83. Smyth to McMahon, Jan. 25, 1950, no. CXIV, JCAE; Fitzpatrick (1998), 122. LeBaron admitted to Johnson that it was “becoming clearer that the program will cost us a sizeable number of fission atomic weapons.” LeBaron to Johnson, Mar. 1, 1950, series 184, OSD/NARA. In May 1950, Bethe testified before the Joint Committee that the neutrons necessary to make 1 gram of tritium could make 100 grams of plutonium. Minutes, May 3, 1950, no. CXLIV, JCAE.
84. “Daddy Pocketbook”: Appendix E, Sept. 12, 1952, no. DLXIII, JCAE; Fitzpatrick (1998), 261–62; Rhodes (1995), 414, 424.
85. Norman Macrae, John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More (Pantheon, 1992), 312–14; Wheeler, (1998), 221–22.
86. “The expense of such a large amount of tritium would make the design wholly impractical,” Teller admitted. Teller (2001), 302–3; appendix E, Sept. 12, 1952, no. DLXIII, JCAE.
87. Oppenheimer to Dean, no. 104150, CIC/DOE; Rhodes (1995), 424.
88. Von Neumann to Teller, May 18, 1950, LANL; Hewlett and Duncan (1990), 439–40; Rhodes (1995), 423–24; S. M. Ulam, Adventures of a Mathematician (University of California Press, 1991), 212–16; Ulam to Manley, Aug. 10, 1988, Manley papers, LANL. “Together, the two pieces of work appeared to sound the death knell for the super: it would neither light nor burn.” Peter Galison, Image and Logic: A Material Culture of Microphysics (University of Chicago Press, 1997), 723.
89. Ulam (1991), 217.
90. H-bomb Chronology, 54; Wheeler (1998), 200; Ulam (1991), 217.
91. Family Committee: Fitzpatrick (1998), 222; Hewlett and Duncan (1990), 536; Bradbury to Teller, Mar. 3, 1950, no. 125511, CIC/DOE.
92. Rhodes (1995), 419.
93. George test: Fitzpatrick (1998), 141–42; Rhodes (1995), 456–57.
94. Teller to Bradbury, July 28, 1950, no. 1452, CIC/DOE; Wheeler (1998), 206–7.
95. De Hoffmann: Ulam (1991), 211; Wheeler (1998), 191; Fitzpatrick (1998), 148–49.
96. Borden to file, Mar. 2, 1950; Teller to Borden, Mar. 8, 1950; Teller to Borden, Mar. 15, 1950, series 2, Oppenheimer file, JCAE.
97. Edward Teller, “Back to the Laboratories,” Scientific American, Mar. 1950. Teller told Borden he was “shocked at the icyness [sic]” with which young physicists rejected his appeal. Fitzpatrick (1998), 273.
98. “I can not in good conscience work on this weapon,” Bethe informed Bradbury. However, Bethe changed his mind following the Communist invasion of South Korea that June; like Fermi, he would spend summers at the lab. Bethe to Bradbury, Feb. 14, 1950, no. 125241, CIC/DOE.
99. Telegram, Teller to JRO, Feb. 17, 1950, box 71, JRO.
100. Blumberg and Owens (1976), 239. Teller reportedly rejected suggestions coming from scientists at the lab whom he considered pro-Oppenheimer, fearing sabotage. Borden to files, Feb. 9, 1951, no. CCLXXXIII, JCAE; Blumberg and Owens (1976), 257.
101. Teller to Borden, Apr. 13, 1950, no. 7201, JCAE.
102. Bergman to Borden, May 7, 1950, no. 1531, JCAE.
13: Nuclear Plenty
1. Hewlett and Duncan (1990), 443.
2. Manleys to Oppenheimer, box 50; and Conant to Oppenheimer, July 25, 1950, box 27, and Wilson to Oppenheimer, box 77, JRO; Anders (1987), 75–76. Isidor Rabi suspected that Conant’s absences at the GAC were not all on account of illness: “He saw which side was stronger.” Rabi interview (1984).
3. Oppenheimer was not the only one eager to cover up his past. “Before the State Department…,” n.d., Chevalier papers.
4. “I still had my theory about him that I had conceived several years before, and this fiction that he was putting forward was presumably necessary for his protection in the carrying out of an ideal purpose which I had no doubt he was pursuing.” Chevalier (1965), 84.
5. Ibid. The FBI continued to track Chevalier’s movements in Paris, evidently through his calls to Barbara at Stinson Beach. San Francisco field report, Oct. 5, 1953, Chevalier FBI file, box 1, JRO/AEC.
6. Crouch had testified before HUAC about the alleged meeting the previous year but did not mention Oppenheimer on that occasion. U.S. Congress, HUAC, Hearings Regarding Clarence Hiskey Including Testimony of Paul Crouch, 81st Congress, 2nd sess., May 24, 1949, 399–408.
7. The purpose of the alleged meeting was to brief professional section members on the change in the party line since the German invasion.
8. Combs’s search was not random; he took Crouch to homes whose owners had subscribed to the Daily Worker during the 1940s. San Francisco field report, Nov. 18, 1952, sec. 14, JRO/FBI; Paul Crouch, “Broken Chains,” chap. 20, unpublished memoir, box 17, Paul Crouch papers, Hoover Institution Library, Stanford, Calif.
9. “Woman Witness Says She Saw Nuclear Expert at Session,” Oakland Tribune, May 9, 1950.
10. Newark field report, May 5, 1950, sec. 8, JRO/FBI; “Statement by J. Robert Oppenheimer,” May 9, 1950, “Weinberg Perjury Trial, 1953” folder, box 237, JRO; Bernstein (1990), 1411–13.
11. Groves to Oppenheimer, May 18, 1950, box 36, JRO. Groves was evidently unaware of the role that Oppenheimer had played in ousting him from his posts on the Air Force Special Weapons Project and the Military Liaison Committee, leading to his retirement from the army. Hershberg (1993), 357.
12. Crouch had spent two years in Alcatraz in the mid-1920s for trying to recruit party members while in the army. Crouch, “Broken Chains,” chap. 27, Crouch papers.
13. Kenilworth Court incident: Letter and telegrams, “Financial: Real Estate” folder, box 232, JRO; Albuquerque field report, July 10, 1952, sec. 13; and San Francisco field report, Nov. 18, 1952, JRO/FBI.
14. Bacher to Oppenheimer, May 25, 1950, and Oppenheimer to Bacher, May 23, 1950, box 18, and Groves to Oppenheimer, May 18, 1950, box 36, and Conant to Oppenheimer, May 15, 1950, box 27, JRO.
15. Oppenheimer’s candidates for replacements on the GAC included von Neumann, Bethe, and Bacher. Borden to McMahon, May 11, 1950, no. 1516, JCAE; Hewlett and Duncan (1990), 486.
16. ITMOJRO, 83. FBI director Hoover had reportedly been assured by the White House in July that Oppie would not be reappointed GAC chairman. Bernstein (1990), 1421.
17. S. Allison to Oppenheimer, various letters, box 15, and Wilson to Oppenheimer, n.d., box 77, JRO.
18. Waters to Strauss, May 12, 1954, miscellaneous correspondence, 1953–54, AEC/NARA.
19. Acheson had summoned Lawrence, among others, to advise on the review
