IN its 992 pages of fine print, the Oppenheimer case transcript contained ample evidence to show why the Atomic Energy Commission's personnel security board reached a 2-1 decision that Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer's security clearance should be revoked.
Basically, Oppenheimer's case was what he had outlined in his earlier, eloquent statement to the AEC (TIME, June 14). He had been a "fellow traveler," an active Communist fronter from late 1936 until around 1942, but all that was behind him. He had been a loyal citizen, working hard for his Government ever since he went to work on the atomic bomb in 1942. To support their case, Oppenheimer's lawyers had called in an impressive list of character witnesses. Notable on the list were men who had worked above Oppenheimer, including some who had a measure of responsibility for what he did, and they expressed broad-gauge opinions. Among them were:
¶New York Banker Gordon Dean, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission in 1950-53. Dean had suffered some doubts about Oppenheimer's "very unpleasant early associations," but finally had concluded that the physicist was "a man of complete integrity ... a very devoted man to his country."
¶Vannevar Bush, director of the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development during World War II, now president of the Carnegie Institution. Bush had "complete confidence in Oppenheimer's loyalty, judgment and integrity." But he would not presume to prejudge the case before the board.
¶ Dr. James B. Conant, United States High Commissioner for Germany, former president of Harvard University. Conant still subscribed to a statement he had made about Oppenheimer in 1947: "A more loyal and sound American citizen cannot be found in the whole United States."
¶Dr. Norris Edwin Bradbury, professor of physics at the University of California, who was selected by Oppenheimer as his successor at the Los Alamos atomic project in 1945. Once a graduate student under Professor Oppenheimer at California, Bradbury had found his old teacher "extremely helpful and cooperative," and "completely loyal to his country." He did not think that Oppenheimer had done anything to slow down development of the hydrogen bomb.
¶ General Leslie R. Groves, vice president of Remington Rand, wartime head of the Manhattan Project, who had appointed Oppenheimer director at Los Alamos in 1943. Groves was cautious. Oppenheimer had done a "magnificent job" at Los Alamos, but "you must remember that he left my control shortly after the war was over." While Oppenheimer "did not always keep the faith with respect to the strict interpretation of the security rules," neither did other leading scientists.