OPPENHEIMER: The Decision to Drop the Bomb (1965)

Haven't seen this since college forty years ago, where it was used as an exemplar for television documentary. Glad to see NBC is making it available in its entirety.

This documentary serious in nature was for an audience that was willing to listen to and comprehend important questions and matters for more than an hour without any flash, music, questions on the screen or entertaining feature to cloy for their attention. The audience didn’t need gimmicks.

That father was absolutely incredible. Who knows how one would act in that situation. Being as upset as he was he really kept it together.

My dad was on Tinian. I wonder to this day how much he knew and experienced. The average GI practiced keeping their mouths shut. I also wonder how much his silence had to do with the intense trauma he and his compatriots/comrades had to endure with constant death so real.

This is exactly how a company like NBC should use its YouTube channel. Absolutely perfect. Giving us timely and quality content that shows off the breadth, depth, and significance of NBC’s work over the decades. NBC has always “gotten it” with online content more than others it seems. Really wish the rest would catch up

I was lucky enough to see Edward Teller speak at Stanford University in 1999, just a few years before his death. Teller was a mountain of a man at that time, carried a massive wooden staff for walking, and was an imposing figure at the age of 91. He spoke of the Manhattan project, the moral obligation of scientists, his rift with Oppenheimer, and the many mistakes he made in his lifetime. He talked of the idea of a demonstration, the idea of bringing daylight to Japan for an hour in the middle of the night rather than blowing up a city. He also spoke of his choice to break with Oppenheimer on making ever more powerful atomic weapons, including the hydrogen bomb or thermonuclear weapon. On this point, he thought Oppenheimer was correct, scientists had a moral responsibility to not continue the endless push towards the destruction of the human race, but band together to prevent proliferation. It's an interesting contrast to the time of this decision, where Teller was pushing for a demonstration, and Oppenheimer was pushing for the opposite, letting the political powers make the decision and trying to bring a swift end to the war. Another fact that is left out of this documentary is many of the key scientists in the Manhattan project were doing this work with the idea that the bomb would be used on Germany, but Germany had surrendered. Many of the scientists were refugees from either world war I or the second war, and many held a grudge against Germany for their constant warmongering (not to mention the number of scientists who were Jewish, another important factor in usage of the bomb on Germany, an event that never played out due to the surrender). This is still a great film - but anyone interested in the topic should read Oppenheimer's biography or Teller's memoirs. I would also encourage anyone who is a scientist like myself to read those books and others on scientific morality, the implications of our ideas, our little thought experiments, our prototypes, and our vision are real, and can have profound consequences in day to day life, but also direct contributions to the death toll when used for war.

So many innocent lives were lost, may they rest in peace. OM

Thank you NBC, an outstanding piece of news broadcasting. Really gives context to probably the most difficult and complex decision of the twentieth century. Anyone who goes to see the latest Oppenheimer movie needs to watch this.

This event that I never was alive to witness still feels heavier than anything I've experienced.

Thanks NBC for making his historical documentary available to watch, in pristine condition, after nearly 60 years in the archive. And, thank you Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) for your thought provoking coda. We're nearly the same age, and I remember being so moved by this, and a bigger fire being lit over my interest in history.

I was captivated by this documentary. My grandfather worked at Oakridge during this period of the war. I recall one Christmas my uncle presented my grandfather with framed document that I had never seen before. It was a certificate of appreciation for his work at Oakridge during WWll. I had no clue until that moment that he actually worked on parts of the bomb. This is not something he was proud of. He was told ,along with other coworkers, that it was for the greater good..and it did end the war sooner.

the story never gets old no matter how many different versions i've seen. i do wish that someone had edited the film ever so slightly and added the names of the men speaking on the screen. even with captions i didn't catch everyone's name. only recognized chet huntley, truman and oppenheimer. thank you michael b for your coda and NBC for showing this documentary.

This is something everyone should see. I was totally engrossed and captivated. History brought to life by the very people that were involved. Thank you NBC archives.

To look upon Oppenheimer's haunted face is to see the flame of humanity's heart and the absolute abyss of it's soul

To me, in talking about the documentary per se, the decision to juxtapose the description of the beautiful hues in the bomb’s clouds with Oppenheimer’s citation of a holy scripture (“I am become Death”), ending in the very down to earth comment after a handshake that “we’ve all become SOBs now” was a remarkable editing choice and that perhaps is the very heart of the documentary. The original NBC crew are long gone for them to read my words, so I extend them to their present day NBC family and colleagues: very well done, a masterpiece! Thank you for bringing this to us, the public.

Very good documentary! Using this for context for Oppenheimer movie!

I live in Japan and so I get to witness both sides of the argument. Ultimately the decision cannot be undone. Japan itself had been working on extremely complex weapons systems that were supposed to have extremely destructive power which could not be made due to the choking nature of the sanctions imposed on it. How much is true we will never really know. But to know that you are responsible for developing the technology that has the potential to destroy not just mankind but the entire planet must have weighed down heavily on the minds and hearts of the scientists who are responsible for its development. It may have won the war, but at what cost. Kokura is the hometown of my wife’s family, so had the bomb been dropped there I most likely wouldn’t be here enjoying a wonderful stress free family life. It was too cloudy to have dropped the bomb there so the target was charged to Nagasaki which is 3hours by car away from Kokura. It is crazy how one man’s decision has changed the lives of so many others, and I am personally affected by it. All it takes now is for one unsteady mind in a position of power to make the decision to use the weapons and that my friends will be the end of this system.

Huge huge thumbs up to NBC News. You have always paved, and led the way in superior broadcasting. I hope you keep re-releasing these great shows and broadcasts.

This is an excellent example of journalism, when that was still a thing. Kudos to NBC for this stellar documentary.

the coda in the end was a necessary touch, a lesson in itself on how reportage has evolved. thank you!