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Oppenheimer?

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I've been rather amused by all the Barbenheimer/Barbieheimer mash-ups.
 
I saw it. It was a good film, very well made and acted. While the Manhattan Project is certainly a massive focus of the film, it focuses more on the controversy of Oppenheimer himself. I highly recommend it. There is more sex and nudity than I expected.
 
My mother shared this with me many times over the years. My Grandfather was assigned to the Pentagon during WWII in appropriations. Why an architect was assigned to appropriations always puzzled him. One day this request for a major amount came across his desk. Due to the amount, my grandfather wanted to know what it was for. No one would tell him. He went to lunch with a co-worker and mentioned the requisition. When he got back from lunch, men in black suits came to see him. They asked him if he'd gone to lunch at X place, he said yes. Did you discuss this requisition with Y, the person he went with. They told he wasn't to do that again. He asked them what was the requisition for, they said they couldn't tell him. He said he wouldn't approve it until he knew what it was for. They said he was to sign it by order of the President. My grandfather pushed back and said not until he knew what it was for. Again he was told to sign it by order of the President. So he said ok and signed it Jack Franklin by order of the President. You've probably guessed, it was for the Manhattan Project.
 
Silverghost said:
My mother shared this with me many times over the years. My Grandfather was assigned to the Pentagon during WWII in appropriations. Why an architect was assigned to appropriations always puzzled him. One day this request for a major amount came across his desk. Due to the amount, my grandfather wanted to know what it was for. No one would tell him. He went to lunch with a co-worker and mentioned the requisition. When he got back from lunch, men in black suits came to see him. They asked him if he'd gone to lunch at X place, he said yes. Did you discuss this requisition with Y, the person he went with. They told he wasn't to do that again. He asked them what was the requisition for, they said they couldn't tell him. He said he wouldn't approve it until he knew what it was for. They said he was to sign it by order of the President. My grandfather pushed back and said not until he knew what it was for. Again he was told to sign it by order of the President. So he said ok and signed it Jack Franklin by order of the President. You've probably guessed, it was for the Manhattan Project.
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Really interesting story!
 
Some of my favorite reading on the subject of the Manhattan Project has been in the books by Jennet Conant. Yesterday, on a flight home from Vancouver I started reading her book "Man of the Hour - James Conant, Warrior Scientist". Her father was a major player in the project, and her books are well written and show a great understanding of her subjects. She has written a number of good WWII history books.
 
Dave - thanks for posting that I didn't know the connection of James Conant and the Project until now. Rhodes includes Conant dozens of times in his book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb".

Tom M.
 
Perhaps less sensational to Los Alamos but more impressive (to me) was Oakridge in Tennessee. I haven't seen the movie so I don't know if it was covered.
 
Greg - the film concentrated on Oppenheimer himself, and his work at Los Alamos. The one mention of Oak Ridge was a scene where Groves makes a chalk drawing showing the three centers of physical work on the Project: Hanford, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos.

The scene toward the end, where the Los Alamos scientists are cheering and applauding Oppenheimer after hearing that "the gadget" worked at Hiroshima - while Oppenheimer imagines all his own scientists being irradiated and burned alive in a similar attack - really shocked our audience.
 
GregW said:
Perhaps less sensational to Los Alamos but more impressive (to me) was Oakridge in Tennessee. I haven't seen the movie so I don't know if it was covered.
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Are you thinking of "Silkwood"?
 
I'm not familiar with Silkwood except the movie with Meryl Streep. Oakwood was a town created by Gen. Groves that grew to about 70,000 people to build the Uranium purification plants for the bomb. Groves borrowed 16,000 tons of silver from Fort Knox to make wire for the cyclotron's electro magnets since copper was being used for shells and casings. One of the main buildings was the largest in the world being a half mile long and a thousand feet wide.
 
Google says:
The screenplay for Silkwood (1983), based on the true story of Karen Silkwood (portrayed in the movie by Meryl Streep), a union activist who died while investigating safety violations at a nuclear fuel production plant, at the Kerr-McGee nuclear power plant near Crescent, Oklahoma.
Oak Ridge, Tennessee was home to several massive Manhattan Project facilities employing thousands of workers during and after World War II and was the headquarters for the project after relocating from New York City.
 
While he was still a senator Harry S. Truman was probing into the possibility of war profiteering at certain defense plants in the US. After making an inquiry about a plant Pasco, Washington Truman recieved a phone call from Secretary of War Stimson, telling him not to inquire any further into the matter. In the phone call Stimson said he was aware of plant and that it was for a "unique" purpose.

Nuclear Files: Library: Correspondence: Harry S. Truman: Conversation, July 17, 1943

Conversation on the Manahttan Project and Secrecy From: Secretary of War Henry Stimson To: Senator Harry S. Truman Date: June 17, 1943 Transcribed telephone conversation between the Secretary of War Stimson and Senator Truman (excerpt) Stimson asks Truman not to inquire into the nature of...
nuclearfiles.org
 
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