Giving Up A Myth

It is time for arms controllers and nuclear abolitionists to retire the Oppenheimer/ Manhattan Project myth.

The Oppenheimer/ Manhattan Project myth tells us that a group of people can rapidly build something that has never been built before when under the pressure of fear during war. Physicists, all white men, did it all, with Oppenheimer the most brilliant and at the center of the story. Recent modifications have added a few women and minorities to the capable, and have included the victims, who were not earlier included in the myth.

It’s an origin myth. It tells us how things came to be the way they are. The myth is similar to Pandora’s Box, in which breaching a forbidden barrier unleashes evils upon the world. Thus the focus on Oppenheimer, who is conscious of what he is doing and who later may feel remorse and is punished, but unjustly, like Prometheus as in the title of the book on which the film “Oppenheimer” is based.

The film adheres to this myth. The communities for which it is the origin myth see it through their many retellings of their story which, I think, have blinded them to some aspects of the film. They have preconceived expectations of how the film fits the narrative they are accustomed to. Much of the criticism has been in this vein.

But I am starting to see a different reaction (link to Bluesky may not work unless you’re signed in) from people outside those communities: that it is a profoundly antinuclear film. How can the reactions be so different?

It has to do with how the two groups react to subtleties in the film. The specialist community looks to historical accuracy and finds, for example, that Oppenheimer never had the conversation with Einstein at the pond that is depicted early and late in the film, the first time seen from the outside, the second with more complete understanding. Since the interaction is ahistorical, the specialists consider it unimportant.

But there is a lot going on in that scene. One example: The second scene itself debunks Lewis Strauss’s belief that the conversation was about him, stated just before the flashback. Einstein tells Oppenheimer that when he is reinstated, it will not be about him. All in a movie that is entirely about him!

The movie accomplishes something with non-specialists that specialists don’t see. We need to reconsider those disjoint reactions. A particular telling of the origin story has been frozen in specialist thinking. We might also consider how much of nuclear history and its lessons have been similarly frozen in a way that separates the specialists from the general public.

The groups that advocate for arms control or nuclear abolition have accomplished little with the public. I doubt that most people could name even one of them. A recent poll found that most people are not well informed on nuclear weapons but want to know more.

An article in Politico highlighted issues within the nuclear policy community. The article argues that the community’s expertise is being lost and not replaced. A vigorous discussion ensued on social media. Those in established positions – mostly white, male, and older – responded that everything is fine, we just need more funding. Younger people from more diverse backgrounds spoke of high barriers to entry in vocabulary, required framing of discussion, and other identity markers.

Nuclear history beyond that one mesmerizing man offers many scenarios that are more relevant to today’s issues. Successes and failures, along with the unexpected, abound. We need new voices and younger people to interpret the history and to weave the stories and come up with answers.

In later posts, I’ll give examples of four topics:

• President Harry Truman’s actions to bring the use of nuclear weapons under presidential control.
• The immediate postwar period in which scientists, including Oppenheimer, lobbied for arms control and civilian control of nuclear energy was established.
• The development of nuclear strategy through the 1940s and 1950s.
• Uncertainties in operations, including the recountings of nuclear accidents.

Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner