Some World War II History With My OPPENHEIMER Review

Before diving into my review, let’s take a diversion back to the mid-1940s. Like many Americans, I had a few ancestors that fought for the United States in World War II, my grandfather Gerry, and my uncle Brad. My grandfather ended up in the Pacific fighting the Japanese and my uncle participated in Normandy and survived the Battle of the Bulge towards the end of World War II. My grandfather wrote a war diary. As people who have lived through the consequences and have read the history of World War II, we understand what the Atomic Bomb can now do. But back in 1945, the soldiers in the military had no understanding of it. Mainly for two reasons.

First, the Manhattan project was completely secret and only a handful of Americans knew about it. The normal GI had no knowledge of what was occurring in the high desert of New Mexico.

Second, most individuals in the United States supported the dropping of both weapons with the understanding that it would end World War II. But since atomic energy had never been used before, the consequences of those bombs would only be understood many years later.

Here is an interesting quote from my grandfather dated July 2nd, 1945 (15 days before the Trinity test). He worked in the Army Air Corps.

“Worked on the line all day. Busy getting the A26's ready.  We have six now. Tomorrow two are going up to Luzon (Philippines) and the rest are going to hit Formosa (Taiwan). Thursday that's a hot target…Won't be long before we hit the seas to Okinawa. It is rumored. We are going to Hiroshima.  It is an island northwest of Okinawa. Probably spend most of our time in fox holes... I don't know how long the ship took to get there yet, but I'm just wondering why they would send them to those places when they knew they were going to drop the bombs there.”

So on July 2, 1945, my grandfather was aware of some sort of “bomb.” But no one had any understanding of what this weapon was capable of doing.

August 6th and August 9th (The day the bombs were dropped) pass without a diary entry. President Truman informed the nation on August 6th about the usage of the atomic weapon. My grandfather’s next diary entry is regarding the upcoming Japanese surrender dating August 11th, 12th, and 14th, 1945.  

“I heard rifle fire on the other end of the strip, and I was sure of it. Well, it ended up that the jets wanted to quit, and they said they would accept the 13 points (The terms of surrender). The tracers from the 20 mm were all over the sky. They really raised hell. I was afraid that I would be hit with sharp shrapnel. Six men were killed in the excitement. It is a crime. We had to load planes anyway. I was dead tired. The war is continuing. Anyway. The third attack group is operating from Okinawa. The United States is having a time deciding whether to accept the Jap's offer. Finally, it was decided that we would accept. Russia is in Manchuria over 100 miles away. They are closing in on Harbin the Cliff City. I'm not sure if I got that right. We are now waiting for the Japs to decide if they want to accept. It is a matter of hours now.
Emperor is to remain on the throne but we he will take orders from the supreme commander of the US. The war continues while we sweat it out. It is a matter of hours. However, the radio station here is Radio Okinawa and is a stone's throw from Tokyo. August 14th, 1945, this afternoon the answer came over the radio that Japan accepts the surrender. Everyone is elated.”

My grandfather died of leukemia at age 66. Most of his family lived deep into their 80s. This next entry is the key point I want to make about these nuclear bombs which ties into my upcoming review of Oppenheimer. These atomic bombs became a reality in July of 1945. But no one knew anything at the time about nuclear fallout and the lingering effects of radiation poisoning. If this was the case, they would not have sent my grandfather into Japan in late October. This is what he saw upon entering Japanese territory.

“On October 26th they get off their boats and settle in and are greeted by the people who are in terrible shape. Will pay anything for cigarettes or food. The destruction is incredible. Practically every building is burned or flattened by bombs. The people are living in the burned-out areas in these galvanized tin huts. They are in a sad way. It is a dusty trip. There are trolleys and electric trains running Saturday.”

My grandfather takes a train from a small town called Yamato and onto an electric train into Yoka Shama.
“Most of the people are working class or peasants. There is not much to be bought in Yokohama. It is demolished completely.”

So ends World War II.

Till this day, most Americans (53%) still support the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At the time of their dropping, support was 80%. Those two bombs are still the only time in human history that atomic weapons have been used on a foreign nation. There is still lots of controversy in our own nation about this action. This COUNTERPUNCH article fills in some of the details of what was occurring behind closed doors at the time.

1. Operation Downfall was the planned military invasion on Japanese soil. Based on the government’s projections, it could cost as many as one million American lives. But if you read what my grandfather wrote, it appears that this would likely have not been the case. The Japanese were firebombed mercilessly like the Germans. The infrastructure through most of the nation was obliterated. As time has gone by, this estimate of casualties has been perceived as wildly wrong.
2. The Soviet Union amassed 1.5 million troops outside Manchuria in preparation of invading Japan. They declared war on Japan on August 6th which happened to be the day that Truman dropped the first bomb on Nagasaki (As a warning to the Russians because of his opposition of dividing up the country). This began a process of the Japanese negotiating their surrender with the Russians as the intermediary. On August 14th (As my grandfather notes), the Japanese surrendered because “THE SOVIETS ENTERED THE WAR.” Japanese leaders, to save face, later claimed that the American miracle weapon was the reason for the ending of the war because it was less embarrassing than admitting defeat to the USSR.
3. Six of the seven five-star generals of the United States were opposed to using the atomic bombs. Eisenhower told Secretary Stimson, “I told him I was against it on two counts. First, the Japanese were ready to surrender, and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to see our country be the first to use such a weapon.” Admiral Halsey publicly stated in 1946, “the first atomic bomb was an unnecessary experiment.” The Japanese, he noted, had “put out a lot of peace feelers through Russia long before” the bomb was used.”
4. The movie discusses in detail Edward Teller and his idea surrounding the H-Bomb affectionately called THE SUPER because it is 1000 times more powerful than the A-Bomb. The H-Bomb was eventually tested in the Marshall Islands and many of the natives on those islands are still feeling the impact of those explosions to this day.
5. Finally, a large group of scientists were opposed to the dropping of the atomic bomb, but Oppenheimer refused to support the petition (More on his changing idea about these weapons later).
6. The death toll from these bombs on the Japanese public is actually unknown. Estimates usually arrive at around 110,000. The mayor of Hiroshima put the number closer to 240,000. Since nuclear fallout likely killed many people after the bomb was dropped, the true casualty amount because of these bombs is impossible to know.

As an individual who studied World War II religiously in middle and high school and with a firm understanding of the history that occurred above, this brings me to my review of OPPENHEIMER. This movie is the 2nd one directed by Christopher Nolan that is a historical evaluation of a key event of World War II (His masterpiece Dunkirk being the 1st which was released in 2017). Oppenheimer is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning biography American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer that was released in 2006. Instead of focusing on a famous battle like Dunkirk, this movie focuses on an individual that would become known as “The Father of the Atomic Bomb.” Like many Christopher Nolan movies, the film bounces around through significant eras of his life often in a non-linear fashion. The movie analyzes five significant moments from his life. The first is during his college years studying at Cambridge and Gottingen in Germany which allowed him to become the first theoretical physics professor teaching out of UC-Berkeley and Cal Tech in Pasadena, The second era involves his years as a professor where he supported labor unions, Spanish Civil War fighters, and associated with Communists including his brother and sister-in-law before World War II, During this time is when he also published his theory on black holes. The third era involves his recruitment into the Manhattan Project at the Nuclear Laboratory built in Los Alamos, New Mexico. This is often intertwined with two future events from his life, a kangaroo trial he was forced to participate in due to his past associations and his eventual opposition to the atomic bomb which alienated him from the defense establishment in 1954 and the confirmation hearing of Lewis Strauss for Secretary of Commerce in 1959 where Strauss was eventually rejected by Congress for the position when the scientific community testified against him. The movie comes in at 3 hours long. From the opening scene all the way to his conversation with Albert Einstein that teaches Oppenheimer an important final lesson, the movie is incredibly fast paced. Nolan often interlaces fast cuts with a soaring operatic score to push through many facts at a quickened pace. The movie from a cinematography perspective is gorgeous including nice wide shots of northern New Mexico scenery and one of the best recreated bomb explosion scenes that has ever been put to film. Nolan excels at explaining technical details and facts while never being opinionated or biased with his story telling. This is a trait that is admirable and has been lost by the majority of our present-day journalists. Due to my own personal interest about this time period (I am a whore for anything taking place between 1914 and 1950), this movie never stopped fascinating me. When Dunkirk came out in 2017, I ranked it as one of my top 3 war films of all-time. After watching Oppenheimer, which is an absolute masterpiece, I rank this film as one of my favorite biopics of all-time.

My only criticism of the movie is that there was so much more to tell. The death toll of the Japanese and the effects of nuclear fallout are discussed during one key scene as well as a lecture he attends later on but this is mostly glossed over. Even though Oppenheimer knew Einstein, you still get the feeling that the movie could have used his wise advice a few more times than it was provided. Cillian Murphy who absolutely will walk away with the Best Actor trophy this year is wonderful at portraying guilt. Oppenheimer spent many years of his life trying to ride the middle road by keeping the military who was funding his work and his fellow scientists happy. But after unleashing a weapon for a “changing world” (A theme often discussed throughout), his opposition to nuclear weapons becomes undeniable. This also leads to his opposition towards Edward Teller’s H-Bomb which led to disagreements between the two men. Teller was the Dr. Fauci of his day. Betraying Oppenheimer in real life due to his disagreement over the need for a Hydrogen Bomb, Teller had a volatile personality and was often accused of being an exaggerator that took more credit for his discoveries than he deserved. Alienated in the scientific community due to his betrayal, Teller became one of the first scientists to have a deep long running relationship with the US government and the military so they could fund his research.  He was a long-time supporter of increased defense spending until his death.
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What else can I say about Oppenheimer? It is incredible to me that Hollywood would fund a movie, even with the reputation that Christopher Nolan has, about a theoretical physicist that put together the smartest scientists in the nation to build the first functioning atomic weapon. These are the type of movies that can save the dying film industry if these media corporations can find the bravery to take chances on this type of material. The world is not interested in “diversity” or “woke culture” when it comes to filmmaking. All anyone wants is to be told a good story. Oppenheimer delivers this in every imaginable way.