:08,116
They're wiretapping
his conversations
1256
01:14:08,157 --> 01:14:10,910
with his lawyer illegally
and giving it to the prosecution
1257
01:14:10,952 --> 01:14:13,413
so that they know
exactly what's gonna happen.
1258
01:14:13,454 --> 01:14:16,165
They are able to look
at classified FBI files.
1259
01:14:16,207 --> 01:14:18,042
He is not because
he doesn't have a clearance,
1260
01:14:18,084 --> 01:14:21,254
and he can't look at
his own FBI file as a result.
1261
01:14:22,547 --> 01:14:27,343
RHODES: Oppenheimer's
involvement with Jean Tatlock,
1262
01:14:27,385 --> 01:14:30,430
the question of whether
his brother had been a communist
1263
01:14:30,471 --> 01:14:32,932
and still was,
1264
01:14:32,974 --> 01:14:36,686
those were the things
they pulled out of the files.
1265
01:14:39,355 --> 01:14:41,816
CONANT: One of the most damning
pieces of evidence
1266
01:14:41,858 --> 01:14:44,402
that was brought out was
1267
01:14:44,444 --> 01:14:47,780
the fact that, during the war,
there had been a conversation
1268
01:14:47,822 --> 01:14:50,867
at his home in Berkeley
with Haakon Chevalier,
1269
01:14:50,908 --> 01:14:53,995
his old friend,
who had mentioned to him
1270
01:14:54,036 --> 01:14:56,330
that there was a way perhaps
that he could
1271
01:14:56,372 --> 01:14:59,667
leak information about the
atomic project he was working on
1272
01:14:59,709 --> 01:15:01,252
to Soviet officials.
1273
01:15:01,294 --> 01:15:03,963
Now, Oppenheimer had
dismissed it at the time,
1274
01:15:04,005 --> 01:15:07,216
but he had not
reported the incident.
1275
01:15:07,258 --> 01:15:10,094
He knew he was already on
thin ice with security people,
1276
01:15:10,136 --> 01:15:13,306
that he was suspected
because of his communist ties.
1277
01:15:13,347 --> 01:15:18,061
So he was trying to keep himself
out of hot water.
1278
01:15:18,102 --> 01:15:21,022
The problem was that,
in subsequent conversations
1279
01:15:21,064 --> 01:15:26,903
with Los Alamos security people,
he had told very evasive, vague
1280
01:15:26,944 --> 01:15:30,740
accounts of this conversation,
one after another.
1281
01:15:31,949 --> 01:15:34,118
And when they confronted
Oppenheimer
1282
01:15:34,160 --> 01:15:37,413
with these evasive versions,
they asked him,
1283
01:15:37,455 --> 01:15:38,915
"Why did you do this?
1284
01:15:38,956 --> 01:15:41,959
Why wouldn't
you have been forthright?"
1285
01:15:42,001 --> 01:15:44,295
He said, "I was an idiot."
1286
01:15:44,337 --> 01:15:48,800
And in a sense,
he sealed his own fate then.
1287
01:15:51,260 --> 01:15:53,805
RHODES:
He fell apart.
1288
01:15:53,846 --> 01:15:57,308
He tried to testify,
but he really fell apart.
1289
01:15:59,060 --> 01:16:02,855
BIRD: He's having almost
another nervous breakdown,
1290
01:16:02,897 --> 01:16:05,400
like what he went through
as a young man.
1291
01:16:05,441 --> 01:16:10,780
He's oddly stoic,
like he was in the icehouse
1292
01:16:10,822 --> 01:16:13,658
when he was a young boy
being tormented
1293
01:16:13,699 --> 01:16:16,202
by his fellow summer campers.
1294
01:16:18,579 --> 01:16:23,000
He's resigned and
not really defending himself.
1295
01:16:24,377 --> 01:16:28,715
One person who sort of put the
nails in his coffin, of course,
1296
01:16:28,756 --> 01:16:30,883
was Edward Teller.
1297
01:16:33,219 --> 01:16:35,555
HERKEN: Teller testified
against Oppenheimer.
1298
01:16:35,596 --> 01:16:38,850
He said that he thought
he would feel better
1299
01:16:38,891 --> 01:16:40,435
if the security of the country
1300
01:16:40,476 --> 01:16:44,147
were in other hands
than Oppenheimer's.
1301
01:16:44,188 --> 01:16:48,401
And one of the scientists who
was close to Oppenheimer said
1302
01:16:48,443 --> 01:16:51,738
it was a matter of not only
stabbing Oppenheimer in the back
1303
01:16:51,779 --> 01:16:53,865
but twisting the blade.
1304
01:16:55,616 --> 01:16:57,034
RHODES:
As he was leaving,
1305
01:16:57,076 --> 01:16:58,786
he went up to shake
Oppenheimer's hand
1306
01:16:58,828 --> 01:17:01,205
and said, "I'm sorry."
1307
01:17:02,540 --> 01:17:06,836
And Oppenheimer looked him
in the eye and said,
1308
01:17:06,878 --> 01:17:09,589
"Edward,
after what you just said,
1309
01:17:09,630 --> 01:17:12,383
I don't know what that means."
1310
01:17:13,718 --> 01:17:17,263
NOLAN: He was obviously
a very, very brilliant man,
1311
01:17:17,305 --> 01:17:20,892
but I think
he may have underestimated
1312
01:17:20,933 --> 01:17:24,604
the power of the establishment,
the machine,
1313
01:17:24,645 --> 01:17:26,689
and the inability
of one individual
1314
01:17:26,731 --> 01:17:29,108
to stand against that.
1315
01:17:29,901 --> 01:17:33,237
BIRD:
The result was to be expected.
1316
01:17:36,074 --> 01:17:38,076
TV ANNOUNCER:
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer,
1317
01:17:38,117 --> 01:17:40,203
the famous scientist
whose suspension this week
1318
01:17:40,244 --> 01:17:43,748
by the Atomic Energy Commission
surprised the nation.
1319
01:17:43,790 --> 01:17:48,086
They voted to strip Oppenheimer
of his security clearance.
1320
01:17:51,381 --> 01:17:55,301
This was front-page news in the
newspapers across the country.
1321
01:17:56,928 --> 01:17:59,180
That he had recommended
communists
1322
01:17:59,222 --> 01:18:01,224
who are working
the A-bomb, H-bomb plans.
1323
01:18:01,265 --> 01:18:04,227
His wife, uh,
admittedly was, uh,
1324
01:18:04,268 --> 01:18:07,063
an official of
the Communist Party,
1325
01:18:07,105 --> 01:18:09,273
uh, brother
a very active communist.
1326
01:18:10,566 --> 01:18:14,153
BIRD:
He became a political pariah.
1327
01:18:14,195 --> 01:18:15,905
KAKU:
And that sent a chill
1328
01:18:15,947 --> 01:18:19,283
through
the scientific community.
1329
01:18:19,325 --> 01:18:22,328
If they could take down
the most famous atomic scientist
1330
01:18:22,370 --> 01:18:26,249
on the planet Earth,
then we're all vulnerable.
1331
01:18:27,792 --> 01:18:31,087
BIRD: It sent
a really nefarious message
1332
01:18:31,129 --> 01:18:33,005
to all working scientists
1333
01:18:33,047 --> 01:18:38,428
to beware of weighing in
on political issues.
1334
01:18:40,596 --> 01:18:44,809
And this is a terrible thing
because we need their expertise.
1335
01:18:44,851 --> 01:18:48,563
And yet the Oppenheimer trial
1336
01:18:48,604 --> 01:18:51,107
made that difficult.
1337
01:18:57,363 --> 01:18:58,948
RHODES:
After the security trial,
1338
01:18:58,990 --> 01:19:01,909
Oppenheimer was never
the same guy again.
1339
01:19:03,035 --> 01:19:06,164
He was kind of
a hollow man after that.
1340
01:19:07,331 --> 01:19:09,208
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
What we say inside the family is
1341
01:19:09,250 --> 01:19:11,502
it hurt his feelings.
1342
01:19:15,214 --> 01:19:18,968
He didn't like it,
but he didn't talk about it.
1343
01:19:19,010 --> 01:19:21,596
He never made one statement
about it publicly.
1344
01:19:24,182 --> 01:19:26,684
He never asked for an apology,
1345
01:19:26,726 --> 01:19:29,854
and he retreated back into
where he came from.
1346
01:19:31,189 --> 01:19:33,649
BIRD: He still kept his job
at Princeton,
1347
01:19:33,691 --> 01:19:37,403
but he wasn't doing
any more physics.
1348
01:19:37,445 --> 01:19:39,781
These were kind of sad years.
1349
01:19:39,822 --> 01:19:42,241
MURROW: And Professor Einstein
is still here, too, isn't he?
1350
01:19:42,283 --> 01:19:46,871
Oh, yeah. Indeed he is.
Uh, indeed he is. Uh...
1351
01:19:46,913 --> 01:19:49,373
Does he ever call you up
on the telephone?
1352
01:19:49,415 --> 01:19:50,291
Hmm, sometimes.
1353
01:19:50,333 --> 01:19:52,335
I think he... he calls me,
1354
01:19:52,377 --> 01:19:54,253
uh, when he reads
in the newspapers
1355
01:19:54,295 --> 01:19:56,130
something about me
that he doesn't like,
1356
01:19:56,172 --> 01:19:58,174
and he calls me up and-and says,
1357
01:19:58,216 --> 01:20:00,218
"That's all right.
That's just right."
1358
01:20:00,259 --> 01:20:04,138
SHERWIN:
He had lost his fighting spirit.
1359
01:20:04,180 --> 01:20:08,518
He would have nothing
to do with commenting
1360
01:20:08,559 --> 01:20:13,523
on any of the issues of the day
related to nuclear weapons.
1361
01:20:13,564 --> 01:20:16,484
MAN: Dr. Oppenheimer, could you
tell us what your thoughts are
1362
01:20:16,526 --> 01:20:20,071
about what our atomic policy
should be?
1363
01:20:20,113 --> 01:20:22,365
No, I-I can't do that.
1364
01:20:22,407 --> 01:20:26,577
I'm not... not close enough
to the facts,
1365
01:20:26,619 --> 01:20:28,204
and I'm not close enough
1366
01:20:28,246 --> 01:20:32,917
to the thoughts of those
who are worrying about it.
1367
01:20:34,502 --> 01:20:37,755
RHODES:
Hans Bethe told me once that,
1368
01:20:37,797 --> 01:20:40,216
"Oppenheimer was smarter than
any of the rest of us."
1369
01:20:40,258 --> 01:20:43,511
He didn't win a Nobel Prize.
1370
01:20:43,553 --> 01:20:46,347
How could this man,
who evidently outshone
1371
01:20:46,389 --> 01:20:48,933
some of the greatest physicists
of the 20th century,
1372
01:20:48,975 --> 01:20:54,063
not have been more successful
in his line of work-- physics--
1373
01:20:54,105 --> 01:20:55,857
than he was?
1374
01:20:55,898 --> 01:20:57,608
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
You can't talk about Oppenheimer
1375
01:20:57,650 --> 01:21:00,403
when you're not
talking about his science.
1376
01:21:00,445 --> 01:21:02,071
That was the part of his life.
1377
01:21:02,113 --> 01:21:03,781
When he talks about
what he loves,
1378
01:21:03,823 --> 01:21:07,243
it was that human thing
of passing knowledge around.
1379
01:21:07,285 --> 01:21:09,245
This is negative particles,
1380
01:21:09,287 --> 01:21:13,166
neutral, doubly charged,
positive and positive...
1381
01:21:13,207 --> 01:21:15,168
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
His work on black holes
1382
01:21:15,209 --> 01:21:17,336
should have earned him
a Nobel Prize.
1383
01:21:19,672 --> 01:21:24,594
SHERWIN: In 1939, Oppenheimer
wrote the first paper
1384
01:21:24,635 --> 01:21:30,433
identifying the idea of
collapsing stars, a black hole.
1385
01:21:30,475 --> 01:21:34,395
So, black holes
was his original idea.
1386
01:21:34,437 --> 01:21:36,647
I mean, that's quite amazing.
1387
01:21:38,107 --> 01:21:39,442
And if a real black hole
1388
01:21:39,484 --> 01:21:42,070
had been identified
before he died...
1389
01:21:43,196 --> 01:21:47,033
...he probably would have won
a Nobel Prize for that work.
1390
01:21:49,285 --> 01:21:51,788
BIRD:
In 1966,
1391
01:21:51,829 --> 01:21:55,333
he was diagnosed
with esophageal cancer.
1392
01:21:55,374 --> 01:21:58,503
All that smoking over the years
had gotten to him.
1393
01:22:01,089 --> 01:22:04,759
And he died in early '67.
1394
01:22:07,470 --> 01:22:09,430
Oppenheimer's life story,
1395
01:22:09,472 --> 01:22:11,682
it's the story
of the 20th century.
1396
01:22:11,724 --> 01:22:15,520
It's the story of
our nuclear age
1397
01:22:15,561 --> 01:22:18,022
that we're still living with,
1398
01:22:18,064 --> 01:22:20,691
and that's a story
that is unfinished.
1399
01:22:20,733 --> 01:22:22,151
Will always be unfinished.
1400
01:22:26,614 --> 01:22:28,241
ELSE:
We have his bomb.
1401
01:22:28,282 --> 01:22:30,535
His bomb is with us.
1402
01:22:30,576 --> 01:22:33,371
And we can debate his membership
in the Communist Party
1403
01:22:33,413 --> 01:22:35,498
or we can debate the ethics
1404
01:22:35,540 --> 01:22:38,626
of bombing civilians
at Hiroshima until we drop,
1405
01:22:38,668 --> 01:22:41,087
but the fact is that we have
nuclear weapons.
1406
01:22:43,297 --> 01:22:45,133
That's the legacy.
1407
01:22:45,174 --> 01:22:50,096
And controlling those weapons,
it's a never-ending struggle.
1408
01:22:51,055 --> 01:22:53,266
(explosion rumbling)
1409
01:22:57,895 --> 01:23:01,607
It was so horrible
with a baby bomb.
1410
01:23:01,649 --> 01:23:05,528
Now they have so much
more lethal nuclear weapon.
1411
01:23:07,655 --> 01:23:09,407
OPPENHEIMER:
There is much talk about
1412
01:23:09,449 --> 01:23:11,534
getting rid of atomic weapons.
1413
01:23:12,326 --> 01:23:16,247
I have a deep sympathy
with that.
1414
01:23:17,373 --> 01:23:23,463
TAMURA: Please, let's try
to find common ground.
1415
01:23:26,132 --> 01:23:31,345
I'm sure if Oppie was alive
today, he would agree with me.
1416
01:23:32,096 --> 01:23:33,806
MAN:
...two, one.
1417
01:23:33,848 --> 01:23:37,518
OPPENHEIMER:
But we mustn't fool ourselves.
1418
01:23:37,560 --> 01:23:39,687
The world is not
going to be the same
1419
01:23:39,729 --> 01:23:43,232
no matter what we do
with atomic bombs,
1420
01:23:43,274 --> 01:23:48,654
because the knowledge of how to
make them cannot be exorcized.
1421
01:23:49,447 --> 01:23:51,657
-(insects chirring)
-(wind whistling softly)
1422
01:23:53,785 --> 01:23:56,621
JUDY WOODRUFF:
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer
1423
01:23:56,662 --> 01:24:01,417
is perhaps best known as
the father of the atomic bomb.
1424
01:24:01,459 --> 01:24:03,086
As time has passed,
1425
01:24:03,127 --> 01:24:07,173
there are some new assessments
of his role in history.
1426
01:24:08,174 --> 01:24:10,343
In late 2022,
the Department of Energy
1427
01:24:10,385 --> 01:24:16,432
decided to vacate the decision
to have the security hearings.
1428
01:24:17,892 --> 01:24:20,103
The national tragedy
is that this hearing,
1429
01:24:20,144 --> 01:24:24,232
this McCarthy-era witch hunt,
materialized in the first place.
1430
01:24:25,024 --> 01:24:27,110
That type of thing
is not supposed to happen
1431
01:24:27,151 --> 01:24:28,945
in a country like this.
1432
01:24:28,986 --> 01:24:33,533
This is such an important
and long overdue step.
1433
01:24:34,784 --> 01:24:37,036
But at the same time,
it's kind of sad,
1434
01:24:37,078 --> 01:24:39,705
because this is something
that J. Robert Oppenheimer
1435
01:24:39,747 --> 01:24:42,375
will not get to experience
personally.
1436
01:24:44,460 --> 01:24:47,004
OPPENHEIMER:
Science has profoundly altered
1437
01:24:47,046 --> 01:24:50,133
the conditions of man's life,
1438
01:24:50,174 --> 01:24:54,470
both materially and in ways
of the spirit as well.
1439
01:24:57,265 --> 01:24:59,183
NYE: I think we're still
talking about Oppenheimer
1440
01:24:59,225 --> 01:25:01,811
because he was so influential.
1441
01:25:01,853 --> 01:25:05,189
We have this respect
and fear of science.
1442
01:25:06,858 --> 01:25:10,445
And Oppenheimer represented
both sides of that, for sure.
1443
01:25:11,696 --> 01:25:15,199
NOLAN: Unquestionably,
he changed the world.
1444
01:25:15,241 --> 01:25:16,409
And he changed
the world forever.
1445
01:25:16,451 --> 01:25:17,994
There's no going back.
1446
01:25:18,786 --> 01:25:22,248
But we know that as long as men
are free to ask what they will,
1447
01:25:22,290 --> 01:25:26,419
free to say what they think,
free to think what they must,
1448
01:25:26,461 --> 01:25:29,005
science will never regress,
1449
01:25:29,047 --> 01:25:32,633
and freedom itself
will never be wholly lost.
1450
01:25:36,429 --> 01:25:38,681
* *
1451
01:26:08,002 --> 01:26:10,963
* *
1452
01:26:40,034 --> 01:26:41,744
* *
109397
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