RECORDING: Through another party? Yes.
Could we know who?
I think that would be a mistake.
I'll tell you for what reason.
Not to take this person to task in any way.
In the Spring of 1943,
Oppenheimer went to New Mexico to supervise the setting-up
of the Army's atomic bomb laboratory at Los Alamos.
Oppenheimer had originally planned for 30 scientists
but already it seemed this was a gross underestimate.
Yet, to keep a much bigger laboratory supplied,
in such a remote location, would be very difficult.
Oppenheimer had other problems.
From a friend, Haakon Chevalier,
he had learned that he was a prime target for Soviet
attempts to penetrate America's atomic secrets.
This he had so far failed to disclose to United States security officers.
Even so, Oppenheimer was aware he was still under suspicion
because of his pre-war, left-wing associations.
Indeed, while he was directing operations in New Mexico,
his wife, Kitty, was visited at their home in Berkeley
by a young colonel of Army Counter-Intelligence,
Jonn Lansdale.
What's this about?
Well, I thought this would be a good time for a little chat. What about?
As you probably know, there's been a certain amount of...
..concern about some of your husband's associations. Oh, I get it!
Tell me, do you people spend half as much time chasing Nazis?
Sure. I'll bet.
What do you want to know? Well...
They ARE our allies, after all!
I'm sorry? The Russians. We're fighting on the same side you know.
I didn't say anything about Russians.
Mrs Oppenheimer, I don't want to get off on the wrong foot.
Your husband has a very important job.
You must've known we'd need to investigate him.
We know you've been spooking us. Pardon?
There's always a man hanging round.
All right, go ahead. You have the right.
BABY CRIES
Ignore it, he's always yelling.
The joys of motherhood...
..are few and far between.
Tough with your husband away. Yeah.
Working for you people.
And doing a heck of a job. Everybody says so. Glad to hear it.
And yet, all these associations.
Is that the stuff from the '30s?
A lot of it.
Listen, how old are you?
31.
You're old enough to remember the Depression.
Everybody was left-wing then.
Everybody that was decent.
God, you had to be if you were a human being,
the mess the world was in. Don't you remember?
All right. But the fact remains that he has kept up some of these
associations till the present day. Like who?
Well, his brother.
It's true. He didn't drop his brother.
He didn't drop me either.
I was a Party member, you know.
I'm aware of that.
Who else?
There was a woman called Jean Tatlock.
There was indeed.
And you're dying to tell me he still sees her, aren't you?
I know it. That's our business.
I didn't want to...
All right. But you can see our concern.
It's not certain she's dropped her Party membership.
From what I hear, that poor girl can hardly boil an egg now,
let alone be a Communist.
Look, Robert has a lot of left-wing friends -
Communists, sure, it's true.
He can't drop his old friends just because of their politics.
Now, that wouldn't be civilised.
No. But, Mrs Oppenheimer, is it smart?
Colonel, my husband is so smart.
I mean...is it discreet?
It would be an awful shame...
How much trouble is he in?
They're still holding up his security clearance.
What does that mean?
I don't see how he can keep the job without it.
SHOUTING
INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION
INAUDIBLE
With the body, Kowalski. Come on, now.
Please, Professor, I'm very busy.
Just tell us where's the hook-up to the cyclotron? The what?
The cyclotron. It's being shipped out here. It's due any day.
I never heard of a cyclo... How many wheels has it got?
Well, where's the wiring? Christ knows!
There's a whole bunch of wires in those boxes...I think.
These are light bulbs!
Try way over on the other side of the hill.
They dumped stuff in the canyons.
John, this is shocking. Sergeant!
Look, will you listen?
HORNS BLARE
INAUDIBLE
Come in! Kitty, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I just...
Don't start apologising. It was absolute murder.
Look, it doesn't matter.
I just couldn't...
You're just in time - Robert's making Martinis.
Aha! The old Martini wizard!
Ernest! You're just in time. That's what I hear!
The Old Master! The old life saver!
Boy, do I need this!
I had a heck of a time leaving the lab.
Confusion to our enemies!
The old Berkeley toast.
I sure am going to miss you round here.
But...congratulations.
On the job. They'd rather have had you.
Yeah. I hear you've got Teller.
I don't know how, I thought he was wrapped up on the Super.
I believe he was.
Oppy, are you being devious?
The first thing was to get him to Los Alamos.
If he thinks he can spend all his time on the thermo-nuclear, well,
I figure we can let him down gently out there.
How's that kid I sent you doing?
Who? Rossi Lomanitz.
Lomanitz - fine, fine.
He's awfully bright. Why do you ask?
Oh, he can sometimes be pretty hot-headed. How?
Politics. He can rub people up wrong, but not you? Oh, no.
I don't worry about that stuff.
It doesn't seem to affect his work. That's all I care about. Good.
No, he's doing a heck of a job. In fact, all your kids are.
Bohm, Weinberg.
If I've got one of Oppy's boys working on something,
I don't worry, I know it's taken care of.
Ernest?
Rabi, what the...? Boy, does this guy get around!
I was on the phone to him last week at MIT.
What can I tell you? There's a war on. Right, Generalissimo?
That was a good joke, five weeks ago.
Excuse me.
OK, what was all that about?
Oppy came round to see me and Hans Bethe. That's enough, thanks.
About working at Los Alamos.
He had this crazy idea we should all wear uniform.
Ranks, saluting? The whole thing!
I think it was the costume. Always the actor, Oppy.
Hey! Come in! Kitty, this is Bob Wilson.
John Manley. My wife, Kitty.
Hello!
Bob and John have just come back from Los Alamos, looking it over.
Oh! Isn't the scenery fabulous?
Yes, it is. Oppy, we really must talk things over.
OK, we'll do that. But first a drink.
There are a lot of people here. Lawrence, Rabi, Bob Serber.
We want to talk about it now, Oppy.
There are some hard decisions to make, Oppy.
OK, shoot! It really is a hell of a mess out there.
Of course it is. What did you expect?
I never expected this bad. We spent two days there -
things aren't moving.
There's no housing, still, practically.
No roads, no telephone lines.
The power lines are ridiculous. They'll all have to go.
It's being taken care of. I don't think so.
Nobody knows what's going on.
The cyclotron's a big surprise. No plans for it.
I'm telling you... It's a shambles, Oppy.
We can't get any sense out of the Army. Nobody's in charge.
Nothing. It's a disaster.
Now, look - I'm telling you, things are under control.
They're not. Now wait just a minute. Just wait a minute!
What the hell do you two think you're doing?
Setting up... Of all the nerve!
I'm telling you we're all aware of these things.
These things are being taken care of.
We're at the beginning - what the hell did you expect?
Oppy! We've just come...
I'll be damned if I let you two sons of bitches come here
and shoot your mouths off in the middle of a...
ROOM FALLS SILENT
They don't trust me.
That kid Wilson was my student!
What am I supposed to do? Let everybody...tell me my job?
Every jackass tell me what to do, criticise me?
I don't know. Is it worth it?
I feel like a prize-fighter.
GLASS CLINKS
Round two.
INTERCOM BUZZES
Yes? Dr Serber. Fine.
Bob!
Ed Condon. Bob Serber. How do you do?
Ed's going to help out on administration.
Tough job! I'm beginning to find that out!
Got your speech ready?
It has to go right. I think it's OK.
Coming? Yeah.
Any reactions yet?
To what? Housing, anything. How are people settling?
Seems all right, no grumbles so far.
I think they kind of like it.
First days at summer camp.
Let's look at that speech.
OK.
You can't say that.
That's a double negative.
Double negative!
It's not SO bad.
Mitzkya?
What do you want me to say?
KNOCKING
Hi!
I'm Alice Smith. We live upstairs.
Saw you were moving in. Welcome to Los Alamos.
Thank you. Edward Teller. Hello.
My wife, Mitzi. Hi. Hello.
Looks grim, doesn't it?
But you'll see, a couple of days and you'll have it all homey.
That's what I say. It's a shame about the bathroom.
What about the bathroom?
Oh, there isn't one.
Nobody's got one on the hill.
Except the people on Bathtub Row.
Those are the old teachers' houses from when this place was a school.
The big nobs live up there.
The Oppenheimers, the Parsons - people like that.
We call it Bathtub Row because...
You can see why!
They're very nice about letting people use the tub.
I have to go to other people's houses?
I ought to get to the meeting. If you're crazy for a bath you do.
But of course you have a shower. It's through here.
There you are, see?
It won't be so bad after all.
We had such a nice little house in Chicago.
I wish you could see it.
Edward thought we'd be happier behind a barbed-wire fence.
For this, we could have stayed in Europe.
HE EXCLAIMS
DOOR SLAMS
My, my.
It usually takes a couple of weeks before they crack up.
How long have you been here?
A couple of weeks.
INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
Morning, gentlemen.
Yeah, Seymour, yeah.
Listen, I was...
GLASS CLINKS
CONVERSATION DIES DOWN
APPLAUSE
I'm very touched.
We begin as we mean to continue.
Open discussion.
A free exchange of ideas and information.
As far as is consistent with military security,
there will be no compartmentalisation here.
To help me with administration,
we're lucky to have Ed Condon from Westinghouse.
Ed, take a bow.
To facilitate the work,
I've divided the personnel into various divisions.
Uh... Theoretical, Ordnance, Experimental Physics, etc.
You should all have charts showing you which division you're in
and who heads it.
I don't think you'll find any surprises here.
Now, these divisions are fluid.
Certainly the lines between divisions
are by no means uncrossable.
What we're on the lookout for here, and always, is good ideas.
And we don't care where from.
I've asked Bob to report on the work so far -
what we know up to now and avenues that look good for exploration.
Again, we're after good ideas.
From anybody.
Bob?
RATTLING
SHE COUGHS
I did it. I did it!
It's lit? You bet!
Fantastic!
Now, what was that?
35 minutes. That's not bad.
Our job here in the coming months is to convert rough estimates
into precise measurements
and hypotheses into realities.
APPLAUSE
I think that gives us a lot of food for thought.
So if there are no more questions for now,
thank you and...to work!
We got through a heck of a lot. Mm.
Well, I'm impressed. So far, so good.
Problem, Edward?
This chart - it says I'm in the Theoretical Division
under Hans Bethe. Right.
You are a theorist, aren't you?
I was given to understand I was to work independently.
And you are...more or less.
But I am under Hans Bethe here.
Just for convenience.
Why wasn't it convenient to put my name over Bethe's?
Two.
I was told I was to be allowed to work on the thermo-nuclear.
Look, Edward, this is the very beginning.
There'll be plenty of opportunities to work on the Super.
As time goes by. That is why I came here, Oppy.
ONLY for that.
VOICES SHOUTING
What in the heck is that?
The wives are having a protest. What?
Construction unit have orders to take all the trees out.
They want to save that big one. Good God!
They show spirit. WOMAN: There's Groves!
Drive on.
General Groves!
SHOUTING
Morning, General.
Hello, Ed. Hello, Oppy.
Well...er, Mr Condon and I have had a little talk and...
..I think he understands his duties pretty well.
So...uh...
..I'll just let you two get on with it.
Say, Oppy, anything you want to tell me?
No, I don't think so, General. Everything's going smoothly.
OK.
Incidentally, what about all this nonsense here?
Which nonsense is that?
This tree nonsense - all those women.
That's Army jurisdiction, I don't interfere.
Now HE is quite a...
DISTANT DOOR THUDS
INTERCOM BUZZES
Yes? He's gone.
He sometimes suddenly reappears.
Well, what do you think of him?
I don't know. He has some very strange ideas. For instance?
For instance, only the top 30 people here are supposed to know
what's going on. Nobody else.
Compartmentalisation.
What do you think of it?
Well, frankly, I think it's crazy.
I think it's pretty crazy too.
And I'm not going to have it. There's to be free discussion here.
But you heard His Nibs...
Question is - how to get past him?
Head-on collision or...stealth?
I don't know. And I'm not very good at playing games.
You'll get a lot of practice here.
So, while Hanford and Oak Ridge prepare the fissionable material,
hopefully,
our central task here is to devise a critical assembly.
How to bring two sub-critical pieces together as fast as possible,
so that together they exceed the critical mass,
and an uncontrolled chain reaction - the big bang - takes place.
Now, the method we're all pretty convinced is the most
promising is the gun method.
Literally, a sawn-off anti-aircraft gun, here,
propels this uranium metal shy, one of the sub-critical pieces,
straight into the hole of this
doughnut-shaped second piece of uranium here.
When the two pieces come together,
they make more than the critical mass and the bomb goes.
But, to avoid a fizzle, it's got to be almost instantaneous.
Uranium, we know,
will need a velocity of around 2,000 feet a second.
Plutonium we can't even guess at. Likely even higher.
This is not my field, but at those velocities,
won't you have a serious problem with wear in the gun barrel?
Deke? It's true.
In the Navy we found that with guns firing at even lower velocity,
barrel-wear became a problem very quickly.
Any ideas?
May I say I consider the problem of barrel-wear to be unimportant?
Why's that?
Because this gun will fire only once.
Thank you, Enrico.
GENERAL LAUGHTER
Go ahead, Bob. There's something I'm wondering.
First time up, Seth, say your name.
Sorry. Seth...Neddermeyer.
Yes, I've been thinking. Er...
I can't quite give it the words but...
the gun will...er...
..compress in one direction only, of course.
To achieve as fast an assembly as possible,
two dimensions would be better, and three better still.
It's just...um...
..I can see...
If you could create explosions all over the surface of the mass,
pushing it together, it's not an explosion,
it's an implosion.
Err...I just like...um...
Can't you see the speed of assembly would be...?
Seth, come on!
If I'm with you, you're suggesting a sphere of uranium...
Or plutonium. OK. OK.
A sphere made up of pieces of the metal, held apart somehow,
and then encased in a sphere of explosives, right?
When it's detonated, it pushes the pieces together and, bingo,
they go critical.
That's simplistic... Fine.
How are you going to get an absolutely even shock wave
around the sphere simultaneously?
Because, if you don't, the metal will shoot everywhere
but never critical assembly.
There must be...must be ways. Possibly.
But is it worth diverting limited resources
to chase every hare that runs in here?
But it is a real possibility, isn't it?
It might be faster than the gun method.
Sure it could be, but...
Then I think it deserves some time.
Will you think about this, Seth, and come back to us?
Go ahead, Bob.
Well, everything seems to be on schedule, General.
It's going well.
It's going too well. Too damn smooth.
I thought Oppy would work out in the end.
I never thought it would take him just three weeks.
He learns too fast. Everyone's eating out of his hand.
But that's good. That's bad. I got no grip on it, Nick.
I know those people, I know what they're thinking.
"Everything's fine - why do we need the Army?"
They can just ignore us.
It's not that bad. Sure it is!
And compartmentalisation?
It's a joke. Never even got started.
They just didn't bother.
They smile in my face and then go and do whatever they like.
Condon's the worst of the lot.
Boy, did I make a mistake hiring him!
He's there to keep an eye on Oppenheimer.
Now it looks like a true romance!
I don't know what Oppy does to people.
I have to watch myself sometimes.
Clever guy.
Oppy in Chicago.
I can hardly believe it.
Yes, sir, Chicago.
And he flew there.
He flew there? Good God!
Hey, Ed? Ed?
Have you had a chance to duplicate those graphs yet?
They're in the office. Terrific! God bless you!
There's Condon now.
Condon, I want to talk to you.
You keep popping up, General. I thought you were in Chicago.
I was. I heard Oppenheimer was up there last week.
Yeah, he flew up there for a couple of days. He flew?
After my orders that key personnel will use ground transport only?
Is this what it's all about? Not entirely.
I heard he was talking all over the shop.
Telling everybody what's going on here.
I spoke to him and he says you condoned the whole trip.
I'm not in a position to condone anything he does.
I thought it was a good idea. You thought?
He went to Chicago
to beg for a speck of plutonium for the Metallurgy Lab.
We need that very much. And talking to everybody?
Talking to who? Well...
..Compton.
What, he's not allowed to talk to Arthur Compton? The lab chief?
Now come on, General.
It completely disregards my instructions.
Whatever happens within this perimeter,
there is no excuse for loose talk beyond it.
Compartmentalisation. Ah, phooey on compartmentalisation!
We need plutonium!
Condon, your behaviour is unsatisfactory in the extreme.
Stop the car. Stop the car!
Condon...
Condon! Condon!
I've never been talked to like that. No place.
He bawled me out too.
What are we going to do, Oppy?
Tell him to go straight to hell, right?
I can't tell him that - this is an Army project.
We can't escape the Army, Ed. We can't do it without them.
I'd like to see them try without us.
You have to give a little. Groves isn't inflexible.
It's not a LITTLE.
It's too much. Too much for me anyway.
I can fix Groves.
He wants me out, Oppy, doesn't he?
Come on, you're going to back me up, aren't you?
It's not that simple, Ed.
Wait a minute. Whose side are you on?
I don't have to take that garbage.
I've got to make a stand. What will that prove?
That they can't come in here and walk all over us. Ed...
No job is worth it.
We're taking that crap from a moron.
What are you going to do, quit?
Are you going to back me up?
DOOR OPENS
Right!
Now I've got you two together.
Come on, Oppy.
What's it going to be?
OK.
I'll see you around.
Now, just a minute, Condon.
He's quit.
Tell you the truth, I'm glad.
He didn't fit in here.
Never did a decent day's work.
I've been thinking.
You and I have a pretty good working relationship.
We don't need a go-between.
Oh, we've had our ups and downs, but...
..that's because we hadn't worked out our jurisdictions properly.
Your job is up here on the hill.
That's what I hired you for.
The problem of coordinating this whole project,
that's not your job - it's MINE.
I think having...
..wishy-washy people like Condon around
kept you from seeing that clearly.
Isn't that so?
God knows, you've a big enough job right here.
Well, Oppy? What do you say?
Whatever you say, General.
FOOTSTEPS
Do you mind?
A whole bunch of those damn women are here having baths.
It's like a slumber party.
Give me a drink?
Are you sure? Oh, for God's sake...
Tired?
Parking regulations, maid service,
Indian dances.
Shoe makers. It's crazy for you to have to do all that.
I'm working on Groves to give me a couple of assistants.
He's afraid of another Condon.
But he's weakening - it'll get better.
I'm going to Berkeley next week.
Oh.
I have to - there's a problem.
Remember a kid called Rossi Lomanitz?
Well, I...sent him to work at the Radiation Lab.
And it seems he's doing exactly what I told him not to.
Which is?
Shouting his politics, organising a union.
What else...I don't know.
What else?
There's some hysterics about espionage.
Rossi say's he's being framed because of his politics.
The Army wants to draft him, get him out of Berkeley.
Robert, don't get involved.
I'm responsible.
I recommended him for the job.
Robert... It's too late - I've already sent telegrams.
What a burden of responsibility you bear your friends!
First Haakon, now Rossi Lomanitz.
I'm involved.
Has your security clearance come through yet?
Also he's doing a heck of a job when he isn't politicking.
Ernest Lawrence has gone to bat for him much more than I have,
and he has no security problems.
Exactly! You do.
Can't you find some way to show the Army you want to cooperate?
I'll think about it.
Will you be seeing her?
You'll be seeing her.
LAUGHTER
I know what you're going to say. It's not my fault.
You don't know them at the lab. They're sick.
Like who? Like Evershole.
I quote... "The United States has three enemies -
"Stalin, Roosevelt and Hitler, in that order."
Incredible! I can't shut up when I hear that shit.
When I recommended you, you promised to stay in line.
Oh! I mustn't object to fascism? You mustn't do what you're doing.
For instance? I hear you're trying to set up a union in the lab.
Jesus! It's a basic American right. I mean, what are we fighting for?
And the other things. There are no other things.
We know they want to infiltrate the project. If you're mixed up in it...
Oh, come on, Oppy.
Of course some people think, "Well, what the hell.
"The Russians are our allies, Why not give them some information?"
Maybe they got a point. Don't be a fool.
Am I a spy?
It's a frame-up, I promise you.
You're hurting yourself, Rossi.
I can take care of myself.
You're harming others too.
Like who? Who do you think?
I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I can't see why it should.
You're my student. Ex-student! I got you the job.
I can't help it - It's a matter of principle.
Lomanitz, you don't have to tell me... No!
That bastard Evershole. Jesus! I hate this country sometimes.
Don't let me down.
Me let YOU down?
You were one of us before the war.
I thought you took it seriously.
I did.
I'm sorry. I got to go.
BACKGROUND LAUGHTER
LAUGHTER STOPS
Come in, sir. I'm Boris Pash, Army Counter-Intelligence.
I would like to say it's a pleasure to meet you. Thank you.
A real pleasure.
Have a seat.
And I'd like to thank you for coming by to see me today.
It's quite all right.
Lieutenant Johnson told me about a little conversation
you had with him yesterday.
Well, yes. I am naturally concerned about Rossi Lomanitz.
I was rather uncertain whether I should or should not see him
while I was here.
So I wanted you to know right away.
I wanted to tell him that I knew he'd been indiscreet.
I know that saying that much to some people might embarrass them.
It didn't even seem capable of embarrassing him.
Yes, well...that's not the particular interest that I have.
It's something a little more, in my opinion, a little more
interesting than Mr Lomanitz.
I understand you feel that
there is a possibility that there may be some other groups
involved in espionage.
Well, I've been over all this with Lt Johnson yesterday.
Yes, yes, well, it's all new to me.
All right, uh...
The name of a man was mentioned to me.
I believe he's a chemical engineer. His name is Eltenton.
And I think there's a possibility he's been asked to pass on
whatever information he can get hold of.
And the form it came to me was an interview be arranged
with this man Eltenton,
who had good contacts with a man in the Soviet embassy,
who was reliable and had a lot of experience
with micro-film or whatever. Would you...uh...
..give us the names of anybody who has been contacted?
I would think that the people who have been asked to get
information were almost purely accidental
and I'd do harm in telling you.
I can tell you this -
there were, I think, two or three cases.
I think two of them were with me in Los Alamos.
All right, these people you mentioned,
were they contacted by Eltenton direct? No.
Through another party? Yes. Could we know who?
I think that would be a mistake.
I'll tell you for what reason.
Not to take this person to task in any way.
Officially, unofficially, in the open, whatever.
Just to see if we can determine the method of Eltenton's approach.
I understand that.
But, in mentioning Eltenton's name, I'm essentially saying
that I think he may be involved in things dangerous to this country,
which should be watched, and I won't give another name
even if you say you'll make a distinction. I just can't do that.
Dr Oppenheimer, I don't want to seem to you insistent,
but I would like to explore the possibility
of seeing if we can determine this other person's name.
I have told you where the initiative came from
and the other things were almost purely accidental
and would involve people who shouldn't be involved in this.
All right. This person,
is he a member of the project? No.
He's on the faculty here, but not on the project. Well...
I can see you picture me as an old bloodhound on the trail.
And I am trying to get all the information out of you that I can.
That's your duty to some extent.
Yes.
It is also my duty to protect those acquaintances or colleagues
of whose position I am certain.
It's my duty to protect them.
DOOR BELL
Hi. I was asleep, I'm sorry.
Into the house for a cosy little reunion with Miss Jean Tatlock.
Is she a Commie too?
No, she's a Sagittarius! What do you think?
God, what a guy!
What's the bet?
I'll say midnight. Got $5 says our Red Romeo is not
outside that house before nine tomorrow morning.
You've got a bet. I'll take it.
Sucker!
So what have you been doing?
Have you been busy? No.
You want to hear a funny story?
Jean?
What is it?
Nothing.
I've been ill. What?
No, not really.
I thought I was better but seeing you...
What does Bernstein say?
I'm going to...um...Zimmerman now.
What does he say?
He says I'm nuts.
It seems I really can't believe we're not together, you and me.
But it's been years. Yeah.
Incredible, isn't it?
I guess I always thought we'd make it. You did?
But we fought all the time. Yeah...
I thought we'd fight for 40 years and then be happy old people.
When we had our chance you didn't want me.
I know. Why?
Every time you turned me away.
Didn't you?
No, it's better this way.
Is it?
We don't fight.
No, we don't fight.
You're right. I know.
It's not you.
I told Zimmerman - it's not a man, it's my life.
My stinking messy life - I hate it.
It's all right.
As long as you come to see me.
It doesn't matter as long as you come to see me.
Robert, you've always been so kind to me.
You've always been so kind.
Sat there cool as a cucumber and, within a couple of hours,
he was in that woman's apartment.
It's the immorality of it that disgusts me.
You say he spent the whole night with this...Tatlock?
Yes, sir. He left her house at 9:10am,
took a cab to the airport and a plane to New Mexico.
And I TOLD him not to fly.
Did you get what was said?
Yes, sir. The FBI bugs picked up most of it.
Some of it was kind of pathetic.
He told here he wouldn't see her for a long time,
he had to go away to do a job.
Did he say where?
No, sir.
Anyway she didn't like it much. She sounded very...
..shaken by the whole thing.
Weird.
And then what?
The scene shifted to the bedroom.
Do you think he's got any idea we know about this?
Know he was bugged? No, sir, I doubt it.
Know he was tailed? I would think so.
He just went right ahead.
It's arrogance, is what it is.
I see him as a very arrogant person.
And dangerous!
You got the whole picture, General.
All those people working at the radiation lab,
Weinberg, Lomanitz, Bohm, Friedman,
all Oppenheimer's ex-students, all Commies,
all up to their eyeballs in it.
Weinberg, we know has sold information to the Reds.
To Steve Nelson - Communist - who just happens to be good buddies
with Oppenheimer's wife.
Rossi Lomanitz...
Wait a minute. Lomanitz, he's taken care of, isn't he?
Yes, sir, he's Private Lomanitz now.
It's all a pattern and Oppenheimer's right in the middle.
And his brother Frank - Communist - working at the radiation lab.
All right, Pash.
Remember he gave us that name at least.
Eltenton?
We've been on to him for months, and they know it.
That's why they let Oppenheimer disclose it.
Standard procedure - you throw some little guy overboard
to distract attention from the big fish.
And the big fish is J Robert Oppenheimer.
He still hasn't told us who made the contacts for Eltenton.
So you don't think I should sign his security clearance?
No, sir, I do not.
Nichols, can we hold off on this any longer?
No, sir.
You realise he'd lose his job?
That would be a happy day, in my opinion, sir.
Lansdale?
Well, I've spoken with him on several occasions now.
I'm disturbed by his attitude,
particularly that he won't name the contact, but,
by my definition, I don't think he's a Communist.
What's YOUR definition?
A communist is a person who is more loyal to Russia
than to the United States.
And I don't think Oppy's that.
With respect, John, I think that's a dangerously limited definition.
I say if a man looks like a duck, quacks like a duck
and spends all his time with ducks...
He's a duck?
He's a Red, sir.
I've talked a lot with Mrs Oppenheimer as well.
Another Communist!
Whatever she was, Boris, I get the impression that right now
her husband and his job are the most important to her.
I think she'll move heaven and earth to make him stay on the right line.
I think she's a powerful ally.
Whose?
Ours.
Gentlemen, I've decided to sign this clearance.
Look, I don't like these associations any more than you do
but we've got to bite the bullet -
he's doing too good a job at Los Alamos.
Darn him, he's irreplaceable.
All right, sir, what about naming Eltenton's contact?
What does he say about that?
He'll only do it on a direct order from you, sir.
I won't do it yet.
See if he does it of his own accord.
OK, gentlemen. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir.
INDISTINCT CONVERSATION
What do you think, Nichols?
It's your decision, General.
What would you do if you found out he really was a Communist?
I'd blow the whole thing sky-high.
DISTANT SINGING:
# Come and behold him
# Born the king of angels
# O come let us adore him... #
No rest for the wicked.
Carol singers.
Glad they've got the time to spare.
You...going back to Berkeley for Christmas?
Going by train?
It's Toni's first Christmas.
Toni?
My little girl. Ah.
I've got a girl too.
Course she's a big girl now.
I love her to death.
They're something, girls.
I was wondering.
Do you actually celebrate Christmas?
Well, I mean, your being different...er...
Well, Jewish.
We have a tree.
Ah. Good.
I was...wondering...if you'd...
well, put that under it for me?
Well, General!
Oh, go on, open it now. I don't want to miss the fun.
Gee! Well, it's been a good year altogether, all things considered.
I wanted to show my appreciation. You like it? It's a beauty.
That was bought in the Haymarket, London, one week ago.
Don't ask me how I got it here. Privileges of rank.
Reminds me - all those British personnel will be here soon.
Never liked the British.
Where are you going to put 'em?
I don't know. We'll have to find somewhere.
We sort of underestimated how big this place would get, didn't we?
We sure did.
Oppy...
..I'd like you to give me a Christmas present now.
Well, General, I really...
I know what I want.
I want that name.
The man who made the contacts.
You said you'd give it at my direct order.
Five months, Oppy.
I can't wait any longer.
See, there's pressure on me too.
It's an order, Oppy.
His name is Haakon Chevalier.
How do you spell that?
H-A-A...
..K-O-N,
C-H-E-V-A-L-I-E-R.
What's he do?
Teaches at Berkeley.
Physics?
French.
Now, Oppy, don't you feel better?
A word of advice.
I wouldn't see this Chevalier any more if I were you.
Not while the war's on.
I've got no plans to see him.
And this woman?
This Communist woman?
No plans to see her either.