Leslie Groves quotes from Oppenheimer (2023)

Leslie Groves

I’ve seen so many versions of it. I wasn’t confused before, but I’m certainly getting there now.

Leslie Groves

Robert, we’ve given them an ace. It’s for them to play the hand.

Leslie Groves

I think one of the wisest things I ever did was when I selected the director of Los Alamos.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

You're talking about turning theory into a practical weapons system faster than the Nazis.

Leslie Groves

Who have a twelve month head start.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Eighteen.

Leslie Groves

How could you possibly know that?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Our fast neutron research took six months. The man they've undoubtedly put in charge will have made that leap instantly.

Leslie Groves

Who do you think they put in charge?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Werner Heisenberg. He has the most intuitive understanding of atomic structure I've ever seen.

Leslie Groves

You know his work?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

I know him. Just like I know Walter Bothe, von Weizsäcker, Diebner... In a straight race, the Germans win. We've got one hope.

Leslie Groves

Which is?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Antisemitism.

Leslie Groves

What?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Hitler called quantum physics "Jewish science", said it right to Einstein's face. Our one hope is that Hitler is so, so blinded by hate that he's denied Heisenberg proper resources, because it'll take vast resources. Our nation's best scientists working together. Right now they're scattered.

Leslie Groves

Which gives us compartmentalization.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

All minds have to see the whole task to contribute efficiently. Poor security may cost us the race. Inefficiency will. The Germans know more than us anyway.

Leslie Groves

The Russians don't.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Remind me, who are we at war with?

Leslie Groves

Somebody with your past doesn't want to be seen downplaying the importance of security from our communist allies.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Point taken, but no.

Leslie Groves

You don't get to say no to me.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

It's my job to say no to you when you're wrong.

Leslie Groves

So you have the job now?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

I'm considering it.

Leslie Groves

I'm starting to see where you got your reputation. My favorite response? "Oppenheimer couldn't run a hamburger stand."

J. Robert Oppenheimer

I couldn't. But I can run the Manhattan Project.

Why would we move out to the middle of the desert for two to three years?

Leslie Groves

Why? How about because this is the most important **** thing to ever happen in the history of the world!

Leslie Groves

Why don’t you have a Nobel Prize?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Why aren’t you a General?

Leslie Groves

They’re making me one for this.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Perhaps I’ll have the same luck.

Leslie Groves

A Nobel Prize for making a bomb?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite.

Leslie Groves

What did Fermi mean by “Atmospheric ignition”?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Well we had a moment where it looked like the chain reaction from an atomic device might never stop. Setting fire to the atmosphere.

Leslie Groves

Why is Fermi still taking side bets on it?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Call it, “gallows humour”.

Leslie Groves

Wait, are we saying that there's a chance that when we push that button we destroy the world?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Nothing in our research over three years supports that conclusion. Except it’s the most remote possibility.

Leslie Groves

How remote?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Chances are near zero.

Leslie Groves

Near zero?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

What do you want from theory alone?

Leslie Groves

Zero would be nice.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

In exactly 1 hour, 58 minutes, we’ll know.

Is there no way to demonstrate a bomb to Japan to provoke surrender?

Leslie Groves

We intend to demonstrate it in the most unambiguous terms. Twice. Once to show the weapon's power, and a second to show we can keep doing this until they surrender.

We have a list of twelve cities to choose from. [he crosses off one city] Sorry, eleven. I've taken Kyoto off the list due to its cultural significance to the Japanese people. Also, [chuckles] my wife and I honeymooned there. It's a magnificent city. Let me make this simple for you, gentlemen. According to my intelligence, which I cannot share with you, the Japanese people will not surrender under any circumstances, short of a successful and total invasion of the home islands. Many lives will be lost, American and Japanese. The use of the atomic bomb on Japanese cities will save lives.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

If we retain moral advantage.

How so?

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Well if we use this weapon without informing our allies, they'll see it as a threat. And we'll be in an arms race.