Why do we hate our Heroes?
Why do we hate our Heroes?
Oppenheimer receives some atonement from the USG
Washington DC 20 DEC 2022
UNW is a national security policy wonk at heart. I am fascinated by the tension between bureaucracy and innovation.
Bureaucracy is designed to create patterns for bureaucrats to follow (standardization of procedures). Yet in strategic matters, the nation demands innovation. Smarter, better, more efficient, less expensive 'ends, ways, means' to achieve national objectives. So why is it we destroy some of our most innovative thinkers?
Robert Oppenheimer (nukes)
Billy Mitchell (aviation)
John Paul Jones (navy)
Pete Ellis (amphibious ops)
Alan Turing (UK example, code breaking)
Each made extraordinary contributions in their field. While the rest of the fledgling USN screened our eastern approaches in the revolutionary war, JP Jones went to France, fought to get a ship, then relentlessly and effectively took the war to the British homeland. He was later maligned as a child rapist and died in poverty in France. Only a century later when the navy needed a hero was he found, dug up and put in his rightful place in the chapel at Annapolis.
On or around 1924 [sic] both Mitchell and Ellis independently concluded the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor. They got almost all the details right. Mitchell even noted early on a Sunday morning would be the most vulnerable moment. Mitchell was courtmartialed for his advocacy of air power and Ellis was likely murdered in the far east by Japanese intelligence but only after he was maligned for being a drunk and a fool by those who did not agree with his plans for expeditionary advanced based maritime operations (something the USMC is returning to with a vengeance).
Turing was an extraordinary genius. A Mozart of mathematics. His ideas were crucial to breaking the German enigma codes, so that the allies knew enemy intent and plans in advance. Intent is the Holy Grail of intelligence. The official historian of British intelligence in WWII (my PhD supervisor - who worked with Turing at Bletchley) conservatively estimated Turing's genius shortened the war by 2 years - sparing millions of lives. He should have been given all the honors owed a great war hero in the manner the Brits do best - like Marlborough or Wellington. Turing was gay when that was illegal in the UK. He was castrated and committed suicide.
Oppenheimer's crime was independent thinking. Having lead the stunning Manhattan project to success (a feat unimaginable in material scale and intellectual complexity), he did not bend his opinion about how the character of war had changed in light of his creation about which he was deeply troubled. For that he was smeared. It destroyed him.
Poignantly, when asked by a Senate committee how would the government find a single nuke if it was smuggled into New York City (a very modern question in the 1950s and one that drives my work) he answered "with a screwdriver". If you don't understand the cryptic comment, he was indicating that such a threat was in effect unstoppable. If you think helicopters can fly around with radiation detectors and other Hollywood fantasies, you will be terrified if you found out how this sort of thing really works.
Atonement
The British government offered an apology to Turing in 2009 and HM The Queen pardoned him in 2013 and he is now remembered on the £50 note
The US Government has announced some atonement for what it did to Oppenheimer. The Secretary of Energy said on 16 DEC 2022
“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,” Granholm said in a statement on Friday.
The full decision of the Dept of Energy is presented here. It’s a good start. But he, and the others, all deserve so much more.
Whatever one might think of nuclear weapons, Oppenheimer was a loyal American. He gave his all to help protect America. He was used as a political pawn by ignoramuses who were not fit to shine his shoes. Anti-semitism was involved. The red scare was used. It was all a lie and manipulation against a man who thought for himself. There is a very important lesson here for innovators.
Update - 31 July 2023 - McCarthyism destroyed Opie but failed to find actual communist spies!
Our friends over at Spytalk have a great short piece on the stupidity of McCarthyism. It destroyed one of our our greatest thinkers and left untouched the real threat.
Sound familiar? This was the 1950s version of exactly the same thing that is happening today.
Update - a Movie is coming!
Evidentially, the Secretary of Energy was (wisely) getting ahead of the coming publicity of a new major motion film that is about to be released. It would have been a little embarrassing to have the public awakened to the incredible accomplishments of this remarkable man only to learn that he remained unrehabilitated due to the power of the small minded.
Billy Mitchell got his Hollywood exoneration in 1955 - you can watch the whole film on TY and it remains a gripping movie in its own right.
Update 18 July 2023 - The Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
This is a GIFT ARTICLE - that covers the same issue.
Sadly, Oppenheimer’s life story is relevant to our current political predicaments. Oppenheimer was destroyed by a political movement characterized by rank know-nothing, anti-intellectual, xenophobic demagogues. The witch-hunters of that season are the direct ancestors of our current political actors of a certain paranoid style. I’m thinking of Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel, who tried to subpoena Oppenheimer in 1954, only to be warned that this could interfere with the impending security hearing against Oppenheimer. Yes, that Roy Cohn, who taught former President Donald Trump his brash, wholly deranged style of politics. Just recall the former president’s fact-challenged comments on the pandemic or climate change. This is a worldview proudly scornful of science.
Thanks for your comment. Oppenheimer did not fall into simple buckets, as you observe. American politics demands simplistic buckets. Red v blue, commie v patriot etc. When politics gets fraught only the most us v them solutions will stick. Life is more nuanced, especially for a man of his deep intellect. I subsequently found out that a new film is coming that puts his life into perspective, which is why the Energy Sec did what she did when she did it. This just proves my point. No one would know about this were it not for a movie! Same with Turning - the Imitation Game - which was a pretty good flick. Mitchell has his own film its on YT for free and it's really good. Now we just need to get JPJ a film!
I've always felt bad for Oppenheimer, as he seemed like a good soul at heart, who got in over his head, swept up in the drama of the moment. He tried to do the right thing, and was smart enough to understand how wrong his invention would turn out to be. A very complex person, in a very complex situation.
Imho, today's Robert Oppenheimer is Jennifer Doudna, the Nobel Prize winning creator of CRISPR, emerging genetic engineering technology. Like Oppenheimer, Doudna is clearly very intelligent and I sense her intentions are good. And like Oppenheimer, she seems swept up in scientific ambitions. She knows she may be unleashing a new horror upon the world, but she can't stop herself from proceeding. The accomplishment, the acclaim, the awards, being part of history, seem just too enticing to deny.
While Oppenheimer's invention could end everything at any moment, it's possible that Doudna's invention will turn out to be the bigger threat. Luckily, there are significant barriers to entering the nuclear weapons game, but this is ever less so with genetic engineering. In fact, Doudna's specific goal is to "democratize CRISPR", that is, make it widely available to one and all. If she lives long enough I predict she'll come to regret her career.
The Turing case was truly tragic. Although computers have profound implications too, that wasn't so obvious in Turing's day, and he really was just trying to defeat the Nazis, and was willing to do so anonymously. There was no profit or fame motivation in his case. What happened to him was truly inexcusable.