American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin

In lieu of seeing the film Oppenheimer, I decided to read the biography upon which the movie is based. It is a very long read, but it was well worth it. I remember seeing the doomsday clock on t.v. regularly and hiding under my desk during air raid drills in elementary school. It was a very frightening part of my childhood. It was fascinating to review this period in history from my current perspective. I must admit, atomic weapons have always terrified me and still do.

Oppenheimer’s life is well documented in the book which took 20 years to complete. The authors tell a compelling story about both Oppenheimer and the makings of the bomb that was eventually dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The world was not ready to deal with the moral dilemmas that the Manhattan Project created. After the war, Oppenheimer hoped the A-bomb’s enormous power to destroy would be a warning. No matter how hard Oppenheimer and his allies tried, they could not impact the politicians and scientists who felt atomic weapons should be kept secret, stockpiled, and used as a deterrent. Oppenheimer worked hard to persuade those in power that the knowledge of how to build the bomb could never be kept from Russia and other countries. It was just a matter of time. Of course, he was right; he also knew the atomic bomb could never be counted on to keep the peace. He predicted that a fortune would be poured into making atomic weapons, that, if ever used, would cause mass global destruction and kill countless civilians. He had hoped to persuade Presidents Truman and Eisenhower that educating everyone about the dangers of atomic weapons–complete transperency–would result in putting a stop to a cold war that could only escalate. He really wanted the atomic bomb to be a weapon of instruction rather multiplying into an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.

Caught up in academic and political power struggles, the man who was lauded for creating the weapon that won WWII (shortly after WWII Oppenheimer himself did not believe this propaganda), Oppenheimer was eventually ousted from circles of power. McCarthyism served his enemies well. His early loose associations with the American Communist Party were ultimately used to silence him. He prided himself on his patriotism; when his security clearance was removed he felt deeply betrayed and humiliated.

The personal toll on Oppenheimer, on his family, and on his allies is an intimate part of his story. I came away feeling the weight of the moral burden he carried for most of his life. The complexity and brilliance of this scientific giant shines through this work. It is not too late to heed his prescient warnings.