Dishonesty
In opening testimony at his 1954 Personnel Security Board Robert Oppenheimer made the following statement: "Steve Nelson came a few times with his family to visit; he had befriended my wife in Paris at the time of her husband's death in Spain in 1937. Neither of us has seen him since 1941 or 1942." This statement was a lie.
The truth is found in Steve Nelson's 1981 memoir, Steve Nelson, American Radical. From Steve Nelson: "[Oppenheimer] called me up and said that he was going away and would like to meet for lunch. We met at a restaurant on the main strip in Berkeley, and he appeared excited to the point of nervousness. He couldn't discuss where he was going, but would only say that it had to do with the war effort. We chatted, mostly about Spain and the war, and exchanged good-byes."
The Oppenheimer-Nelson lunch occurred in the middle of March 1943, just before Oppenheimer left Berkeley for Los Alamos. The lunch was initiated by Oppenheimer and based on his own—not his wife's—relationship with Nelson. [1]
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On May 7, 1953, Philip Morrison was called to testify before the Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act, William K. Jenner, Chariman. Qustion to Dr. Morrision: "Now, in connection with that work on the Manhattan Project, did you inform your superiors -- lets say General Groves -- you had been a member of the Communist Party prior to your joining the project?" Answer from Morrison: "I had very good reason to believe that the principal security officer of the Los Alamos project knew of my previous connections. I think the conversations and conclusions were quite clear as to my being a Communist; yes" (restatement: yes, I informed General Groves' security officer that I had been a member of the Communist Party prior to joining the project). This statement was a lie.
The truth is found in a memorandum by MED Security Officer Colonel John Lansdale, dated 27 September 1944: "I had a lengthy interview with Morrison on 20 September 1944, in which his whole past history and record of Communist activity were discussed. Morrison states that he is not a member of the Communist Party and never has been, although he worked very closely with them and believes in the principal tenets of Communism." The impetus for Lansdale's interview with Morrison was the transfer of Morrison to Los Alamos requested by Robert Oppenheimer. [2]
Disloyalty
On April 22, 1942, Robert Oppenheimer completed an employment reference for Philip Morrison at the Met Lab in Chicago. The personnel reference form had 6 short questions, which Oppenheimer completed as follows:
“1. How long and how well have you known him? ‘6 - 7 years; student, scientific work’
2. If employed by you, was his service record while under your supervision entirely satisfactory? ‘Yes, in every way’
3. Do you know of anything which would tend to reflect unfavorably on his honesty, moral character, personal habits or class of associates? ‘No’
4. Has [the applicant] expressed or shown sympathy toward any un-American organization? ‘No’
5. Any question of loyalty to the United States? ‘No’
6. Is there any reason you know of why [the applicant] should not be assigned to confidential work? 'No'” [3]
The Hatch Act of 1939 barred members of communist or fascist organizations from federal employment; the Smith Act of 1940 forbade the teaching, advocacy, or association with groups advocating the forceful overthrow of the American government. Oppenheimer knew Morrison was a Communist and understood the fraudulent reference he gave Morrison for atomic work.
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In May 1943 Philip Morrison completed a U.S. Government questionaire containing a section asking him to list "any type of organization with which you have been connected in any way whatever." Morrison did not list the Communist Party. On the same form, Question 6 asked: "Are you or have you ever been a member of any political party or organization which now advocates or has ever advocated overthrow of the constitutional form of government in the United States? Morrison answered, "No." [4]
In May of 1953 Dr. Morrison testified before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act. Question to Morrison: Have you been a member of the Berkeley Campus section of the Communist Party? Answer by Morrison: "I joined the Young Commuinist League when I was 18, and when I was 21 [1936] I did become a member of the Communist party in Berkeley. I don't remember precisely which branch." Question to Morrison: While you were a member of the Berkeley Campus section of the Communist Party, did you in fact deliver a series of lectures to that Communist group, entitled "Imperialism," by V. I. Lenin? Answer by Morrison: I think it would be perhaps more accurate to say that I led a series of discussions on a book by Lenin called Imperialism. [5] Tenets of Communism espoused by Lenin and proselytized by Morrison at Berkeley:
"Imperialism is the eve of the social revolution of the proletariat ... American imperialism is the butcher and hangman of the revolution in all countries ... The October revolution broke the chains of Imperialism and hoisted in the sight of the whole world the banner of struggle for the complete overthrow of imperialism ... American workers will not follow the bourgeoisie. They will be on our side, for civil war against the bourgeoisie ...The suppression of the bourgeois state by the proletarian state is impossible without a violent revolution ... The proletariat will certainly overthrow the yoke of capital with revolutionary ruthlessness."
V. I. Lenin, On Imperialism, 1920
Treason
There is now no doubt that both Oppenheimer and Morrison were members of the Communist Party at Berkeley. In September 1944 Oppenheimer caused Morrison, then connected to the Metallurgical Lab in Chicago, to be transferred to Los Alamos. The following is from an official document paraphrasing a coded teletype sent by Oppenheimer on October 9, 1944, to Morrison in Chicago:
"It is probable that your transfer to Site Y will go through very soon. I expect to be in Chicago Friday, October 13 and matter will probalby be settled then. Should like you to plan to come here soon after that even though it is then necessary for you to return to finish up things in Chicago and to move your family." [6]
In 1982 former KGB Lieutenant General Pavel Sudoplatov successfully petitioned the Central Committee of the Communist Party Soviet Union (CPSU) for exoneration and rehabilitation. In his petition Sudoplatov cited his duties during the war in gathering intelligence on the atomic bomb. In this regard, Sudoplatov specifically identified Robert Oppenheimer as a KGB source of secret atomic information. In his 1994 memoir Special Tasks, Sudoplatov further described Oppenheimer's actions on behalf of Soviet intelligence: "Oppenheimer, together with Fermi and Szilard helped us place moles in Tennessee, Los Alamos and Chicago as assistants in those three labs. ... These unidentified young moles, along with the Los Alamos mole, were junior scientists or administrators who copied vital documents to which they were allowed access by Oppenheimer, Fermi, and Szilard, who were knowingly part of the scheme". [7] The word scheme is synonymous with conspiracy.
In November-December 1944 the penultimate secret at Los Alamos was the design of a ballistic/gun type atomic bomb. Robert Serber nicknamed this weapon Little Boy. According to Sudoplatov, the design of Little Boy reached Moscow in January 1945: "A description of the design of the first atomic bomb was reported to us in January 1945." It is significant that the design of Little Boy also reached Julius Rosenberg. At the Rosenberg trial, David Greenglass testified that while he was home in New York on furlough in the first two weeks of January 1945, Julius discussed with him the actuation principles of a ballistic atomic weapon: "[Julius] said there was fissionable material at one end of a cube and at the other end of a cube there was a sliding member that was also of fissionable material and when they brought these two together under great pressure, a nuclear reaction would take place. That is the type of bomb that he described." [8]
The proximate cause of the Oppenheimer Personnel Security Board was William Borden’s letter to J. Edgar Hoover. That letter ended with a clear-headed assessment of the existing record: “The central problem is not whether J. Robert Oppenheimer was ever a Communist; for the existing evidence makes abundantly clear that he was. Even an Atomic Energy Commission analysis prepared in early 1947 reflects this conclusion, although some of the most significant derogatory data had yet to become available. The central problem is assessing the degree of likelihood that he in fact did what a Communist in his circumstances, at Berkeley, would logically have done during the crucial 1939 - 1942 period...that is, whether he became an actual espionage and policy instrument of the Soviets. Thus, as to this central problem, my opinion is that, more probably than not, the worst is in fact the truth.”
The secret of Little Boy was bootlegged out of Los Alamos at the end of 1944. The channel by which this occurred was contrived by Julius Robert Oppenheimer.
Notes, Sources, References
1. "Steve Nelson came a few times ... Neither of us has seen him since 1941 or 1942.": In The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer, Transcript of Hearing before Personnel Security Board, United States Atomic Energy Commission, Page 10.
"He[Oppenheimer] called me up and said ... and exchanged good-byes.": Steve Nelson, American Radical, Steve Nelson, James R.Barrettt, Rob Ruck, 1981, Page 269.
The Oppenheimer-Nelson Relationship Principal references for the relationship between Robert Oppenheimer and Steve Nelson are (1) the Oppenheimer Security Hearing, (2) Nelson’s memoir Steve Nelson, American Radical, and (3) the Nelson-Weinberg FBI transcript. Starting fact: The National Committee of the CPUSA transferred Steve Nelson to the Los Angeles District of the California Communist Party in 1939. (SNAR, p.240)
JRO Hearing Question to Oppenheimer: When did you first meet Steve Nelson?
Answer from Oppenheimer: I think it may have been in connection with a big Spanish party in the fall of 1939.
Question: Where?
Answer: In San Francisco.
Question: Do you recall talking to him on that occasion?
Answer: No.
American Radical "Soon after arriving on the coast, I made the acquaintance of a very amazing man, J. Robert Oppenheimer. I had gone up to Berkeley to speak about Spain and help raise funds for Spanish refugees. Oppenheimer, whom I had never heard of before, was the main speaker and gave a good talk about the significance of the Spanish fight. After the session he came up to me and with a smile, exclaimed, 'I'm going to marry a friend of yours, Steve.' I couldn't for the world think who that could be, so he went on, 'I'm going to marry Kitty.' Kitty Dallet." (SNAR, p. 268)
American Prometheus "One evening that autumn of 1940, Robert happened to share a platform with Steve Nelson at a Berkeley fundraiser on behalf of refugees from the Spanish Civil War. Newly arrived in San Francisco, Nelson had never heard of Oppenheimer. As the featured speaker, Oppenheimer said the fascist victory in Spain had led directly to the outbreak of general war in Europe. Afterwards, Oppenheimer approached Nelson, and with a broad smile said, "I am going to marry a friend of yours, Steve." Nelson couldn't think who that could be. So Robert explained, "I am going to mary Kitty." "Kitty Dallet!" Nelson exclaimed. He had lost touch with her since her stay with him and Margaret in New York. "She's back there, sitting in the hall, Oppenheimer said, and motioned to her to come up. The two old friends hugged and agreed to get together. Soon afterwards the Nelsons came to the Oppenheimers' for a picnic dinner." (AP, p.162, endnote p.625)
Oppenheimer Hearing Question: Thereafter, Steve Nelson was at your home on various occasions, was he not?
Answer: That was much later.
Question: When was that?
Answer: The times I remember--and I think they are the only times--were in the winter of 1941-2 [Nov 41 - Mar 42].
Question: Who else was present at your house on the occasions when Nelson was there?
Answer: I have no memory of this. These were very often Sundays and people would drop in.
American Radical “Not long after that [Berkeley 1939], Oppenheimer invited me to his home to get together with some of his friends from the academic community who wanted to meet someone who had been to Spain.”
Oppenheimer Hearing Question: Did you ever go to his house?
Answer: I am not clear. If so, it was only to bring him up to our house.
American Radical “On Josie’s second birthday [1942], Margaret answered a knock on the door, and there was Robert, his blue eyes twinkling under the porkpie hat he always wore, with a birthday present.”
Oppenheimer Hearing Question. What did you have in common with Nelson?
Answer: Nothing, except an affection for my wife.
Oppenheimer Hearing Question. Did Nelson tell you what he was doing in California?
Answer#1: No. I knew he was connected with the Alameda County organization. (1954 PSB testimony)
Answer#2: He was a professional party member. He’s an organizer. (1943 recorded Lansdale interview)
Oppenheimer Hearing Question. Did Nelson ever ask you what you were doing?
Answer#1: No. (JRO, p.195)
Answer#2: I never discussed anything of my secret work or anything about the atomic bomb with Steve Nelson. (JRO, p.13)
Nelson-Weinberg Nelson told Joseph Weinberg that he had been told something about the project by Oppenheimer: “What the nature of it is—as much as that.”
American Radical "[Oppenheimer] called me up and said that he was going away and would like to meet for lunch. We met at a restaurant on the main strip in Berkeley, and he appeared excited to the point of nervousness. He couldn't discuss where he was going, but would only say that it had to do with the war effort. We chatted, mostly about Spain and the war, and exchanged good-byes."
Oppenheimer Hearing Question to Kitty Oppenheimer: Did there come a time after you married Dr. Oppenheimer when you again saw Steve Nelson?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Will you tell us the circumstances of that?
Answer: I will as best I can remember. I remember being at a party and meeting a girl called Merriman. I knew of her. She was in Albacete, and her husband also got killed in action there. The reason I remember her name is that I had been asked to bring her some sox when I came. When I met her at this party, she said did I know that Steve Nelson was in that part of the country. I said no, and then expressed some interest in his welfare. Some time thereafter Steve Nelson telephoned me, and I invited him and his wife and their small child up to our house.
Author Comment During his Personnnel Security Hearing, Robert Oppenheimer (as well as Kitty) repeatedly lied and dissembled on questions about Steve Nelson. Their behavior should be examined through the lens of the following juxtapositon: In March 1943 Nelson met Oppenheimer for lunch; a month later, April 1943, Nelson met with Vassili Zarubin, KGB station chief for all of North America and responsible for all Soviet intelligence assets (legal and illegal). By any standard, these two facts alone justify and require a finding of security risk. The facts of the Nelson-Oppenheimer relationship should induce historians to reverse their biased, subjective view that Borden was misguided, and Eisenhower and the AEC acted improperly in revoking Oppenheimer's atomic clearance.
2. "Now, in connection with that work on the Manhattan Project ... I think the conversations and conclusions were quite clear as to my being a Communist; yes.": Transcirpt of Hearing, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, May 7, 1953, Page 899.
"I had a lengthy interview with Morrison ... principal tenets of Communism.": National Archives document, NWD921104, NARA Date 5/2/97: Lt Col John Lansdale memo dated 27 September 1944, re interview of Philip Morrison on September 20, 1944.
3. "How long and how well ... Is there any reason you know of why [the applicant] should not be assigned to confidential work?": U.S. National Archives, Declassified NND921104, 5/12/97, Philip Morrison record group, Universtiy of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.
4. "In May 1943 ... n completed a U.S. Government questionaire which contained a section asking him to list "any type of organization with which you have been connected in any way whatever." Dr. Morrison did not list the Communist Party. On the same form, Question 6 asked: "Are you or have you ever been a member of any political party or organization which now advocates or has ever advocated overthrow of the constitutional form of government in the United States? Morrison answered, "No."
Note Oppenheimer completed ths same U.S. Government employment application in April 1942 and failed to disclose any Communist Party associations or activities.
5. "Morrison testified before ... I led a series of discussions on a book by Lenin called Imperialism.": Transcirpt of Hearing, Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, May 7, 1953, Page 899.
6. "There is now no doubt ... Communist Party at Berkeley.": Brotherhood of the Bomb, Website, Gregg Herken, 2002; EOE, Julius Robert Oppenheimer
"In September 1944 ... and to move your family.": U.S. National Archives, Declassified NND921104, 5/12/97, Philip Morrison record group, Universtiy of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.
7. "Oppenheimer, together with ... knowingly part of the scheme.": Special Tasks, Pavel and Anatoli Sudoplatov with Jerrold and Leona Schecter, 1994, Page 192.
Pavel Sudoplatov In Special Tasks, Sudoplatov was not oblique or spare in asserting that Robert Oppenheimer had wittingly assisted Soviet intelligence—his knowledge was not hearsay, but firsthand in the sense that it was agents controlled by him reporting to him on JRO. Although he did not produce archival records, he identified where supporting evidence was available or to be found. With respect to substantiating his personal involvement, Sudoplatov mentioned a contemporary letter by Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor N. S. Sazykin which had been submitted to the USSR KGB and the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The Sazykin report, Sudoplatov said, was contained in his 1982 Appeal to the Central Committee, Communist Party Soviet Union, et al. Sazykin had evidently been privy to the atomic technical reports received during the war by the Special Committee on Atomic Energy (Council of Commissars). These materials had been supplied by Department S, an NKVD intelligence unit created by Beria within the Special Committee and run by Sudoplatov. The names of the sources of the atomic information were not provided to the Special Committee, but "were very closely held under Beria's direct personal control." With respect to Oppenheimer as an atomic source and conspirator, Sudoplatov stated that these records were not part of the First Directorate Enormous File held in the registry of the Federal Intelligence Service (SVR). They were in the archives of Beria's secretariat which had been removed from the Lubyanka to the Kremlin when Beria was arrested. At the time of writing, Sudoplatov was uncertain as to the exact location of the Beria archive. (ST, p. 494)
8. "A description ... in January 1945.": Ibid., Page 197.
"the design of Little Boy ... That is the type of bomb that he described.": The Rosenberg File, Second Edition, Ronald Radosh and Joyce Milton, 1997, Pages 65, 68; The Brother, Sam Roberts, 2001, Page 111.
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