After reading this article by a human historian (Bill Black), I think there’s a number of inaccuracies in Claude’s account above, but the key point I wanted to verify is that Truman’s reaction happened after just that one sentence by Oppenheimer (which in my mind seems like an appropriate expression of reflection/remorse, not being a drama queen, if he didn’t do or say anything else “dramatic”), and that does seem to be true.
The author’s conclusions, which seems right to me:
He, the president, dropped the bomb, not Oppenheimer. How dare this scientist — this government employee — assume the guilt for the greatest weapon ever used in human history? How dare he make himself the hero, albeit a tragic one?
I think Nolan got this right — this was what really annoyed Truman about Oppenheimer’s comment. By assuming guilt for the bomb, Oppenheimer was taking credit for it. And Truman resented this. He wanted the credit for dropping the bomb and saving American lives, whatever bloodguilt that may have entailed.
My understanding is that there’s a larger pattern of behavior here by Oppenheimer, which Truman might not’ve known about but which influences my guess about Oppenheimer’s tone that day and the surrounding context. Was Truman particularly famous for wanting sole credit on other occasions?
It’d be weird for him to take sole credit; he only established full presidential control of nuclear weapons afterward. He didn’t even know about the second bomb until after it dropped.
After reading this article by a human historian (Bill Black), I think there’s a number of inaccuracies in Claude’s account above, but the key point I wanted to verify is that Truman’s reaction happened after just that one sentence by Oppenheimer (which in my mind seems like an appropriate expression of reflection/remorse, not being a drama queen, if he didn’t do or say anything else “dramatic”), and that does seem to be true.
The author’s conclusions, which seems right to me:
My understanding is that there’s a larger pattern of behavior here by Oppenheimer, which Truman might not’ve known about but which influences my guess about Oppenheimer’s tone that day and the surrounding context. Was Truman particularly famous for wanting sole credit on other occasions?
It’d be weird for him to take sole credit; he only established full presidential control of nuclear weapons afterward. He didn’t even know about the second bomb until after it dropped.