PROMETHEUS STOLE FIRE FROM THE GODS AND GAVE IT TO MAN
FOR THAT REASON HE WAS CHAINED TO A ROCK AND TORTURED FOR ALL ETERNITY
Doctor Oppenheimer.
1 - FUSION
Doctor Oppenheimer.
To begin with, I believe you have a statement to read from the registry.
Yes, Your Honor.
We're not judges, Doctor.
No,
Of course.
Who is this security point?
The so-called interrogation information.
in your accusation of me it cannot be
fairly understood except in the context of my life and work.
How long did he testify?
Honestly, I forgot.
The entire hearing lasted one month.
Hard to know?
Well, I just read the transcripts.
I would like to justify your own life.
Weren't you there? As president, I wasn't allowed to be.
Are they really going to ask about this?
It was years ago. Four years ago.
Five years.
Oppenheimer still divides America.
The committee will want to know where you stand.
Senator Thoreau, don't ask me to say so you don't feel like you're being judged.
Funny, I didn't until you told me so.
- Yours sincerely Mr Strauss. - It's Admiral!
Admiral Strauss, this is just a formality.
President Eisenhower has asked you to be in his office.
The Senate really has no choice but to confirm it.
What if they talk about Oppenheimer?
When they mention Oppenheimer. You answer honestly.
No senator can deny it. He did his duty.
It's going to be uncomfortable.
Let's justify your whole life.
Why did you leave the US?
I just wanted to study the new physics.
Was there no place here?
I thought Berkeley had the top theoretical physics department.
Yes, after I merged it.
First I had to go to Europe, I went to Cambridge to study with Patrick Blackett.
Well, you're happier there than you are in America.
- Happier? - Yes.
No.
No, I...
got homesick,
was emotionally immature,
disturbed by visions of one
hidden universe.
Useless in the lab.
My God, Oppenheimer!
Haven't you been sleeping?
Start over.
I need to go to the lecture, Professor.
Why?
It's Niels Bohr.
I completely forgot.
Alright, let's go.
Oh no, not you Oppenheimer, finish coating the plates.
Potassium Cyanide Used to commit suicide
Quantum physics is not a step forward.
It's a new way of understanding reality.
Einstein opened the door.
Now we're peeking out, seeing the inner world
our world, a world of energy and paradox
that not everyone can accept.
Okay.
Niels, meet J. Robert Oppenheimer.
What does the J stand for? Nothing.
You were my lecture.
You ask the only good question.
No one is denying your insight.
This is a lab job that needs a little to be desired.
You gave the same ...
At Havard. Yes, and you asked the same question.
Why ask again?
I didn't like the answer.
- Did you like the one from yesterday better? - Much more.
You can lift the boulder without being prepared for the snake that reveals itself.
Now it looks like you're ready.
But you don't like the lab.
Then leave Cambridge with every cup and potion.
Go somewhere where they'll let you think.
Oxford.
- Göttingen. - Bonn
Bonn
Go to Germany. Study with Max Born.
Learn the ways of theory.
- I will recommend it. - It has a wormhole.
How's your math?
Not good enough. The physique he wants to be.
Algebra is like sheet music.
where the important thing is not to read music
but the important thing is to know how to listen.
Can you hear the music, Robert?
Yes I can.
"The Lifeless Land" Significant 20th century literary work of TS Eliot
As Senator from Wyoming
Admiral Strauss
I am interested in your relationship with Doctor J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Did you meet him in 1947?
Correct.
Were you a commissioner of the Atomic Energy Commission?
I was, but I actually met Robert in my capacity
as a board member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton
After the war, he was recognized worldwide as the great man of physics.
And I was determined to make him run the Institute.
Doctor Oppenheimer.
It's an honor.
Mister Strousse.
Pronunciation is Strauss.
Openhainer or Oppenheimer, either way they know I'm Jewish.
I am president of Emanu-El temple and manhattan.
Strauss is how we pronounce it in the south.
Anyway, welcome to the Institute.
I think you'll be very happy here.
You'll love the ambiance.
The title entitles you and your wife to that house.
and yours, are there two children?
Yes two.
I'm a great steward of your work,
Do you have a background in physics Mr. Strauss.
Sorry, tea is served at four o'clock,
No, I'm not a physics major
or whatever, I'm self-taught
I understand perfectly.
That's right.
Yes, so was my Father.
And this will be your office.
I'm told he's there most afternoons.
You know, I've always wondered
why didn't you involve him in the Manhattan Project.
Greatest scientific mind of our time.
From your time.
Einstein published his theory of relativity.
for over 40 years.
but I never embrace the quantum world it created.
God doesn't play dice.
Precisely.
I never thought of formally studying physics Mr. Strauss.
I had offers, but I chose to sell shoes.
Louis Strauss was once a noble shoe salesman.
Not just a shoe salesman.
- I'd love to introduce you. - No need.
I've known him for years.
Albert.
What was that?
What did you say to him?
Okay, fine.
Mr. Strauss, there are things in my past that you should be aware of.
Well, as chairman of the atomic energy commission,
I have access to your security file and I checked it.
You're not worried.
No.
Why would I be worried after all you've done for your country?
Well, times have changed, Mr Strauss.
Well, the purpose of this institute.
is to provide a haven for independent minds.
Like yours.
You're the man for the job.
Well, I'm not considering that.
See you at the committee meeting tomorrow.
This is one of the most prestigious appointments in the country.
Yes.
With great facilities.
Which is why I'm considering this.
Then Doctor Oppenheimer caught your eye
to his previous associations before you named him?
Yes.
And they don't concern you?
But then, I was totally consumed
with what he must have told Einstein to get him to act like that towards me.
But after?
Well, we all know what happened next.
Doctor, during your time in Europe,
you seem to meet a wide range of physicists from other countries.
Yes that's right.
Any Russian?
None that I can remember.
If you will allow me to continue with my statement.
Mr. Gordon will have ample opportunity to ask his questions.
After Göttingen I moved to
Leiden in Holland, where I met
Isidor Rabi.
Excuse me.
A yankee.
Giving a talk about new physics.
This one I have to hear.
I'm American too.
Oh, how amazing.
Well, let me know if you need help with the English.
[Dutch words].
What is she saying?
No thanks.
It's a long way to Zurich.
If you get thinner, you'll slide down into the seat.
I am Rabbi.
Oppenheimer.
Watched your lecture on molecules.
I've learned quite a bit.
We are two Jews from New York, How do you know Dutch?
Well, I figured I'd better learn. But I got here this semester.
Learned Dutch in that time
to give a lecture on quantum mechanics.
I had to challenge myself.
Quantum physics wasn't challenging enough, Weergegeven.
- Weergegeven? - Displayed.
Dutch in six weeks, but you still haven't learned it.
I don't talk about my side of the park as much.
Bobalhão.
Homesick?
Don't tell me.
Ever get the feeling that we're not welcome here?
- The physicists? - Funny.
Not over there in the department.
We're all Jews there.
Eat?
There's some German you should know.
- Heisenberg. - Right.
[Words in German].
One ​​might be led to presume that behind the
quantum world still hides the real world in which
the causality holds, but such speculations seem to us to be explicitly unfruitful.
Thank you. Have a great day.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
- Doctor Oppenheimer. - Oppenheimer, yes.
I enjoyed your article on molecules.
Probably because you're inspired. If I inspire anything else, let me know.
We could publish together.
I have to go back to America.
Why?
No one is taking quantum mechanics seriously.
That's exactly why.
Missing the Manhattan Canyons.
Canyons of New Mexico.
Are you from New Mexico? No, New York.
But my brother and I have a ranch near Santa Fe.
This is the America I miss right now.
Then you better go home, Cowboys.
Ha ha. that's it.
No, for me horses.
I pass.
Nice to meet you.
Have you met Heisenberg again yet?
Not personally. No, but, uh,
But our paths crossed.
When I returned to America.
I've accepted positions at both Caltech and Berkeley.
RADIATION LABORATORY
Doctor Lawrence, I presume?
- You must be Oppenheimer - Yes.
I hear you want to start a quantum theory course.
Already started on the next door.
They put you here.
I asked to stay close to you and the experimentalists.
Theory will only take you so far.
We are building a machine to accelerate electrons.
Magnificent.
Would you like to help?
Building? Oh no.
Ha ha. No.
I'm working on theories I'd like to test with her.
When do you start teaching?
I start in an hour.
Seminar?
A popilo.
A student.
That's right
I'm teaching you something that no one here has dreamed of.
But find out what we can do with it.
No return.
- Ah, I think I made a mistake -Mister Alvarez?
- Yes. - Yes, it's here.
Please.
Have a seat.
What do you know about quantum mechanics?
I have an understanding about the base.
And you're doing it wrong.
Is light made up of particles or waves?
Quantum mechanics is his focus. How could it be both?
Can't or can?
But that is. It's paradoxical.
And yet it works.
Thank you.
Mister Alvarez.
Don't worry.
Mister Snyder.
Now, let's consider a star.
A star, a great furnace burning in space.
Fire being spat out of its own gravity.
in balance.
But if that furnace cools down, then gravity starts to win. It contracts.
Density increases.
Correct.
- Increasing gravity. - Increasing density.
And it's a vicious cycle until... What's the limit here?
I don't know. See, when the math takes us.
I guarantee you a place where no one has been before.
My?
Yes, your math is way better than mine.
Doctor Oppenheimer's file contained details and activities at Berkeley.
Why would they have started the Doctor Oppenheimer file before the war?
Well, you have to ask Mister Hoover.
I'm asking you, Admiral Strauss.
Well, my guess..
is that it was connected to yours
Left political activities.
SATURDAY 2PM Rally FOR LEGALIST SPAIN
Shouldn't let politics be written in the classroom, Oppey.
I wrote this.
Lawrence, you embrace the revolution in physics.
Okay, can you see it anywhere else?
- Picasso, Stravinsky, Freud, Marx... - Well, this is America, Oppey.
We had our revolution.
Seriously,
Leave this outside the lab.
Well, outside the lab, my neighbor is arguing about this at night.
Interested?
I experienced the Berkeley political scene.
It's all just graduate degrees in philosophy and communists talking about integration.
You don't care about integration.
I want to vote for her, not talk about her.
Especially on Friday.
Come on, let's eat.
I'll meet my brother there.
And how did these activities come to the attention of the FBI?
Well, if I remember correctly, the FBI was taking the license plates
outside of suspected communist meetings on the island.
Your name appeared.
Jesus Christ. Sorry. Frankly, but ...
I remember Jackie. Good night.
Robert, I want you to meet Chevalier.
Doctor Haakon Chevalier, this is Doctor Robert Oppenheimer.
Nice to meet you, this is my little brother Frank.
And this is... Still Jackie. Hello, still Jackie.
- Chevalier, do you teach languages? - And your reputation precedes you.
- What are the rumors? - That you're teaching radical new physics.
No chance of understanding, but I didn't hear, you're a member of the party,
I'm not. No, not yet.
Frank and we think we're going in...
I support a range of causes.
The Spanish Civil War?
A democratic republic being overthrown by fascist thugs who wouldn't.
Our government.
They think socialism is the biggest threat to fascists.
Not for a long time. See what the Nazis are doing to the Jews.
I send funds to colleagues in Germany so they can immigrate
I have to do something.
My own work is so abstract.
What are you working on?
What happens to stars when they die?
Do stars die?
Well, if they do, they get cold.
And collapse actually
The bigger the star, the more violent its end.
Their gravity becomes so concentrated that it swallows everything.
Everything, even the light.
Can this really happen? The math says it can.
If we can get published, maybe one day an astronomer will find one,
but now all I have is theory, that it can't impact people's lives.
Well, if you're going to send money to Spain, do it through the Communist Party.
They can take you to the front lines.
Charles asked that I bring it up.
I'm Jane.
Robert.
Haakon Chevalier, we met at the union.
Right, right, yeah. Thanks.
Robert here says he's not a communist.
Well, then he doesn't know enough about communism.
Well, I've read "O Capital", all three volumes. Does that count?
You've read more than most party members.
There is some thinking. Ownership is theft.
- Property. - Property?
- Property, property is theft. - Sorry, I read it in the original German.
It's not about the book. It's about the ideas.
And you don't seem committed.
Well, I'm committed to thinking freely about how to improve our world.
Why limit yourself to one, dogma?
You are a physicist. You pick and choose the rules.
Or do you use discipline to channel your energies towards progress?
I like to be smart.
You always say the party line.
I also like to be flexible.
What?
Wait, wait, wait.
- Unexpected this. - What?
For a physicist.
Only having a shelf full of Freud.
Well, actually I do
- historical is more... - Jovian?
You know psychoanalysis.
When I was at Cambridge in graduate school, I had some problems.
Don't tell me.
I tried to poison my guardian.
Did you hate him?
I really liked it.
So it was a lack of sex.
My analyst took two years, and I don't think they've ever put it so succinctly.
You've convinced everyone that it's more complicated than it actually is.
You are all simple souls I guess.
Not me.
What is this?
Sanskrit
You can read this.
I'm learning.
Read this.
Well, in this part, the fish leave the low arms system...
No.
Read the words.
And now I have become death.
The destroyer of worlds.
Here it is good.
It will clear before dawn.
The air cools down at night.
Just before dawn, the weather will clear.
Well then,
I'm getting married.
Frank, congratulations.
- Thanks. - With Jackie?
Yes, with Jackie.
The waitress?
Robert, you're right.
It's cleaning. I'll see if there are any stars.
All your talk about the common man.
But Jackie isn't good enough for you.
We joined the party and you're blaming us. Why?
Is this unique to you?
I didn't join the party, Frank.
And I don't think she should have convinced you either.
- Half the faculty are communists. - Not that half.
I'm your brother, Frank, and I want you to be careful.
And I want to wring your neck.
I will not live my life in fear of making a mistake.
If you're happy, I'm happy.
So I'm glad you're happy that I'm happy.
If you look, I can see one of those dark stars you're working on.
You can't.
It's every point gravity swallows the light.
It's kind of like a hole in space.
- Is Frank okay? - Yes.
I have a terrible brother.
This is special.
When I was a kid,
I thought if I could find a way
To combine physics and New Mexico
my life would be perfect.
- A little remote for that? - Yes.
Let's get some sleep.
That plate we saw today.
One ​​of my favorite places in the world.
Tomorrow we go up.
What is it called?
Los Álamos.
I didn't expect to see you today.
I'll have to make an appointment.
Alvarez?
- Lawrence! Robert! - What?
- What is it? - They did it.
They did it, Hahn and Strassmann in Germany.
They split the uranium core.
How?
Bombarded with neutrons.
It's nuclear fission.
They did it. They split the atom.
This is not possible.
I'll try to reproduce.
See?
Cannot be done.
Very elegant.
Very clear.
There's only one problem. Where?
Next door.
Alvarez did it.
Look.
These fission pulses are massive.
I've seen 30 of these in the last 10 minutes.
Theory will only take you so far.
During the process,
neutrons are left over which can be used to split other uranium atoms.
Chain reaction.
You're thinking what I'm thinking.
You, me,
All the other physicists around the world already know the news.
What do you mean, what are we all thinking?
A bomb, Alvarez.
A bomb.
I told you, Robert, no more flowers.
I don't understand what you want from me? I don't want anything from you.
- But you say that and then call. - Well, don't answer.
I will always answer you.
Okay.
It just doesn't bring more flowers.
Don't come with me
You have to know when you're beaten, Robert.
It's not that simple.
Chevalier, good to see you.
Barbara, good to see you.
And the illustrious Doctor Oppenheimer.
I'm Alton, please, please.
Can I just say a word about organized work on campus?
Passing, passing. I work at Shell.
We hire chemists, we hire engineers.
There are few scientists in that position.
Oppey! Oppey! Oppey!
Professors are unionized, why aren't academics?
Why else do you have to do?
Lawrence, academics have rights too.
Look, that's not it, there's a group coming.
- Oh, I'll stay. - Not this time.
Richard, Doctor Bush. What brings you two north?
Tell Ruth I'm dropping by pasadena on Thursday.
Your article on black holes is out!
Where's Hartland?
Calls Hartland.
Call the Hartland!
September 1, 1939. A day the world will remember.
Oh, Hartland, our article has been published.
You have been obfuscated.
HITLER INVADE POLAND
During the Battle of Britain, I felt increasingly unsympathetic
with the neutrality policy
which the communists stood for.
After Hitler invaded Russia and we became allies.
Has that communist sympathy returned?
No.
I need to make it clear that my views on Russia have changed
didn't mean a sharp break with those who had different points of view.
For a year or two, during a previous marriage,
my wife Kitty was a member of the Communist Party.
This way, where I keep the best.
I know this is the Tolman house.
I live with them when I'm at Caltech.
Need anything? It's okay Ruth.
So, you're a biologist.
Well, somehow I became a housewife.
Can you explain quantum mechanics to me?
- Sounds interesting. - It is.
Well, this cup.
This drink is countertop too.
Our bodies.
All of it.
It's an empty space.
Clusters of tiny waves of energy bound together.
For what?
Attractive forces strong enough to convince us,
this matter is solid.
which prevents my body from passing through yours.
You are married to Doctor Harrison.
Not much.
There's someone I feel...
She feels the same.
Sometimes, but not often.
You know, I'm going to New Mexico,
to my ranch with friends, you should come.
With your husband, of course.
Of course.
Because you know it won't make a bit of difference.
Why did you marry him?
I was lost.
He was kind.
Lost?
Well, my first husband had died.
At 28, I wasn't really ready to be a widow.
Who was your first husband?
Nobody.
But my second husband was Joe Dallad.
He was from a rich family like me, but
he was a union organizer in Youngstown, Ohio.
I fell in love
How much in love?.
Tough enough to spend the next four years living on beans and pancakes,
handing out flyers at factory gates.
At 36, I ended up telling Joe I couldn't take it anymore.
Left the party, but a year later, wanted to come back.
For him and not for the party.
He said, I'll see you when I get back from Spain.
Was it fighting for the Loyalists?
And then he went to the brigades and I waited.
And...
Joe was killed the first time he poked his head out of the trench.
He died for ideology, for nothing.
The Spanish Republic is not a nothing.
My husband sacrificed our futures to stop it
a fascist bullet hit a pile of mud.
That's the definition of nothing.
- Sounds reductionist. - Pragmatic.
I'm here now.
What the hell is that?
I didn't want it to come out from anyone's mouth.
At least you didn't bring me flowers.
We both know I'm not who you want.
Yes, but it's the door that closes.
No.
As far as I'm concerned, no.
You got her pregnant. Fast work.
You know it's hard to hold on.
She was talking about her.
She knew what she wanted.
And the husband?
We talked. They are getting divorced.
So.
That way we can get married before it starts to show.
So civilized.
You idiot. This is your community.
You think the rules don't apply to the golden boy?
Genius pays off a lot.
Don't exclude the only people in the world who understand what you do.
One ​​day you may need them.
FAECT
The Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists and Technicians.
SYNDICALIZE THE RADIATION LABORATORY
Lomanitz, how much do you earn per month?
Not the Lawrence question.
What do any of you have in common with farm workers and longshoremen?
A lot.
Everybody out? Now!
You don't.
What are you doing?
It's a union.
Full of communists.
I would try to forgive you.
They won't let me bring you on a project because of that shit.
They won't even let me tell you what the project is.
Oh, I know what the project is.
Oh really? We've all heard about Einstein and Sitter's letter to
Roosevelt warning him the Germans might make a bomb.
And I know what it means to the Nazis to have a bomb.
But I don't know?
It's not your people who are going to the concentration camps.
It's mine.
You think I tell them about your policy.
The next time you get back from a meeting,
why don't you take a look in the rearview mirror,
Listen to the sounds of your phone line and stop being so naive.
Because you care what I do.
Because you're not just important to you, you're really important.
Right.
I see.
- And if you could be a little... - Pragmatic,
I'll talk to Lomanitz, I'll talk to the others.
You don't have to worry. It's over.
Lawrence.
Then let's go to war.
Filled out my first safety questionnaire and off I went
reported my involvement with left-wing groups
wouldn't be a lie for my work on the atomic program.
Why your communist associations
Wasn't this seen as a wartime security rescue?
Senator, I cannot answer because it was given
gives him the security clearance, years before I met him.
Okay, what next?
After the war, Doctor Oppenheimer was the most respected scientific voice in the world.
That's why I invited you to run the Institute.
That's why he became a member of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Simple as that.
What are you accusing me of?
I think they just want to know what happened between 1947 and
1954 to change his mind about Oppenheimer's security clearance.
I haven't changed, I was chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, but it wasn't me
- I wasn't the one who made the accusations against Robert. - Who did it?
Was a former member of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.
There's a rabid anti-Communist named Borton.
He wrote to the FBI demanding that they take action.
The FBI and why it didn't go straight to the commission.
Why get caught knife in hand.
What does Borton have against Oppenheimer?
This was the McCarthy era.
People kicked out of jobs
to him, and he had to report it.
By reading Oppenheimer's security file,
communist brother, sister-in-law and bride,
best friend, wife.
Even before the Chevalier incident.
How would Borton have access to Oppenheimer's security file?
Because someone gave it to him.
Someone who wanted to silence Robert.
Who?
Who knows. Robert was not careful not to upset Washington's powerful.
Your views on the atom have become final.
And he wasn't always patient with us mere mortals.
I have received many harsh treatments.
There was a vote from
commission on the export of isotopes to Norway.
They enlisted Robert, to make a fool of me.
But, Doctor Oppenheimer, we already heard from Admiral Strauss that these
isotopes can be useful to our enemies in the production of atomic weapons.
Congressman, could you use a shovel to make atomic weapons.
But really, do they already use it?
You could use a beer bottle to make atomic weapons.
But you already used it.
I'd say isotopes are less useful than electronic components,
but more useful than a sandwich.
Genius is no guarantee of wisdom.
How could this man who saw so much be so blind.
Kitty?
The project.
I'm in.
Let's celebrate.
Aren't you going to pay attention to him?
I've been calling him all day.
I don't know how to say this.
I'm ashamed to ask.
Ask?
- Stay with Peter. - Of course.
Just for a while, Haakon.
A while.
- Does Kitty know? - Yes, of course she knows.
Of course she knows.
We are horrible people.
Selfish people.
Forget I asked.
Selfish, horrible people.
They don't know.
They are selfish and horrible.
Sit down, sit down, sit down.
Robert, you see beyond the world we live in.
There's a price to pay for that.
Of course we'll help you.
Everything is changing, Robert.
Having a child always changes everything.
The world is heading in a new direction.
Rewording.
This is your moment.
- We're putting together a group to study. - Forget that "we" Robert.
You will.
Lawrence won't do it.
or Tolman, or Rabi, you will.
Who are the military?
I thought you knew.
Doctor Oppenheimer.
I'm Colonel Groves.
This is Lieutenant Colonel Nichols.
Send to dry cleaners.
If that's how you treat a lieutenant colonel.
I don't even want to see how you treat a humble physicist.
If I come across one, I'll let you know.
Holy crap.
Combat theaters worldwide.
But I have to stay in Washington.
Why?
I built the Pentagon.
The high command liked it so much they made me take over the Engineering District of Manhattan.
What is it? Whatever.
Don't be a smartass. You know very well what it is.
You and half of all physicists in this country.
This is problem number one.
I thought the number one problem would be securing enough uranium ore.
Twelve hundred tons, I bought the day I took command.
Are you there yet?
Just arrived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
I am now looking for a director for the project.
- And my name came up. - No.
Even though you brought quantum physics to America, that made me curious.
What did you discover?
You are a dilettante, a womanizer,
an alleged communist.
I'm a New Deal-era Democrat.
I said suspicious.
Unstable, theatrical,
selfish, neurotic.
Not good. No, not even he is brilliant.
But brightness is an unimportant data in your circle. So no.
The only person who had anything good to say was Richard Tolman.
Tolman thinks you have integrity.
But he also strikes me as a guy who knows more about science than people.
And here you are.
You don't trust others very much.
I don't trust anyone.
- Why don't you have a Nobel Prize? - Why aren't you a general?
- They'll promote me for this. - Maybe I'll be as lucky.
A Nobel Prize for making a bomb?
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.
So how would you proceed?
You're talking about transforming the theory
into a practical weapon system faster than the Nazis.
- They have 12 months ahead of us. - 18 actually.
How would you know that?
Our fast neutron search took six months.
The man they want to put in charge will have that advantage.
- Who do you think they put in charge? - Werner Heisenberg.
He has the most intuitive understanding of atomic structure I've ever seen.
- Do you know his work? - I know him
as I know Walter, Heisenberg and Diebner
in a straight race, the Germans win.
- We have one hope, - Which is...
Anti-Semitism.
As it is.
Hitler called quantum physics a Jewish science, right to Einstein's face,
our only hope is that Hitler is so blinded by
hate that he denied Heisenberg adequate resources
because we need a lot of resources.
Our nation's best scientists working together right now.
- We need compartmentalization.
All minds have to see the
all task to contribute efficiently.
Lack of security is a risk, but can cause lack of efficiency.
The Germans know more than us anyway.
Russians don't.
Remind me, who are we at war with?
Someone with your past doesn't want to be seen downplaying it
the importance of the security of our communist allies.
Got it, but no.
You can't say no to me.
My job says no to you and you're wrong.
So you have the job now?
I'm thinking about it.
I'm starting to see where you got your reputation.
My favorite answer, Oppenheimer couldn't run a tavern.
It's true.
But I can run the Manhattan Project.
We can balance things out.
Keep the lab here in Berkeley with Lawrence.
metalworks in Chicago, and big scale how about Tennessee.
And Hanford.
All Americas, industrial, mining, scientific innovation,
connected by a railroad, focused on one goal, one point in space and time.
And it all comes together here.
A secret laboratory in the middle of nowhere.
Secure and self-sufficient with houses and equipment.
Keep them all there until you're done.
I need a school, a shop or a church. - Why?
If we don't let the scientists bring their families, we'll never have the best.
And you want security built into the city
and fast.
Where?
Welcome to Los Álamos.
We're going to have to camp a school,
the natives come here to do their rituals,
But other than that, nothing.
40 miles in any direction.
This is the perfect place.
For what?
For success.
Build the city quickly.
Let's recruit some scientists.
Why would I leave my family?
I told you, you can bring your family.
- I'm not a soldier Robert. - Soldier?
He's a general. I have all the soldiers I need.
What can I tell them?
Heisenberg and all these scientists,
What do these men have in common?
The greatest minds in atomic theory.
What else?
Whatever you want.
Until I feel my boots in your balls.
You know about isotopes and you know about explosives better than anyone in the world.
You can't tell us what you're doing.
The Nazis have him.
- Niels Bohr is in Copenhagen - Under Nazi occupation.
Did they stop printing newspapers at Princeton?
Why would we go to the middle of nowhere for who knows how long?
For a year or two or three.
General, would you...
Give us a moment.
It's about releasing the strong force.
Before the Nazis.
My God.
- They wouldn't work for the Nazis. - Not ever.
They have them. We don't.
This is why I need you.
Why do you think I would do that?
- Why? - Why?
How about why this is the most fucking important
thing that has ever happened in the history of the world?
How about this?
They won't let me on this project.
And failing a security check won't be good for a career, even after the war.
So you joined the party.
So what.
This is a national emergency.
I have my past, and they put me in charge.
They need us.
Until when?
Is there any chance of getting Bohr out of Denmark?
No, not a chance.
I checked with the British.
Until we get into the mainland, there's no way.
Is he that important?
How many people do you know who proved Einstein wrong?
It really would be faster to catch a plane.
No, a plane is too risky. The country needs us.
Harvard people said the building.
is too small for the cyclotron.
Call the architects.
When are we opening this here?
Two months.
Robert, you are the great improviser, but this...
can't be pulled out of a hat.
Four divisions.
Experimental.
Theoretical.
Analog.
Who takes care of the theory?
Me?
That's what I was afraid of.
It's piling up too much.
So you're left with the theory.
I'm not coming here, Robert.
Why not?
You throw a bomb and it lands on the just and the unjust.
I don't wish for the culmination of three centuries
of physics is a weapon of mass destruction.
What if...
I don't know if we should have such a weapon.
But I know the Nazis can't.
We have no choice.
The second thing you should do is name it
Hans Bethe to perform theoretical division.
- All right, what's the first? - Take off that ridiculous uniform.
You are a scientist.
Groves is insisting on it.
Tell Groves to shit in the bushes.
They need us for who we are.
So be yourself.
And the best.
This is the only key.
And Teller is already here.
- Can I let him in? - No, let's wait for the others.
Let's get started.
Hello Edward.
Hello.
Gentlemen, so let's work here until
theoretical division at Los Alamos is finished.
- Edward, would you? - This is more important.
When did I calculate the chain reaction?
I found this to be a rather worrying possibility.
No, but that can't be right.
Show me how you did your calculations. Yes.
This is fantasy.
Teller's calculations cannot be right.
Remake you, while I go to Princeton?
Why?
Talk to Einstein.
Well, there's not much in common about you two.
That's why I need to get his opinion.
Albert.
Ah, Doctor Oppenheimer
How did you meet Doctor Gödel?
We walk here almost every day.
Trees are very inspiring structures.
Albert, can we talk?
Of course, with permission from Gödel.
Some days, he refuses to eat.
Even at Princeton,
he's convinced the Nazis can poison his food.
Whose work is this?
from Teller.
What do you want from me?
The neutrons collide with the nucleus, releasing
neutrons, which collide with other nuclei.
Criticality, what's a massive explosive force with no return to do?
But this time the chain reaction doesn't stop.
That would ignite the atmosphere.
We detonate an atomic device,
we can start a chain reaction that destroys the world.
So here we are, huh?
Lost in your quantum world
of probabilities and needing certainties.
Can you do the math yourself?
No.
Pretty much the only thing you and I have in common is a disdain for math.
Who's working on this at Berkeley? Hans Bethe.
Well, he'll get to the truth.
What if the truth is catastrophic?
So you stop and share your findings with the Nazis.
So neither side destroys the world.
Robert,
this is yours, not mine.
Teller is wrong,
he made a mistake.
After knowing Teller's critical assumptions, the real picture emerged.
Summing up.
The chances of a runaway nuclear reaction to almost zero.
Almost zero?
That's good news.
- Can you redo it again? - You will get the same answer.
Until we detonate one of these things,
the best guarantee you'll ever get is this.
Almost zero.
Theory only takes you so far.
Hello. Hello.
We miss him.
Do you want to adopt?
She's kidding.
We wanted to see you before we go.
To an unknown destination.
You know who I ran into the other day?
Eltenton.
Ah, the Shell chemist.
The union guy?
Yeah, the FAACT guy.
He was complaining about how we're handling the war.
What do you mean?
The lack of cooperation with our allies.
Apparently the government isn't sharing any research with the Russians.
He said most scientists think politics is stupid.
Yes.
He mentioned that if anyone had anything they wanted to pass on,
outside of official channels, that he could help.
That would be treason.
Yes, of course.
I just thought you should know.
The spoiled one has slept.
Where are the martinis.
Almost done.
The conversation ended there.
Nothing in our long friendship would have led me to believe.
that Chevelia was really seeking information,
and I'm sure he had no idea
of the work I was involved in.
It has long been clear to me that I should
have reported this incident immediately.
Oppenheimer's plight highlights tension among scientists
and security appliances
and in hopes of learning how the candidate deals with such issues
on the atomic commission.
We will have a scientist appear before the committee.
- What they're bringing. - Didn't they say?
Mr President, if you will allow me, I have been appointed Secretary of Commerce.
Why? To seek the opinion of scientists.
This is a position in the Admiral's government.
We seek a wide range of opinions.
I would like to know the names of the scientists who will testify.
I would like the chance to interrogate him.
This is not a court of law.
Formality, isn't it?
No presidential nomination has gone unconfirmed since 1925.
That's how the game works, that's how it works.
It's in the bag, Lewis. Rest assured.
They're bringing in a scientist so what.
You don't know scientists like I do, they resent you.
from anyone who has the questions, especially if you're not one of them.
I was chairman of the Atomic Commission.
It's easy to blame me for what happened to Robert.
But we cannot allow the Senate to accept that the scientific community.
Does not support you, sir.
Or we change focus
- How? - An invasive one.
I fought with Oppenheimer and the country won.
I don't think there's any need.
Isn't there someone we can call who knows what really happened?
Teller.
They will be impressed.
Can you get the name of the scientists they called?
Probably find out if he was based in Chicago or Los Alamos during the war.
Why does it matter?
Well, if he was based in Chicago,
they worked for the fermi paradox and didn't have the cult of the obvious in Los Álamos.
Robert built that damn place. He was the founder, mayor and sheriff.
All at once.
Oh, there's only one room missing.
There is no kitchen.
That's right
Let's figure it out
Barbed wire.
Weapons.
Right.
We're at War, Hans.
Halifax.
1917.
A freighter carrying ammunition explodes in port.
A sudden and vast chemical reaction.
The biggest man-made explosion in history.
Now let's calculate how much more destructive it would be
would have been if it was a nuclear reaction and not a chemical reaction.
Expressing power in terms of tons of TNT.
But it would be thousands.
Well then, Kilotons.
Using Uranium U-235, the bomb will need a...
Sorry.
The artifact will need a 15 kilo sphere of this size.
Or using plutonium, the 5-pound sphere.
Here's how much uranium was refined at Oak Ridge over the past month.
And the Hanford plant did this month with all that plutonium.
Now, we can enrich these values. We need a way to detonate them.
Are you bored, Edward?
A little bit, yes.
May I ask why?
We all went into this knowing a fission bomb was possible.
How about we leave it with something new?
How?
Instead of uranium or plutonium, we use hydrogen.
Heavy Hydrogen.
Deuterium. You see, we compact atoms
under great pressure to induce a fusion reaction.
And we will not get kilotons, but megatons.
Okay, wait, wait.
So how do you generate enough force to fuse hydrogen atoms?
A small fission bomb.
Well, since we're going to need one anyway, let's get back to business.
The question of isotopes was not his most important thing
political disagreement with Doctor Oppenheimer.
It was the hydrogen bomb, wasn't it?
As colleagues, we agree
a lot of things to disagree with.
And one of them was the need for an H-Bomb program.
Thank you for coming together and on short notice.
I can't believe it.
But here we are, .
Tell us what we know?
One ​​of our B-29s in the North Pacific detected radiation.
Do we have the filter papers?
There's no doubt about what this is.
The White House says there is doubt.
It's an illusion, unfortunately.
These are the long range detection filter roles?
It's an atomic test.
The Russians have a bomb, we should be years ahead of them, but...
What were you guys doing at Los Alamos, wasn't security tight?
Of course it was. You weren't there.
Forgive me, Doctor.
But I was there.
We can now consider the actual mechanics of detonation.
Any ideas?
I call it shooting.
Fire a piece of fissile material
into a larger sphere with enough force to achieve criticality.
Ideas? Anyone?
I've been thinking about implosion.
Explosives around the sphere explode inward, crushing the material.
I'd like to investigate this idea.
I'll talk to the military division, so you can make the explosions.
- Some progress. - Good to see you too.
Meet the British contingent.
- Doctor Oppenheimer. Klaus Fuchs.
How long have you been British?
Since Hitler told me I wasn't German.
Oh. come on, welcome to Los Alamos.
Is the school already in?
The bar? Always open.
I need to reduce support staff.
- Who is she? - Mrs. Silver?
Yes. I've offered wives jobs in the administrative area.
We downsize, we keep families together.
- Are these women qualified? - Don't say nonsense.
It's the brightest minds here.
And they already have security credentials.
I have informed General Groves that you are
holding open discussions across divisions every night.
Get it over with. Compartmentalization is the key to maintaining security.
Who are presumably communicating with subordinates?
These men are not stupid. They can be discreet.
I don't like this.
You don't like anything enough for this to be a fair test.
Once a week. Seniors only.
- I'd like to bring my brother here. - No.
The Nichols.
I still haven't been told if my security clearance has been approved.
- It wasn't. - We're going to Chicago tomorrow.
No, you must wait.
You know the Nazis have a two year head start.
Doctor Oppenheimer, the fact that your security clearance is proving difficult
getting is not my fault.
It's yours.
It might not be your fault, but it's your problem.
Because I will.
And how many people were in those, uh... open... discussions?
Many, vaulting should be the protocol.
We were in a race against the Nazis.
No, the race is against the Soviets.
Not unless we start.
Robert, they just fired the first shot.
What is the nature of the device they detonate?
Data indicates it may have been a plutonium implosion device.
Like the one you built in Los Alamos.
The Russians Have a Bomb, Truman Needs to Know, Now What?
And now.
- Negotiations. - Negotiations. Of course.
Obviously.
And the super? Does Truman know about this? Did we inform about it?
Not specifically.
We still don't know if it had a hydrogen operation. Technically feasible.
Right. My understanding is that this was Teller's proposal.
Yes.
Teller's designs have always been wildly impractical.
It would have to be launched in an oxcart.
Not on a plane.
Admiral
Doctor Lawrence, would you like to comment?
No.
Because if he can put us ahead again,
The President of the United States needs to know about this.
What if the Russians already know this by
a spy in Los Alamos, so we gotta go.
There is no evidence that there was a spy in Los Alamos.
Robert.
Put it under the football stadium.
Field is no longer in use.
Good.
- Robert. - Doctor Fermi.
How are you?
Very well.
Do you, do you have a small town? Yes, come see.
How could things be negotiated in a place like that? Huh?
Everyone will go crazy.
Thank you for the trusting thought.
Do we really, do we really need to take notes?
Will you try it? We did.
Diverse and self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
Didn't Groves tell you?
No.
Doctor Oppenheimer?
In the personnel division.
They asked if I could type.
Can you? Harvard forgot to teach this in their undergraduate chemistry course.
I'd like you to put her on the plutonium team.
What the hell were you doing in Chicago?
- Visiting the lab. - Why?
- You can't do that. - Why?
We have every right.
You have only the rights I give you, no more and no less.
We're adults trying to run a project here, this is ridiculous.
Tell him.
Compartmentalization is the protocol we agree on.
Enough of this madness where no one can work under these conditions.
You know what?
Generalissimo, I give up.
Thanks for nothing.
Better without it.
Aren't you worried about his stealth out there anymore?
We're going to kill him.
I'm kidding.
It's me, not America.
You know General, not everyone has levers to pull like I do.
I don't think I understand.
You didn't hire me despite my left wind past.
You hired me because of him.
So you could control me.
No, I'm not that subtle.
I'm just a humble soldier.
You are neither humble nor just a soldier.
You studied engineering at MIT.
Guilty as accused.
Well, we understand each other now.
can you get me my security clearance
so that I can perform this miracle for you.
General Groves, were you aware of Doctor Oppenheimer's calls,
Left membership is when named?
I knew there were suspicions about him.
I knew he had a very extreme liberal background.
In your opinion, would he ever knowingly commit a disloyal act?
I'd be surprised if he did.
He had complete confidence in his integrity.
That was Alamos.
Yes, that's where I really got to know him.
General, your security officers on the project
advised you against releasing Doctor Oppenheimer.
They could not and would not exonerate him until I insisted.
And it's safe to say you had a good one
Knowledge of Doctor Oppenheimer's security file.
Correct.
Well, there's really only one question I answered here today.
In light of current AEC guidelines, would you release Doctor Oppenheimer today?
Do you have the guidelines?
According to current AEC guidelines,
Would you release Doctor Oppenheimer today?
Physics and New Mexico, huh?
My God.
What an adventure.
This is why you need a contact.
I'm nominating Lomanitz.
You'll be fine.
This way, gentlemen.
Dr Lawrence, I'd like to remind you of what we talked about in Berkeley.
- Compartmentalization, - I completely understand.
Berkeley sweats.
I'm here to update you on our progress and solicit your feedback.
To do that, I'll have to share some stuff
which General Groves told me not to do.
Sorry General, I said I understood.
Not that I would agree.
All right, gentlemen, business.
There were rumors of espionage,
- Los Alamos. - Not proven.
I was told there were communists in the project, knowingly involved.
I just want to know if any of them were involved in discussions with the super?
I seem to remember you demanding your brother come to Los Alamos.
My brother had already left the party.
What about Lomanitz?
Lomanitz never had a role at Los Alamos.
He was a link.
Our security was tight, as former Colonel Nichols well knew.
Our security was as tight as possible given
personalities involved, but attempts have been made.
What does this mean?
We all read his file here.
Do we need to talk about Jean Tatlock?
Or the Chevalier incident?
Excuse me.
And Lomanitz, on line one.
Hi Rossi. What?
Okay, just calm down.
Lomanitz has just been drafted.
We're at war, Doctor.
Don't be an idiot, Nichols. We need this boy.
Fix it, will you?
It wasn't an error.
Your friend Lomanitz has been trying to unionize the radiation lab.
You promised to stop all this.
Well, he didn't stop.
The Berkeley security officer is concerned about
communist infiltration through that union to FA
FACD
Well, I'm there next week.
I'll come by to see you.
Your security clearance has arrived.
It is important that you do not maintain or renew questionable associations.
Doctor, you thought that social contacts between a person
engaged in secret war work and communist was dangerous?
My awareness of the danger would be greater today.
It's fair to say that during the war years,
you felt that such contacts were potentially dangerous.
We're conceivably dangerous, huh?
Really?
Known Communists.
Let's see.
I've had a lot of secrets in my head for a long time.
It doesn't matter who I associate with.
I don't talk about those secrets.
You said in your statement that you had
see Jean Tatlock in 1943.
You're gone.
Not a word. What did you think that would do to me?
I wrote to you.
Empty pages.
Where did you go?
- I can't tell you. - Why not?
Because you're a communist.
What did you have to see her?
She had expressed a great desire to see me before we left.
At that time I couldn't but I felt she had to see me.
She was in psychiatric treatment. She was extremely unhappy.
Did you find out why she had to see you?
She was in love with me.
You spent the night together, didn't you?
Yes.
You come and go in my life and you don't have to tell me why.
And that's power.
Not that I like it.
I'd rather be here for you when you need me.
But you have other priorities right now.
I have a wife and a son.
That's not what we're talking about.
Jean, you asked me to come.
And I'm glad I did.
But I can't see you again.
But what if I need you?
You said you'd always answer.
Is that a word?
- Did you find this consistent with insecurity? - Indeed it was.
No words.
Well, did you see her after that?
I never saw her again.
I can take the last train back to Princeton.
I didn't say anything I already told you.
The day you said that to history, wasn't it?
I barely said anything.
If they don't release the transcripts I'm sure you will.
- I was under oath. - Were you taking an oath to me when you went to see Jean?
No, you... You sit there.
Day after day, letting them destroy our lives.
Why won't you fight?
Robert, I will not call you to the stand.
Doctor Oppenheimer, it's an honor. Please have a seat.
Maybe, um, I just wanted to check if I should
talk to Lomanitz, given your concerns.
I'd say it's up to you, Professor, but I'd be cautious.
I understand.
Oh, and as far as the Syndicate is concerned, I wish
give you a warning and a man named Eltenton.
A warning?
Yes, because he needs to be watched.
I'd love to get more details.
I'm right, but now and I'll leave tomorrow morning.
I'll come back as soon as you like, Since you don't have time right now.
Did you come back the next morning?
I did, I had to. Really?
This time there was another man.
- He said his name was Pash. - Pash?
- You met Colonel Pash. - Colonel Pash, please read your
memorandum dated June 29, 1943?
The results of the surveillance carried out on the subject indicate
other possible connections to the Communist Party.
Subject met and spent considerable time with one
Jean Tatlock, Communist, whose record is attached.
- The subject is Doctor Oppenheimer. - Yes.
Who you haven't met.
Not then, but soon after.
He's the head of security on the project, shouldn't I know him?
No, because he knows you.
I would never put you in a room with Pash. Why not?
When Pash first heard about Lomanitz, he told the FBI he was going to kidnap him,
Take him to a boat and interrogate him the Russian way.
General Groves has placed a certain responsibility on me,
and it's like having a child, and I can't see.
I have remote control.
So, knowing the lord is.
I won't take up too much of your time.
No problem, feel free.
Mr Johnson told me about the conversation you had yesterday,
I'm very interested in.
He said he worried all day.
Yes, I didn't want to talk to Lomanitz without authorization.
That's not the particular interest I had, but it's something a little more,
uh, my most serious opinion.
Now when the FBI pointed out that such
information would not be admissible in court,
Pash made it clear that he had no intention of leaving any witnesses to prosecute.
Now, the FBI convinced him, but
that's the man you're dealing with.
Along you have heard that there are other parts
interested in radiation lab work?
The man connected with the Soviet Council indicated, through legal intermediaries,
to the people on this project he was in a position to relay information.
Well, why would anyone on the project want to do that?
Frankly, I can see there might be one
argument for the Commander in Chief informing the
Russians do have allies after all
but I don't like the idea of ​​going out the back door.
It doesn't hurt to keep an eye out for that.
And you said that to Pash?
I was trying to put it in the context of Russia, not Germany.
Boris Pash is the son of a Russian Orthodox bishop.
Born here, but in 1918 he returned to Russia to fight the Bolsheviks.
This is a man who killed communists with his bare hands.
I'm not the judge of who should or shouldn't have information.
It's my business to stop you from going through this legally.
Would you be a little more specific?
There is a man whose name has been mentioned to me a few times, Eltenton.
I think it's a chemist who works at Shell.
He talked to a friend of his who is known to someone on the project.
And you thought it would be satisfying then?
I was trying to give them Eltenton without creating a problem
I just told him a little story.
- Did you also lie to General Groves? - No.
I admitted to him that I lied to Pash.
Do you remember his conversation about the Chevalier incident?
I've seen so many versions of this, before I had no doubt,
but now I don't know.
So what was your conclusion?
That he was under the influence of typical American student attitude
that there's something perverse about reporting a friend.
Oh well. Can we know when contact is made?
It wouldn't involve people who aren't involved in this.
Is this someone a member of the project?
A faculty member, yes, but not on the project.
So Eltenton made his approach
through a faculty member here at Berkeley?
As far as I know, yes.
There could have been more than
a person involved.
If I seem uncooperative,
I think you can understand why
my insistence on not putting it
innocent people in trouble.
You are trying to protect your friend.
Who's protecting you?
Would you...
- If you gave me the name. - If you send it to me, I'll give it.
This is a mistake, Robert. You must voluntarily offer this name.
Did he give you his name?
He did, but not there?
No.
Actually, it was a few months later, wasn't it?
It was.
Do you find me persistent?
Well, you are... you're persistent, but that's your job.
And my job is to protect the people who work for me.
Instead of following certain steps, which may catch your attention,
and be upsetting for you, I would like to discuss them with you first.
And I'm formulating a plan I'll have to digest it all.
In the months between your interview with Doctor Oppenheimer and your eventual
Chevalier appointment, you spent resources
trying to find broker name?
Considerable resources, yes. Without the name, our job was extremely difficult.
And when did you get the name?
It was already outside when Oppenheimer finally spoke.
Out?
They thought my time would be better spent in Europe,
determining the status of the Nazi bomb project.
Who made it?
General Groves. He transferred me to London.
It's a little early for a Christmas party.
Something is happening, Tolman has traveled.
Where to?
Ruth wouldn't tell.
So Ruth, you can't tell me, or anyone else?
How about compartmentalization, Robert, What makes you think I know where he is?
Because it does a good job of knowing where Mister Tolman is when he wants to.
- How now? - Attention!
Early Christmas present for you all.
The British pilot put me in the bomb bay,
filled me with oxygen, but I blew it.
When they took me out in Scotland, I was unconscious.
But I pretended I was napping. Please enjoy your party.
- Is it big enough? - To end the war?
To end all wars.
Heisenberg came to me in Copenhagen.
Amazing, my former student working for the Nazis.
He told me some things to attract me.
Sustained fission reactions in uranium.
This looks more like a reactor than a bomb.
Did you mention gaseous diffusion?
He seemed more focused in heavy water.
As a moderator? Yes, instead of graphite.
What?
He took a wrong step.
We're ahead, and you're here to help us, Niels.
So, could you give us a moment, gentlemen?
I wasn't here to help Robert.
I knew you could do this without me.
- What did you come for? - To speak to you.
The power you are about to unleash will live on forever after the Nazis.
And the world is not prepared.
You can lift the boulder without being prepared for the snake that reveals itself.
We have to make politicians understand that this is not a new weapon.
It's a new world.
I'll be out there doing what I can but you.
You are an American Prometheus.
The man who gave them the power to self-destruct.
And they will respect that.
And your work really starts soon.
Sorry Robert, but there's a call.
from San Francisco.
Robert!
Robert?
What happened?
Her father called.
They found her in the bathroom yesterday.
Who?
She took pills.
Left an unsigned note.
She took barbiturates but had chloral hydrate in her blood.
There was a note.
It was Jean Tatlock.
We were together.
She said she needed me, I...
I don't know. I don't.
I don't know. I can't.
No, it wasn't me. It was me.
Cannot commit the sin of wanting that
everyone feel sorry for you, because it had consequences.
Get yourself together.
The people here are counting on you.
Donald, would you like to contribute here please? You are attentive.
I won't quit my job because plutonium is radioactive.
We just don't know what it can do to the female reproductive system.
Your reproductive system is more exposed than mine.
Tell me please. The approach device is nowhere to be found.
I can't rush everything.
Well, there's a rush and there's moving on, so take it.
You're right. He's doing his job.
He's not helping.
You are not helping.
I've been asking for the calculations for the blast lens for weeks now.
- The Brits can do it. - Fuchs?
- Absolutely. - It's your job, Teller.
I am engaged in research.
In a hydrogen bomb, which we're not even building.
I don't work for him.
Let him go.
He's a prima Donna.
I agree. that comes out now.
Enough!
Kissing, you replace Neddermeyer, Seth stays on plutonium. Lilli ...
Will work with Kissing.
Because he needs you, Fuchs, you take on the role of Teller.
I am placing you exclusively in the implosion device.
And no one is leaving Los Alamos.
- They're not letting me out. - No, I won't let you leave.
Forget Hans. Forget fission.
Stay here. Search anything you want.
Fusion and the hydrogen bomb. Whatever, we'll talk later.
You don't have time for this.
You're a politician now, Robert.
You left physics behind many, many years ago.
One week. One hour. You and me.
Now raise that fucking barrier.
So super was an underdevelopment under your watch at Los Alamos.
Yes.
And yet, after the war, you tried to deny it was viable.
No no no. I called technician differently.
Didn't you try to kill him at the AEC meeting after the Russian bomb test?
No.
But that was the AEC's recommendation, wasn't it?
After hours of discussion about the best answer.
An H-bomb has a thousand times the power of an A-bomb.
Your only intended target would be the biggest cities.
It is a weapon of mass genocide.
He's dressed in circles on this side of the map,
where would they attack us, starting in New York or Washington, DC
It's an attacking weapon. No differences involved in deterrence.
Do we really need more deterrence than our friend, our slow moving atomic bombs?
You drown in ten feet of water or ten thousand, what's the difference?
We can drown already.
We can only drown in two feet.
As I said, Teller's designs are still as impractical as they were during the war.
A hydrogen bomb can be made to work, I'll know that.
I don't think we should commit all of our resources to this chance.
So how would you get Truman to reassure the American people?
Simply limiting the spread of atomic weapons
through international control and nuclear energy.
By this means world government.
The United Nations as Roosevelt intended.
Well, I asked what Truman was supposed to do, right?
The change of the world is not fascism, but communism that now threatens our very survival.
Lewis, you understand if we build a hydrogen bomb,
Russians will have no choice but to build their own.
They could be working on one already,
based on information gathered from the spy in Los Alamos?
There was no spy in Los Alamos.
Gentlemen, let's not deviate from the subject.
I say we should use this moment to get concessions from the Russians
committing not to build a hydrogen bomb.
Thus revealing its existence.
That you're convinced they already know.
All right. At this point, I would like the committee members
meet in privacy to finalize our recommendations.
I'm just not sure you want to go that route.
With all due respect, we are the advisory committee, We'll give him our advice.
Right.
- Doctor. Oppenheimer. - Hi.
William Borden.
- Deputy Committee on Atomic Energy. - Oh, yes.
During the war, I was a pilot.
One ​​night, returning from an attack, I saw an incredible sight.
Like a meteor, a V-2 rocket headed towards England.
I can't help but wonder what it will be like
such an enemy rocket carrying a warhead.
atomic.
Let's make sure we're not the ones making this possible.
Robert, I don't think you should fight Strauss.
If we both talked, they would listen.
When you speak, they hear a prophet.
When it's Strauss talking, they listen.
They will listen to the prophet.
A prophet cannot be wrong. Not once.
Didn't you accuse Oppenheimer of sabotaging the super's development?
I've never been one of those who use the wrong terms like sabotage.
But Mr. Borden used?
From what I understand, possibly.
How was Mr Borden able to put together such a detailed indictment?
He was no longer a government official.
He appears to have had unlimited access to Doctor Oppenheimer's file.
Mr. Nichols, may have given access to the file or someone else on
- The atomic commission? - These are very serious accusations, Senator.
It is your intent to suggest that
Is Doctor Oppenheimer disloyal to the United States?
I have always assumed and continue to assume that he is loyal to the United States.
I believe this and will until I see very conclusive proof to the contrary.
Do you or do you not believe that Doctor Oppenheimer is a security risk?
Now we have to take a moment to think
if the means still justify the ends, why...
Germany is about to surrender. Yes.
She is no longer our enemy, the biggest threat to humanity now is our work.
Hitler is dead. It's true.
As the fight against the Japanese continues.
Their defeat seems assured.
Not for our soldiers who still fight.
We can end this war.
But how do we justify the use of this weapon, on humans.
We are theorists.
Right.
We imagine a future and our imaginations horrify us.
They will not be afraid until they understand and
they won't understand until they've used it.
When the world learns the terrible secret of Los Alamos,
our work here will ensure the peace humanity has never seen.
Peace based on the type of international cooperation agreement
that Roosevelt always envisioned.
We make progress.
Was two years and a billion dollars worth it?
Hard to put a price on your city.
Indeed. Just out of accounts. Free rural deliveries.
Eighty babies were born in the first year.
This year we had ten a month.
Birth control is outside my general area.
- of course. - General.
Head down. all, fucks, head down.
This is it.
Two viable bombs, I need a date.
September. July.
We nailed it, gentlemen.
- August. - July.
Test in July.
I need my brother.
Frank goes to the desert. He left politics behind.
He has been working with Lawrence for two years.
What do we call the test?
Strength my chest, Triune God.
SACRED SONNET FROM JOHN DONNE'S 14TH CENTURY
What?
Trinity.
You insisted on bringing your brother Frank.
- A known communist. - Ex-Communist.
You brought a well-known former communist.
To America's Most Top Secret Defense Project.
I knew my brother was trustworthy. Absolutely.
And you felt your judgment was solid in who on the team could be trusted.
Fucks, put your head down. Everyone ready?
Hope you learned something.
A- we learned that we would need to be much further away. - So fix it, quick.
Tomorrow we're going to Washington to give them a date.
You're a long way from Chicago, Leo.
If we don't act now, they're going to use this thing against Japan.
We set up a meeting with Truman, but someone canceled.
You will meet with the secretary of war.
Just because we're building,
doesn't mean we get to decide how it's used.
History will judge us for this.
In Chicago, we drafted a petition.
I will not sign this.
- Just tell me your concerns and I'll tell them. - My concerns?
Germany defeated.
- Japan will not stand alone. - How could you know that?
You made this up.
You and Einstein with your letter to Roosevelt saying we could build a bomb.
Against Germany.
That's not how weapon crafting works, Cillit.
Robertr, you have to help.
Fermi will be at the meeting.
- Lawrence is at the meeting. - They are not you.
You are the great science salesman.
You can convince anyone of anything.
Even yourself.
Excuse me.
The Tokyo bombing killed 100,000 people.
Mostly civilians.
I worry about America when we do these things and nobody protests.
Pearl Harbor and three years of brutal conflict in the Pacific.
Buys a lot of morale with the American public.
Enough to drop an A-bomb?
The atomic bomb might not do as much damage as the Tokyo bombing.
What are we estimating?
In an average city, 20,000 or 30,000 dead.
Yes, but...
don't underestimate the psychological impact of an atomic explosion.
A column of fire 3,000 meters high.
Deadly effect of neutrons for two kilometers in all directions.
From a single device launched from a B-29.
The atomic bomb will be a terrible revelation of divine power.
If true, it would be definitive.
World War II would end.
Our boys would come home.
Some military target.
But there aren't any big enough.
Perhaps an armament factory that has a worker village nearby.
And we could issue an alert to reduce civilian casualties.
That would send everything they have against us.
I would be on that plane.
But what if we announce it and it doesn't work?
we would destroy any chance of a Japanese surrender.
Is there no way to demonstrate the bomb to Japan to propose surrender?
We intend to state it in the most unambiguous terms.
Twice.
Once to show the power of the bomb
and a second one to show we can keep doing this until they surrender.
We have a list of 12 cities to choose from.
Sorry, 11.
I took Kyoto off the list due to your
cultural importance to the Japanese people.
Also, my wife and I honeymooned there.
It's a magnificent city.
Let me make this simple for you gentlemen.
According to my intelligence, which I cannot share
With you, the Japanese people will not surrender.
Under any circumstances.
Except for a successful full invasion of the Country.
Many American and Japanese lives will be longer.
The use of the atomic bomb in Japanese cities will save lives.
If we maintain the morale advantage.
What do you mean? If we use this weapon without informing our allies,
they will see this as a threat. We'll be in an arms race.
How many times can we be with the Soviets?
Secrecy will not prevent the Soviets from becoming part of the atomic world.
We were told they have no uranium.
You have been misinformed.
A Russian bomb is a matter of time.
The program needs to continue at full speed after the war.
Secretary Stimson, if I may.
Not all project scientists agree.
In fact, this might be a time to consider other opinions.
If you say so this project has been plagued from the beginning
by certain dubious scientists
discretion and uncertain loyalty.
One ​​of them just tried to meet with the president.
Now, we need those men, but as soon as practical,
we must cut any scientist from this program.
Don't you agree, Doctor?
If a Russian bomb is inevitable,
maybe we should invite the best scientist to Trinity.
President Truman has no intention of raising expectations
that Stalin be included in the atomic project.
Informing him of our advance and presenting it as a means of winning the war.
don't make promises you can't keep.
But the Potsdam Peace Conference in July will be
President Truman's last chance to have this conversation.
Can you get us a working pump by then?
Absolutely. We will do a test by fire before the conference.
Ground Zero. The observation is 10,000 yards to the north, south and west.
Where do we trigger it from? South 10,000.
And the base camp is 10 miles south here.
And there's one more observation post on that hill 20 miles away.
Is that right? Your lines have already entered.
The Air Force has requested a line of lights for its B-29.
What B-29? Our bombs in the tower.
They want to use the test to confirm safe operating distance.
It's risky.
But not as risky as dropping one in Japan
and hoping we were right about the blast radius.
It's a bit so surprising. We are shooting on the 15th.
The 15th? That's the 15th.
15th.
So while we're here at South Observation
Spot with Frank and Kistiakowsky,
we will all be assigned to base camp, west observation or fire observation.
Just a little eye care.
Your safe distances are based on your calculations.
Time to get behind your scientific arms, literally.
What about the radiation cloud?
Without high winds, it should settle within two to three miles.
Evacuation measures are in place.
But we need good weather for visibility, so it has to be good.
Everyone out.
It's the night of the 15th. It's a tough deadline.
If someone does something, speak up now.
Would you survive a blast test?
Couldn't do it.
Is there anything else that can stop us?
It's happening, isn't it?
I'll send you a message.
It was our way.
Take it to the streets.
Robert.
Which way?
Hope it will take a modest 3 kilotons.
Stems with 45. - 20.
Twenty thousand kilos of DNT.
Does anyone want to see some collateral action on atomic ignition.
I just say, we have to postpone.
This time has come to one side.
This call is to report that the test burst failed.
Was he wrong? No.
No! Explain.
I can't... I just know that the burst lens will work.
If we fire this detonator and they don't trigger a reaction.
2 years worth of plutonium will be scattered. In wide stands.
Let's go to reserve stock.
Pull them out. We will make our determination of them.
Three years, 4,000 people, $2 billion.
It doesn't erase.
We both broke up.
I bet on three kilotons.
Nothing less ? I won't understand what it is.
And what did Fermi mean by atmospheric ignition?
We had a moment where it felt like the chain reaction
of an atomic device may never have stopped.
Set the atmosphere on fire.
And what was Fermi still betting on?
Call it dark humor.
Are we saying there's a chance that when we push that button, we'll destroy the world?
Nothing in our research over three years has drawn that conclusion.
Only it's the remotest possibility. How remote?
The chances are close to zero.
Close to zero.
What do you want from theory alone?
Zero would be fine.
We were exactly
one hour and 58 minutes.
We will know.
It is loading.
Army parts left zero. They're coming this way.
Throw me switches. Turn the cars.
Ready for emergency evacuation.
After my footage.
Everyone takes a roll splash.
Twenty minutes.
That's twenty.
The ladies.
Let's go. Now.
The glass.
It stops the UV. It stops the glass.
I had base 10. That's fire.
Robert.
Try to work the world.
What is that needle?
If the detonator is still charged, the voltage drops by one volt.
You press that button, you abort.
Understood? Understood.
Everybody down.
Don't bend over until you see what's working in the hills.
Then watch the explosion through your wellness glass.
Ninety seconds to detonation.
These things are hard on the heart
Thirty seconds.
The detonator is charged.
Seventeen.
Sixteen.
Fifteen.
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
Twelve.
Eleven.
Dec.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Six.
Five
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
And now I have become death.
the destroyer of worlds.
It worked.
Give me my dollars.
Proceed.
I'm good for this, Kisti.
You are.
Yes you are.
Give me a pot holder right away.
Hello. Hi Kisti. What?
Charlotte. Charlotte, go ahead.
Oh, um, oh, I don't know.
I told you to put the sheets away
If they did it really high in the air, the explosion would be so powerful.
With all due respect, Dr. Oppenheimer, we'll take it from here.
The real, stolen brief, a marijuana stand.
The summary would be overkill.
He was referring to a stolen new powerful weapon.
I hope we can use it against Japan.
This is it.
The one where we gave them an ace, that's for them to play the hand.
You're heavy for the six.
It's from CO in the Pacific.
If anything happens, to Washington.
Before.
When you stay informed.
Of course.
As best I can.
What would the Japanese yield if they knew what was coming?
I don't know.
It's all here, it's a petition.
How the hell is it like that, no matter the Japanese? Not subscribing to an item?
Many people are. Lots of people.
Pidrode.
The fact that we built this bond gives us no more,
more right or responsibility to decide how it is used.
And anyone else.
But they're the only people who know about it.
I am informed steps in the various opinions of the community.
But what's your opinion?
Once used,
Nuclear war. Maybe..
every war,
becomes unthinkable.
Until someone builds a bigger bomb.
I thought they would call. It's so fast.
And it's the sixth.
Charlotte?
Trigross?
Anything?
Charlotte? Trubit is on the radio.
In general? I am very proud of you and all your people.
It went well.
Apparently it went with quite a bang.
You know, everyone here is feeling reasonably good about this.
It's been a long road.
I think it's one of the wisest things I've ever done
that's when I selected the director of Los Alamos.
We asked him for the two billion dollars from
biggest scientific gamble in history, and we won.
The world will remember this day.
It's too early to - it's too early to determine
what are the results of the bombing.
But I bet the Japanese didn't like it.
I'm so proud.
So proud of what you've accomplished.
I just wish we had time to use it against the Germans.
Dr. Oppenheimer. doctor Oppenheimer.
Cool photo. Prison criminals need help.
Dr. Oppenheimer, it's an honor. Mr. President, please. Thanks.
Sixteen minutes.
How does it feel to be the most famous man in the world?
You helped save many American lives.
- What we did in Hiroshima was... - In Nagasaki.
Obviously. Your invention allows us to bring our boys home.
It was hardly my invention.
Well, that's you on the cover at the time.
Jim tells me you're worried about an arms race for the Soviets.
Yes. Well, now is our chance to make sure
international cooperation in atomic energy and I'm concerned.
Did you know when the Soviets will have the bomb?
- I don't think I could give you... - Never. Never.
Mr President, Russians have good physiques and abundant resources.
Abundance? Yes.
I don't think so.
Well, don't put everything they've got in...
I hear you're leaving Los Atoms. What should we do with it?
Give it back to the Indians.
Dr. Oppenheimer, if what you say about the Soviets is true,
we have to build Los Alamos, not shut it down.
Mr. president,
I feel like I have blood on my hands.
Do you think someone in Hiroshima,
Nagasaki, give a fuck who built the bomb?
They care who dropped it. I did.
Hiroshima is not about you.
Dr. Oppenheimer.
Don't let that crybaby come back here.
Robert saw that worry got him nowhere,
and when I met him, he fully embraced his father's bombshell reputation
and used your profile to influence policy.
The years after the war, would you say that you
has had a major influence on US atomic policy?
I think it's great. We know this statement.
Really? We'll make sure isotopes
We are not personally responsible for destroying all opposition to your export.
Can you, uh, about looking at beer? Making atomic weapons, indeed, you do.
I was the spokesman, but opinion among scientists was unanimous.
All the while, McCarthy on the rise, he knew he was vulnerable.
Your brother was blacklisted by every university in the country.
A woman from the squadron working on the railroad, laying rails.
Like Chevalier, he went into exile.
But none of that stopped Robert from pushing the
The GAC recommends gun control over the H-bomb.
He was devastated when Truman rejected their recommendation.
I miss Richard more than I can bear to think.
I'm glad he didn't live to see what it was all about.
Here comes the birthday boy. Take away.
Have fun with it.
Robert, my son and his bride say the best words to the father of the atomic bomb, so...
Suspicious.
What do you think, Luis?
I guess I must have gotten you involved.
To the world.
The world? What does fukes mean to the rest of the world?
Fuck you. Fuck class.
Oh dear. You haven't heard.
Klaus Fuchs. The British scientists who
you've placed on the implosion team at Los Alamos.
Turns out he was... he was a spy for the Soviet Union, I'm sorry.
After the truth about fukes came out, the FBI stepped up surveillance on him.
He knew his phone was tapped.
Followed him everywhere.
They've completely gone through your trash.
But he never stopped speaking his mind.
Man of conviction.
And maybe he thought that fame could really protect him.
When Eisenhower took office, he saw another chance.
He got it.
America and Russia can be compared to two scorpions in a bottle.
Each capable of killing the other, but only at the risk of his own life.
There are several aspects of your policy.
Modern scientists blame me, but how am I supposed to protect you?
It's too secret for discussion.
Frankness is the only remedy.
The authorities in Washington need to start leveling the American media.
That was the last straw for Robert Sotomayor.
So he had to miss his safety class.
And with it, your credibility.
But how could they do that?
He was a war hero.
He had already told everyone about his past.
The board wouldn't have soaked everything.
How could the board get access to Oppenheimer's FBI file?
Could it have been Nichols?
No, I can't imagine if I could do that.
Who did, at least if I were a storm that burned a path from the White House,
or to my desk, the AEC
You see him in there, right?
I've worked my whole life to get here.
For Canada, the United States of America, now and across the country.
They'll put me back in my place.
A low-leaf shoe salesman.
Lewis, we can win this thing.
I think we can get the sun off the grass, but you've done your duty.
A painful account it was.
Will Hill's testimony support us?
Hill will be fine.
I don't really know him, but that's when his Silveridge boys in Chicago
never forgave Robert for not supporting a petition against the bombing of Japan.
This was taken 31 days after the bombing.
Practically everyone on the street, almost a kilometer around,
was instantly and badly burned.
The Japanese spoke of people who
wore striped clothes over which the skin was burned in stripes.
There were many who considered themselves lucky,
who emerged from the ruins of their homes, only slightly injured.
But they died anyway.
They died days or weeks later,
from the ratium-type rays emitted in large numbers at the time of the explosion.
Did you read the note in the papers?
British physicists say
the atomic bombings were not the last act of WWII,
but the first act of this Cold War with Russia.
What physique? I think you knew him. Patrick Blackett.
They might not be wrong. Stimson is now telling me
they tied up an enemy that was essentially defeated.
Robert, you have all the leverage now.
Please ask them to continue my research on the super.
- I can't and I don't want to, Edward. - Why not?
Not the correct use of our resources.
Is that what you really believe?
Wow, Robert Oppenheimer, sphinx, your atom guru.
Nobody knows what you believe.
Do you know?
One ​​last time, our program director, Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer.
I hope you came, and we will look back on your work here with pride.
But today, that pride must be tempered with deep concern.
If atomic weapons are to be added to the arsenals of a world at war,
then the day will come when people will curse the name of Los Alamos.
Sorry I'm wrong.
Stop, doffs, forget about it.
Sounds pretty favourable.
There's Oppenheimer. What's the caption?
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the great fighter.
And the US won.
This will work.
Those were your words the other day.
We need to change focus.
But how did you know what Time magazine would write?
Henry Luce is a friend.
Sit here and let me tell you how it's done.
But you were way ahead all along.
Survival in Washington.
I was about to know how to do things.
Right.
What did you say about Borden?
Why get caught holding the knife alone?
I understand that Borden was holding the knife for you.
It will depend on how much influence Borden was able to observe.
Did I say something funny?
It's Borden, Borden, Borden. When we all know it's straw.
God took me to Princeton, Kitty.
And so you're familiar with him in front of Congress.
But more useful than a center.
How many of these?
Perhaps a little too well, Robert.
It was six years ago.
You know, they're truly vindictive.
Patient to say it is...
Strauss has made it perfectly clear that he is neutral.
Wake up! It's Strauss!
Always has been and you know it!
When are you going to fight this.
Damn.
It wasn't Nichols or Hoover, one of Truman's guys. It was you.
You gave the file to Borden. You put him behind Oppenheimer.
You convinced him... Borden!
It didn't take any convincing.
Take your time using the entire file.
Write your conclusions. Send them to the FBI.
The material is obviously extensive, but there's nothing new here.
Your conclusions will be in.
And will have to be answered.
Hoover passes them to McCarthy.
Oppenheimer is too slippery for that self-promoting clown.
I talked it over with Hoover. Hold McCarthy
in the bay while you do this with the AEC.
Judgment. No. No judgment. You cannot give Oppenheimer a platform.
You can't martyr him.
We need a systematic destruction of Oppenheimer's credibility
so you can never talk about matters of national security again.
So what?
We isolated him, well out of the spotlight.
A simple and bureaucratic procedure,
Your security authorization is about to be renewed.
You send your allegations to the FBI.
Hoover sends them to the atomic commission and you are forced to act.
You write an accusation.
And tell Oppenheimer that his security clearance will not be renewed.
But give him a chance to appeal.
As you can see, Robert, it's not signed yet. Can I keep this?
No.
If you decide to appeal, they will send you a copy.
When he appeals, and believe me, you will, I appoint a council.
They will, of course, have lawyers.
Promoter?
- With another name. - Who?
Roger Robb.
- Damn. - Robb will have security clearance
to examine the Oppenheimer file.
So will great counsel, but the defense attorney won't.
- A closed hearing - Said derogatory information in your indictment.
No hearing, no reporters, no burden of proof.
No burden of proof.
We are not condemning.
Just denying.
What did you say?
This is how the game is played.
Well, forgive my naivety.
Amateurs, you seek the sun, you get burned.
Power lies in the shadows.
But, sir, you're out of the shadows now. Yes, that's why this has to work.
Well,
Teller will now give his statement.
This will help.
in the afternoon it will be ...
Hill will help us too.
As you can see, Robert, it's not signed.
- Can I have this? - No.
If you decide to appeal, they will have to send you a copy.
Take my current driver, I insist.
I won't talk to my lawyers.
Of course.
But don't take too long.
so you can hold Nichols.
I'm sorry it came to this, Robert.
I got this wrong.
Nichols wants me to fight so he can record everything.
Strauss wants me gone.
Strauss knows you can't do this.
You would be accepting the charges.
You will lose your job.
You will lose your reputation,
we're going to lose our home!
Robert, we have to fight.
As an attorney for the commission, I cannot represent you.
I'll call Lloyd Garrison.
- He's good. - He's the best, but
But I have to warn you.
This will not be a fair fight.
During your interview with Boris Pash in 1943, did you refer to microfilm?
No.
Tab 11, page 1, paragraph 3.
Never said consulate man and specialist in the use of microfilm.
Sorry. Sorry.
I would like to know what document Mr. Robb is
citing and whether we can receive a copy.
The document is confidential, Mr. Garrison.
I think we should go back to live information.
It's live.
What do you mean Roger?
There was a recording of the conversation.
You let my client sit here and commit perjury,
and all this time you had a recording?
Nobody told your customer to misrepresent their previous response.
It was 12 years ago. Can we listen to this recording?
You don't have authorization, Mr. Garrison.
You were reading the document.
Please, please. Is this process interested in coming up with a trap or the truth?
If true, where is the transparency? Where's the witness list?
Mister Garrison,
this is not a judgment call because you are well aware. Evidence rules do not apply.
We are dealing with national security.
Yes sir. With all due respect,
I can't see how national security
prevents the prosecution from providing us with a list of witnesses.
Gentlemen, you have my words.
It is from a transcript or I accept.
I've already explained how I made a little story for
So why would anyone make up such an elaborate story?
Because I was an idiot.
Why lie?
Well, clearly not intending to reveal who the intermediary was.
Your friend, Haakon Chevalier, communist.
Is he still your friend?
Yes.
Doctor Rabi, thank you for coming.
Now, do you know who else the prosecution called?
Teller, obviously, and Lawrence.
- What did he say? - That I wasn't going to help him.
- But. - But?
Strauss told him that you and Ruth Tolman have been having an affair for years.
The whole time you stayed with them in Pasadena,
he convinced Lawrence that Richard died of heartbreak.
- How absurd. - Which part?
From heartbreak.
Richard never found out.
Will Lawrence testify?
I don't know.
Doctor Rabi, what government positions do you currently hold?
I am the chairman of the General Advisory Committee
of the Atomic Commission, succeeding Doctor Oppenheimer.
And how long have you known Doctor Oppenheimer?
Since 1928, I have known him very well.
Well enough to speak to your character of your loyalty?
Doctor Oppenheimer is a man of principled character.
And he's loyal to America, to his friends,
the institutions to which it belongs.
Come.
- Who is that? - Nothing to worry about.
After the Russian bomb test, did Doctor Lawrence talk to you about the hydrogen bomb?
- You'd better ask him. - What do I intend?
Would you say that Doctor Oppenheimer opposed the H-bomb?
No, he thought a fusion program would come in
at the expense of our unusual fission program.
But that proved not to be the case.
In that case, both could be done.
Suppose this council does not feel satisfied with this in its testimony here,
Doctor Oppenheimer has been completely sincere.
What would you say whether or not he should have a new security clearance?
Why do all this against the man who
accomplished what Doctor Oppenheimer
did, see your log.
We have an atomic bomb and all series of it.
We have all super bomb series.
What else do you want?
Mermaids?
But I've known Secretary Strauss for many years and
I feel the need to express warm support.
For science and scientists, it always has.
We'll take a break unless there's some... - Senator, I'd like to request one more time to request
to provide a list of witnesses.
And I'll remind the candidate that we don't always have that information in advance.
We know that Doctor Hill will be here after lunch.
Mr. President, our next scheduled witness,
Dr. Lawrence, apparently had colitis.
So we are proceeding with William Borden.
Mr. Borden, please have a seat.
Mr. Borden, listening to your investigation into
Dr. Oppenheimer, have you reached certain conclusions?
Yes.
And there came a time when you expressed these conclusions in
a letter to Mr J. Edgar Hoover of the Federal Bureau of Investigation?
That's correct.
Before writing the letter, you discussed writing
the letter with someone connected to the Atomic Energy Commission?
Not me.
Thank you..
- Do you have a copy of the letter? - Yes, sir.
Would you be so kind as to read it?
Dear Mr. Hoover, The purpose of this letter...
I'm sorry, I'm sorry if I could...
What is the purpose of the delay? He will simply read the letter.
Mr President, this is the first time I have seen this letter.
And I see declarations here, at least one,
which I don't think anyone would want to see go into the registry.
These are allegations that have not been previously made,
which are not part of Nichols's indictment.
These are accusations of a kind that I don't think fit here.
The witness wrote this letter on his own initiative,
putting evidence that has already been presented to the board.
Your conclusions are valid testimony as well as positive
conclusions of Doctor Oppenheimer's friends, goes for both parties.
How long has the council had this letter?
I don't think I should be questioned by you, Mister Garrison.
Mr. Garrison, since we are on the board and have all read the letter,
wouldn't it be better to leave it on record?
Let's proceed.
Dear Mr. Hoover,
The purpose of this letter is to express my opinion,
based on years of study of available graded evidence,
most likely,
that J. Robert Oppenheimer is an agent of the Soviet Union.
The following conclusions are justified.
One, between 1929 and 1942 probably J. Robert Oppenheimer was one
hardened enough of a communist to offer information to the Soviets.
Two, probably, he's been working ever since as an espionage agent.
Three, more likely than not, he has since acted under one
Soviet directive influencing US military policy.
- I'm sorry, Robert. - the intelligence
Is anyone else going to tell the truth about what's going on here?
Now we'll hear from Doctor David Hill.
Doctor Hill, would you like to make a statement?
Thank you.
I was asked to testify about Lewis Strauss,
a man who has given years of service in high government offices
and who is known to be zealous,
hardworking and smart.
The opinions I have to express are my own,
but I believe much of what I have to say will help point out
why most scientists in this country do
prefer to see Mr Strauss completely out of government.
You are referring to the hostility of certain scientists
directed to Mr Strauss because of his
commitment to safety demonstrated in the Oppenheimer case?
No. Because of the personal vendetta he took against Mr Oppenheimer.
Order! Order!
Looks like most of the scientists in this country Robert Oppenheimer are now
being ridiculed and subjected to trials because he expressed his honest opinions.
Dr Bush, I thought I was doing my country a service
when approaching this case.
No council in this country should sit in judgment
from a man because he has expressed his strong opinions.
If you want to judge this man, you must judge me.
Excuse me, gentlemen, if I get angry, but I am.
Doctor Hill, we've heard that Mr. Strauss didn't bring the
charges or participate in the hearings against Doctor Oppenheimer.
The Oppenheimer case was started and taken
through, largely through the recenting of Lewis Strauss.
Oppenheimer mocks Strauss' position on shipments from
isotopes for Norway and Strauss never forgave him for this public humiliation.
Another controversy between them centered around their differences
opinion on how the H-bomb would contribute to national security.
Strauss resorted to the personal security system
to destroy Oppenheimer's effectiveness.
and managed to find some ambitious men who also disagreed with
Oppenheimer's positions and envied his prestige in government circles.
I have always assumed and continue to assume that he is loyal to the United States.
I believe it and I always will until I have very strong evidence to the contrary.
Do you or do you not believe that Doctor Oppenheimer is a security risk?
In a large number of cases I have seen Doctor Oppenheimer perform
in a way that was extremely difficult for me to understand.
I completely disagree with him on several issues and his
the actions frankly strike me as confusing and complicated.
To this extent, I feel I want to see this one's vital interests
country in hand that I understand best and therefore trust most.
- Thank you, sir. - Thank you.
Sorry.
Did you shake his fucking hand?
Oh, I could have spit in his face.
I'm not sure the board would have appreciated that.
Isn't that chivalrous enough for you?
I think you're all being very chivalrous.
Gray should see what Robb is doing, why doesn't it just get it over with?
And you shaking Teller's hand.
You need to stop playing the martyr.
Under current commission guidelines, would you accredit Dr. Oppenheimer today?
According to my interpretation of the Atomic Energy Law, which
did not exist when I hired Doctor Oppenheimer in 1942,
I wouldn't accredit you today if I were on the Commission.
Good. Thanks, General.
- I don't think I would accredit any of them. - That's all.
Doctor Oppenheimer had no responsibility for
Selection or elimination of Klaus Fuchs, right?
No. Absolutely none.
And you wouldn't want to leave this board with any hint today that you are
Questioning your basic loyalty to the United States in the Los Alamos operation?
No way. I hope I haven't led anyone to believe otherwise for a moment.
Thank you, General.
You shouldn't keep them waiting.
She'll be here.
You still want her?
Only a fool or a teenager would presume to know about other people's relationships
Not your case.
Kitty and I are adults, we've been through a lot together.
You'll be fine.
Would you describe your views on communism as pro, count, or neutral?
Very strongly against. I have had nothing to do with communism since 1936,
since before I met Robert.
That's all.
The record demonstrates that Oppenheimer was not interrogated
by impartial counsel headed by Gray.
He was questioned by a prosecutor who used all the
the malicious tricks he had up his sleeve.
Are you now accusing Gray's council of having carried out a trial?
If I had been on the Council of Gray I would have protested the
tactics of the man who actually served as the prosecuting attorney.
A man appointed not by the Council, but by Lewis Strauss.
Who was it?
How?
Who was it?
Roger Robb.
Ms. Oppenheimer.
Did you have a Communist Party membership card?
- I... not sure. - Not sure.
Fine.
Well?
I mean, presumably the act of joining the party
need to send some money and get a card, no?
Sorry.
It was a long time ago.
not really Mr Robb
- Not so much. - Long enough to have forgotten.
Did you return the card or tore it up?
the card I forgot existed.
- The Communist Party membership card. - Not having a clue.
Can a distinction be made between Soviet communism and communism?
Well, back when I was a member, I thought it was definitely two things.
I thought the Communist Party of the United States
United was worried about our domestic problems.
Now I don't believe that anymore.
They have all things connected and scattered all over the world.
And I've believed that since I left the party.
Sixteen years ago.
Ah, seventeen years ago.
My mistake.
But you... Sorry, eighteen.
Eighteen years ago.
Are you familiar with what your husband was doing
contributions to the Spanish Civil War
- up to the year 1942. - That's right.
I knew Robert gave money from time to time.
Did you know that money was going into Communist Party channels?
Don't you mean through?
- Excuse me? - It means through the channels of the Communist Party, doesn't it?
- Yes. - Yes.
Yes. So it would be fair to say that this meant that in 1942 your
husband did not stop having anything to do with the Communist Party?
You don't have to answer yes or no, you can answer any way you like.
I know that. Thanks.
Your question is not well worded.
- Do you understand what I'm getting at? - I see.
Why don't you answer that? Because I don't like your sentence
have something to do with the Communist Party
because Robert never had anything to do with the Communist Party as such.
I know you gave money to Spanish refugees.
I know he was intellectually interested in communist ideas.
The two types of communists. Intellectual communists
and your plain old regular communist.
Well, I couldn't answer that one.
Me neither.
Robert, you can't beat this thing.
It's a crap court with a predetermined outcome.
Why put yourself through it.
I have my reasons.
Okay.
Good night.
He's right.
- I don't know if you understand, Albert. - No.
I left my country, never to return.
You served your country well.
If this is the reward they offer you,
maybe you should turn your back on them.
Damn! I love this country very much.
Then tell them to go to hell.
Interesting, if not more of a cross-examination, but a judgment call.
About a trial.
It's no good that he tells everyone you started the hearings.
He can't prove shit. He certainly can't prove it
- which I gave file to Born. - We are not in court, sir.
There is no burden of proof.
Right. They are not condemning.
Just denying.
Why would Hill come here to take me down? What does he get?
Do people need a reason to do the right thing as he sees it?
I told you, the oppenheimer started poisoning
the scientists, since that first meeting.
I don't know what Oppenheimer said to Einstein that day, because he didn't even want to look me in the face.
Oppenheimer knows how to handle his.
At Los Alamos, he took advantage of naivety
of scientists thought they would have a say in what they were working on.
They'll never think he was so naive.
Doctor, during your work on the hydrogen bomb,
Have you been deterred by any moral qualms?
- Yes of course. - But you continued with your work, didn't you?
Yes, because it was worth exploring and it wasn't the preparation of a weapon.
You mean it was more of an academic field trip?
No, it wasn't an academic thing. Because you could build a hydrogen bomb.
It was a matter of life and death.
By 1942, you were actively promoting the development of the hydrogen bomb.
Promoting is not the right word.
Supporting him and working on it. Yes.
When did those moral scruples become so strong that you
actively opposed development of the hydrogen bomb?
When it was suggested it would be the policy
America to do these things at all costs,
without taking into account the balance between these weapons
and atomic weapons as part of our arsenal.
What moral scruples have to do with that?
Yes. Oppenheimer wanted to own the atomic bomb.
He wanted to be the man who shook the earth, And now
about putting the nuclear genie back in the bottle.
Well, I'm here to tell you that I know one.
J. Robert Oppenheimer, if he could do it all over again, he would do it the same way.
You know he never said he regrets Hiroshima, he would do it all over again. Why?
Because it means he's the greatest man who ever lived.
Well, we freely use the atomic bomb.
Actually, you helped select the target
to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, right?
Yes.
Well, so did you know, did you know that by dropping that atomic bomb on the target,
You have selected thousands of civilians who would be killed or injured. Is this correct?
Yes. Not as much as was thought.
Oh. How many were killed or wounded?
Seventy thousand.
- Seventy thousand in Hiroshima and... - One hundred and ten thousand in both.
On the day of each bombing.
Yes, and in the weeks and years that followed?
It has been estimated at between fifty and one hundred thousand.
- Two hundred and twenty thousand dead, at least. - Yes.
And some moral scruples remained.
Yes, terrible.
You testify here that the bombing of Hiroshima was very successful.
- Technically successful. - Technically it was very successful.
And also that it helped end the war.
Would you object to dropping a hydrogen bomb on Hiroshima?
That wouldn't make any sense.
The target would be too small.
Assuming there is a big enough target in Japan,.
for a thermonuclear weapon, you would launch it.
This was not a problem to confront.
I'm confronting you now Doctor.
It was all part of the plan, he wanted to use the gun.
and crown the glorious guilt of the presumptuous.
and say no, we can't go down that road.
even though we knew we had to.
Sir, would you be against dropping a thermonuclear weapon on Japan?.
Because of your moral scruples?
Yes! Of course it does.
But he was against the bomb launch,
in Hiroshima because of your moral scruples?
We have established our...
No, no, no, sir.
- I don't... - You sir...
I have my arguments against the release, I don't endorse them.
You mean after working night and day for three years building the bomb.
You then argued against using it.
The secretary of war asked me what the scientists' opinions were.
I gave them the pro and con views.
You supported the release in Japan.
- What do you mean I supported? - You supported it.
Well, you helped pick the target, didn't you?
I did my job. I was not in a position to discuss politics at Los Alamos.
I would have done anything I asked.
Well, then you wouldn't have built the H-bomb, would you?
I couldn't.
I didn't ask that, doc.
And the committee report that you signed,
where you put that there was a soviet test
of a superbomb, that where puts that. should never have been built.
What we meant, what I meant.
And the Russians wouldn't do anything to increase their strength?
If we did it, they would have to.
Our efforts would only fuel their efforts,
just like the atomic bomb.
Just like the atomic bomb.
No moral scruples in 1945 and like many in 1949.
Doctor Oppenheimer,
When did your strong moral convictions develop regarding the hydrogen bomb?
When it became clear to me
we tend to use whatever weapon we have,
J. Robert Oppenheimer, the martyr, I gave him exactly what he wanted.
To be remembered for Trinity, not Hiroshima, not Nagasaki.
He should be thanking me.
Well, it won't.
Do we still have enough votes?
Or the crowning moment of my career is about to
became the most public humiliation of my life.
The Senate is about to vote.
You will pass.
Great, then round up the fucking press.
Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer, this board, bearing his testimony
and many of your current and former colleagues,
has come to the unanimous conclusion that you are a loyal citizen.
However, in light of their continuing associations
and disrespect for this country's security apparatus,
along with his somewhat disturbing conduct in the hydrogen bomb program
and the incredible lack of candor and some of your responses to this advice,
We voted two to one to deny your security clearance renewal.
A complete written opinion with a disagreement from
Mr. Evans will be sent to the Atomic Energy Commission in the next few days.
That's all.
Robert.
Speak.
No, no.
Don't store the sheets
Calm down, clamor, two minutes
two minutes
Well, is it official yet?
Well, there were some unexpected setbacks.
- I got rejected, yes?
- Unfortunately. - All right.
Who changed the vote?
There were three, led by junior senator from
Massachusetts, and a little guy trying to make a name for himself.
didn't like what you did to Oppenheimer.
What's his name?
Kennedy. John F. Kennedy.
Kitty.
You thought if you let them
crucified you, would the world forgive you?
But it won't.
Let's see.
The drug!
Oh my God, you told me it would be okay.
Well, I didn't have all the facts, did I?
Here's the fact.
President Eisenhower placed the Medal of Freedom on my chest last year,
because I've always done what's right for this country.
They don't want me in the cabinet room.
Well, that's... fine.
Maybe they should just invite Oppenheimer instead
Maybe so.
I told you, you turned the scientists against me one by one,
starting with Einstein. I told you about that, Einstein. I said in the pond.
You did, but you know, sir,
no one really knows what they said to each other that
it's possible they didn't say anything about you.
It's impossible that they talked about something that...
Most important.
Thank you.
Albert.
The man of the moment.
You once held a reception for me. In fact, he gave me an award.
Yes.
You all thought I had lost the ability to understand what I had started.
So the award really wasn't for me. It was for all of you.
Now it's your turn to deal with the consequences of your conquest.
And one day, when they've punished you enough,
they will serve salmon and potato salad.
They'll give you speeches and give you a medal.
- Hi, Frank. - If you're happy, I'm happy.
They'll pat you on the back, and say all is forgiven.
Just remember,
will not be for you.
It will be for them.
Albert ...
When I came to you with those calculations,
we thought we could start a chain reaction that would destroy the entire world.
I do remember that.
What's with it?
I believe we destroyed it.
Translation: ArcanjoPC