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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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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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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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In a world of
atomic weapons, wars will cease.
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It is D-minus one for the test
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of the world's first
atomic device.
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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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He became a political pariah.
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Is it truethat humans have already
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discovered a method
of destroying humanity?
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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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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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Oppenheimer for Cronkite, take one.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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They realize that froma 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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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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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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I assert
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that this form of treachery
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shall never again endanger us.
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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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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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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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The
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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His mother was a Paris-trained artist
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who exhibited her work at
various galleries in Manhattan.
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She was a nervous person.
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She really didn't let
this little boy go outside.
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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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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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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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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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Muttering to himself
over and over again,
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"The point is,
the point is, the point is."
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And he could never
finish the sentence. l
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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00:14:32,864 --> 00:14:36,659
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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When the cancerous Nazi growth
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spread farther still,
the people of Europe--
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and the world, enter the new era.
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Certainly the first motivation for the scientists
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was to beat the Germans
to the bomb.
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There's nothing like
the prospect of a hanging
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to concentrate the mind.
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And the threat of death
of civilization as they knew it
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was so great that it swept away
any ethical or moral doubts
253
00:15:21,159 --> 00:15:22,744
that they might have had.
254
00:15:23,706 --> 00:15:27,499
Ultimately, whoever gets the bomb first
255
00:15:27,540 --> 00:15:28,792
is not just gonna win
World War II
256
00:15:28,833 --> 00:15:30,460
but is gonna run
the entire world.
257
00:15:33,254 --> 00:15:35,757
By the summer of 1942,
258
00:15:35,799 --> 00:15:39,219
control of the atom bomb project
passes to the hands of the Army,
259
00:15:39,260 --> 00:15:43,096
under the code name
Manhattan Engineering District.
260
00:15:43,375 --> 00:15:45,247
The Manhattan Project really was
261
00:15:45,295 --> 00:15:47,672
a huge national effort.
262
00:15:48,348 --> 00:15:52,064
And to plot out the industrial scale
263
00:15:52,105 --> 00:15:56,193
of the operation,
they chose a dynamic, burly,
264
00:15:56,235 --> 00:15:57,569
six-foot-three,
265
00:15:57,611 --> 00:16:00,738
240-pound general
266
00:16:00,780 --> 00:16:04,075
named Leslie Richard Groves.
267
00:16:05,118 --> 00:16:08,204
He hated Leslie.
He went by Dick.
268
00:16:09,330 --> 00:16:11,791
General Groves had a problem.
269
00:16:11,833 --> 00:16:14,293
He was entrusted
to hire the people
270
00:16:14,335 --> 00:16:15,795
that would build
the atomic bomb.
271
00:16:15,837 --> 00:16:18,756
But he knew
that we're talking about
272
00:16:18,798 --> 00:16:22,801
the people who are the
finest scientists in the world.
273
00:16:24,302 --> 00:16:26,471
These are prima donnas.
274
00:16:27,848 --> 00:16:29,766
And now you have to have
somebody who's gonna be
275
00:16:29,808 --> 00:16:31,643
the whipmaster.
276
00:16:31,685 --> 00:16:33,353
You have to have somebody
277
00:16:33,395 --> 00:16:36,022
that understands the physics,
who has a reputation,
278
00:16:36,064 --> 00:16:39,109
so that these prima donnas
will follow you.
279
00:16:42,403 --> 00:16:45,322
Oppenheimer and General
Groves are introduced
280
00:16:45,364 --> 00:16:47,783
in the fall of 1942.
281
00:16:47,825 --> 00:16:49,827
And these two individuals
are just about
282
00:16:49,869 --> 00:16:51,829
as different as you can imagine.
283
00:16:53,164 --> 00:16:55,416
But General Groves
saw something in him
284
00:16:55,458 --> 00:16:57,209
that apparently no one else saw.
285
00:16:58,836 --> 00:17:00,713
When meeting Oppenheimer,
286
00:17:00,754 --> 00:17:02,797
you were immediately impressed.
287
00:17:02,839 --> 00:17:05,383
You couldn't help it.
288
00:17:05,425 --> 00:17:07,969
There wasn't a better man.
289
00:17:09,304 --> 00:17:12,307
He chose Oppenheimer
against the advice
290
00:17:12,348 --> 00:17:15,268
of most of these leaders
that he had around him
291
00:17:15,310 --> 00:17:16,895
in the scientific community.
292
00:17:16,936 --> 00:17:21,357
Oppenheimer had never led
any large enterprise.
293
00:17:21,399 --> 00:17:25,235
But Oppenheimer was really good
at explaining things.
294
00:17:26,028 --> 00:17:27,821
He was extremely charming,
295
00:17:27,863 --> 00:17:30,157
and he had this ability
296
00:17:30,199 --> 00:17:33,285
to sort of hold a lot of things
in his head at once
297
00:17:33,327 --> 00:17:37,289
and keep aware of
how they all fit together.
298
00:17:39,291 --> 00:17:40,793
And this is apparently
299
00:17:40,834 --> 00:17:43,545
what General Groves
recognized in him.
300
00:17:45,963 --> 00:17:48,049
For security purposes,
301
00:17:48,090 --> 00:17:52,238
this project needs to happen
away from everything.
302
00:17:53,763 --> 00:17:56,349
So Groves tells Oppenheimer
303
00:17:56,390 --> 00:18:00,019
to just come up with a place
where this would actually work.
304
00:18:00,061 --> 00:18:02,855
And it was Oppenheimer
who suggests
305
00:18:02,897 --> 00:18:05,982
the New Mexico desert.
306
00:18:06,024 --> 00:18:08,735
So they go to scope out a site.
307
00:18:08,777 --> 00:18:11,071
It's called Los Alamos.
308
00:18:13,115 --> 00:18:15,033
Oppenheimer knew the area well.
309
00:18:15,075 --> 00:18:16,868
He had spent a lot of time here.
310
00:18:18,453 --> 00:18:21,540
When he left New York
as a young man
311
00:18:21,581 --> 00:18:24,501
and went to New Mexico...
312
00:18:25,710 --> 00:18:29,088
...that was a-- just a really
important part of his life.
313
00:18:29,922 --> 00:18:32,758
Going to New Mexico
and meeting cowboys
314
00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,218
and riding horses.
315
00:18:34,260 --> 00:18:36,720
He just loved it.
He loved every part of it.
316
00:18:38,597 --> 00:18:41,559
BIRD: He once said that
his ambition was to combine
317
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:44,228
the two loves in his life,
318
00:18:44,270 --> 00:18:46,856
physics and New Mexico.
319
00:18:49,274 --> 00:18:52,235
And of course,
he did precisely this.
320
00:18:55,780 --> 00:18:57,657
CARR:
Now, the government shows up
321
00:18:57,699 --> 00:18:59,784
with bulldozers and architects
322
00:18:59,826 --> 00:19:02,078
and laborers and craftsmen
323
00:19:02,120 --> 00:19:05,915
to build a new community
and laboratory
324
00:19:05,957 --> 00:19:09,126
where there essentially
had not been one before.
325
00:19:11,086 --> 00:19:13,464
They're starting from scratch.
326
00:19:14,214 --> 00:19:17,134
And so much of
what they were doing was unknown
327
00:19:17,176 --> 00:19:19,094
and unproven at the time.
328
00:19:19,136 --> 00:19:20,596
They didn't actually know
329
00:19:20,637 --> 00:19:21,763
that they would be able
to achieve this.
330
00:19:21,805 --> 00:19:23,098
This was all theoretical.
331
00:19:24,516 --> 00:19:27,269
hey knew that they had
to get the best scientists
332
00:19:27,311 --> 00:19:31,355
if they were gonna get this
weapon before the Nazis did.
333
00:19:35,985 --> 00:19:37,487
Albert Einstein flees
334
00:19:37,528 --> 00:19:39,030
to the United States.
335
00:19:39,071 --> 00:19:41,491
He leads a vanguard
of refugee scientists,
336
00:19:41,532 --> 00:19:43,785
virtually stripping
German universities
337
00:19:43,826 --> 00:19:45,161
of their best minds.
338
00:19:47,121 --> 00:19:49,373
All of the turmoil in Europe
had forced out
339
00:19:49,415 --> 00:19:53,293
a huge number
of really top-grade physicists.
340
00:19:54,878 --> 00:19:57,964
Enrico Fermi.
341
00:19:58,006 --> 00:20:01,134
Hans Bethe.
342
00:20:01,176 --> 00:20:04,471
Edward Teller,
who famously would go on
343
00:20:04,513 --> 00:20:06,973
to develop the hydrogen bomb.
344
00:20:07,015 --> 00:20:09,142
One can sort of
go down the lists
345
00:20:09,184 --> 00:20:12,686
and find more and more and more
of these amazing people.
346
00:20:13,854 --> 00:20:16,190
Oppenheimer was
famously known for
347
00:20:16,232 --> 00:20:18,150
his intellectual sex appeal.
348
00:20:18,192 --> 00:20:19,860
And he could go
around the country
349
00:20:19,902 --> 00:20:22,530
and sort of
flash his brain to people,
350
00:20:22,571 --> 00:20:24,281
and, you know, they'd sign up.
351
00:20:25,074 --> 00:20:26,575
He would say,
352
00:20:26,617 --> 00:20:30,496
"I unfortunately can't tell you
what we're doing,
353
00:20:30,538 --> 00:20:34,624
"but I can tell you
that if we succeed,
354
00:20:34,666 --> 00:20:37,377
"it's likely to end this war,
355
00:20:37,418 --> 00:20:39,838
and it may end all war."
356
00:20:39,972 --> 00:20:41,256
Oppenheimer asked
357
00:20:41,464 --> 00:20:44,884
if I would join him
in Los Alamos.
358
00:20:44,926 --> 00:20:47,512
And I said I would be delighted.
359
00:20:47,554 --> 00:20:49,222
Like most of his students,
360
00:20:49,264 --> 00:20:54,184
I would more or less follow him
to the ends of the Earth.
361
00:20:54,226 --> 00:20:57,229
If you had the choice
of fighting the Nazis
362
00:20:57,271 --> 00:20:59,398
by going to
this exotic mountaintop
363
00:20:59,440 --> 00:21:02,568
and doing the greatest physics
in history,
364
00:21:02,609 --> 00:21:04,695
I mean, what would you do?
365
00:21:04,736 --> 00:21:06,405
I would've been
on the next train.
366
00:21:08,031 --> 00:21:09,408
I don't think people thought
367
00:21:09,450 --> 00:21:10,993
that much about
the consequences.
368
00:21:11,034 --> 00:21:12,786
You know, can we blame them?
369
00:21:12,828 --> 00:21:14,704
We were all aware of
370
00:21:14,745 --> 00:21:19,208
the fact that, in one way
or another, we were intervening
371
00:21:19,250 --> 00:21:24,297
explicitly and heavy-handedly
in the course of human history.
372
00:21:29,260 --> 00:21:32,096
By the time the laboratory
was established,
373
00:21:32,138 --> 00:21:33,473
Oppenheimer was a family man.
374
00:21:33,514 --> 00:21:36,099
He was married.
He had a little boy.
375
00:21:38,059 --> 00:21:40,353
During his tenure
as director at the laboratory,
376
00:21:40,395 --> 00:21:42,939
he had a little girl as well.
377
00:21:44,065 --> 00:21:46,109
The summer of 1939,
378
00:21:46,151 --> 00:21:48,403
he was at a cocktail party
in Berkeley,
379
00:21:48,445 --> 00:21:52,491
and a young woman named
Kitty Puening had spied him
380
00:21:52,532 --> 00:21:58,120
from across the garden and was
immediately attracted to him.
381
00:21:59,121 --> 00:22:04,126
She was a firecracker
(laughs) of a young woman.
382
00:22:08,214 --> 00:22:11,425
They fell in love, and by 1940,
383
00:22:11,467 --> 00:22:12,760
she was pregnant.
384
00:22:16,262 --> 00:22:18,181
They live ever after.
385
00:22:18,223 --> 00:22:21,976
And notice
I didn't say "happily."
386
00:22:22,018 --> 00:22:25,605
They are devoted to each other.
387
00:22:25,647 --> 00:22:29,067
But it's a difficult marriage
because of
388
00:22:29,109 --> 00:22:34,447
the complexity of Robert's life,
of their personalities,
389
00:22:34,489 --> 00:22:37,074
of the environment
in which they live.
390
00:22:40,327 --> 00:22:42,037
She was an academic,
391
00:22:42,079 --> 00:22:43,872
and she was a biologist
and a botanist,
392
00:22:43,914 --> 00:22:46,917
and ultimately, that work
was all put to one side
393
00:22:46,959 --> 00:22:49,044
for the years at Los Alamos.
394
00:22:49,086 --> 00:22:51,088
I think she was very frustrated
395
00:22:51,130 --> 00:22:53,924
by being put in the position of
396
00:22:53,966 --> 00:22:56,176
a mother and a wife
and nothing else.
397
00:22:58,719 --> 00:23:02,056
She did not thrive
at Los Alamos.
398
00:23:02,098 --> 00:23:04,517
It was a lonely
and hard existence.
399
00:23:05,685 --> 00:23:09,272
And she disappeared
into the bottle somewhat.
400
00:23:14,193 --> 00:23:17,905
Oppenheimer was famous
for mixing his gin martinis.
401
00:23:20,157 --> 00:23:24,995
He persuaded his scientists to
work very hard during the week
402
00:23:25,036 --> 00:23:28,832
and to party hard
on the weekends.
403
00:23:28,874 --> 00:23:31,501
Everyone was hungover
on Sunday morning,
404
00:23:31,543 --> 00:23:33,795
but they worked a lot,
and they worked hard,
405
00:23:33,837 --> 00:23:35,088
and they worked together.
406
00:23:35,130 --> 00:23:37,591
And that was largely
Oppenheimer.
407
00:23:42,392 --> 00:23:44,853
Los Alamos for many
of these people were
408
00:23:45,181 --> 00:23:47,266
the most momentous years
of their lives.
409
00:23:50,436 --> 00:23:52,855
They felt part of something,
410
00:23:52,897 --> 00:23:56,692
part of something meaningful
and important.
411
00:23:56,734 --> 00:24:00,695
And they were led by
this very enigmatic,
412
00:24:00,737 --> 00:24:06,242
strange, bright, blue-eyed
young man whom they all admired.
413
00:24:12,081 --> 00:24:14,584
I grew up at Los Alamos.
414
00:24:16,795 --> 00:24:20,256
And my father came to Los Alamos
during the Manhattan Project.
415
00:24:22,091 --> 00:24:27,387
It was a-a curious place to live
416
00:24:27,429 --> 00:24:31,350
because they're blowing
things up three times a day.
417
00:24:32,935 --> 00:24:36,230
Explosions were at
10:00 and 12:00 and 3:00,
418
00:24:36,271 --> 00:24:37,523
so when you're in first grade,
419
00:24:37,564 --> 00:24:38,941
it means recess, lunch
and school's out.
420
00:24:41,276 --> 00:24:43,152
We were actually,
as little kids,
421
00:24:43,194 --> 00:24:45,571
connoisseurs of explosions.
422
00:24:47,615 --> 00:24:49,283
And at some point,
I asked my father,
423
00:24:49,325 --> 00:24:50,785
"What-what are you doing?"
424
00:24:50,827 --> 00:24:53,162
And he said,
"Well, we're doing something
425
00:24:53,204 --> 00:24:54,872
that has never been
done before."
426
00:24:54,914 --> 00:24:57,792
I thought, "That's got to be
pretty interesting,
427
00:24:57,834 --> 00:24:58,876
whatever it is."
428
00:25:10,092 --> 00:25:14,050
We get about a year into
the laboratory's existence,
429
00:25:14,266 --> 00:25:16,184
and we come to find
that it's gonna be
430
00:25:16,226 --> 00:25:17,769
a lot harder than we thought.
431
00:25:17,811 --> 00:25:20,647
Every little thing is hard.
432
00:25:20,689 --> 00:25:24,650
These are
some very complex machines.
433
00:25:25,985 --> 00:25:28,320
A nuclear weapon is not an idea.
434
00:25:28,362 --> 00:25:32,032
Think of a nuclear weapon
more as like a million ideas
435
00:25:32,074 --> 00:25:35,494
that have to come together
and work perfectly together.
436
00:25:37,371 --> 00:25:40,374
To make an atomic bomb,
you need the fuel for it.
437
00:25:43,002 --> 00:25:46,254
We have plutonium, and we
have enriched uranium.
438
00:25:46,296 --> 00:25:47,797
We have two different types
of material
439
00:25:47,839 --> 00:25:50,133
that we're going to try and use.
440
00:25:50,175 --> 00:25:53,303
Plutonium was
the better material to use.
441
00:25:53,344 --> 00:25:55,180
There was gonna be more of it.
442
00:25:55,221 --> 00:25:57,807
You needed less of it
to make a bomb,
443
00:25:57,849 --> 00:26:01,019
and yet it was harder
to detonate.
444
00:26:02,604 --> 00:26:07,524
The initial way to make a bomb
was called gun assembly.
445
00:26:07,566 --> 00:26:13,405
It was to take
two pieces of material
446
00:26:13,447 --> 00:26:15,657
and slam them together...
447
00:26:17,034 --> 00:26:19,745
...causing a critical mass
and an explosion.
448
00:26:19,787 --> 00:26:23,665
And that was fine if you used
highly enriched uranium.
449
00:26:23,707 --> 00:26:28,169
But one day, they discovered
it won't work with plutonium.
450
00:26:28,211 --> 00:26:31,756
The plutonium
turned out to be so reactive
451
00:26:31,798 --> 00:26:34,008
that you couldn't
fire it up a barrel
452
00:26:34,050 --> 00:26:36,677
even at 3,000 feet per second.
453
00:26:36,719 --> 00:26:38,054
It would fizzle.
454
00:26:38,096 --> 00:26:40,389
It would melt down
before it got up the barrel.
455
00:26:40,431 --> 00:26:41,891
It was a great shock.
456
00:26:41,933 --> 00:26:44,685
I mean, maybe this whole
plutonium thing had been wasted,
457
00:26:44,727 --> 00:26:47,687
hundreds of millions of dollars
to develop plutonium.
458
00:26:51,274 --> 00:26:52,692
Oppenheimer was distraught,
459
00:26:52,734 --> 00:26:54,820
and-and Los Alamos
was distraught.
460
00:26:55,904 --> 00:26:59,783
He considered resigning,
he was so depressed,
461
00:26:59,825 --> 00:27:01,868
and his friends
at the laboratory said,
462
00:27:01,910 --> 00:27:03,286
"You can't, Robert.
463
00:27:03,328 --> 00:27:05,205
"You've got to stay
and finish this work.
464
00:27:05,247 --> 00:27:07,416
It's got to happen.
We must do it."
465
00:27:07,457 --> 00:27:10,334
And-and reluctantly, he stayed.
466
00:27:12,420 --> 00:27:14,046
war under the supreme command of
467
00:27:14,088 --> 00:27:15,881
General Dwight D. Eisenhower.
468
00:27:15,923 --> 00:27:18,342
Allied forces have
nearly three million troops
469
00:27:18,384 --> 00:27:19,885
trained for the assault.
470
00:27:21,220 --> 00:27:22,721
On the other side
of the channel...
471
00:27:24,140 --> 00:27:25,766
...the Nazis also know
472
00:27:25,808 --> 00:27:28,644
what the Allied forces
are preparing for,
473
00:27:28,685 --> 00:27:31,271
and they are making
preparations of their own.
474
00:27:31,312 --> 00:27:33,314
(Hitler shouting in German)
475
00:27:34,357 --> 00:27:36,025
Oppenheimer feared
476
00:27:36,067 --> 00:27:38,445
he was still in a race
with the Germans.
477
00:27:38,486 --> 00:27:40,947
Even as late
as the summer of '44,
478
00:27:40,989 --> 00:27:42,615
they had no real intelligence
479
00:27:42,657 --> 00:27:46,202
about where they were
on the German bomb project.
480
00:27:47,787 --> 00:27:50,205
CARR: And so, if they don't
crack the plutonium problem,
481
00:27:50,247 --> 00:27:52,624
they may not have
a bomb in time.
482
00:27:53,834 --> 00:27:56,962
Oppenheimer shifted the
laboratory into, you know,
483
00:27:57,004 --> 00:27:59,381
full-speed panic mode.
484
00:28:01,341 --> 00:28:03,010
They had had some ideas
485
00:28:03,051 --> 00:28:05,095
for other types of bomb designs,
which they had thrown around
486
00:28:05,137 --> 00:28:06,805
at the very beginning
of the project
487
00:28:06,847 --> 00:28:09,266
but dismissed 'cause
they seemed too difficult.
488
00:28:09,308 --> 00:28:11,768
But one of them
was called implosion.
489
00:28:13,644 --> 00:28:16,647
The way implosion
in a nutshell works was
490
00:28:16,689 --> 00:28:19,108
they had a solid ball
of plutonium,
491
00:28:19,150 --> 00:28:20,985
just a solid sphere of it,
492
00:28:21,027 --> 00:28:24,113
about the size of a softball,
maybe a little bit smaller.
493
00:28:24,155 --> 00:28:29,202
And this is encased by
tons of high explosives.
494
00:28:30,661 --> 00:28:33,705
And these high explosives
are really specially made,
495
00:28:33,747 --> 00:28:37,000
so that when they explode,
they're gonna end up
496
00:28:37,042 --> 00:28:41,004
sort of focusing a blast wave
onto this ball,
497
00:28:41,046 --> 00:28:43,131
pushing on the top
and pushing on the bottom
498
00:28:43,173 --> 00:28:44,800
and pushing on both sides of it.
499
00:28:44,841 --> 00:28:47,344
Every angle of this is
gonna be being pushed upon
500
00:28:47,385 --> 00:28:50,889
with a lot of explosive force.
501
00:28:50,931 --> 00:28:54,183
What you want to do
is get this pressure
502
00:28:54,225 --> 00:28:58,687
to squeeze
the plutonium target evenly.
503
00:28:58,729 --> 00:29:01,732
If it were asymmetrical,
it probably wouldn't work.
504
00:29:01,774 --> 00:29:05,152
You had to have enough pressure
quickly enough
505
00:29:05,194 --> 00:29:09,323
to smash these subatomic
particles together hard enough
506
00:29:09,365 --> 00:29:12,535
to get them to have
this a-amazing reaction.
507
00:29:13,535 --> 00:29:15,745
This is really hard to do.
508
00:29:15,787 --> 00:29:19,707
Every aspect of this is
an almost totally new problem.
509
00:29:19,749 --> 00:29:21,501
It is a technology
that would have benefited from
510
00:29:21,543 --> 00:29:22,836
another decade of development.
511
00:29:22,877 --> 00:29:25,547
And they didn't have that.
They had a year.
512
00:29:28,633 --> 00:29:31,010
Oppenheimer was working
night and day
513
00:29:31,052 --> 00:29:32,846
building the bomb.
514
00:29:32,887 --> 00:29:36,306
And as the project grew in size,
the security service
515
00:29:36,348 --> 00:29:39,560
protecting the project
also grew.
516
00:29:39,601 --> 00:29:42,062
And even though
he was beloved and admired
517
00:29:42,104 --> 00:29:43,814
by most of the scientists
518
00:29:43,856 --> 00:29:46,108
working at
the Los Alamos project,
519
00:29:46,150 --> 00:29:49,194
he had fallen under
a greater veil of suspicion
520
00:29:49,236 --> 00:29:52,364
because there were
certain aspects of his past
521
00:29:52,406 --> 00:29:55,032
that raised the possibility
522
00:29:55,074 --> 00:29:57,410
that he could be
a security risk.
523
00:30:11,090 --> 00:30:13,009
When Oppenheimer was teaching
524
00:30:13,050 --> 00:30:15,344
at the University of California
at Berkeley,
525
00:30:15,386 --> 00:30:20,223
he really was
a very unworldly man
526
00:30:20,265 --> 00:30:22,350
focused on science,
527
00:30:22,392 --> 00:30:25,312
until the Depression began.
528
00:30:27,522 --> 00:30:29,107
He discovered, to his shock,
529
00:30:29,149 --> 00:30:33,403
that his students often
didn't even have enough to eat.
530
00:30:33,445 --> 00:30:36,239
One of them told me
he was living on
531
00:30:36,281 --> 00:30:38,741
cat food, cans of cat food.
532
00:30:38,783 --> 00:30:40,785
That was the only thing
he could afford.
533
00:30:42,036 --> 00:30:46,540
Oppenheimer was changed
by this discovery
534
00:30:46,582 --> 00:30:49,418
of-of suffering
in the world, really.
535
00:30:52,088 --> 00:30:55,091
And Oppenheimer
sort of naturally,
536
00:30:55,132 --> 00:30:58,093
like many of his friends
in Berkeley at the time,
537
00:30:58,134 --> 00:31:00,804
drifted politically to the left.
538
00:31:08,812 --> 00:31:13,983
Communism was a very
appealing idea in the 1930s.
539
00:31:14,025 --> 00:31:15,610
There was no Internet.
540
00:31:15,652 --> 00:31:17,529
People didn't know
what was going on real time
541
00:31:17,570 --> 00:31:19,279
in the Soviet Union,
542
00:31:19,321 --> 00:31:22,116
where Joseph Stalin, of course,
was in the process of murdering
543
00:31:22,157 --> 00:31:24,952
20 million of his own people.
544
00:31:29,957 --> 00:31:32,626
What people here in the
United States saw instead was,
545
00:31:32,668 --> 00:31:35,921
hey, you know,
here in the Soviet Union,
546
00:31:35,963 --> 00:31:38,799
everybody is free and equal
and has a job
547
00:31:38,841 --> 00:31:41,759
and a place to live
and-and a future,
548
00:31:41,801 --> 00:31:45,138
an important role to play
in the greater collective.
549
00:31:47,181 --> 00:31:50,560
Now, if I don't know where
my next meal is coming from,
550
00:31:50,601 --> 00:31:53,771
that sounds like
a pretty good idea.
551
00:31:55,898 --> 00:32:00,318
It's debatable if Oppenheimer
ever really joined, officially,
552
00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:02,654
the Communist Party.
553
00:32:02,696 --> 00:32:04,740
But his brother did.
554
00:32:04,781 --> 00:32:06,783
Frank Oppenheimer
joined the party.
555
00:32:06,825 --> 00:32:09,953
Frank's wife Jackie
joined the party.
556
00:32:09,995 --> 00:32:12,456
Many of Oppenheimer's
close friends
557
00:32:12,497 --> 00:32:14,040
had joined the Communist Party.
558
00:32:14,082 --> 00:32:16,001
Many of his students
at Berkeley and elsewhere
559
00:32:16,042 --> 00:32:18,837
had been members of
the Communist Party as well.
560
00:32:20,046 --> 00:32:21,797
And in the mid '30s,
561
00:32:21,839 --> 00:32:24,675
he met a young woman
named Jean Tatlock,
562
00:32:24,717 --> 00:32:28,429
who was studying
to become a psychiatrist.
563
00:32:28,471 --> 00:32:31,098
Brilliant young woman.
564
00:32:31,140 --> 00:32:32,558
He fell in love with her.
565
00:32:34,226 --> 00:32:36,812
They were engaged
to be married twice.
566
00:32:36,854 --> 00:32:39,065
I think it's probably
a reasonable interpretation
567
00:32:39,106 --> 00:32:41,358
to say he was
somewhat obsessed with her.
568
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:43,860
She was a communist.
569
00:32:43,902 --> 00:32:46,029
He was interested
in communist ideas.
570
00:32:47,155 --> 00:32:48,990
And for the next four years,
571
00:32:49,032 --> 00:32:52,035
Oppenheimer actually contributed
quite a bit of money
572
00:32:52,077 --> 00:32:54,037
to the Communist Party.
573
00:32:54,079 --> 00:32:58,500
But his political activities
began to be noticed.
574
00:33:02,420 --> 00:33:04,046
What the FBI did in those days,
575
00:33:04,088 --> 00:33:06,548
they were following
the communists.
576
00:33:07,382 --> 00:33:09,343
They would walk around
and they would take down
577
00:33:09,384 --> 00:33:11,220
the license numbers
of the cars that were parked
578
00:33:11,261 --> 00:33:13,847
in front of the house or
the building and look them up.
579
00:33:13,889 --> 00:33:15,474
That's when Oppenheimer
580
00:33:15,516 --> 00:33:17,559
first came to the attention
of the FBI.
581
00:33:18,151 --> 00:33:21,146
Even while he's heading up
the A-bomb project,
582
00:33:21,188 --> 00:33:24,315
the FBI is wiretapping
and following him.
583
00:33:24,357 --> 00:33:28,736
Military Intelligence is
constantly asking him questions.
584
00:33:28,778 --> 00:33:31,406
He was, I think, in a strange way,
585
00:33:31,447 --> 00:33:32,907
comfortable with that because
586
00:33:32,949 --> 00:33:35,743
he knew he wasn't doing
anything wrong.
587
00:33:36,744 --> 00:33:38,913
Even when he went to visit
his old girlfriend
588
00:33:38,955 --> 00:33:42,083
when he should not have
probably done so.
589
00:33:44,043 --> 00:33:48,130
In 1943, he heard
from Jean Tatlock.
590
00:33:48,171 --> 00:33:50,215
She was going through
some emotional crisis,
591
00:33:50,257 --> 00:33:51,591
and she wanted to see him.
592
00:33:51,633 --> 00:33:53,552
He had kept in touch with Jean.
593
00:33:53,593 --> 00:33:55,804
He still loved her.
594
00:33:55,846 --> 00:33:58,515
She had rejected him.
He had married Kitty.
595
00:33:58,557 --> 00:34:03,437
But he knew that Jean Tatlock
was in a depressed state,
596
00:34:03,478 --> 00:34:05,146
and so he visited her.
597
00:34:08,888 --> 00:34:12,653
He had to leave Los
Alamos and go to San Francisco.
598
00:34:16,657 --> 00:34:18,993
And that was, of course,
just red meat
599
00:34:19,034 --> 00:34:21,495
for the, for the dog,
as it were.
600
00:34:22,455 --> 00:34:26,291
There were two guys
sitting outside the apartment.
601
00:34:26,332 --> 00:34:30,253
Jean Tatlock was under surveillance.
602
00:34:30,295 --> 00:34:32,547
She was still a member
of the Communist Party.
603
00:34:33,616 --> 00:34:35,467
He spent the night with her.
604
00:34:35,508 --> 00:34:37,135
They had been lovers,
605
00:34:37,177 --> 00:34:39,763
and I think they probably were
lovers again that night.
606
00:34:43,892 --> 00:34:48,020
This was reported back
to Colonel Boris Pash,
607
00:34:48,062 --> 00:34:49,646
who was head of
Army Intelligence
608
00:34:49,688 --> 00:34:51,148
for all the West Coast.
609
00:34:51,190 --> 00:34:53,817
And Pash was convinced
that this was
610
00:34:53,859 --> 00:34:58,322
a serious breach of security
611
00:34:58,363 --> 00:35:00,199
and that perhaps Oppenheimer
was conveying nuclear secrets
612
00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:03,911
and atomic secrets to the
Communist Party through Tatlock.
613
00:35:05,579 --> 00:35:08,831
Sadly, tragically, she died
614
00:35:08,873 --> 00:35:12,085
just a few months later,
in the spring of 1944.
615
00:35:13,211 --> 00:35:18,049
Under mysterious circumstances,
her father found her naked
616
00:35:18,091 --> 00:35:21,094
with her head
plunged in a bathtub
617
00:35:21,135 --> 00:35:24,555
with her body slumped
over the edge of the bathtub.
618
00:35:26,015 --> 00:35:29,810
Which is a very odd way
to commit suicide.
619
00:35:29,851 --> 00:35:32,521
There's some speculation that
620
00:35:32,562 --> 00:35:34,815
perhaps she was murdered.
621
00:35:36,233 --> 00:35:40,570
Oppenheimer was horrified
and devastated by the news.
622
00:35:41,947 --> 00:35:45,534
The security officer
who informed him
623
00:35:45,575 --> 00:35:48,370
said that he wept openly,
624
00:35:48,412 --> 00:35:51,122
that he was absolutely bereft
625
00:35:51,163 --> 00:35:53,541
and actually confided
that there was nobody
626
00:35:53,582 --> 00:35:55,251
that he could speak to about it.
627
00:35:55,292 --> 00:35:59,964
So you sense, uh,
the loneliness of his grief.
628
00:36:03,050 --> 00:36:04,760
We interrupt this program
629
00:36:04,802 --> 00:36:05,928
with a special bulletin.
630
00:36:05,970 --> 00:36:08,055
President Roosevelt is dead.
631
00:36:08,097 --> 00:36:10,598
The president died
of a cerebral hemorrhage.
632
00:36:11,766 --> 00:36:13,935
April 1945 was
one of those months
633
00:36:13,977 --> 00:36:17,272
in which the fate of the world
seemed to turn on a dime.
634
00:36:19,065 --> 00:36:20,483
FDR dies,
635
00:36:20,525 --> 00:36:23,153
followed by Hitler
committing suicide.
636
00:36:23,194 --> 00:36:27,073
Hitler's empire burns and shrivels.
637
00:36:27,115 --> 00:36:31,618
The bomb was conceived
in a kind of anti-Hitler fervor.
638
00:36:31,660 --> 00:36:34,413
By the spring of 1945,
Hitler's out of the picture.
639
00:36:34,455 --> 00:36:36,832
The Nazis are
no longer a threat.
640
00:36:36,874 --> 00:36:39,293
Hitler is not gonna build
an atomic bomb
641
00:36:39,334 --> 00:36:40,836
and drop it on New York.
642
00:36:40,878 --> 00:36:42,671
That's not gonna happen.
643
00:36:42,713 --> 00:36:45,883
But there was no way they were
not gonna finish that weapon.
644
00:36:47,342 --> 00:36:49,136
They wanted to make this happen.
645
00:36:49,178 --> 00:36:52,138
They didn't want the war to end
before it happened.
646
00:36:52,180 --> 00:36:54,390
Oppenheimer wanted the bomb
to be used,
647
00:36:54,432 --> 00:36:58,061
because how else would the world
know what it was?
648
00:36:58,102 --> 00:37:00,313
Harry S. Truman was sworn in
649
00:37:00,354 --> 00:37:02,231
as President
of the United States.
650
00:37:02,273 --> 00:37:04,942
By the time Truman
gets to the presidency,
651
00:37:04,984 --> 00:37:06,235
the wheels are in motion.
652
00:37:06,277 --> 00:37:08,488
This bomb is going to be
dropped somewhere.
653
00:37:08,529 --> 00:37:12,241
With the death of Hitler,
the target then becomes Japan.
654
00:37:13,617 --> 00:37:15,994
The never-ending air campaign
655
00:37:16,036 --> 00:37:18,080
against Japan's stolen empire
continues,
656
00:37:18,121 --> 00:37:22,334
as B-24s hammer installations
in the Palau islands.
657
00:37:26,338 --> 00:37:29,007
We were marching up
from island to island.
658
00:37:33,719 --> 00:37:38,265
Landing on the beaches against
dug-in Japanese defenses.
659
00:37:39,475 --> 00:37:44,814
Losing young men
in large numbers.
660
00:37:44,855 --> 00:37:46,399
Every day that went by
661
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,360
without this bomb
being successfully tested
662
00:37:49,402 --> 00:37:52,279
was a day in which thousands
of Americans are dying.
663
00:37:52,321 --> 00:37:54,240
Thousands of Yanks
have been wounded
664
00:37:54,281 --> 00:37:57,075
and other thousands
have sacrificed their lives
665
00:37:57,117 --> 00:37:59,160
to drive a fanatical foe
from this vital base,
666
00:37:59,202 --> 00:38:02,038
the doorstep to Japan itself.
667
00:38:03,206 --> 00:38:05,583
They knew
the Japanese were defeated,
668
00:38:05,625 --> 00:38:08,169
but defeat and surrender
are two different things.
669
00:38:08,211 --> 00:38:11,297
So how do you get them
to surrender?
670
00:38:13,550 --> 00:38:17,511
In a world of atomic weapons,
wars will cease.
671
00:38:17,553 --> 00:38:19,722
And that is not a small thing.
672
00:38:21,849 --> 00:38:24,226
The way Oppenheimer
looked at the bomb
673
00:38:24,268 --> 00:38:29,189
is in a kind of
Eastern metaphysical way of
674
00:38:29,231 --> 00:38:32,025
it is a act of destruction
and creation
675
00:38:32,067 --> 00:38:34,194
potentially at the same time,
676
00:38:34,236 --> 00:38:37,947
act of war and an act of peace,
677
00:38:37,989 --> 00:38:41,743
that this thing, if mishandled,
678
00:38:41,784 --> 00:38:45,580
could end humanity, but if
properly handled and harnessed,
679
00:38:45,621 --> 00:38:47,999
could actually lead to an era
680
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:50,710
of peace and prosperity
for the entire world.
681
00:39:01,928 --> 00:39:03,555
By the summer of '45,
682
00:39:03,597 --> 00:39:07,142
they had been working on
the implosion design for a year,
683
00:39:07,184 --> 00:39:12,939
tweaking, devising and
struggling with the challenges.
684
00:39:12,981 --> 00:39:14,441
For this thing to work,
685
00:39:14,483 --> 00:39:16,568
all of those explosives
and their detonators
686
00:39:16,610 --> 00:39:18,486
and the things powering them
and the batteries
687
00:39:18,527 --> 00:39:21,906
and everything else
has got to work perfectly.
688
00:39:21,947 --> 00:39:23,365
And there wasn't
a really good way to figure out
689
00:39:23,407 --> 00:39:24,992
if that was
actually gonna happen,
690
00:39:25,034 --> 00:39:27,369
other than setting off
a full-size test.
691
00:39:33,125 --> 00:39:35,044
They settle upon the site
692
00:39:35,086 --> 00:39:36,670
where the bomb will be tested,
693
00:39:36,712 --> 00:39:41,257
and Oppenheimer chooses
the name for the site: Trinity.
694
00:39:41,852 --> 00:39:43,009
He had been reading
695
00:39:43,051 --> 00:39:44,594
the poetry of John Donne
at the time,
696
00:39:44,636 --> 00:39:47,597
and one of those poems,
uh, include the line,
697
00:39:47,639 --> 00:39:49,682
"Batter my heart,
three-personed God,"
698
00:39:49,724 --> 00:39:53,436
a reference to the Holy Trinity
in Christianity.
699
00:39:54,396 --> 00:39:58,024
And I think that that was a
tribute to Jean Tatlock,
700
00:39:58,066 --> 00:40:00,984
because Jean and Oppie
used to read
701
00:40:01,026 --> 00:40:03,946
the poetry of John Donne in bed.
702
00:40:13,205 --> 00:40:16,792
Sunday, July 15, 1945.
703
00:40:16,834 --> 00:40:19,128
Alamogordo, New Mexico.
704
00:40:19,169 --> 00:40:21,295
It is D-minus one for the test
705
00:40:21,337 --> 00:40:23,589
of the world's first
atomic device.
706
00:40:24,674 --> 00:40:27,135
The hours leading up
to the Trinity test
707
00:40:27,176 --> 00:40:29,971
are one of
the most extraordinary moments
708
00:40:30,012 --> 00:40:32,765
of-of tension imaginable.
709
00:40:32,807 --> 00:40:35,309
The stakes,
the billions of dollars,
710
00:40:35,351 --> 00:40:37,520
the hundreds of thousands
of people who'd been involved
711
00:40:37,562 --> 00:40:42,065
in building to this one moment
of this test of this new weapon,
712
00:40:42,107 --> 00:40:44,359
all of that responsibility
falling
713
00:40:44,401 --> 00:40:46,737
very squarely
on Oppenheimer's shoulders.
714
00:40:46,778 --> 00:40:48,864
At the bomb test site,
715
00:40:48,905 --> 00:40:51,408
the scientists are working
under growing pressure.
716
00:40:51,450 --> 00:40:54,286
They are told there must be
no further delays.
717
00:40:54,327 --> 00:40:56,997
The president must know
the results of the test
718
00:40:57,038 --> 00:40:59,166
when he meets with Stalin.
719
00:40:59,207 --> 00:41:01,168
The President
of the United States
720
00:41:01,209 --> 00:41:03,169
is about to enter into
the Potsdam Conference--
721
00:41:03,210 --> 00:41:05,463
Potsdam, a city in Germany.
722
00:41:05,504 --> 00:41:06,839
He's gonna meet
with Joseph Stalin,
723
00:41:06,881 --> 00:41:08,382
Winston Churchill as well,
724
00:41:08,424 --> 00:41:10,176
and talk about
the future of Europe
725
00:41:10,217 --> 00:41:12,011
and the future
of the Pacific War.
726
00:41:12,053 --> 00:41:13,721
The president must know
727
00:41:13,763 --> 00:41:18,059
if he has a nuclear weapon
in his back pocket or not.
728
00:41:26,900 --> 00:41:28,777
Everybody was on edge,
729
00:41:28,818 --> 00:41:30,945
and they had to calm down
Oppenheimer.
730
00:41:30,987 --> 00:41:33,490
He was a bundle of nerves.
731
00:41:34,449 --> 00:41:36,076
He chain-smoked,
732
00:41:36,117 --> 00:41:38,036
which he pretty much
always did anyway.
733
00:41:39,370 --> 00:41:42,040
It was a situation
where I did not want
734
00:41:42,082 --> 00:41:44,666
Dr. Oppenheimer to get nervous.
735
00:41:46,668 --> 00:41:48,879
There's a famous picture
from that evening
736
00:41:48,921 --> 00:41:52,925
where Oppenheimer himself
crawls up the tower to the top
737
00:41:52,966 --> 00:41:56,053
where the bomb has been hoisted.
738
00:41:56,095 --> 00:41:58,639
He's checking
all the final plugs
739
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:02,643
to make sure
that everything is in order.
740
00:42:02,684 --> 00:42:04,186
He's clearly worried,
741
00:42:04,228 --> 00:42:07,980
trying to check
every last little detail.
742
00:42:08,022 --> 00:42:09,399
Oppenheimer doesn't know
743
00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:10,942
if this thing
is gonna work at all.
744
00:42:10,983 --> 00:42:12,276
In fact, he had a bet
745
00:42:12,318 --> 00:42:13,611
with another one
of the scientists
746
00:42:13,653 --> 00:42:15,738
that it wouldn't work--
ten dollars.
747
00:42:16,531 --> 00:42:17,949
OPPENHEIMER:
There were a hundred things
748
00:42:17,990 --> 00:42:20,576
that could be done wrong,
749
00:42:20,620 --> 00:42:24,833
any one of which
could make the test a failure.
750
00:42:25,483 --> 00:42:27,249
Everybody had doubts.
751
00:42:27,290 --> 00:42:29,418
Was it even possible?
752
00:42:29,459 --> 00:42:32,295
And then this question,
'cause nobody was really sure:
753
00:42:32,337 --> 00:42:35,424
What if we set
the whole atmosphere on fire?
754
00:42:37,175 --> 00:42:39,594
What if we set off this bomb
755
00:42:39,636 --> 00:42:42,139
and it literally sets
the air on fire
756
00:42:42,180 --> 00:42:44,141
and engulfs us all?
757
00:42:45,684 --> 00:42:49,019
The atmosphere is made
out of oxygen, after all.
758
00:42:49,061 --> 00:42:51,439
Can the oxygen of the atmosphere
759
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,442
be set in flames
by an atomic bomb?
760
00:42:54,483 --> 00:42:57,069
No one knew the answer
to these questions.
761
00:43:02,908 --> 00:43:07,496
It's before dawn on July 16, 1945.
762
00:43:07,537 --> 00:43:08,872
It was dark.
763
00:43:08,913 --> 00:43:12,292
The bomb was in the tower
a hundred feet up,
764
00:43:12,333 --> 00:43:14,377
and they were ready to go.
765
00:43:14,419 --> 00:43:19,174
Oppenheimer was in one of
the bunkers that had been built.
766
00:43:23,178 --> 00:43:25,013
Oppenheimer braced himself,
767
00:43:25,055 --> 00:43:27,974
according to some accounts
uttering the words,
768
00:43:28,016 --> 00:43:31,518
"Lord, these affairs
are hard on the heart."
769
00:43:36,356 --> 00:43:39,276
nine, eight...
770
00:43:39,318 --> 00:43:41,570
Oppenheimer was saying to himself,
771
00:43:41,612 --> 00:43:43,739
-"I must remain conscious."
772
00:43:43,781 --> 00:43:45,240
...seven...
773
00:43:45,282 --> 00:43:46,492
"I must remain conscious."
774
00:43:46,533 --> 00:43:48,494
...six...
775
00:43:48,535 --> 00:43:50,787
Seconds are hours.
776
00:43:50,828 --> 00:43:54,582
...five, four,
777
00:43:54,624 --> 00:43:58,044
three, two...
778
00:43:58,086 --> 00:44:00,338
And all of a sudden...
779
00:44:07,553 --> 00:44:09,722
...the whole place lit up.
780
00:44:19,898 --> 00:44:21,691
One of the scientists told me
781
00:44:21,733 --> 00:44:25,487
it felt as if someone had
opened an oven door.
782
00:44:26,571 --> 00:44:28,490
Suddenly, there was
this huge heat,
783
00:44:28,532 --> 00:44:30,325
which was radiant heat,
784
00:44:30,367 --> 00:44:32,702
so it came at
the speed of light as well,
785
00:44:32,743 --> 00:44:35,746
and then this rolling thunder
of sound,
786
00:44:35,788 --> 00:44:39,875
and the first mushroom cloud
started going up.
787
00:44:39,917 --> 00:44:44,171
It was orange and purple
and blue and yellow,
788
00:44:44,213 --> 00:44:48,050
and it roiled,
and it grew as it rose.
789
00:44:48,092 --> 00:44:52,053
And a new thing, he said,
had been created on the Earth,
790
00:44:52,095 --> 00:44:54,389
a new challenge for humanity.
791
00:44:58,435 --> 00:45:00,645
People had seen explosions
792
00:45:00,687 --> 00:45:04,524
and tested bombs for decades,
but to see the size of it,
793
00:45:04,566 --> 00:45:08,611
just... it was just astonishing.
794
00:45:09,446 --> 00:45:11,281
There's never been
a moment like that
795
00:45:11,322 --> 00:45:14,074
in the history of the world.
796
00:45:14,116 --> 00:45:17,286
The view of the world,
the view of what matter is,
797
00:45:17,327 --> 00:45:21,832
what we are made of indeed,
palpably changes.
798
00:45:21,874 --> 00:45:26,920
It's an unleashing of a, of
a force never before imagined
799
00:45:26,962 --> 00:45:31,216
and could never be ignored
from this point on.
800
00:45:37,659 --> 00:45:40,516
We knew the world would
not be the same.
801
00:45:42,810 --> 00:45:45,646
A few people laughed.
802
00:45:47,065 --> 00:45:49,275
A few people cried.
803
00:45:49,317 --> 00:45:51,069
Most people were silent.
804
00:45:53,988 --> 00:45:58,158
I remembered the line
from the Hindu scripture,
805
00:45:58,200 --> 00:45:59,910
the Bhagavad Gita.
806
00:46:02,788 --> 00:46:04,539
Vishnu...
807
00:46:05,749 --> 00:46:10,420
...is trying to persuade
the prince that
808
00:46:10,462 --> 00:46:12,923
he should do his duty,
809
00:46:12,964 --> 00:46:15,299
and to impress him,
810
00:46:15,341 --> 00:46:20,721
takes on his multiarmed form
and says,
811
00:46:20,763 --> 00:46:25,351
"Now I am become Death,
the destroyer of worlds."
812
00:46:27,186 --> 00:46:31,023
I suppose we all thought that,
one way or another.
813
00:46:43,290 --> 00:46:47,210
After the test was over,
Oppenheimer had this strut.
814
00:46:47,600 --> 00:46:49,334
It was likeHigh Noon.
815
00:46:49,703 --> 00:46:51,392
He had done it.
816
00:46:52,836 --> 00:46:56,214
Oppenheimer was very proud
of this accomplishment.
817
00:46:57,672 --> 00:46:59,202
It was a world-changing moment,
818
00:46:59,292 --> 00:47:02,194
and a lot of the scientists
realized that.
819
00:47:06,926 --> 00:47:08,213
Now came the business of
820
00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:10,908
what the government would do
with their creation.
821
00:47:12,896 --> 00:47:14,523
Groves hurried back
822
00:47:14,567 --> 00:47:16,652
to his Washington office
and cabled the news
823
00:47:16,692 --> 00:47:19,861
that the bomb experiment
had been a success
824
00:47:19,902 --> 00:47:23,823
and even more powerful than
they had anticipated.
825
00:47:25,033 --> 00:47:28,536
This information is
transmitted to Truman, who...
826
00:47:28,578 --> 00:47:30,747
entire attitude changes
at Potsdam.
827
00:47:30,788 --> 00:47:33,499
He suddenly feels like
he has a win in-in sight.
828
00:47:33,541 --> 00:47:36,210
He suddenly starts
bossing around Stalin.
829
00:47:36,252 --> 00:47:39,588
He decides the Japanese
get no concessions whatsoever.
830
00:47:40,756 --> 00:47:42,883
Truman had known
that this existed
831
00:47:42,924 --> 00:47:46,053
since he became president,
but to know it actually works
832
00:47:46,094 --> 00:47:48,180
and it's even more powerful
than we thought,
833
00:47:48,221 --> 00:47:51,767
that's a really different
position for him to be in.
834
00:47:51,808 --> 00:47:55,812
Our demand has been,
and it remains,
835
00:47:55,854 --> 00:47:59,399
-unconditional surrender!
836
00:48:02,485 --> 00:48:03,986
My mom and dad
837
00:48:04,028 --> 00:48:06,238
were both veterans
of World War II, and my mom,
838
00:48:06,280 --> 00:48:09,408
she said, "You know, after...
839
00:48:09,450 --> 00:48:12,161
"after four years of this thing,
840
00:48:12,203 --> 00:48:15,581
"there was nobody really...
there was nobody going,
841
00:48:15,623 --> 00:48:18,793
'Was it ethical to use
a-a nuclear weapon?'"
842
00:48:20,169 --> 00:48:23,088
Right? Just get it over with.
843
00:48:23,129 --> 00:48:25,173
This is horrible. Like, this--
844
00:48:25,215 --> 00:48:28,593
Whatever you can do
to shorten this thing.
845
00:48:28,635 --> 00:48:31,679
Everybody was terrified
and exhausted,
846
00:48:31,721 --> 00:48:36,184
and everybody knew somebody
who knew somebody
847
00:48:36,226 --> 00:48:39,020
who was not living anymore
because of this.
848
00:48:40,939 --> 00:48:43,482
With the bomb ready to go,
849
00:48:43,524 --> 00:48:45,943
I mean, the choices
are appalling.
850
00:48:45,984 --> 00:48:48,278
You know, they know
perfectly well that if they use
851
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:51,782
these weapons on Japanese men,
women and children in cities,
852
00:48:51,824 --> 00:48:54,618
there are gonna be a couple
hundred thousand people who die.
853
00:48:54,660 --> 00:48:59,957
But if they don't stop the war
with the bomb,
854
00:48:59,998 --> 00:49:02,126
there may be millions more
that die.
855
00:49:02,167 --> 00:49:05,670
So those seem to be
the two choices,
856
00:49:05,712 --> 00:49:08,089
but there was a third choice,
857
00:49:08,131 --> 00:49:11,259
and the third choice
was to do a demonstration.
858
00:49:11,300 --> 00:49:15,763
Maybe drop this bomb in
Tokyo Bay, kill very few people,
859
00:49:15,805 --> 00:49:17,557
make a hell of a demonstration,
860
00:49:17,598 --> 00:49:20,601
and maybe the Japanese
will surrender
861
00:49:20,643 --> 00:49:25,772
just based on having seen the
ferocious power of this thing.
862
00:49:25,814 --> 00:49:28,150
Oppenheimer rejected,
uh, that course,
863
00:49:28,191 --> 00:49:31,903
as did the planners
in Washington.
864
00:49:35,741 --> 00:49:38,076
We did think about whether, uh,
865
00:49:38,118 --> 00:49:40,871
its destructiveness, uh,
866
00:49:40,912 --> 00:49:42,664
its danger, uh,
867
00:49:42,706 --> 00:49:46,876
could be vividly demonstrated
868
00:49:46,917 --> 00:49:50,671
over a barren
and uninhabited target,
869
00:49:50,713 --> 00:49:53,674
and we were
very doubtful of that.
870
00:49:56,260 --> 00:50:00,181
Very few people would have had
a more thorough understanding
871
00:50:00,222 --> 00:50:04,560
than J. Robert Oppenheimer
of what was about to unfold
872
00:50:04,602 --> 00:50:06,644
when these weapons were used
in combat.
873
00:50:06,686 --> 00:50:09,773
Oppenheimer contemplated,
knowing that
874
00:50:09,814 --> 00:50:12,484
this destruction
would be unworldly.
875
00:50:18,740 --> 00:50:22,869
His secretary,
Anne Wilson, told me this story
876
00:50:22,911 --> 00:50:25,205
that I'm still struck by.
877
00:50:25,246 --> 00:50:27,331
After the Trinity test,
878
00:50:27,373 --> 00:50:31,502
she's walking to work one day
with Robert.
879
00:50:31,543 --> 00:50:35,798
He's a few steps ahead of her,
and he's suddenly muttering,
880
00:50:35,839 --> 00:50:39,760
"Those poor little people,
those poor little people."
881
00:50:41,261 --> 00:50:43,931
She stops him and says, "Robert,
what are you muttering about?"
882
00:50:43,972 --> 00:50:49,811
And he looked at her
and-and explained that,
883
00:50:49,852 --> 00:50:51,813
you know, the bomb
was going to be used
884
00:50:51,854 --> 00:50:54,315
on a Japanese city or two,
885
00:50:54,357 --> 00:50:57,777
and the victims were going to be
886
00:50:57,819 --> 00:51:01,739
civilians, a whole city.
887
00:51:01,781 --> 00:51:06,744
This was obviously on his mind,
painfully on his mind.
888
00:51:06,786 --> 00:51:12,249
And yet we know, that same week,
he was meeting with the generals
889
00:51:12,290 --> 00:51:14,584
who were in charge of
the bombing mission,
890
00:51:14,626 --> 00:51:16,878
and he was instructing them
891
00:51:16,920 --> 00:51:19,423
exactly how the bomb
should be dropped
892
00:51:19,464 --> 00:51:22,926
and at what altitude
it should be detonated
893
00:51:22,968 --> 00:51:26,596
for the maximum
destructive power.
894
00:51:26,638 --> 00:51:29,598
It's hard
to reconcile the sensitive,
895
00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:35,146
morally upright,
humanistic professor
896
00:51:35,187 --> 00:51:39,859
with the guy who recommends that
the bomb is dropped on cities
897
00:51:39,900 --> 00:51:42,486
and is calculating
the ideal height
898
00:51:42,528 --> 00:51:43,946
for destroying houses, right?
899
00:51:43,988 --> 00:51:46,157
How do you reconcile
those two things?
900
00:51:46,198 --> 00:51:51,202
Part of it is, I think,
Oppenheimer hoping that
901
00:51:51,244 --> 00:51:55,957
this will not be the first use
of nuclear weapons,
902
00:51:55,999 --> 00:51:58,543
that it will be the last use
of nuclear weapons.
903
00:51:58,585 --> 00:52:00,253
And if that's the case,
904
00:52:00,295 --> 00:52:03,339
then in order to ensure
that they're the last use,
905
00:52:03,381 --> 00:52:07,844
you want it to be as bad and
ugly and horrible as possible.
906
00:52:17,186 --> 00:52:20,356
By August of 1945,
907
00:52:20,397 --> 00:52:23,484
every Japanese city
of more than 50,000 people
908
00:52:23,525 --> 00:52:28,447
had basically been burned out,
except for three or four cities
909
00:52:28,489 --> 00:52:32,200
that had been deliberately
set aside for atomic bombing.
910
00:52:32,241 --> 00:52:35,244
Set aside because they had
physical characteristics
911
00:52:35,286 --> 00:52:40,208
that would allow us to see
how the bombs worked.
912
00:52:46,464 --> 00:52:49,676
Hiroshima was a flat city.
913
00:52:49,717 --> 00:52:54,221
And with the city set aside,
it was possible to see
914
00:52:54,262 --> 00:52:58,517
the effects of the bomb
all the way out to the edges.
915
00:52:58,558 --> 00:53:01,770
That's why Hiroshima was chosen.
916
00:53:09,903 --> 00:53:12,655
When I was a little kid,
917
00:53:12,697 --> 00:53:14,782
there were seven rivers
running through,
918
00:53:14,824 --> 00:53:18,494
beautiful riverbanks.
919
00:53:18,536 --> 00:53:20,371
Water was clear.
920
00:53:20,413 --> 00:53:26,877
I was running through
magical gardens, flowers,
921
00:53:26,919 --> 00:53:30,297
looking for beautiful,
beautiful insects
922
00:53:30,339 --> 00:53:33,134
of all different kinds.
923
00:53:33,175 --> 00:53:35,010
Birds chirping.
924
00:53:35,051 --> 00:53:36,970
They don't understand about war.
925
00:53:37,012 --> 00:53:41,057
It was all over,
sound of happiness.
926
00:53:45,979 --> 00:53:49,441
But the sound
of the explosion came
927
00:53:49,482 --> 00:53:52,110
like a rage over the Earth.
928
00:54:16,049 --> 00:54:17,675
A short time ago,
929
00:54:17,717 --> 00:54:23,306
an American airplane
dropped one bomb on Hiroshima.
930
00:54:23,348 --> 00:54:29,228
That bomb has more power
than 20,000 tons of TNT.
931
00:54:31,898 --> 00:54:34,609
It is an atomic bomb.
932
00:54:34,650 --> 00:54:38,320
It is a harnessing of
the basic power of the universe.
933
00:54:46,328 --> 00:54:49,373
We have spent
more than two billion dollars
934
00:54:49,414 --> 00:54:53,251
on the greatest
scientific gamble in history,
935
00:54:53,293 --> 00:54:54,670
and we have won.
936
00:55:07,181 --> 00:55:08,849
Japan could read its doom.
937
00:55:08,891 --> 00:55:11,477
This was more than
a routine bombing.
938
00:55:11,519 --> 00:55:14,480
It was the funeral pyre
of an aggressor nation.
939
00:55:42,131 --> 00:55:45,092
I remember every second.
940
00:55:47,678 --> 00:55:49,888
I've never been so helpless.
941
00:55:55,185 --> 00:55:57,187
I was under the debris
942
00:55:57,229 --> 00:56:02,025
and somehow had to crawl
to the light and come out.
943
00:56:07,238 --> 00:56:09,949
I had to go looking
for my mother.
944
00:56:22,419 --> 00:56:26,882
Seeing these miserable
dying people,
945
00:56:26,923 --> 00:56:30,218
you didn't want her
to be one of them.
946
00:56:32,262 --> 00:56:34,973
Didn't hear
one single thing about
947
00:56:35,015 --> 00:56:40,854
cousin, my mother
or my best friend.
948
00:56:47,985 --> 00:56:51,572
I would have really loved
to have died with them,
949
00:56:51,614 --> 00:56:55,743
because life after that
was so very challenging
950
00:56:55,785 --> 00:56:57,286
and so very difficult,
951
00:56:57,328 --> 00:57:00,498
physically
and especially mentally.
952
00:57:10,548 --> 00:57:14,886
A few years after the end of the war,
953
00:57:14,928 --> 00:57:19,391
I saw the raw footage
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
954
00:57:25,187 --> 00:57:26,647
And there's no sound.
955
00:57:26,689 --> 00:57:30,484
It's just footage of people
with their skin
956
00:57:30,526 --> 00:57:34,029
and flower reverse patterns
of the kimonos
957
00:57:34,071 --> 00:57:36,031
burned into their skin
958
00:57:36,073 --> 00:57:39,576
and bodies floating
in the river.
959
00:57:39,618 --> 00:57:42,204
It was so shocking.
960
00:57:44,497 --> 00:57:47,959
And I thought, "They're all
my friends' fathers.
961
00:57:48,001 --> 00:57:51,462
Did they know
what they were doing?"
962
00:57:51,504 --> 00:57:54,173
None of it seemed
to make any sense to me
963
00:57:54,215 --> 00:57:55,967
that this was so horrible.
964
00:58:00,972 --> 00:58:03,141
As reports of that devastation
965
00:58:03,182 --> 00:58:05,225
started to come back
to Los Alamos,
966
00:58:05,267 --> 00:58:09,104
obviously this weighed
on the scientists.
967
00:58:10,689 --> 00:58:13,108
Yes, it had been a horrible war,
968
00:58:13,150 --> 00:58:15,152
but still,
tens of thousands of people
969
00:58:15,193 --> 00:58:17,362
were killed in these attacks.
970
00:58:18,155 --> 00:58:20,157
Cities were destroyed.
971
00:58:24,536 --> 00:58:29,707
And that was difficult
on a lot of the scientists.
972
00:58:29,749 --> 00:58:32,626
And I certainly think that
it was difficult on Oppenheimer
973
00:58:32,668 --> 00:58:35,212
for the rest of his life.
974
00:58:36,839 --> 00:58:41,260
Hiroshima was far more costly
975
00:58:41,302 --> 00:58:45,264
in life and suffering
and inhumane
976
00:58:45,306 --> 00:58:47,390
than it needed to have been.
977
00:58:49,017 --> 00:58:51,978
This is easy to say
after the fact.
978
00:58:58,443 --> 00:59:01,821
Oppenheimer never
apologized in any way for
979
00:59:01,863 --> 00:59:03,365
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
980
00:59:03,406 --> 00:59:06,701
He was very, very careful
and complicated
981
00:59:06,743 --> 00:59:08,702
in all statements he made about
982
00:59:08,744 --> 00:59:13,040
the moral implications of the
bomb and his involvement in it.
983
00:59:13,082 --> 00:59:16,043
And yet,
post-Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
984
00:59:16,085 --> 00:59:18,379
all of his actions
are the actions of
985
00:59:18,420 --> 00:59:21,840
somebody who is plagued
with guilt.
986
00:59:23,258 --> 00:59:25,719
DOUGLAS MacARTHUR:
We are gathered here,
987
00:59:25,761 --> 00:59:30,306
representatives of
the major warring powers,
988
00:59:30,348 --> 00:59:33,226
to conclude a solemn agreement
989
00:59:33,267 --> 00:59:36,562
whereby peace may be restored.
990
00:59:40,608 --> 00:59:42,985
I have received this afternoon
991
00:59:43,027 --> 00:59:45,655
a message from
the Japanese government.
992
00:59:47,073 --> 00:59:49,533
I deem this reply
a full acceptance
993
00:59:49,574 --> 00:59:52,786
of the unconditional surrender
of Japan.
994
00:59:53,745 --> 00:59:56,540
And of course,
a great many people felt
995
00:59:56,581 --> 00:59:59,710
that the atomic bomb
had ended World War II.
996
01:00:01,003 --> 01:00:02,963
Perhaps it had.
997
01:00:04,840 --> 01:00:08,260
And Robert Oppenheimer
was the guy who made it happen.
998
01:00:09,219 --> 01:00:11,762
He was in demand everywhere.
999
01:00:11,804 --> 01:00:14,348
He was the cover story
forTime magazine,
1000
01:00:14,390 --> 01:00:16,267
once forLife magazine.
1001
01:00:16,308 --> 01:00:18,310
There scarcely was
a magazine cover
1002
01:00:18,352 --> 01:00:20,271
that he wasn't on.
1003
01:00:20,312 --> 01:00:23,232
The inaugural issue
ofPhysics Today simply showed
1004
01:00:23,274 --> 01:00:26,694
a porkpie hat
on a cyclotron control.
1005
01:00:26,736 --> 01:00:29,780
And everybody knew
the porkpie hat was Oppenheimer.
1006
01:00:32,032 --> 01:00:33,742
He becomes a rock star.
1007
01:00:33,783 --> 01:00:37,203
He is the oracle
of American science.
1008
01:00:37,245 --> 01:00:40,874
And he liked that.
1009
01:00:42,083 --> 01:00:46,463
He probably felt that
he'd finally come through it all
1010
01:00:46,504 --> 01:00:50,759
and he was no longer
the outsider.
1011
01:00:52,384 --> 01:00:55,387
Now he was not only
at the center of things
1012
01:00:55,429 --> 01:00:57,639
but that he stood
at the very top.
1013
01:01:01,018 --> 01:01:06,648
And that, I think,
was intoxicating for him.
1014
01:01:09,526 --> 01:01:13,404
But at the same time,
he felt a real responsibility
1015
01:01:13,446 --> 01:01:16,032
for having ushered this weapon
into the world.
1016
01:01:19,452 --> 01:01:21,412
Go ahead, please.
1017
01:01:23,164 --> 01:01:26,501
Automatic control has got it.
1018
01:01:26,542 --> 01:01:29,504
This time, Rab,
the stakes are kind of high.
1019
01:01:29,545 --> 01:01:32,298
ISIDOR ISAAC RABI: It's going
to work all right, Robert.
1020
01:01:32,340 --> 01:01:34,132
I think he felt,
1021
01:01:34,174 --> 01:01:36,635
as the father of
the atomic bomb, it was his duty
1022
01:01:36,677 --> 01:01:39,513
to keep the reins
on the atomic bomb.
1023
01:01:39,554 --> 01:01:40,972
Go ahead, please.
1024
01:01:41,014 --> 01:01:42,891
Well, we'll know in 40 seconds.
1025
01:01:42,933 --> 01:01:44,935
Stay where you are.
1026
01:01:44,976 --> 01:01:46,436
Cut.
1027
01:01:47,562 --> 01:01:50,732
Within three months
of Hiroshima,
1028
01:01:50,774 --> 01:01:52,401
he was giving speeches,
1029
01:01:52,442 --> 01:01:57,029
talking about how this weapon
was a weapon for aggressors,
1030
01:01:57,071 --> 01:02:00,533
that it is a weapon of terror.
1031
01:02:00,574 --> 01:02:04,078
You know, this is the father
of the atomic bomb speaking.
1032
01:02:07,248 --> 01:02:10,084
If there is another world war...
1033
01:02:12,169 --> 01:02:14,171
...this civilization
1034
01:02:14,213 --> 01:02:16,506
may go under.
1035
01:02:22,095 --> 01:02:26,349
We need to ask ourselves
1036
01:02:26,391 --> 01:02:30,645
whether we're doing
all we can to avert that.
1037
01:02:31,604 --> 01:02:33,148
I might like to read
1038
01:02:33,189 --> 01:02:35,608
what my grandfather said
about it.
1039
01:02:35,650 --> 01:02:38,235
This is a speech where he said,
1040
01:02:38,277 --> 01:02:39,945
"But when you come
right down to it,
1041
01:02:39,987 --> 01:02:41,322
"the reason that we did this job
1042
01:02:41,363 --> 01:02:43,782
"is because it was
an organic necessity.
1043
01:02:44,742 --> 01:02:48,370
"If you are a scientist,
you cannot stop such a thing.
1044
01:02:48,412 --> 01:02:49,997
"If you are a scientist,
you believe
1045
01:02:50,039 --> 01:02:51,707
"that it's good to find out
how the world works,
1046
01:02:51,749 --> 01:02:54,293
"that it's good to find out
what realities are,
1047
01:02:54,335 --> 01:02:57,545
"that it's good
to turn over to mankind
1048
01:02:57,587 --> 01:02:59,922
"the greatest possible power
to control the world
1049
01:02:59,964 --> 01:03:04,427
and deal with it according
to its lights and values."
1050
01:03:04,469 --> 01:03:07,680
He didn't regret his role
and work during the war,
1051
01:03:07,722 --> 01:03:12,435
but he soon after turns
so strongly towards managing
1052
01:03:12,477 --> 01:03:15,313
the outcome of the science
they created.
1053
01:03:17,606 --> 01:03:19,441
He decides he doesn't want
1054
01:03:19,483 --> 01:03:21,860
to work any longer
on building more bombs.
1055
01:03:21,902 --> 01:03:24,988
He resigns from Los Alamos,
and he accepts a position
1056
01:03:25,030 --> 01:03:29,117
as director of the Institute for
Advanced Studies in Princeton,
1057
01:03:29,159 --> 01:03:33,038
where he becomes
Einstein's boss, so to speak.
1058
01:03:33,080 --> 01:03:35,999
He's probably the most famous
scientist in America,
1059
01:03:36,041 --> 01:03:40,127
and he's trying to use
that celebrity status
1060
01:03:40,169 --> 01:03:42,505
to have influence.
1061
01:03:43,714 --> 01:03:48,260
He gets an appointment with
Harry Truman in the Oval Office.
1062
01:03:48,302 --> 01:03:50,346
Oppenheimer's agenda
is to persuade
1063
01:03:50,388 --> 01:03:55,518
Harry Truman of the importance
of controlling this technology.
1064
01:03:56,727 --> 01:03:59,938
And he starts
to make this pitch.
1065
01:03:59,980 --> 01:04:03,149
And Truman interrupts him
with a question, saying,
1066
01:04:03,191 --> 01:04:05,986
"Well, Dr. Oppenheimer,
when do you think the Russians
1067
01:04:06,027 --> 01:04:09,030
are going to get this weapon
of mass destruction?"
1068
01:04:10,031 --> 01:04:14,327
And Oppenheimer is sort of
taken aback by the question
1069
01:04:14,369 --> 01:04:20,332
and says, "Well, I'm not sure
but sometime in the future."
1070
01:04:20,374 --> 01:04:24,920
And Truman interrupts again
and says, "Well, I know. Never."
1071
01:04:27,548 --> 01:04:29,758
At that point, Oppie understands
1072
01:04:29,800 --> 01:04:32,261
that Harry Truman
doesn't understand anything
1073
01:04:32,302 --> 01:04:35,889
about the physics
of this weapon.
1074
01:04:35,931 --> 01:04:41,602
And Oppenheimer, at that point,
says exactly the wrong thing.
1075
01:04:41,644 --> 01:04:44,689
He really offended
President Truman
1076
01:04:44,731 --> 01:04:48,860
by saying, "Mr. President,
I have blood on my hands."
1077
01:04:51,988 --> 01:04:53,781
This is exactly the wrong thing
1078
01:04:53,823 --> 01:04:55,783
to say to the guy
who made the decision
1079
01:04:55,825 --> 01:05:01,164
to drop two such bombs
on two Japanese cities.
1080
01:05:01,205 --> 01:05:03,749
He was trying to impress Truman.
1081
01:05:03,790 --> 01:05:06,418
He thought it was something
that Truman would like to hear,
1082
01:05:06,460 --> 01:05:08,712
and he got that wrong a lot.
1083
01:05:08,754 --> 01:05:11,048
I mean, Oppenheimer was very
charming to a lot of people,
1084
01:05:11,089 --> 01:05:13,091
but he was often not charming
1085
01:05:13,133 --> 01:05:16,386
to leaders and people
who had power over him.
1086
01:05:16,428 --> 01:05:18,055
Truman didn't believe
1087
01:05:18,096 --> 01:05:21,141
that anybody's responsibility
was greater than his.
1088
01:05:21,183 --> 01:05:24,518
Truman was just,
"Get that guy out of my office.
1089
01:05:24,560 --> 01:05:26,604
I was the one
who made the decision."
1090
01:05:27,897 --> 01:05:30,107
He ends the meeting
very abruptly
1091
01:05:30,149 --> 01:05:31,859
and later tells his aides that,
1092
01:05:31,901 --> 01:05:35,780
"I don't want to see that
crybaby scientist ever again."
1093
01:05:38,074 --> 01:05:42,745
I think the only hope
for our future safety
1094
01:05:42,787 --> 01:05:44,829
must lie in a collaboration,
1095
01:05:44,871 --> 01:05:47,540
based on confidence
and good faith,
1096
01:05:47,582 --> 01:05:49,209
with the other peoples
of the world.
1097
01:05:49,250 --> 01:05:53,254
Oppenheimer,
very early after the bombings,
1098
01:05:53,296 --> 01:05:55,382
was a part of the team
to recommend
1099
01:05:55,423 --> 01:05:56,883
international disarmament.
1100
01:05:57,967 --> 01:06:00,512
But the genie was
out of the bottle.
1101
01:06:00,553 --> 01:06:02,347
Right? Those who possess this
1102
01:06:02,389 --> 01:06:04,598
will be able to shape
the world order.
1103
01:06:04,640 --> 01:06:08,519
And very quickly,
the Soviet Union took note.
1104
01:06:11,689 --> 01:06:15,526
The Soviets
tested a bomb in 1949
1105
01:06:15,567 --> 01:06:17,987
to the shock of almost everyone.
1106
01:06:19,488 --> 01:06:21,198
President Truman's dramatic announcement
1107
01:06:21,240 --> 01:06:25,035
that Russia has created
an atomic explosion
1108
01:06:25,077 --> 01:06:26,953
sends reporters racing
for Flushing Meadow,
1109
01:06:26,995 --> 01:06:30,248
where Russia's Vyshinsky arrives
to address the United Nations...
1110
01:06:30,289 --> 01:06:33,292
This puts the U.S. in
a really complicated position,
1111
01:06:33,334 --> 01:06:38,089
because it's no longer the only
country with nuclear weapons.
1112
01:06:40,008 --> 01:06:41,843
Suddenly,
you have the possibility
1113
01:06:41,884 --> 01:06:45,471
that if war with nuclear weapons
broke out between two states
1114
01:06:45,513 --> 01:06:48,223
that had a fair number of them,
1115
01:06:48,265 --> 01:06:51,310
they could, in a matter
of hours, destroy themselves.
1116
01:06:53,020 --> 01:06:54,438
We must all get ready now,
1117
01:06:54,479 --> 01:06:56,648
so we know how to save ourselves
1118
01:06:56,690 --> 01:06:59,401
if the atomic bomb
ever explodes near us.
1119
01:07:00,819 --> 01:07:02,696
And one of the possible options
1120
01:07:02,738 --> 01:07:05,866
scientists and policy people
lobbied for
1121
01:07:05,907 --> 01:07:09,952
was to build the hydrogen bomb
as the sort of next step.
1122
01:07:13,080 --> 01:07:14,999
The Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs
1123
01:07:15,041 --> 01:07:19,045
were on the order of
15 kilotons of TNT,
1124
01:07:19,086 --> 01:07:21,547
which is no small number
in and of itself.
1125
01:07:23,633 --> 01:07:27,011
When you start talking about
hydrogen bombs,
1126
01:07:27,053 --> 01:07:29,679
now we're talking about
megatons.
1127
01:07:29,721 --> 01:07:33,808
We're talking about
a million tons of TNT.
1128
01:07:34,851 --> 01:07:36,811
They're categorically different.
1129
01:07:36,853 --> 01:07:39,064
A thousand times stronger than
anything you'd see
1130
01:07:39,105 --> 01:07:41,816
in a Hiroshima
and Nagasaki bomb.
1131
01:07:42,901 --> 01:07:45,695
With one
very large hydrogen bomb,
1132
01:07:45,737 --> 01:07:47,197
you can kill
about as many people
1133
01:07:47,238 --> 01:07:50,032
as all of the people killed
in World War II.
1134
01:07:51,033 --> 01:07:54,828
And Oppenheimer could not see
any use for that.
1135
01:07:54,870 --> 01:07:58,165
He called it a genocidal weapon.
1136
01:08:00,250 --> 01:08:04,213
At the end of the
war, most people wanted to stop.
1137
01:08:04,254 --> 01:08:06,674
I did not.
1138
01:08:06,715 --> 01:08:08,509
Among the people who knew
1139
01:08:08,550 --> 01:08:11,386
a great deal about
the hydrogen bomb,
1140
01:08:11,427 --> 01:08:14,097
I was the only advocate of it.
1141
01:08:15,390 --> 01:08:18,309
Edward Teller
was a Hungarian Jew
1142
01:08:18,351 --> 01:08:23,272
who escaped from Hungary
and came to the United States.
1143
01:08:23,314 --> 01:08:27,068
During World War II,
Teller worked at Los Alamos,
1144
01:08:27,110 --> 01:08:30,737
but he became obsessed with
the idea of the hydrogen bomb,
1145
01:08:30,779 --> 01:08:34,157
even before they had
the atomic bomb.
1146
01:08:34,199 --> 01:08:36,576
Teller did very much
consider the atomic bomb
1147
01:08:36,618 --> 01:08:38,996
to be Oppenheimer's creation,
1148
01:08:39,037 --> 01:08:41,540
and he wanted something
that was bigger and better.
1149
01:08:42,791 --> 01:08:45,836
And Oppenheimer said to Teller,
1150
01:08:45,877 --> 01:08:50,132
"Go back to doing physics,
but don't build this.
1151
01:08:50,173 --> 01:08:52,091
There's no need for it."
1152
01:08:52,133 --> 01:08:55,011
Oppenheimer was
in charge of a committee
1153
01:08:55,052 --> 01:08:58,097
that had been put together
in Washington to decide:
1154
01:08:58,139 --> 01:08:59,307
What should we do?
1155
01:08:59,348 --> 01:09:03,144
Should we build a hydrogen bomb?
1156
01:09:03,185 --> 01:09:04,645
That is a question
1157
01:09:04,687 --> 01:09:07,898
in everybody's mind,
Dr. Oppenheimer.
1158
01:09:07,940 --> 01:09:13,486
Are we creating something
we may not be able to control?
1159
01:09:13,528 --> 01:09:16,614
The decision to try to make
1160
01:09:16,656 --> 01:09:19,784
or not to make the hydrogen bomb
1161
01:09:19,826 --> 01:09:22,287
touch the very basis
of our morality.
1162
01:09:22,329 --> 01:09:25,165
And the committee decision
was basically,
1163
01:09:25,206 --> 01:09:27,417
no, we shouldn't build
the hydrogen bomb.
1164
01:09:27,459 --> 01:09:31,129
If we are guided by fear alone,
1165
01:09:31,171 --> 01:09:34,798
we'll fail
in this time of crisis.
1166
01:09:34,840 --> 01:09:40,095
The answer to fear
sometimes lies in courage.
1167
01:09:41,180 --> 01:09:43,349
Oppenheimer's opposition of the H-bomb
1168
01:09:43,390 --> 01:09:46,935
was taken very hard by people
who were in favor for it.
1169
01:09:48,896 --> 01:09:51,523
The Air Force wanted
more and more bombs
1170
01:09:51,565 --> 01:09:53,776
and bigger and bigger bombs.
1171
01:09:53,817 --> 01:09:55,985
The bigger the bomb,
in terms of its yield,
1172
01:09:56,027 --> 01:09:58,696
the more damage
one plane could do.
1173
01:09:59,489 --> 01:10:01,366
The Strategic
Air Command was focused upon
1174
01:10:01,407 --> 01:10:03,534
blowing up the Soviet Union.
1175
01:10:04,369 --> 01:10:07,664
Oppenheimer said a smarter move
would be to put resources
1176
01:10:07,705 --> 01:10:10,041
into intercepting
Soviet bombers.
1177
01:10:11,125 --> 01:10:13,336
He was going
just the opposite direction
1178
01:10:13,378 --> 01:10:15,003
from what the Air Force wanted.
1179
01:10:15,045 --> 01:10:17,881
They wanted him out.
They wanted to get rid of him.
1180
01:10:20,717 --> 01:10:24,888
By 1953, Oppenheimer
has made sufficient enemies
1181
01:10:24,930 --> 01:10:28,141
in the Washington bureaucracy.
1182
01:10:28,183 --> 01:10:30,519
And then along comes
Lewis Strauss...
1183
01:10:33,313 --> 01:10:36,357
...the new chairman of
the Atomic Energy Commission.
1184
01:10:36,399 --> 01:10:39,235
I have just returned from
the Pacific Proving Ground,
1185
01:10:39,276 --> 01:10:43,072
where I have witnessed a test
of thermonuclear weapons.
1186
01:10:43,114 --> 01:10:45,783
And Strauss knows Oppenheimer
1187
01:10:45,825 --> 01:10:48,369
and has grown
to intensely dislike him.
1188
01:10:48,411 --> 01:10:51,789
Oppenheimer had been
snappish with him once,
1189
01:10:51,831 --> 01:10:54,667
and it had deeply offended him.
1190
01:10:54,709 --> 01:10:59,004
So Strauss begins to plot
1191
01:10:59,045 --> 01:11:02,340
a means to defrock Oppenheimer.
1192
01:11:03,550 --> 01:11:05,552
And how does he do it?
1193
01:11:05,593 --> 01:11:11,391
Lewis Strauss focuses on
Oppenheimer's association
1194
01:11:11,433 --> 01:11:14,019
with left-wing friends
1195
01:11:14,060 --> 01:11:17,688
during the 1930s in Berkeley.
1196
01:11:19,732 --> 01:11:21,400
Who are the apostles of a system
1197
01:11:21,442 --> 01:11:24,987
that attempts to destroy
the American way of life?
1198
01:11:26,113 --> 01:11:30,451
During the Second World War,
the Soviet Union was our ally.
1199
01:11:30,492 --> 01:11:33,329
And that sense of
being a communist
1200
01:11:33,370 --> 01:11:36,540
or associating with communists
was not something
1201
01:11:36,582 --> 01:11:39,584
that was considered that bad.
1202
01:11:39,626 --> 01:11:42,920
It wasn't until the Cold War
1203
01:11:42,962 --> 01:11:46,174
that all of a sudden,
in retrospect,
1204
01:11:46,215 --> 01:11:50,595
anyone with any kind of legacy
of a communist past
1205
01:11:50,637 --> 01:11:52,889
is now a security threat.
1206
01:11:52,930 --> 01:11:55,850
If there were no communists
in our government,
1207
01:11:55,892 --> 01:11:59,936
why did we delay, for 18 months,
1208
01:11:59,978 --> 01:12:02,481
delay our research
on the hydrogen bomb?
1209
01:12:03,273 --> 01:12:05,984
It was from attitudes like that
1210
01:12:06,026 --> 01:12:08,904
that finally led to
the government deciding
1211
01:12:08,945 --> 01:12:12,157
they had to pull Oppenheimer's
security clearance.
1212
01:12:14,117 --> 01:12:15,661
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
He would have to give up
1213
01:12:15,702 --> 01:12:20,414
his security clearance
in 30 days or ask for a hearing.
1214
01:12:23,459 --> 01:12:25,962
He felt he couldn't give up
his security clearance.
1215
01:12:26,003 --> 01:12:27,296
He couldn't agree with them
1216
01:12:27,338 --> 01:12:29,298
that he wasn't fit
to serve his government.
1217
01:12:30,633 --> 01:12:32,885
He should have told them
to get lost.
1218
01:12:33,678 --> 01:12:36,973
He should have said,
"I am the atomic bomb.
1219
01:12:37,765 --> 01:12:40,184
"I won World War II.
1220
01:12:40,226 --> 01:12:41,601
Fuck off."
1221
01:12:42,519 --> 01:12:45,313
For whatever reason,
he didn't tell them to get lost.
1222
01:12:45,355 --> 01:12:46,940
He decided to fight it.
1223
01:12:48,483 --> 01:12:50,860
And before he goes down to Washington,
1224
01:12:50,902 --> 01:12:52,654
he meets with Einstein
1225
01:12:52,696 --> 01:12:57,033
to tell him he's gonna be absent for a few weeks,
1226
01:12:57,075 --> 01:13:01,413
and Einstein's reaction is quite startling.
1227
01:13:03,038 --> 01:13:08,252
Albert says, "But, Robert, you are Mr. Atomic.
1228
01:13:08,294 --> 01:13:10,212
"You don't need them.
They need you.
1229
01:13:10,254 --> 01:13:13,215
Just walk away.
Why should you go through this?"
1230
01:13:14,174 --> 01:13:18,887
And Oppenheimer shakes his head
and apparently says to Albert,
1231
01:13:18,929 --> 01:13:21,807
"Well, you don't understand."
1232
01:13:21,849 --> 01:13:24,100
And he walks away,
1233
01:13:24,142 --> 01:13:26,728
and Einstein turns to his secretary and says,
1234
01:13:26,769 --> 01:13:29,772
"There goes a nar."
1235
01:13:29,814 --> 01:13:32,108
The Yiddish for a fool.
1236
01:13:37,113 --> 01:13:38,781
World attention was focused this week
1237
01:13:38,823 --> 01:13:41,534
on the Atomic Energy Commission
building in Washington,
1238
01:13:41,576 --> 01:13:44,077
where a three-man board
began special hearings
1239
01:13:44,119 --> 01:13:47,247
on the security file
of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer,
1240
01:13:47,289 --> 01:13:50,375
the nuclear scientist
who developed the first A-bomb.
1241
01:13:51,251 --> 01:13:55,464
The security hearing starts,
and it quickly becomes clear
1242
01:13:55,505 --> 01:13:57,424
that this is not just a security hearing.
1243
01:13:57,466 --> 01:13:58,759
This is a trial.
1244
01:13:58,800 --> 01:14:00,552
There's a new charge
1245
01:14:00,594 --> 01:14:03,221
that the scientist opposed
the development of the H-bomb.
1246
01:14:03,263 --> 01:14:06,349
The deck is stacked against him, and it's ugly.
1247
01:14:06,390 --> 01:14:08,351
They're wiretapping his conversations
1248
01:14:08,392 --> 01:14:11,145
with his lawyer illegally
and giving it to the prosecution
1249
01:14:11,187 --> 01:14:13,648
so that they know
exactly what's gonna happen.
1250
01:14:13,689 --> 01:14:16,400
They are able to look
at classified FBI files.
1251
01:14:16,442 --> 01:14:18,277
He is not because
he doesn't have a clearance,
1252
01:14:18,319 --> 01:14:21,489
and he can't look at
his own FBI file as a result.
1253
01:14:22,782 --> 01:14:27,577
Oppenheimer's involvement with Jean Tatlock,
1254
01:14:27,619 --> 01:14:30,664
the question of whether
his brother had been a communist
1255
01:14:30,705 --> 01:14:33,166
and still was,
1256
01:14:33,208 --> 01:14:36,920
those were the things
they pulled out of the files.
1257
01:14:39,589 --> 01:14:42,050
One of the most damning pieces of evidence
1258
01:14:42,092 --> 01:14:44,636
that was brought out was
1259
01:14:44,678 --> 01:14:48,013
the fact that, during the war,
there had been a conversation
1260
01:14:48,055 --> 01:14:51,100
at his home in Berkeley
with Haakon Chevalier,
1261
01:14:51,141 --> 01:14:54,228
his old friend,
who had mentioned to him
1262
01:14:54,269 --> 01:14:56,563
that there was a way perhaps
that he could
1263
01:14:56,605 --> 01:14:59,900
leak information about the
atomic project he was working on
1264
01:14:59,942 --> 01:15:01,485
to Soviet officials.
1265
01:15:01,527 --> 01:15:04,196
Now, Oppenheimer had
dismissed it at the time,
1266
01:15:04,238 --> 01:15:07,448
but he had not
reported the incident.
1267
01:15:07,490 --> 01:15:10,326
He knew he was already on
thin ice with security people,
1268
01:15:10,368 --> 01:15:13,538
that he was suspected
because of his communist ties.
1269
01:15:13,579 --> 01:15:18,293
So he was trying to keep himself
out of hot water.
1270
01:15:18,334 --> 01:15:21,254
The problem was that,
in subsequent conversations
1271
01:15:21,296 --> 01:15:27,135
with Los Alamos security people,
he had told very evasive, vague
1272
01:15:27,176 --> 01:15:30,971
accounts of this conversation,
one after another.
1273
01:15:32,180 --> 01:15:34,349
And when they confronted
Oppenheimer
1274
01:15:34,391 --> 01:15:37,644
with these evasive versions,
they asked him,
1275
01:15:37,686 --> 01:15:39,146
"Why did you do this?
1276
01:15:39,187 --> 01:15:42,190
Why wouldn't
you have been forthright?"
1277
01:15:42,232 --> 01:15:44,526
He said, "I was an idiot."
1278
01:15:44,568 --> 01:15:49,030
And in a sense,
he sealed his own fate then.
1279
01:15:51,490 --> 01:15:54,035
He fell apart.
1280
01:15:54,076 --> 01:15:57,538
He tried to testify,
but he really fell apart.
1281
01:15:59,290 --> 01:16:03,085
He's having almost another nervous breakdown,
1282
01:16:03,127 --> 01:16:05,630
like what he went through as a young man.
1283
01:16:05,671 --> 01:16:11,009
He's oddly stoic,
like he was in the icehouse
1284
01:16:11,051 --> 01:16:13,887
when he was a young boy being tormented
1285
01:16:13,928 --> 01:16:16,431
by his fellow summer campers.
1286
01:16:18,808 --> 01:16:23,229
He's resigned and
not really defending himself.
1287
01:16:24,606 --> 01:16:28,944
One person who sort of put the
nails in his coffin, of course,
1288
01:16:28,985 --> 01:16:31,111
was Edward Teller.
1289
01:16:33,447 --> 01:16:35,783
Teller testified against Oppenheimer.
1290
01:16:35,824 --> 01:16:39,078
He said that he thought
he would feel better
1291
01:16:39,119 --> 01:16:40,663
if the security of the country
1292
01:16:40,704 --> 01:16:44,375
were in other hands
than Oppenheimer's.
1293
01:16:44,416 --> 01:16:48,629
And one of the scientists who
was close to Oppenheimer said
1294
01:16:48,671 --> 01:16:51,965
it was a matter of not only
stabbing Oppenheimer in the back
1295
01:16:52,006 --> 01:16:54,092
but twisting the blade.
1296
01:16:55,843 --> 01:16:57,261
As he was leaving,
1297
01:16:57,303 --> 01:16:59,013
he went up to shake Oppenheimer's hand
1298
01:16:59,055 --> 01:17:01,432
and said, "I'm sorry."
1299
01:17:02,767 --> 01:17:07,063
And Oppenheimer looked him
in the eye and said,
1300
01:17:07,105 --> 01:17:09,816
"Edward,
after what you just said,
1301
01:17:09,857 --> 01:17:12,609
I don't know what that means."
1302
01:17:13,944 --> 01:17:17,489
He was obviously
a very, very brilliant man,
1303
01:17:17,531 --> 01:17:21,118
but I think
he may have underestimated
1304
01:17:21,159 --> 01:17:24,830
the power of the establishment,
the machine,
1305
01:17:24,871 --> 01:17:26,915
and the inability
of one individual
1306
01:17:26,957 --> 01:17:29,334
to stand against that.
1307
01:17:30,127 --> 01:17:33,462
The result was to be expected.
1308
01:17:36,299 --> 01:17:38,301
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer,
1309
01:17:38,342 --> 01:17:40,428
the famous scientist
whose suspension this week
1310
01:17:40,469 --> 01:17:43,973
by the Atomic Energy Commission
surprised the nation.
1311
01:17:44,015 --> 01:17:48,311
They voted to strip Oppenheimer
of his security clearance.
1312
01:17:51,606 --> 01:17:55,525
This was front-page news in the
newspapers across the country.
1313
01:17:57,152 --> 01:17:59,404
That he had recommended
communists
1314
01:17:59,446 --> 01:18:01,448
who are working
the A-bomb, H-bomb plans.
1315
01:18:01,489 --> 01:18:04,451
His wife, uh,
admittedly was, uh,
1316
01:18:04,492 --> 01:18:07,287
an official of
the Communist Party,
1317
01:18:07,329 --> 01:18:09,497
her, brother
a very active communist.
1318
01:18:10,790 --> 01:18:14,377
He became a political pariah.
1319
01:18:14,419 --> 01:18:16,128
And that sent a chill
1320
01:18:16,170 --> 01:18:19,506
through
the scientific community.
1321
01:18:19,548 --> 01:18:22,551
If they could take down
the most famous atomic scientist
1322
01:18:22,593 --> 01:18:26,472
on the planet Earth,
then we're all vulnerable.
1323
01:18:28,015 --> 01:18:31,310
It sent a really nefarious message
1324
01:18:31,352 --> 01:18:33,228
to all working scientists
1325
01:18:33,270 --> 01:18:38,650
to beware of weighing in
on political issues.
1326
01:18:40,818 --> 01:18:45,031
And this is a terrible thing
because we need their expertise.
1327
01:18:45,073 --> 01:18:48,785
And yet the Oppenheimer trial
1328
01:18:48,826 --> 01:18:51,329
made that difficult.
1329
01:18:57,584 --> 01:18:59,169
After the security trial,
1330
01:18:59,211 --> 01:19:02,130
Oppenheimer was never
the same guy again.
1331
01:19:03,256 --> 01:19:06,385
He was kind of
a hollow man after that.
1332
01:19:07,552 --> 01:19:09,429
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
What we say inside the family is
1333
01:19:09,471 --> 01:19:11,723
it hurt his feelings.
1334
01:19:15,435 --> 01:19:19,188
He didn't like it,
but he didn't talk about it.
1335
01:19:19,230 --> 01:19:21,816
He never made one statement
about it publicly.
1336
01:19:24,402 --> 01:19:26,904
He never asked for an apology,
1337
01:19:26,946 --> 01:19:30,074
and he retreated back into
where he came from.
1338
01:19:31,409 --> 01:19:33,869
He still kept his job at Princeton,
1339
01:19:33,911 --> 01:19:37,623
but he wasn't doing any more physics.
1340
01:19:37,665 --> 01:19:40,000
These were kind of sad years.
1341
01:19:40,041 --> 01:19:42,460
And Professor Einstein
is still here, too, isn't he?
1342
01:19:42,502 --> 01:19:47,090
Oh, yeah. Indeed he is.
Uh, indeed he is. Uh...
1343
01:19:47,132 --> 01:19:49,592
Does he ever call you up
on the telephone?
1344
01:19:49,634 --> 01:19:50,510
Hmm, sometimes.
1345
01:19:50,552 --> 01:19:52,554
I think he... he calls me,
1346
01:19:52,596 --> 01:19:54,472
uh, when he reads
in the newspapers
1347
01:19:54,514 --> 01:19:56,349
something about me
that he doesn't like,
1348
01:19:56,391 --> 01:19:58,393
and he calls me up and-and says,
1349
01:19:58,435 --> 01:20:00,436
"That's all right.
That's just right."
1350
01:20:00,477 --> 01:20:04,356
He had lost his fighting spirit.
1351
01:20:04,398 --> 01:20:08,736
He would have nothing
to do with commenting
1352
01:20:08,777 --> 01:20:13,741
on any of the issues of the day
related to nuclear weapons.
1353
01:20:13,782 --> 01:20:16,702
Dr. Oppenheimer, could you
tell us what your thoughts are
1354
01:20:16,744 --> 01:20:20,288
about what our atomic policy
should be?
1355
01:20:20,330 --> 01:20:22,582
No, I-I can't do that.
1356
01:20:22,624 --> 01:20:26,794
I'm not... not close enough
to the facts,
1357
01:20:26,836 --> 01:20:28,421
and I'm not close enough
1358
01:20:28,463 --> 01:20:33,134
to the thoughts of those
who are worrying about it.
1359
01:20:34,719 --> 01:20:37,972
Hans Bethe told me once that,
1360
01:20:38,014 --> 01:20:40,433
"Oppenheimer was smarter than
any of the rest of us."
1361
01:20:40,475 --> 01:20:43,727
He didn't win a Nobel Prize.
1362
01:20:43,769 --> 01:20:46,563
How could this man,
who evidently outshone
1363
01:20:46,605 --> 01:20:49,149
some of the greatest physicists
of the 20th century,
1364
01:20:49,191 --> 01:20:54,279
not have been more successful
in his line of work physics.
1365
01:20:54,321 --> 01:20:56,073
than he was?
1366
01:20:56,114 --> 01:20:57,824
CHARLES OPPENHEIMER:
You can't talk about Oppenheimer
1367
01:20:57,866 --> 01:21:00,619
when you're not
talking about his science.
1368
01:21:00,661 --> 01:21:02,286
That was the part of his life.
1369
01:21:02,328 --> 01:21:03,996
When he talks about
what he loves,
1370
01:21:04,038 --> 01:21:07,458
it was that human thing
of passing knowledge around.
1371
01:21:07,500 --> 01:21:09,460
This is negative particles,
1372
01:21:09,502 --> 01:21:13,381
neutral, doubly charged,
positive and positive...
1373
01:21:13,422 --> 01:21:15,383
His work on black holes
1374
01:21:15,424 --> 01:21:17,551
should have earned him
a Nobel Prize.
1375
01:21:19,887 --> 01:21:24,808
In 1939, Oppenheimer wrote the first paper
1376
01:21:24,849 --> 01:21:30,647
identifying the idea of
collapsing stars, a black hole.
1377
01:21:30,689 --> 01:21:34,609
So, black holes was his original idea.
1378
01:21:34,651 --> 01:21:36,861
I mean, that's quite amazing.
1379
01:21:38,321 --> 01:21:39,656
And if a real black hole
1380
01:21:39,698 --> 01:21:42,284
had been identified
before he died...
1381
01:21:43,409 --> 01:21:47,246
...he probably would have won
a Nobel Prize for that work.
1382
01:21:49,498 --> 01:21:52,001
In 1966,
1383
01:21:52,042 --> 01:21:55,546
he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
1384
01:21:55,587 --> 01:21:58,716
All that smoking over the years
had gotten to him.
1385
01:22:01,302 --> 01:22:04,971
And he died in early '67.
1386
01:22:07,682 --> 01:22:09,642
Oppenheimer's life story,
1387
01:22:09,684 --> 01:22:11,894
it's the story
of the 20th century.
1388
01:22:11,936 --> 01:22:15,732
It's the story of
our nuclear age
1389
01:22:15,773 --> 01:22:18,234
that we're still living with,
1390
01:22:18,276 --> 01:22:20,903
and that's a story
that is unfinished.
1391
01:22:20,945 --> 01:22:22,363
Will always be unfinished.
1392
01:22:26,825 --> 01:22:28,452
We have his bomb.
1393
01:22:28,493 --> 01:22:30,746
His bomb is with us.
1394
01:22:30,787 --> 01:22:33,582
And we can debate his membership
in the Communist Party
1395
01:22:33,624 --> 01:22:35,709
or we can debate the ethics
1396
01:22:35,751 --> 01:22:38,837
of bombing civilians at Hiroshima until we drop,
1397
01:22:38,879 --> 01:22:41,298
but the fact is that we have nuclear weapons.
1398
01:22:43,508 --> 01:22:45,344
That's the legacy.
1399
01:22:45,385 --> 01:22:50,306
And controlling those weapons,
it's a never-ending struggle.
1400
01:22:54,456 --> 01:22:56,921
We are a peril right now !
1401
01:22:58,105 --> 01:23:01,817
It was so horrible
with a baby bomb.
1402
01:23:01,859 --> 01:23:05,738
Now they have so much
more lethal nuclear weapon.
1403
01:23:07,864 --> 01:23:09,616
OPPENHEIMER:
There is much talk about
1404
01:23:09,658 --> 01:23:11,743
getting rid of atomic weapons.
1405
01:23:12,535 --> 01:23:16,456
I have a deep sympathy
with that.
1406
01:23:17,582 --> 01:23:23,672
TAMURA: Please, let's try
to find common ground.
1407
01:23:26,341 --> 01:23:31,553
I'm sure if Oppie was alive
today, he would agree with me.
1408
01:23:32,304 --> 01:23:34,014
...two, one.
1409
01:23:34,056 --> 01:23:37,726
OPPENHEIMER:
But we mustn't fool ourselves.
1410
01:23:37,768 --> 01:23:39,895
The world is not
going to be the same
1411
01:23:39,937 --> 01:23:43,440
no matter what we do
with atomic bombs,
1412
01:23:43,482 --> 01:23:48,861
because the knowledge of how to
make them cannot be exorcized.
1413
01:23:53,992 --> 01:23:56,828
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer
1414
01:23:56,869 --> 01:24:01,624
is perhaps best known as
the father of the atomic bomb.
1415
01:24:01,666 --> 01:24:03,293
As time has passed,
1416
01:24:03,334 --> 01:24:07,380
there are some new assessments
of his role in history.
1417
01:24:08,381 --> 01:24:10,549
In late 2022, the Department of Energy
1418
01:24:10,591 --> 01:24:16,638
decided to vacate the decision
to have the security hearings.
1419
01:24:18,098 --> 01:24:20,309
The national tragedy is that this hearing,
1420
01:24:20,350 --> 01:24:24,438
this McCarthy-era witch hunt,
materialized in the first place.
1421
01:24:25,230 --> 01:24:27,316
That type of thing is not supposed to happen
1422
01:24:27,357 --> 01:24:29,151
in a country like this.
1423
01:24:29,192 --> 01:24:33,738
This is such an important and long overdue step.
1424
01:24:34,989 --> 01:24:37,241
But at the same time, it's kind of sad,
1425
01:24:37,283 --> 01:24:39,910
because this is something
that J. Robert Oppenheimer
1426
01:24:39,952 --> 01:24:42,580
will not get to experience personally.
1427
01:24:44,665 --> 01:24:47,209
OPPENHEIMER:
Science has profoundly altered
1428
01:24:47,251 --> 01:24:50,338
the conditions of man's life,
1429
01:24:50,379 --> 01:24:54,674
both materially and in ways
of the spirit as well.
1430
01:24:57,469 --> 01:24:59,387
I think we're still talking about Oppenheimer
1431
01:24:59,429 --> 01:25:02,015
because he was so influential.
1432
01:25:02,057 --> 01:25:05,393
We have this respect and fear of science.
1433
01:25:07,062 --> 01:25:10,649
And Oppenheimer represented
both sides of that, for sure.
1434
01:25:11,900 --> 01:25:15,402
Unquestionably, he changed the world.
1435
01:25:15,444 --> 01:25:16,612
And he changed the world forever.
1436
01:25:16,654 --> 01:25:18,197
There's no going back.
1437
01:25:18,989 --> 01:25:22,451
But we know that as long as men
are free to ask what they will,
1438
01:25:22,493 --> 01:25:26,622
free to say what they think,
free to think what they must,
1439
01:25:26,664 --> 01:25:29,208
science will never regress,
1440
01:25:29,250 --> 01:25:32,836
and freedom itself will never be wholly lost.
106692
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