I think in today’s political atmosphere Oppenheimer would be embraced by the democrat party. In my view, politically he would be akin to the likes of Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other hard core leftists who are not card carrying communists.
Oppenheimer was undoubtedly progressive, he grew up a child of privilege in Manhattan, of extreme intelligence and educational attainment. Yes, in California of the 1920s until he decamped to Los Alamos, he fit in well at UCLA, Stanford and Cal Tech. Leftism was the way of life in those institutions, as it remains today. But to my knowledge no evidence has shown Oppenheimer to be a card carrying comrade.
Thank you for the wonderful exposition in your response to my message. I appreciate the education as you are much more knowledgeable in this arena than I.
I will volunteer you would like American Prometheus. It’s deeply annotated with as I recall more than 500 footnotes and citations. According to the authors, it took 25 years to research, compile and synthesize the materials into a coherent book. It was fun for me to read about the actual scientists who I learned about in graduate courses on quantum mechanics and thermodynamics, and undergraduate courses in physics.
Thank you. On your recommendation, I have requested that book from my library network.
I have read several books primarily about J. Robert Oppenheimer, and a multitude of other books that treat his situation as part of the discussion (with respect to either the Manhattan Project, or as part of a larger issue of Communist infiltration into our government) so I am interested in this subject.
I appreciate your civil treatment of this subject and discourse on it. I have found with this subject that some people have very strong opinions about it not just on this forum but elsewhere as well, so I am always engaged in the process to learn more that I may not know.