UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION: IN THE MATTER OF J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER. Transcript of Hearing before Personnel Security Board. Washington, D.C. April 12, 1954, through May 6, 1954

[Oppenheimer, Robert; Nuclear War] United States Atomic Energy Commission

Published by Washington United States Government Printing Office 1954

First Edition. Large, thick 8vo, original printed grey wraps printed on black on the upper cover. Now housed in a fine foldover case with red morocco lettering label gilt. 992, [1] pp. A very pleasing and well preserved copy with very little evidence of age or use. FIRST EDITION PRINTING OF THE ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPTS OF THE HEARING CONCERNING J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER AND THE ULTIMATE REMOVAL OF HIS SECURITY CLEARANCE. In 1942, Oppenheimer was recruited to work on the Manhattan Project, and in 1943 he was appointed director of the project's Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico, tasked with developing the first nuclear weapons. His leadership and scientific expertise were instrumental in the project's success. On July 16, 1945, he was present at the first test of the atomic bomb, Trinity. In August 1945, the weapons were used against Japan in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. In 1947, Oppenheimer became the director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and chaired the influential General Advisory Committee of the newly created U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. He lobbied for international control of nuclear power to avert nuclear proliferation and a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb during a 1949 1950 governmental debate on the question and subsequently took positions on defense-related issues that provoked the ire of some U.S. government and military factions. During the second Red Scare, Oppenheimer's stances, together with his past associations with the Communist Party USA, led to the revocation of his security clearance, following a 1954 security hearing. This effectively ended his access to the government's atomic secrets and his career as a nuclear physicist. Also stripped of his direct political influence, Oppenheimer nevertheless continued to lecture, write, and work in physics. In 1963, as a gesture of political rehabilitation, he was given the Enrico Fermi Award. In 2022, the federal government vacated the 1954 revocation of his security clearance. Seller Inventory # 33409

Bibliographic Details

Title: UNITED STATES ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION: IN ...
Publisher: Washington United States Government Printing Office 1954
Binding: Soft cover
Edition: 1st Edition