Oppenheimer’s legacy finally stripped of erroneous black mark, contributions to Manhattan Project and national security mission highlighted

The leading scientist in the Manhattan Project has finally had an erroneous black mark erased from his record thanks to an action made by the Department of Energy (DOE) last week.

Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer occupies a central role in our history for leading the nation’s atomic efforts through the Manhattan Project during World War II. He helped the country usher in the nuclear age with the development of the world’s first atomic weapons, which began in 1942 in three secret communities across the nation – Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

In 1954, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) revoked Dr. Oppenheimer’s security clearance through a flawed process that violated the Commission’s own regulations. Now, DOE has finally moved to clear Dr. Oppenheimer’s legacy of this mistake by vacating the AEC’s decision.

“The Order by DOE Secretary Granholm to correct this injustice is one that Los Alamos has sought since the original AEC decision in 1954,” Los Alamos Council Member and J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee Chair David Izraelevitz said. “Dr. Oppenheimer was beloved by our community, indeed introduced as "Mr. Los Alamos" during his last visit here in 1964. We are grateful to the current and former DOE Laboratory Directors, historians, community leaders, and especially the 43 Senators led by Senators Leahy and Heinrich who supported this effort.”

The decision to reconsider

As time has passed, 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 only been further affirmed. Last year, a group of U.S. Senators asked President Biden to correct the record. And in April this year, ECA sent a letter to Secretary Granholm urging the Department to vacate the AEC’s decision.

As Secretary Granholm noted in her Secretarial Order on the matter:

“The reconsideration of an order of the AEC concerning an individual long-deceased is not something this Department has ever done and not something that would ordinarily be considered. And yet, the Oppenheimer matter was extraordinary in several respects that merit its reconsideration. The Oppenheimer matter concerned a man who, not long before, had played an indispensable and singular role in the war effort, a man whose loyalty and love of country were never seriously questioned. More troubling, historical evidence suggests that the decision to review Dr. Oppenheimer’s clearance had less to do with a bona fide concern for the security of restricted data and more to do with a desire on the part of the political leadership of the AEC to discredit Dr. Oppenheimer in public debates over nuclear weapons policy.”

As a successor agency to the AEC, DOE was entrusted with the responsibility to correct the historical record and honor Dr. Oppenheimer’s profound contributions to our national defense and the scientific enterprise at large. The Secretarial Order expands on this sentiment, noting:

“When Dr. Oppenheimer died in 1967, Senator J. William Fulbright took to the Senate floor and said, “Let us remember not only what his special genius did for us; let us also remember what we did to him.” Today we remember how the United States government treated a man who served it with the highest distinction…and we remember that living up to our ideals requires unerring attention to the fair and consistent application of our laws.”

To learn more about Dr. Oppenheimer’s work with the Manhattan Project and the three communities that led the way for our national security mission, please visit https://www.nps.gov/mapr/index.htm.