New Book Claims Oppenheimer's Jewish Roots Shaped His Personality
Journalist David Rieff argues that the physicist's complicated relationship with his heritage explains his silence and political choices during the Cold War.
By Amit Ricci ·
A new biography challenges the popular image of J. Robert Oppenheimer as a man defined by guilt. The book, titled Robert Oppenheimer: The Sphinx Without a Secret, was written by journalist David Rieff. It argues that the physicist’s complicated relationship with his Jewish heritage explains his behavior throughout his life. Rieff rejects the idea that Oppenheimer was merely a tragic figure who suffered from the weight of the atomic bomb.
Instead, the author suggests Oppenheimer had a consistent drive to stay at the center of cultural, scientific, and government life. Rieff traces this personality back to Oppenheimer’s childhood in New York City. At the Ethical Culture School, his only close friend was a non-Jewish boy from New Mexico. This isolation set the stage for his later years at a summer camp for wealthy German Jewish children in upstate New York.
During that summer, the 14-year-old Oppenheimer faced teasing for his short stature and lack of athletic ability. When his parents complained to staff, other campers retaliated. They beat him, poured green paint on his body, and locked him in an icehouse overnight. Rieff believes this incident shaped Oppenheimer’s character. The young physicist chose to stay for the rest of the summer and refused to name his abusers. This early preference for silence became a defining trait of his adult life.
This tendency toward quietness was evident in 1954 during the hearings that stripped him of his security clearance. Oppenheimer failed to defend himself vigorously against the charges. Rieff connects this reticence to the psychological space he created after the camp experience. However, Oppenheimer was not silent about all Jewish issues. He maintained a strong connection to his heritage even while keeping personal details private.
In 1934, while a graduate student in Germany, Oppenheimer sent part of his salary to the University of California, Berkeley. The money helped German Jewish scientists escape the rising Nazi threat. Throughout the 1930s, he expressed deep anger over the treatment of Jews in Germany. This sentiment, combined with his sympathy for victims of the Great Depression, led him to support Communist front organizations.
Oppenheimer held these political views even after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact in 1939. His stance shifted when France fell and the Battle of Britain began. He felt a strong patriotic pull and wanted a central role in the war effort. He distanced himself from the Communist Party but kept in touch with his brother Frank and his former partner Jean Tatlock. At the Los Alamos laboratory, General Leslie Groves overrode FBI and Army intelligence objections to grant him a security clearance. Groves bet that Oppenheimer’s ambition would ensure his dedication.
After the bombing of Nagasaki, Rieff notes that Oppenheimer did not experience a sudden moment of regret. He continued to defend the bomb while acknowledging its grim implications. He told President Harry Truman that he felt he had blood on his hands. In his later years as director of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, he focused on the need for international control over nuclear weapons. Colleagues often found it difficult to predict whether he would act as a tragic intellectual or a dutiful soldier on controversial issues.
Oppenheimer believed that ambiguity was necessary to live his life. He died in 1967, but public interest in his story remains high. The 2023 film directed by Christopher Nolan further cemented his legacy. Rieff argues that the public’s fear of nuclear holocaust continues to fuel interest in the man he describes as a sphinx.
