What was the Chevalier Incident? Oppenheimer’s Communist Connection Explained

Among the countless names that appear in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimerone of the most important is Chevalier, whose incident ruined Oppenheimer’s career. In 2023 Oppenheimer was released with incredible anticipation. The three-hour epic boasts an incredible cast and impressive visual effects that Nolan carefully planned. The film is also full of significant historical moments that shed light on the true story of J. Robert Oppenheimer. In this way Oppenheimer shows different sides of the title character.

While the development and detonation of the atomic bomb are of enormous importance for Oppenheimer, These events are one piece of a larger puzzle. The film covers Oppenheimer’s early years at Cambridge University and his move to California, as well as the decades after Los Alamos, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. TheThe biggest plot point in Oppenheimer’s later years is the Chevalier incident and the AEC security hearing in 1954, where the scientist lost his Q clearance. Although the incident itself seems insignificant at the moment, it escalates into an act that costs Oppenheimer everything.

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Oppenheimer’s connection to Haakon Chevalier explained

Oppenheimer met Chevalier in Berkeley

J. Robert Oppenheimer met Haakon Chevalier for the first time in 1937 (via Broad). At that time, The men both worked at the University of California, Berkeleywith Oppenheimer working in the physics department and Chevalier teaching Romance languages. Haakon Chevalier was born in New Jersey in 1901 to Norwegian and French parents (via Federal Bureau of Investigation). Before meeting Oppenheimer, he began to establish himself as a writer and translator. In 1937, Oppenheimer and Chevalier bonded over their shared beliefs. This led to them forming a branch of the Berkeley teachers’ union that hosted events in support of left-wing ideas (via Broad).

In the years following the Chevalier incident, this relationship between Oppenheimer and Chevalier came under severe criticism. This was because Chevalier was one of many people with whom Oppenheimer was friends and who had communist ties. (above Herken). In addition to Chevalier, Oppenheimer’s wife Kitty and his brother Frank were former members of the Communist Party USA. Oppenheimer’s girlfriend Jean Tatlock was also a known communist. As anti-communist sentiment grew after World War II, Oppenheimer’s relationship with communism was questioned. Ultimately, these ties led to the security hearing at which his Q clearance was revoked (via American Prometheus).

What happened during the Oppenheimer-Chevalier incident?

Chevalier told Oppenheimer about a spy

The Chevalier incident is a small moment considering how much trouble it ultimately caused Oppenheimer. According to Herken, In the first months of 1943, Chevalier visited Oppenheimer in his home for Oppenheimer presented as a dinner party with friends. However, the evening takes a surprising turn when Chevalier meets Oppenheimer in his kitchen and tells him a disturbing fact. Chevalier tells Oppenheimer that a scientist named George Eltenton is able to transmit information to the Soviet UnionOppenheimer quickly tells his friend that he is not interested in this concept, and Chevalier lets it go. But the “incident” lived on.

The Chevalier Incident escalated when J. Robert Oppenheimer attempted to conceal that it had occurred. In August 1943, Oppenheimer told Manhattan Project authorities that three men at Berkeley had been pressured to reveal atomic secrets. He blamed the incident on a man named Eltenton, who worked at Shell Oil. When questioned about this revelation months later, Oppenheimer revealed that the perpetrator was actually Chevalier, who had approached Oppenheimer’s brother. Three years later Oppenheimer gave another vague presentation of the facts before admitting that Chevalier had contacted him about transmitting nuclear information to the Soviet Union (via Herken).

What role the Chevalier incident played in Oppenheimer’s hearing

Chevalier made Oppenheimer suspicious

In the 1940s, Oppenheimer’s strange behavior surrounding the Chevalier Incident was dismissed because of his role in the Manhattan Project (via Herken). That was not the case in 1954. When J. Robert Oppenheimer was summoned to a hearing before the Atomic Energy Commission on private security, The Chevalier incident played a significant role in proving Oppenheimer’s suspicious nature. Accordingly American Prometheus, Investigators used Oppenheimer’s lies to argue that the scientist was trying to hide his communist ties. They suspected that Oppenheimer was responsible for the Los Alamos leak and that he had passed the information on to Chevalier.

In reality, Oppenheimer was just trying to protect his friend (via American Prometheus). Although it probably would have helped him to tell the truth all the time, his lies were merely the result of preserving Chevalier’s reputationUnfortunately, Oppenheimer’s actions led to his security clearance being revoked in 1954. Had the Chevalier Incident not occurred, it is unclear whether the same result would have occurred. In that sense, the Chevalier Incident is a brief but incredibly significant scene in the grand scheme of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and the true life of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

Sources: Federal Office of Investigation, Broad, Herke

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer is a film directed by Christopher Nolan that follows theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man behind the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy will play the title role. The story is based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

Release date

July 21, 2023

Duration

150 minutes