American Prometheus: The Inspiration for the Major Motion Picture OPPENHEIMER

This is at most a lengthy op-ed and nothing of a scholarly biography. The authors clearly have an agenda in writing this book as they hint at in the preface. The entire book is a crafty combination of half-reported quotes, carefully worded opinions, and completely misstated facts all done with the purpose of leading the reader on a mindless journey to the conclusion already chosen for you. It wasn’t until part 5, after enduring many false statements regarding foreign policy as it pertained to the USSR at the time or the military/political decisions to use the atom bomb that I felt compelled to write this review. I shall focus on the inaccuracies in Part 5 as this might be considered the seminal portion of the work. This part focuses on the renewal of JRO’s security clearance (Q clearance) in 1954, and also draws on the earlier consideration of his post-war work speaking out against the National Security Policies in place from 1945-1954. The authors claim this was a “kangaroo court” and that Gray (chairman) did not ensure proper procedures were followed. After review of the AEC’s policy regarding security clearances, it can be noted that the proceedings were in fact carried out according to policy set forth by the AEC, and that it was NOT a legal proceeding. As such, JRO had no right to due process or rules of evidence as suggested by the authors. Instead, the board was to consider JRO’s “character, associations, and loyalty” in determining the “costs to the program” of losing the services of a person (JRO) “against any possible risks involved.” The authors do inform the reader to the extent JRO used his Q Clearance (he was one of the handful of persons at the time fully informed on all atomic programs to the smallest detail) to gain access to important and influential circles within the government and in the making of blanket statements against further development of all forms of atomic energy and weapons in an attempt to sway policy. Keep in mind not many people knew what was or could be with respect to atomic energy due to the secrecy involved at the time. At this time JRO was only serving in an advisory capacity and was not contributing to any scientific work being done by the AEC. Couple all of this with his spotty past politically, socially and during previous security interviews and it should not surprise anyone that the board weighed the pros and cons of continuing to let JRO have access to atomic secrets only to contribute to the cause by trying to sway public policy and concluded it was not a good “cost(s) to the program” to renew his clearance. The authors totally miss this as they guide the readers along a false pretense as to what an AEC security clearance and hearing should entail, and the attempts at discrediting the many witnesses and the board itself in the hopes of establishing JRO as some type of “McCarthyism” martyr. This is only one of many examples of the author’s agenda that permeates the entire work. If you enjoy reading and forming your own conclusions based on evidence from a well written biography you should save your time by reading another book. Let’s leave the op-eds to our Sunday edition of the newspaper.

I didn't know much about Oppenheimer aside from his involvement with the Manhattan Project. Well written account of the less well known aspects of his life and I would recommend it.

Would War all history about. The f6fairplane and the pilots that flew them.very well written and very intertwining to me the reader.