Duration: 2m42s

(door closes) What are you doing? It's a trade union. Filled with Communists. So? I haven't joined the Party. They won't let me bring you onto the project because of this shit. They won't even let me tell you what the project is. Oh. (scoffs) I know what the project is. Oh, really? We've all heard about Einstein and Szilard's letter to Roosevelt warning him the Germans could make a bomb, and I know what it means for the Nazis to have a bomb. Oh, and I don't? It's not your people they're herding into camps. It's mine. You think that I tell them about your politics. The next time you're coming home from a meeting, why don't you take a look in the rearview mirror? Listen to the sounds on your phone line and stop being so goddamn naive. Why would they care what I do? (scoffs) Because you're not just self-important, you're actually important. Okay. Okay. I get it. If you could just be a little more... Pragmatic. I'll talk to Lomanitz, I'll talk to the others, you don't have to worry. It's done. Lawrence. Then welcome to the war. ROBERT: I filled out my first security questionnaire and was informed that my involvement with left-wing groups would not prove a bar to my working on the atomic program. SENATOR PASTORE: Why were his Communist associations not seen as a security risk during the war? Senator, I can't possibly answer for security clearance granted years before I ever met the man. Fine. What about after? After the war, Dr. Oppenheimer was the most respected scientific voice in the world. That's why I asked him to run the Institute, that's why he advised the Atomic Energy Commission. Simple as that. What are they accusing me of? I think they just want to know what happened between 1947 and 1954 to change your mind on Oppenheimer's security clearance. I didn't. I was chair of the AEC, but it wasn't me that brought the charges against Robert. - Who did? - Some former staff member of the Joint Congressional Committee. He was a rabid anti-Communist named Borden. He wrote to the FBI demanding they take action. The FBI? Why not go to the AEC, direct? Why get caught holding the knife yourself? What did Borden have against Oppenheimer? This was the McCarthy Era. People hounded out of jobs for any hint of red. And then, reading Oppenheimer's security file, his Communist brother, sister-in-law, fiancée, best friend, wife. That's before we even get to the Chevalier incident. But how would Borden have access to Oppenheimer's security file? Because somebody gave it to him.