Father of atomic bomb Robert Oppenheimer ‘never spied for Moscow’

The Biden administration says Robert Oppenheimer was wrongly stripped of his security clearance almost 70 years ago.

Robert Oppenheimer was a victim of the McCarthy era. Picture: Keystone

Historians have applauded the White House for saying Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who is known as the father of the ­atomic bomb, was wrongly stripped of his security clearance almost 70 years ago.

Oppenheimer, who died in 1967, led the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons during World War II, including the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.

He was born in New York in 1904 and developed his left-wing politics during the war. He never joined the Communist Party, as was alleged. He was later accused of having communist sympathies and fell under suspicion of being a Soviet spy. His security clearance was revoked in 1954, during the McCarthy era and the so-called Second Red Scare, the height of left-wing persecutions.

Jennifer Granholm, the US Energy Secretary, said: “More evidence has come to light of the bias and unfairness of the process that Dr Oppenheimer was subjected to, while the evidence of his loyalty and love of country have been further affirmed.”

Historians said the decision was overdue. Kai Bird, co-author of American Prometheus: the Triumph and Tragedy of J Robert Oppenheimer, said: “What was done to Oppenheimer in 1954 was a black mark on the honour of the nation. Students of American history will be able to read the last chapter and see that what was done in that kangaroo court proceeding was not the last word.”

Alex Wellerstein, a science historian at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, said: “The injustice done to Oppenheimer doesn’t get undone by this. But it’s nice to see a response even if it’s decades too late.”

It comes ahead of Christopher Nolan’s hotly anticipated film about Oppenheimer’s life and work, which is due out next year.

The Times