Security Hearing 

    During the months of April and May, 1954, security clearance hearings were held against J. Robert Oppenheimer.  The hearings were held by a panel put together by the Atomic Energy Commission.  They threatened to rescind his high level security clearance leaving him in the same position as any civilian, essentially ending Oppenheimer’s access to governmental scientific research on nuclear physics.  

   Oppenheimer’s lawyers were not given access to information essential to the hearing and witnesses on Oppenheimer’s side were harassed.  One of the accusations against Oppenheimer was that he slowed down the Hydrogen Bomb project after it had become official.

    At the conclusion of the hearing the jury did not side with Oppenheimer. They voted to strip his clearance 2-1.  As a last hope Oppenheimer appealed the decision to the AEC commissioners.  The commissioners told Oppenheimer he had “defects of character” and voted 4-1 to uphold the panel’s decision.