At the beginning of his time at Berkeley, Oppenheimer
embodied the ivory tower intellectual, and, caring nothing for
politics or current events, he isolated himself from both. Immersed
in physics and spending all his spare time pondering Hindu mythology
or the classics of the ancient world, Oppenheimer had no time to
spare for worldly matters.
He had no phone, no radio, and never read the newspaper,
and, so, was completely unaware of everything going on beyond the bounds
of Berkeley. When the stock market crashed, ushering in the Great
Depression, Oppenheimer took no notice of it. After
all, he lived off a trust fund from his parents, and thus he was
not economically affected. He remained unaware of the country's
dire straits until six months later, when someone mentioned the
stock market crash to him in casual conversation.
But the events of the 1930s were soon to shock Oppenheimer
out of his apathy. As he has said, seeing how the Depression affected
his students forced him to understand "how deeply political and
economic events could affect men's lives." It was the beginning
of a newly aware, politically active Oppenheimer.
The physicist's new political resolve was soon strengthened
by events abroad. Fascism had begun to take hold across Europe,
as Adolf Hitler swept into power in Germany and as Spain was taken over
by General Francisco Franco. Oppenheimer had German roots, and
it was clear to him that Hitler was no friend of the German Jews.
His distaste for European fascism and his distress about
the precarious state of the American economy may have shocked Oppenheimer
into awareness, but it wasn't until he met a passionate, radical
woman, Jean Tatlock, that he was propelled into action.
Tatlock was a graduate student at Berkeley, working toward
a degree in psychology. She was also a member of the Communist Party.
This was not unusual in the 1930s. Communism was a standard path
for young liberals to take, and it was an allegiance that they
often claimed quite openly at the time. The Communist Party was
seen as a liberal, reformist party that worked for integration, fair
wages, and other popular causes. Perhaps most appealing to Oppenheimer,
the communists stood solidly against fascism, and supported the
causes of oppressed peoples abroad.
Tatlock introduced Oppenheimer to the world of radical
politics that thrived just below the surface at Berkeley. He joined
a number of political organizations, some of which were secretly
controlled by the Communist Party–although there is no evidence
he was ever a member of the Party itself. He did, however, have
a number of communist friends. He was in love with Jean Tatlock,
and he had also befriended Haakon Chevalier, a professor of French
Literature and a practicing communist. Both relationships would
prove troublesome for Oppenheimer in the future. In 1936, Oppenheimer's brother
Frank, also a physicist, moved to California and joined the Communist
Party, which created yet another link between Oppenheimer and the
communists.
But Oppenheimer's plunge into radical politics soon proved
to be nothing more than a passing fancy. He broke up with Tatlock
and met someone new, Kitty Harrison, and this time the relationship would
stick. At the time Kitty was married to her third husband, a British
doctor. Soon after meeting Oppenheimer, she got a divorce, and
the two were married on November 1, 1940.
As the years went on, Oppenheimer grew increasingly disenchanted
with communism. After speaking with several scientists who had
actually lived in the Soviet Union, he was upset to hear of the
oppressive communist way of life. The Nazi- Soviet Pact of 1939,
a secret pact of nonagression between Germany and the Soviet Union,
also helped damage the appeal of communism in his eyes. But the
deathblow was dealt in 1942, with the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor–as America entered the Second World
War, Oppenheimer says, "I decided that I had had about
enough of the Spanish cause, and that there were other and more
pressing crises in the world." At this point, according to Oppenheimer,
he cast away cmmunism forever, in favor of something more appealing:
American patriotism and the war effort.
In later years, Oppenheimer dismissed his flirtation with
communism as just that–a boyish flirtation attributed to the foolishness
of youth, a necessary stage in growing up, one which he passed through
and left behind forever by the beginning of World War II. Later
investigators into this period in his life weren't so sure. Did Oppenheimer
carry his communist leanings with him through the 1940s? Was he
more connected to the communist Party itself than he was ever willing
to admit? Oppenheimer would flatly deny both these allegations.
But true or not, such questions would follow him for the rest of
his days.
