The Oppenheimer Affair: Study Questions

(1) Immediately after Nagasaki, how did the United States begin using nuclear weapons?

(2) How reliant was the Soviet Union on espionage when building their first atomic bomb?

(3) How reliant was the Soviet Union on espionage when building their first hydrogen bomb?

(4) What did the USAEC General Advisory Committee recommend with regard to fusion weapons?

(5) What did it suggest instead?

(6) How did the US government react to these suggestions?

(7) What do foreign policy conflicts like the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War have to do with nuclear weapons?

(8) Why is it arguably ironic that Edward Teller is considered the "Father of the H-Bomb"?

(9) What was the Oppenheimer Affair specifically about? What was he threatened with?

(10) Why was the Oppenheimer Affair a public matter?