
John Wheeler’s H-bomb blues - sohkamyung
https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4364
======
acqq
The author, Alex Wellerstein, will blog more about this topic and these
related:

[https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com](https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com)

The FOIA request files he obtained and on which he based his article (and will
also be among the sources of his upcoming book) are still unpublished, but he
already published on his blog a sample:

[https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/12/W...](https://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/12/Wheeler-FBI-file-extracts-1953.pdf)

"a short (24-page) excerpt from Wheeler’s FBI file"

There you can see some copies of the letters directly signed by John Edgar
Hoover, probably typed on IBM Executive A with a beautiful proportional font,
even in 1953.

The blog is worth reading for those who are interested in the topic, and also
the upcoming book.

------
ggm
Made me think about Fuchs. Given his life experience, what he did made perfect
sense, to him.

~~~
pm90
Wait what? Are you talking about Klaus Fuchs who was found guilty of treason?

~~~
ggm
Yes that one. And from Richard Rhodes books about the bomb, from Fuchs lived
experience, what he did made perfect sense: he was a life long communist, and
was hugely concerned by the lack of information sharing while the Russians
bore the brunt of the human cost of the war. He had direct experience of the
prewar nazi regime. Post gaol, Fuchs led the East German nuclear power
research programme. He got on with his life.

~~~
rootw0rm
it's kind of a strange point to make, but I think you're right

~~~
ggm
Whereas what teller did you Oppenheimer...

~~~
acqq
Read the article carefully, Oppenheimer was a target of a mad development of a
self-excuse of the guy who organized the making of that document, 6 pages of
which Wheeler lost:

"After being fired, Borden went back into private law practice. His initial
suspicions of the AEC blossomed into an obsession with a conspiracy theory.
What if the AEC had been behind the loss of the document? _He began to believe
that Oppenheimer himself, long an object of his suspicions, had somehow
induced Wheeler to lose the document._ For the rest of 1953, Borden would
conspire—with help from other enemies of Oppenheimer—to bring Oppenheimer
down, one way or another.

The culmination of that activity was a letter that Borden wrote to Hoover in
November 1953, alleging that after years of considered study he believed “that
more probably than not J. Robert Oppenheimer is an agent of the Soviet Union.”
"

Insane, but so typical. Every conspiracy is easier to believe than
acknowledging to oneself one is wrong.

~~~
ggm
_with help from other enemies of Oppenheimer_

Who do you think these are? Lewis Strauss and Teller would be hard to walk
past.

------
f2f
One suggestion: go with the PDF and not the web page. Grab a comfy recliner
and just tune out for a while. The difference between the layouts of the
magazine article and the webpage are atrocious. Shows you what we've lost in
this modern age :(

I'll buy his book. It will go along with many others I've accumulated from
that era, such as a 'A Short History of Nuclear Folly'. Atom bombs and planes
is what that time was all about, for me.

~~~
russellbeattie
(Another day, another person on the interwebs assuming their preferences and
tastes are the right ones. Not sure what you're looking at. The article looks
great on my tablet and I happily read the entire thing without a second
thought.)

Anyways, this document was definitely stolen and Bordan (or someone close to
him) most likely was the culprit. Just as the Russians are sowing discord
among Americans now, this is what they were doing then as well. Bordon wanted
to collect all the info about the H-Bomb in one place, almost took down
Wheeler and successfully took down Oppenheimer later. Pretty suspicious.

~~~
f2f
another day, another person on the interwebs attacking what is clearly a
suggestion (with a supporting narrative) thinking it's presented as gospel.

the typesetting in the pdf is clearly superb to my tastes. there are many ways
to present he same dish. i prefer the fancier that can be enjoyed longer.

