From: veritasium
After the end of World War II, J. Robert Oppenheimer was hailed as a national hero, with his portrait even appearing on the cover of Time Magazine, making him a household name [26:24].
Oppenheimer’s Postwar Influence
In 1947, Oppenheimer became the director of the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton [26:32]. He also assumed the role of chairman for the General Advisory Committee, where he served as an advisor on nuclear weapons-related issues [26:37]. From this position, he advocated for arms control [26:45].
The Dawn of the Nuclear Arms Race
In August 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic weapon [26:51]. In response, the U.S. military quickly decided to develop an even more powerful weapon: the hydrogen bomb, also known as “The Super” [27:00].
Oppenheimer vocally opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, citing ethical grounds and the concern that it would initiate an arms race [27:10]. Despite his opposition, the Truman administration pressed forward with its development [27:18].
Three years later, Ivy Mike, the first hydrogen bomb, was tested in the Marshall Islands, boasting a yield of 10.4 megatons of TNT—400 times more powerful than the Trinity test [27:21]. A hydrogen bomb is effectively three bombs in one: a conventional bomb, a fission bomb, and a fusion bomb [27:40]. The conventional explosives trigger a fission reaction, generating enough temperature and pressure to fuse deuterium and tritium, which then releases a vast amount of energy [27:48].
In 1961, the Soviet Union tested the Tsar Bomba, the most powerful explosion ever detonated [28:04]. It was five times more powerful than Ivy Mike and approximately 2000 times more powerful than the Trinity test [28:07]. This kind of arms race was exactly what Oppenheimer had feared [28:17].
Revocation of Security Clearance
Partially due to his opposition to the hydrogen bomb and his advocacy for averting a nuclear arms race, Oppenheimer was put on trial to have his security clearance revoked [28:21]. He had been under surveillance during his time with the Manhattan Project, and this surveillance continued afterwards, involving many illegal and warrantless wiretaps [28:30].
Oppenheimer was questioned about his ties to the Communist Party, including an affair with Gene Tatlock, a Communist Party member, while he was leading the Los Alamos lab [28:40]. He was effectively accused of treason and espionage [28:49]. In December 1953, his security clearance was suspended, making international news [28:56].
Oppenheimer’s Reflections and Final Years
In 1964, German playwright Heinar Kipphardt wrote a play about Oppenheimer’s life. Oppenheimer received a copy of the script and disliked it so much he threatened to sue, particularly despising the final scene where his character realizes “the evil of his work” and states, “We have been doing the work of the devil” [29:13]. To Oppenheimer, the situation was always more complex [29:33].
He believed that if the war had not concluded through diplomatic means, the atomic weapon would have played a part [29:37]. He also felt that the alternative, a campaign of invasion, would have been “certainly much more terrible for everyone concerned” [30:06]. While acknowledging that Hiroshima was “far more costly in life and suffering inhumane than it needed to have been” to end the war, he admitted this was “easy to say after the fact” [30:13].
In 1965, when asked about proposed talks with the Soviet Union to halt the proliferation of nuclear weapons, Oppenheimer responded, “It should have been done the day after Trinity” [30:36]. Later that same year, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, being a lifelong smoker [30:48]. He passed away on February 18, 1967, at the age of 62 [30:53].